Rooms by the SeaEdward Hopper
1951
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, Connecticut
Isn't this a wonderful painting? It's very simple, but one can feel the ocean breezes blowing in through the open door. I love living near the ocean. There is something about the sea breezes that puts everything in my life into perspective. I have been feeling a bit -- unsociable -- lately, and I have not meant to appear that way. I haven't visited any of your fabulous blogs, and I have not had time to respond to your comments on mine, but I appreciate them all. What lovely people live in the blogging world...! You're all fabulous.
I have had to make some decisions about a few things in my life, and a few recent events have -- shall we say -- nudged me towards my decision. But sometimes that is what we need, isn't it, or else we stay within our comfort zone. I love that term. My friend Russell, with whom I have long, interesting and wonderful conversations, has another term that is so appropriate. "You can't unring a bell..." Yes, its so true. Or, in the words of Omar Khayyám ...
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it
So, I say ... I will make my decision ... and then I will eat copious amounts of ice cream with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry on top. It always works for me.
I went for a stroll to Kitsilano Beach recently, and I discovered I could take a little video with my camera, and I managed to upload it to YouTube, et voila! There's no stopping me now...!
29 comments:
"...nudged me towards my decision. But sometimes that is what we need, isn't it, or else we stay within our comfort zone."
I have made some tough decisions in my life over the last few months and it has been tough. Even ones forced into, that was hard and hurt me. I feel more of those decisions coming upon me as I face "C" once again in my life, as well as other things that have me down and hurting.
Thank you for writing such an open post.
Boy, you could really hear that wind whipping on the coast. I love the picture. You're right, the breeze was just flowing in the door.
Hope all is well with you. I know we all have times where we need to just concentrate on ourselves a bit, figure out what is best for us. Good luck. Ice cream helps.
Oh wow - this wee video just took me back to when I live in Vancouver. What a strange and wonderful shock - a scene I know but which also now seems so foreign to me. Thanks for posting it - just lovely.
I know it's hard to make the decision, but having made it will free your mind and will to move forward in life to do the things you've always wanted to do. You're so lucky to live that close to the beach. Mine is a 10-minute drive but it's always a great place to think/meditate. TTYS
Copious amounts of ice cream always works for me!
You seem to use your blog in a therapeutic way and that is just fine.
Jo, I have several pictures of windows looking out to the sea...... I love that feeling, that view, and that sense of freedom.
Also, I have never tried out my camera video in spite of choosing a cell phone that had video capability. I always equivocate between using the mini-cam or the cell phone video cam...... and I think I will finally give the cell phone videocam a try.
Thanks for the inspiration.
And...... um...... NOT TOO MUCH ICE CREAM! You don't want what happened to me, to happen to you!
~Lorna
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Jo, I hope that whatever is causing you to worry is soon put to rest after a decision is made. And that Russell is very right!
I don't expect you to come visit me or even respond to comments that I have made. I really don't. I visit you because I like it here. I don't know how you would ever visit every single person who comes to see you. I cannot do it!
Just thinking of you. Hoping all will be well. Thanks for taking us along on your walk by the coast.
I loved the video of Kitsilano Beach. We are totally devoid of ocean sand and breezes here in Arizona, but I can almost touch them in your video.
Decisions,decisions are sometimes illusive and hard to grab; a nudge is sometimes needed. Wishing you peace of mind, my dear.
Decisions, decisions.
Myself, I have stopped making them...Save for sending something out to a vanity publisher or somewhere.
Edward Hopper, yes.
But then there is our own Alex Colville who has also painted top-drawer work on windows open to the sea. A master!
Watch it on your strolls along Kitsilano beach. David Suzuki remains a scientist,and there might be pornographic scenes with David and a large sea cucumber from whon he is attempting to extract DNA...Maybe he tried tiny plankton first, and found them too petite and too choosy.
Ah yes. The wonderful Omar Khayam.
See? All Afghanis aren't Taliban.
It's a lovely beach. I thought I heard drums at the beginning, and then I realized it was wind. LOL
How could you ever get around to visiting all of your followers? I wonder if there is some way to cut off the number of followers when you get to a certain number? I have a hard enough time getting around to read mine (only 69).
Whether you make the right decision or the wrong one it's a good thing to make it.
I'm a little afraid of a Jo unleashed on the world with her video prowess - what might happen next?
I think ice cream is the BEST fix for almost anything - my favorite that I can get pretty much wherever I am is Ben & Jerry's Phish Food - yum!
Oooh, get you....! I once tried to do that and deleted the video. I'm a technophobe. PCs are about it for me. :P
Ice cream is a cure to almost every known disease.
