Seaside

Where the ocean touches the land is the beach, a place intermediate between earth and water. The seaside (as defined by me) is the place beyond the beach, where one typically finds tourists. Where one goes for entertainment as one sees the sea.

This piece of art is on a cliff above the ocean along a walking path. It’s a giant puffin, perhaps it is there to frighten the tiny puffins who live in the rocks offshore. How does one create such a work? Why you start by collecting all the bits of plastic debris that wash up on the beach, sort them by color and before you know it, it’s done. And it’s a reminder to care about what goes into the water.

What? You don’t care for puffins or walking along a path? Well then right there in town there is a lovely giant sculpin or something(?) made out of similar flotsam. The effect of the whole is really much greater than the parts (but looking closely at the parts is also interesting.)

If a tree falls in the forest, what do you do with a massive trunk? Why one whips out the trusty chainsaw and creates art. (Actually, I’m not sure if this was done with a chainsaw, but it might have been). This is a splendid carving which the local fish cheerfully posed for.

Of course what is a seaside without a fish shack selling the delicious bounty of the ocean. There are a couple of these located along the seafront, including one that will clean and cook whatever you have just caught, providing that what you caught was a crab. I must say that they were quite delicious, and now I am dreaming of a return by the sea.

Ocean

It is rather sad how I have neglected this blog, but I have been out and about doing things. And this is one I have heretofore neglected to mention, I went and visited the Pacific Ocean (of course I have seen this ocean before in different places.)

My friend had a craving for a complete change of scene and so she bought a house that overlooks the beach, and I was invited to come for a visit. The airlines have service two days a week, that helped in planning the logistics, so there I was.

For some unknown reason (user error) I took this picture as a video (I blame my fat fingers). It was low tide, so we could walk along the beach just watching the waves crashing onto the rocks. The rocks were formerly on the bottom of the ocean, but have been scraped up by plate tectonics and are rather unique.

This dagger-like rock is a local landmark and is quite popular with photographers.

This is the view looking south from the nearby town. It’s a small town that formerly relied on lumber, fishing and cranberries, now they get jillions of tourists every year (like me).

This is the view from my friend’s house, which is really spectacular. At my house the sun goes down early whatever the season as there are mountains to the west. Here there is nothing to obstruct the view (except for those rain storms) and the sun takes it’s time to slowly disappear from view. I was exceptionally fortunate as it did not rain the entire time I was there. It is a beautiful spot and I think shall have to visit this place again as a respite from the mountains.

Art Night

I do try to drag myself from the comfort of my tv occasionally, so there I was on a First Friday. Now that the sun goes down later than the 4:17 of December it’s rather pleasant to be out and about. There was a new show opening and that is catnip to me.

I can’t say I loved this person’s exhibit, but I did like this piece. The exhibit was about colonialism and mostly consisted of re-printed vintage photographs of indigenous workers standing next to European fruit trees. The artist was insulted that the workers were not identified by name, but the trees were. Oh well, that’s the past for you.

This massive bronze is also an idea from the past, but I love the mountain behind this.

This window has a better view of the peak. Some musician was playing a variety of string instruments, that’s why there was a speaker.

The first piece I ever saw by this artist was at my old campus, and I can’t say that I love his work because he makes his people look rather ugly. He chose fiberglass as his medium, so I assume he used a mold and helpers. These larger than life figures are outside on the lawn. I think that they look great against the lighted building as one can’t really see the details. Perhaps that is the secret of this artist’s appeal.