Monday, October 10, 2011

Workaday


This was inspired by Jotsalot's suggestions that I do posts about a day in the life and my writing space.  I'm combining these into one post because, until I finish my draft, they need to be the same thing.

I usually work inside in my recliner with my computer on my lap.  It's comfortable, and the bookshelves are nearby.  On warm days I sometimes go outside and work by the river.  I've been doing this more lately in an attempt to enjoy every last minute of nice weather, which is quickly slipping away.  (These pics are from early last week.)

 "This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long." Shakespeare Sonnet 71.  

Any interruption by another person can end a day’s creativity (which is why I unplug my phone when I remember to), but occasional visitations from wildlife like these dippers add to the setting and the feeling of immersion in nature.  

"I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief." Wendell Berry.



This golden-mantled ground squirrel crept under my chair.  I didn’t notice it until it darted forward under my feet and into the grass.  I don’t think it noticed me until the return trip, when I moved so it wouldn’t mistake my leg for something to be climbed.  It scampered back into the grass and gave me this look.

When I face the river, the sun tends to shine right on the computer screen.  Over the course of a day it chases me around the yard as I have to move to find a shady spot where I can see what I'm doing.

"Again I hear these waters, rolling from their mountain-springs with a soft inland murmur."  Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey.


A steller’s jay stops for a drink and to see if I have anything worth stealing.

Then a gray jay.

Then fall arrives with wind and the threat of rain to drive me back inside.



"Sometimes you begin to push; you want to hurry the sun, have the hours expand, because clouds come."  William Stafford, The Hay-cutters.


Inside I work in my chair with a more restricted view.  (These pics are from a later day, when it was cool and rainy.)

"Can you hear me that when it rains and shines, it’s just a state of mind?"  Lennon-McCartney

I don't see any wildlife in here, but sometimes the clouds do interesting things.


As the sun goes south over the next two and half months it will creep to the right and into this view.  On the shortest days of the year it will rise at the lowest point on the ridge, almost in the center of the pic below.  And though the sun is dim on the short days of winter, it is strong enough to make working in front of this window impossible.  I'll have to pull the blinds and feel like I'm in box, but it only lasts a few hours each day.


"But so much patience as a blade of grass grows by, contented through the heat and cold." Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Patience Taught By Nature.


4 comments:

  1. Can we trade views? Even from your lazy boy your picture of life is better than mine. One of these days I'll leave town for good.

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  2. What a great space to work. Thanks for sharing. I could never get anything done (with or without) that view.

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  3. Yeah, about the phone. Phones are disturbers of greatness or even icky corporate work. Why did I always work on Saturdays? No phones.

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  4. Just wanted to say thanks for the pics bud. i seriously envy your work view. i'd send you a pic from my window but i doubt you'd like to see a parking lot full of stock backed by a lovely abandoned movie theater. so lets stick with yours.

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