in an old work shed. All manner of stuff stored from the rafters, buried in the accumulated sawdust and dirt on the floor. The light and the wind makes its way through the old windows and the cracks in the siding. Not enough time, money or inclination to handle all the stuff. Someone else will have to do that some day.
Inside an old shop/storage shed on an Oregon family farm. ©SwittersB
‘Progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage.’ Herbert Hoover
This old garage, on the Zimmerman property east of Portland, Oregon was torn down this past year.
a dark mystery…“sometimes I wish that this quest had not come to me. Justice is an impossible beast to track. The trail is lonely, and she offers no reward when she’s caught but the promise of another hunt.” Courtney Milan, Unraveled
that certain smell between dust, mold and decay…stuff forgotten, abandoned or ejected
into the portal of another time…take it into you life at your own risk
it demands you skew your mind…toward those that came before
imagining a time, a way of life that may or may not have been true
an old wrought iron chandelier, outside for so many years. in the dirt, the tall grass, stacked amongst the forgotten, the ignored stuff of a hoarder. Not a bit of renewal, of touching up. I pulled it from the weeds, hung it from a ladder’s rung. Later, I snapped a shot of the glass bauble (same day I did the roses from the rear images). Despite all the scars, in its own way it is still beautiful
‘Why the fascination
with this little, smiling,
pointy hatted, garden creation?’
SwittersB
I have this emerging distraction in the garden…too many things, too many doodads, too many busy things. Windmills, yard art, wind chimes, spinning crystal balls, bells, bird baths, statues amidst the flowers, trees, shrubs. Too many. Some were my Mom’s, my Aunt’s. Sentimentality and history keeps them anchored. But, I have added ‘stuff’. I need, I must, wean this gardener out of the clutter of sounds (too many competing sounds of chimes), out of peeling, painted concrete animals (I actually won’t have difficulties here).
Oh, but the one creations that I will not be able to remove are the Gnomes. Oh my no! No can do. Magical. Suggesting, no more than a suggestion, something to the garden that is tended to in my absence (wish they would weed now and then). I give it little depth of thought. Probably because I know it is fanciful, make believe. Yet, as an adult, there is this silliness of having these little pointed hatted, smiling creations greeting me as I enter the yard.
Hmmm? The older I get, the more I like to stay in touch with that last vestige of fantasy…helps with the grandchildren.
In a remote, rocky, little draw off the Columbia River, we decided to explore to maybe find a rock formation to photograph. It was an odd spot, not really near anything, well off the road and one of nature’s divots that would not lend itself too much for mankind’s use. But, I had neglected to consider womankind’s use.
Now as some of you no doubt know, I am big on highlighting Portland’s repurposing movement. You maybe recall the couches, chairs, TV’s, furniture, clothing….the ‘free stuff’ sitting out in the rain and snow? Always near rentals, it seems a convenient way of sharing stuff that one is just too impeded to load up and take with. Perhaps my tone is not coming through clearly. Let me add a clarifying phrase I often utter when driving by such drops “What a bunch of bullshit. Lazy bastards”.
Well who would have thought a bra, a daintily placed bra, fastened (maybe someone zipped that baby right up over those extended arms?) piece of apparel would be displayed so gracefully atop a rock where few women tread.
Now this is one of those posts where the properly selected tags could draw more visitors. Taking all the derivatives for breasts would certainly boost the draw to SwittersB, but I just can’t let myself do that. But I digress.
So, was this a repurposing of lingerie? A forgotten piece of a scavenger hunt? Someone stumbling away in the dark, impaired and forgetting their bra or someone just saying ‘enough of that damn thing…I’m free and it feels good?’ Well it is still setting there, in the approaching Winter’s weather, free for the taking. Ah, the discoveries of photography and hiking.
Oh you just know I love Portland’s repurposing efforts!!! Such benevolence! Yes, I have touched upon this before, but as I drive to work each day, I am struck by the worthy practice of dumping your stuff at the curb to best benefit your fellow man/woman. Such is the continued feel good, misdirected, self indulgent practice of putting furniture, bedding, clothing, you name it on the curbside because….well, it hasn’t a damn thing to do with taking care of your ‘community’!!!
Look, look…even record breaking wet shoes too!!!
Something so appropriately ‘green’ about this repurposing!
A short blurb to highlight another side of our lives (my wife and I…well actually a good part of our extended family and friends) over at Hoarding Woes and photographs my wife captured yesterday amidst the layers of reclamation……..
