It's thundering and lightening outside right now. Not very usual weather for Berlin. Jasper and I were taking an evening walk with the babies and had to rush home before the rains started. But I love stormy weather. So intense and all encompassing. I remember, years ago, being on a ferry from Livorno, Italy to Corsica. During the 5 hour journey we had a storm. People were lined up on the top enclosed deck with bags to throw up in. I went out in the storm and let the wind blow against my body and the rain paste my hair to my face. My (now ex)husband stayed indoors. He didn't like storms, was even a bit afraid of them. Such a metaphor for the difference between us, for one of the reasons it didn't work....Though I left him several years later, I think that day was a foreshadowing of the inevitable that was to come.
My love of storms may come from my childhood in Arizona. Every summer, from late July through August, is monsoon season. Flash floods and thunder storms with hot rain happen nearly daily. Strange creatures crawl out from the deep and nestle on doorsteps. I wrote a short story about it called Monsoon Season.
Speaking of my childhood and Arizona, last night, while messing around on the internet, I found out that my grandparent's home in Phoenix sold in February. We have been estranged from the family for a number of years. Alcohol, money, sex, betrayal and inheritance all figure into the story, a true gothic southern novel.
Still, it's strange to think that the house is gone and not knowing rather that means my aunt is dead. Families are strange. Even when the worst of things happen, you still are somehow tied to the people....
I've been busy stitching photos again. Here's another that will soon be part of some new work or another. It's part of a photograph of the gorgeous art deco Anzeiger building in Hannover, Germany. I took the picture four years ago, when I had a job going around to various cities in Germany and teaching English to the train service employees in order to prepare them for the world cup. The teaching itself was rather tedious, but I got to take around 11 different trips where my hotel and train was covered and the work itself was pretty well paid. One of the places I went several times was Hannover. I'm sorry if any locals read this post, but Hannover just isn't an exciting place. Located in the middle of Germany, there just isn't much about it that is especially interesting. The court house and the lake behind it are pretty and there is a villa district which might be nice to walk through. And, of course, the Anzeiger building is really beautiful. But the city itself is simply boring. There is not even a local accent or dialect (something they are proud of in Hannover)but I think it really says something about the place. Hannover is a city without a face is what my husband says.
Still, one of the times I went there to work it was really inspiring. It must have been in late November or maybe early December. A storm was brewing throughout the day, but somehow the rain never started. Instead there was just this incredible light shining through these dark, gray clouds; truly dramatic and electric. After class I walked around for hours taking pictures. When I got back to my hotel room, my feet sore from all the walking, I took a series of self-portraits called, appropriately enough, 10 Self-Portraits in a Hotel Room in Hannover. Later, I fashioned them together into a book. Hmm....Maybe I should stitch some of them....;) These days, I'm having an obsession with needle and thread. Whatcha gonna do?
One of the hardest things about living in Berlin is that I'm so far away from the ocean. True, the Baltic Sea is only a little over two hours away, but it's closer to a lake than the ocean with its small, gentle waves. What I love is the ocean's roar, how it pulls your feet out from under you, the mist from its waters settling on your face. The funny thing is, the entire 15 years I lived in California I probably only went to the beach a few times a year even though it was less than an hour away. Now when I go back you can hardly keep me away. Ocean Beach, Muir Beach, Stinson Beach, Half Moon Bay...
Last year, a few weeks after our wedding, we rented a house with my family in Point Reyes Station. The day we drove out there a storm came in. It brought down trees in San Francisco and other places in the Bay Area. A few days later we went to the beach at Point Reyes. Though the storm had subsided, the waves were still wild, more crashing and all encompassing than I had ever seen before.
A few days later I read a sad story in the newspaper: A woman had been walking on that same beach when her dog ran into the waves. She went in after him to try and save him and they both were lost.
I used to think I was only really a fan of the pacific, but in August we spent two weeks in Contis Plage, France. There the Atlantic also had a strong pull on my heart and I love the French way of life. I'm sure, one summer, we'll go back.
re taking an evening walk with the babies and had to rush home before the rains started. But I love stormy weather. So intense and all encompassing. I remember, years ago, being on a ferry from Livorno, Italy to Corsica. During the 5 hour journey we had a storm. People were lined up on the top enclosed deck with bags to throw up in. I went out in the storm and let the wind blow against my body and the rain paste my hair to my face. My (now ex)husband stayed indoors. He didn't like storms, was even a bit afraid of them. Such a metaphor for the difference between us, for one of the reasons it didn't work....Though I left him several years later, I think that day was a foreshadowing of the inevitable that was to come.
rt story about it called Monsoon Season.
February. We have been estranged from the family for a number of years. Alcohol, money, sex, betrayal and inheritance all figure into the story, a true gothic southern novel.
