CM*D31: I go shadow biking, I get a strange look from a solid kid
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 4:04AM ;)
I was struggling with my project, going nowhere, so I decided to go shadow biking.
;)
OH NO! Head on collision! Damn fool! He should know to watch out for shadows!
;)
But shadows are tough. I continued on.
;)
And on and on and on. But not as on and on as I would have liked. I wanted to go on all day, and then to camp out under the stars at night. But my shadow would have died in the night, so I came back home to wrestle with my project, which has vexed me to a degree that no other project ever has. I don't know why. It just has.
I have placed all my pictures, long ago. Now I sit down to write, but the words just don't come. I can spend two hours and etch out one sentence that I don't like. Then, at the end of the day, I sit down to this blog and words pour out of me and through the keyboard into the computer and out to anywhere in the world that someone happens to log onto this blog, either by intention or accident, as fast as I can move my fingers.
;)
Here is a kid riding with no shadow. I think that he is pretty unhappy about that. And why isn't he wearing a jacket? It is October 13, for hell's sake.
But the warm weather continues. Last year, the snow was piling on now but it was 49 degrees at the moment I snapped the photograph - nothing at all for a kid pedaling a bike up a hill. I can just hear his mom when he gets home, though.
"Billy! What are you doing going outside without a coat? You'll catch your death of pneumonia!"
No, wait. That was my mom, decades ago, when she still breathed, still loved, still smiled, believed in the resurrection and I thought life would always be that way and that I would never die, not of pneumonia or anything else.
I think this boy was very curious about the detached shadow coming down the hill on his shadow bicycle. I am certain he had never before seen such a sight in all his many days.
One day, I suspect, his grandchildren will tire of the story. "Yep, kids, there I was, pedaling up Wards Road in Wasilla, Alaska, when all of a sudden I saw a shadow coming down the hill. Just a shadow - a shadow man, riding a shadow bicycle..."
"Yeah, right, Gramps, we've heard this one before - like 20 billion times."
*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.
Reader Comments (7)
I remember a time when my mom called out "Don't forget to wear a hat!" So I put on the hat, with no jacket, and off I went to play. I got the same lecture when I got home.
I am very sorry to hear about your writing problems. Your pictures are very good, and I've enjoyed your gallery immensely. I am trying to think of something to say that will unblock the words, and I cannot. I know that, for myself, I have to have the words in my head before I bother to sit down at a keyboard. Of course, that is where my pictures are, as well. I can only tell you that you are writing words to go with pictures the like of which the rest of us have never seen. What would the people in your pictures say about themselves? What would they wish the rest of us to see, to know? You marveled at the old buildings in our town...they are nothing compared to the sacred ancient things to which you have access. You have the opportunity to display that which pre-dates any history that most of us know about. Perhaps the thing to understand is that your pictures will tell the story. They are the bones and the framework.Your words are the meat on those bones.
Listen to me rattle on. Those who can't do, teach.
You know, I sounded very presumptuous and know it all, and I apologize. I would delete that comment, but can't figure out how to do it. (Not all that computer savvy either, sadly enough) I beg pardon.
I love this blog. I don't mean to discourage you on your project, but I think it may be a sign that at least for now, this is the place where you should write!
And it occurred to me as I was washing dishes. I need a shadow housewife. We could get twice as much done.
Bill, This was one of my favorite posts. What good lurks in the heart of the Shadow? The Shadow knows!
Could it be the words you can't type are WORK, and this is more like PLAY? The secret that kids know is that it is all play, that is, until we indoctrinate them, and ruin all the fun.
Play on!
Grandma, it seems that there are many things every kid hears from their parents.
Debby, I'm glad you didn't succeed at deleting that post. I considered it high praise. I hope you find that shadow house wife - but she will not have as much fun as a shadow biker. Maybe she will. Shadows can enjoy things that casters cannot.
Michelle, other than to have more time to spend on my books, there is nothing in the world that I would love more right now then to be able to devote myself to this blog. If only it were possible. Thanks for the encouragement.
Yes, Sylvia, but is more complicated than that because usually, when I work, it all kicks in at some point and I can just write and write. But not this time. And my project is a really good one. But I really do enjoy doing the blog. It is great fun and it does not matter how tired and exhausted I am, it seems that I can always come up with something to blog.