Over the last while I have not felt any burning need or desire to create something in the realm of art. Truth be told, I haven’t felt like doing much of anything. Whenever this lack of desire has happened in the past, I get worried and feel like I have perhaps come to the end of my creative road. My wife, Denise, always reminds me that I will feel inspiration again, and I always do. All that said, I don’t feel desperate this time, instead I feel quite happy and content. For some strange reason I have allowed the new quiet to fill my days and I have come to think of this time as an opportunity to break from that crazy need to create – to really embrace a new way of being. As I have mentioned in other blog posts, I have often felt that my need to create was just another addiction, something that kept my mind busy and kept me from having to think about my often-troubled soul. I began wondering if this new turn was an opportunity to rethink how I approach life. I have been retired now for seven years and I have come to see that life beyond the workplace has so much more to offer. I don’t have to be busy to enjoy life. I think that the best part is the calm I feel right now – without the depression or the anxiety. A deep peace of sorts.
Now that the better weather has arrived, I have found myself filling much time by sitting quietly out on the balcony.
Having worked my way through the course on depression and anxiety, I have found that much of what I learned has stuck with me and I can sit out there without letting the noise distract in the way it had previously. If you remember, that was by becoming angry. I can acknowledge the trains and the traffic noise, but I can let it pass without getting worked up. I still wear ear buds at times but only because I want to.
I was out on the balcony the other day when I began thinking about a vintage photo I had seen years ago. As you can see below, the photo shows a small group of black men sitting on the deck of a ratty dirty-thirties type of store. I love the name – Crossroads Store – like it is a time for decisions, or a place I am at these days.
Crossroads Store, North Carolina – Photo by Dorothea Lange July 1939
It doesn’t look like more than one could afford a cold bottle of cola but the rest certainly would have welcomed that treat, as you can likely imagine. I’ve always loved this picture, thinking how sitting out on the deck with friends soaking up the sun seems so peaceful – with nothing that pressing required by any of them.
As you can see below, my “porch” is a lot less cluttered, and the view is to die for. It’s hard not to sit here in the summer shade and not think how lucky I am. God bless Denise for our lovely retirement nest!
Don on Balcony – Photo by Don Cheke
In the image above, you can see my Kindle reader stand. If I am not simply watching the world go by, or pondering the depths of life, I am reading. These days, I am on a John Grisham kick and enjoying his stories. Denise encouraged me to forgo my $10 maximum for e-book purchases, so my reading world has expanded greatly since then. Denise usually reads the books I buy, so I figure that divides the price I pay in two, if that makes sense.
I created the feature image cartoon, seen again below, thinking about the old black men in the photo I mentioned earlier.
Life in the Slow Lane – Created by Don Cheke
Loaf and his two friends are fortunate enough to afford the cola, so that adds to the porch bonding time. All three fellows are reflecting on the wonders living life in the slow lane.
I have to chuckle to myself whenever I think about retirement and how much I would never want to return to the work-world rat race. No thank you! 😊 I love a good brisk sit, as you can imagine – but in slow motion. Oh-yah!
I did feel moved to do some art on the 13th. I did not feel compelled to do so, but rather a simple desire.
Trestle Bridge 061326 – Created by Don Cheke
To start the project, I created a simple multi-layered abstract background. It turned out to be quite light, but interesting enough. To continue the project, I browsed through my photo archive and found a picture of the Red Bridge, a truss road bridge located in Kamloops, British Columbia, It was taken in 2007 when Denise, Emma and I took a driving trip through British Columbia that year. Adding the sharpened bridge image over the abstract background and blending it in really struck me as unique and something that kept drawing me in. It kind of feels like a bridge to something beyond, if that makes sense. Somehow, the end result seems metaphysical, becoming less of a structure and more a threshold – a passage between the tangible and the imagined. I hope that you like the result!
Do you live life in the slow lane? Let me know in the comments if you have any thoughts about that.
Donald B. Cheke – Saskatoon, SK
Nice blog! Thanks for sharing.