Wanderlust: fall

Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Chronicles of Our Beach

Living in a small, simple town by the shore has forever changed my relationship with the beach. Before living here, the beach was always a busy, crowded place that tried to burn my skin, put salt in my mouth and leave sand in my pants. But living at the beach, I've been able to see that the beach has many different moods. The beach, like all things famous, gets stereotyped. And there is certainly a bit of truth to most people's expectations of my beach, but like most stereotypes, there is also so much more.

Welcome to my Beach

The beach, like everywhere, changes drastically with each season. In the summer, great crowds of frolickers come to play in the sand and sun and sea. They bring their umbrellas and their beach towels and they decorate the beach with their excitement and joy. The people find so many things to do on the beach: swim, surf, read, build castles, search for buried treasure, play sports, take naps, I even saw someone film a TV show. It seems everyone loves to do something different at the beach. Quite solitude is very hard to come by during the summer. But it can be found, especially after the sun goes down when, like most of the world, the beach gets much quieter.

The Beach decorated with People

Filming something for HBO

Children Playing

Searching for Treasure

In the fall and spring, the crowds mostly leave and the fishermen come out to play. They are most present during the twilight hours, I think because that's when the fish are hungriest. Some of them have great big poles the size of two men. They throw their lines out beyond the waves, shove their poles into the sand and wait for animals of the sea to bite. Others have simple fishing poles and stand on the edges of piers and jetties dodging waves and searching for fish.

People fishing at daybreak

Giant Poles

Exciting Discovery

Winter is certainly the quietest time at the beach, but people still try to surf in stormy waves or plunge into the freezing water for charity. But mostly people seem to take peaceful walks along the beach during winter, especially with their dogs. Dogs aren't allowed on the beach during summer, I guess because tourists and dog poo don't mix very well. If you want to be alone with the beach, winter is the best time to do it.

Solitude at the Beach

I've seen the beach change more than just moods while I've been here as well. It seems the constant assault of waves is carrying the sand from our beach away to some unknown adventure. To keep the beach from washing away, the government trucks in several tons of sand. But instead of dumping the sand evenly all over the beach, they built a 10 foot mountain of sand. Perhaps it was to help shield the town during the stormy season, but it also makes a great new vista point. I love walking along this new mini-mountain range and soaking in the beautiful view.

Erosion of our Beach

It seems there is always something new at the beach. Nothing ever stays the same, even somewhere as simple and enduring as the beach. I'm so grateful for the chance we were given to spend a year living on this beach. I have learned a lot about the place I once disliked and I have come to love the beach. I never know what I'll see or find next at the beach, which is all I really want from life anyway.

New York City as seen from our Beach

Some Locals at the Beach

My Wife's Footprints

Strange Object Found at the Beach

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

All Four Seasons in the Garden State

Before moving to New Jersey I spent nearly a decade living in the deserts of Arizona. I went to high school in Phoenix, college in Tucson and encountered very little seasonal diversity during those times. Arizona is a beautiful and unique place, but all the seasons feel a lot like summer. It rarely snows there and the botany mostly consists of cacti and imported palm trees. Before I left the desert, I had vague memories of the four seasons from a childhood spent in Oklahoma and Tennessee, but I was not prepared for the strength and vibrancy of each season. After moving to the garden state, I was completely captivated by the beauty and spectacle of the four seasons; I had to try and capture them on film (or SD card to be more accurate). I've posted links to most of these albums before, but now that the project is finished I felt they should all be together. Click the links below to watch my Flickr albums for each season.

Fall: Persephone departs and nature mourns

Winter: Persephone, Queen of the Underworld

Spring: Persephone returns and nature rejoices

Summer: Persephone, Goddess of Vegetation

I hope you enjoyed the change of the seasons as much as I did. I think I'd like to focus another series on the four seasons, this time concentrating on the less glamorous phases of each season like dead, brown leaves in fall, dirty snow in winter, sweltering heat in summer. Because I don't just want to capture beauty with my camera, ultimately what I'm looking to capture is truth.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Photo Album of Fall in New Jersey (and New York) 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Fall in Madison

I love driving in Autumn. The roadways are alive with hundreds of dancing leaves. Each one twirling and jumping in the wind trails of cars that pass them by.

And in the fields, nature's great gusts send them surfing through the grass or sailing from the trees as they leap from their safe, lifelong confines and, in their final days, taste freedom for the first time. Floating and dancing in groups as they explore the world.

In a short while their vacation will be over and the trees will be dead and bare, awaiting next year's rebirth. But for now I am reminded, every time I drive, that nothing dies so beautiful as a tree.

For whatever reason, I am always reminded of who I am during Autumn. It is for me a coming home. I love the way fall smells and looks and tastes. I am at peace, I am at home whenever fall is here.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Absence makes the heart grow...

Spring is here and that means all kinds of change. Not everybody likes change, it often gets a lot of bad press. That's because with all change there is loss. Now matter how great the newness which change brings may be, the loss of the old can be bitter.

I'm going to miss sledding and hot chocolate on a cold winter's night and especially the smell of Christmas. But constant winter, or even constant spring, summer, or fall, wears on the soul. We all need loss, it makes way for new fruit.

It's not always easy to put in the effort and energy needed to bring about change. Especially when the loss is certain and the gain is unknown. I try to periodically examine the constants in my life, to make sure comfort and familiarity aren't holding me back. I once wore only corduroy pants for an entire decade. As comfortable as they were, refusing to change limited me in ways I didn't even imagine. If you don't absolutely love your job or your town or your life, you may need to consider change. Don't be seduced by the comfort summer brings, we all need a little winter and spring.

Wanderlust

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