Jo, Love the pic and the beach video! You are so lucky to live on the ocean. I lived on the Atlantic for many years and miss it terribly, but not the winters. Good luck with the decision!
I have a feeling this might have been your first video? You did a fantastic job.
Good morning Jo,
hope you have a nice Sunday. Am already into my Monday - hope that the neighbours dog won't continue to bark, waking up the kid.
Like the painting very much and am so close of getting lost into it...
Please have a nice start into the week.
A quick visit to the sea was just what I needed this Sunday evening! Thanks, Jo!
I was feeling overwhelmed by all sorts of conflicting "what should I do thoughts" earlier this week, but I forced myself Friday morning to sit down and set some goals and make a list of just what I needed to do. Just the act of writing that stuff down made me feel so much less scattered. I hope you too are able to make your decision.
Also have to confer with The Bug on the Phish Food. It is the BEST ice cream. I just had a little bit for dessert. Yum!
Dear Jo,
I haven't been coming by your place here for very long, but I second Country Girl entirely in what she said above... I don't think any of us would come back again and again if we didn't find something to nourish our souls with here in your pages. And whether you get out and about is immaterial, I love the view here, and the dream it helps keep alive that someday I may get to visit Vancouver, rather than just having flown over once on the way to Alaska...
I'm sure the reason so many have signed in to follow you is that we are many to recognize good from the heart writing when we see it.
That's a gorgeous Hopper piece too... an open door to sea breeze dreams. Your video's funny too, definitely, no stopping you now !!!
I always find that once I've made the decision, I can move on. I may fret about deciding, go over the pros and cons forever, but once that decision is made, I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. I hope things go your way.
Thanks for sharing that gorgeous painting by Edward Hopper. I've never seen that one of his before. Just beautiful!
Life's decisions , never easy, but when we make a decision and abide by it....it sets the course for new adventures.You seem one for adventure, and now is as good a time as any. Go for it Jo!
Hopper is fantastic he is one of my favorite painters ever, I like the one with his wife dressed like going to sleep, sitting over the bed, with an incredibly strong feeling of loneliness coming from the painting.
Well here it is:http://singyourownlullaby.blogspot.com/2009/01/soledad-tape-it.html
Take care jo
In a way, I feel left out of the chocolate brigade. I don't really 'get' chocolate. But give me puff pastry, cheese & onions, & I defy the blues. Well, almost.
Love that painting. No chocolate or cheese!
Jo, the world is such a wonderful place as I say at the charity shop I work at each day brings new beginnings for some and endings for others..........I find you comments always a wonderful part of being a blogger. "the variety!" of life.....beautiful painting!
Lee-ann
I'm a fellow Hopper fan (actually, I think you know that!) and I love his work. His paintings always conjure a very definite emotion, sometimes more than one at once. There's a strange emotional complexity to his work, and it's particularly interesting because many of his paintings appear to have very simple subjects. He really had a handle on the duality of feeling that is sometimes present in life.
A bit like making decisions, actually. It's one of the more powerful things we can do in our lives. Decide and begin the process of determining our own course of action. Being self directed. Yet so often, we're frozen with the enormity of that, being afraid to move in one direction or another. Afraid to commit lest we accidentally choose the wrong course.
Still, what I've noticed is that most of the people I talk to regret something they didn't decide to do. A course of action not taken. Not a firm decision to act but things like, "Then I was offered that job in California, but I couldn't bring myself to move out there..." or "I nearly went on a cruise but...". I just seems it is the actions we fail to take that haunt us, not the actions that we do undertake.
Maybe fortune really does favor the brave? Ice cream certainly helps with courage :-) Whatever you have decided, I hope and trust it will turn out well for you.
I think it's easy to begin to feel "obligated" to post on a schedule, when you know people will be expecting it. But creative energies don't flow like that, and life intervenes...I think we all understand that from our own experience as bloggers. Write and read when you feel like it...on your own schedule, or with no schedule at all. Your posts are always enjoyable.
I can't think of two better things to help invigorate the decision-making process - fresh clean ocean air and Haagen-Daz (preferable rum-raisin.) :)
It sounds like that decision was a difficult one! Hey, ice-cream would help me through it too! Hope you were able to do both: your decision AND the ice cream!
And I love Edward Hopper - he's one of my favorite American painters:)
the title of this post brought me here Jo. I am here after several months, and have no idea how long I will be reading / writing posts or writing comments. Life's not always as it seems. Tough decisions take longer to make, but when destiny intervenes, all the effort and the pain goes waste. Hope yours is not like my own. And I do hope you feel less down and under.
cheers...!!!!
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