Amplifying voices

...and letting them breathe (Helen Macdonald)

Vacations are for vacationing. I get that. I really do. But they are also an opportunity to narrow your focus on a few options — and see them through. Fortunate for me and my work life, I am an early riser. Running for a few hours and even the opportunity to write undisturbed follows me along on vacation.

But so does the brief disharmony of gathered family as the natural tempo of life echoes along with the surf and the wind. Stupidly, Steve and I were surprised about how little parenting changes between the summers spent by the sea with wee little children and voluntarily bringing everyone together with their “adult” lives. The kitchen, dishwasher, oven, and washing machine service a never ending cycle of demands.

Perhaps my 85 year old mom put it best when she retired to her room because of the noise of the “other people” in the house — basically her grandkids and their significant others lol.

What captures your attention now that things quiet down has likely been bubbling near the surface all along. What writer doesn’t relate to The Portrait of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin by Ilya Repin*. The burdensome work ahead, the papers to read, the books to be read. The choices to be made. You can visit this painting in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. It is one of many that always remain long after I leave the museum.

*Not to diminish the demise of the subject following personal conflict and loss — a detail I only became familiar with years after admiring the painting.

The final weeks of August mirror the end of a month by the sea. The last family members departed on a ferry yesterday and now I am pretty much the designer of my final week away. A few gatherings, lunches, and time with friends punctuate the rituals and habits I rely on.

My youngest son introduced me to lo-fi as a way to diminish the silence of a too empty house. I rely on Heavy on The Bacon and a few others to fill the gap and can be quite productive alongside the rhythmic beats.

True confession time. I rarely have the attention span to sort out the complications of fancy remotes and the latest in technology required to watch television or find a movie. Quite by happenstance I did stumble and fumble my way to The Map of Tiny Perfect Things.

Discovering the plot was half of the fun for me and I am not going to ruin that for you. It is something light and enjoyable and even involves attempts to locate the 4th dimension in real time — and of course, there is a map.

Assuming others share your understanding or perspective can be a source of frustration for all parties. I decided a deeper dive into what influences the work that resonates would help me articulate more clearly. Here is what is occupying my mind today. The music, the thoughts from the movie, and the words in a book create unique perfect moments for thinking and deciding what may or may not come next.

You must have heard the trope, if all you have is a hammer— everything looks like a nail?

In Space We Read Time: On the History of Civilization and Geopolitics is my hammer of the moment.

Here is both a model for thinking about history within physical space and a stimulating history within physical space and a stimulating history of thought about space, as Schlegel reads historical periods and events within the context of their geographical location.

A final reference to an author found buried in a book I am reading about infrastructure resonated with me in a way that typical “how to” books or listicles do not.

Sure, I see why everyone is a fan of the gospel of this writer or that writer but not much of it resonates with me unless you are Joan Didion or apparently Helen Macdonald. I pasted the article here with a link at the end because I found the adverts embedded on Literary Hub distracting to the point of diminishing the beauty of the post by Helen (emphasis below is mine):