In any case, not a good camera day.
Four years ago, the campus buzzed on election day. Today, you could not tell that anything out of the ordinary was taking place. State Street, too, looked bleak. Empty.
I did vote. In my small place south of Madison. Anyone who has voted will tell you that election places in this country are not terribly photogenic for a person just passing through with a camera in her pocket. Gym rooms, church halls, community centers… Institutional settings. Bare walls, harsh lighting, somber faces, and a handful of observers, watching, waiting. (In my little corner of Wisconsin, they tell me they have observed nothing amiss.)
At Paul's Cafe we exhaled, but not for long.
Home. A wet, wet, drippy farmette. Ed is trailing behind me, I greet Isis who has that 'where have you been?? It's dinner!' look about him.
So I feed him in the sheep shed -- which we still think of as his home base -- and then I retreat to the farmhouse. With a look toward the wet fields, the drippy orchard branches.
But Isis follows me right back to the farmhouse, and now Ed is here as well, and I'm cooking, and Ed is trying, trying so hard to use credit reward points to purchase some secondary flights for us in January, and the election results are starting to come in, and it is at this time that Isis decides to call the farmhouse his home, and he demonstrates this by basically emptying his gut and his bladder in favorite spots -- an (apparently) favorite carpet, a closet, oh thanks, Isis! My cauliflower is burning, Ed's on the phone with the Rewards people and Florida is undecided and you poop and pee now? What kind of a cat are you?
Fact is, it's not his fault. We've avoided the inevitable. He likes it here. Yet, I never agreed to have a litter box here. We just let him out when he wanted to be let out. It worked.
Until today. The rains came down, Isis stayed in. Without a litter box, he created his own favorite bathroom situations.
And Florida is still undecided.
Ed is now playing volleyball (he's hardcore about it: if there is a game, he plays), I've cleaned up, Isis is sleeping on the couch next to me. Let the elections results roll in!
(And if anyone didn't think Wisconsin counted, it did. And two minutes ago, NBC called it. I exhale.)
And that call for Wisconsin made me so so happy!
ReplyDeleteThree cheers for America! and for President-elect Barack Obama. And for Wisconsin for giving him the 10-finger lift he needed, and for Massachusetts for going Democrat all the time, and for a final result we can smile about!
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ReplyDeleteNina, as a long-time reader, I urge you to keep in mind that half of your readers are not happy that Obama has been re-elected. In the past you've always kept politics out of your blog (except years ago, at the very beginning). You should have maintained that policy.
ReplyDeleteDiane & Bex -- It was quite the evening!
ReplyDeleteJeffrey -- I almost simply said the obvious -- the "it's my blog" line that is true, but dismissive. Instead, let me say a word about the evolution of Ocean. I remember in the early years when Ann (the famous blogger and colleague and friend) used to say -- "you write a personal blog." I resisted that label. I responded "no I don't." Over time, I saw that she was right.
I have only two rules that govern my writing here: that it be generous toward the world that I walk through and that, while still employed, I do not write about work. Ocean is not political because I'm not very loud or even vocal about politics nor am I inspired by them. But insofar as Ocean IS a personal blog, I must say, it would have been hard to go through a presidential election day without mentioning it. (This is the third time for me to blog during presidential elections. Ocean is THAT old!) I hope I did it respectfully. I think I did.
I would hope that readers who don't share my views on politics or religion (such as they are), still read Ocean. It would be rather bland to have a world of only like minded people. But, of course, if the mere mention of anything political bothers you, well then, so it does.
I posted your comment because it is respectful and expresses your views. Thank you for writing.
Nina, I discoverd your blog only this year but I have been dipping into your older postings and have discovered that you were enchanted by Martha's Vineyard many years ago (before it priced itself out of your itineraries). Since the island is my home, I would like to extend an open invitation to you and Ed if you find yourself in New England.
ReplyDeleteNina, I have always separated political bloggers from personal bloggers. I ran a blog for five years that covered both types of bloggers (living in Iraq). You are, of course, a personal blogger, as Ann pointed out. Ann today is probably thinking she needs to be more like you (after her disappointment in Obama's re-election).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if you're interested, here's a blog entry of my own where I introduce my readers to a woman blogging in Iraq who talks about her daily life as she lives it -- like you -- and and never politics: Chikitita's Return. Personal bloggers around the world probably have more in common than political bloggers.
Island Nana -- I am so humbled by your generosity! Yes, I bet you'll have me writing you in some off season, when I just need that break and a peek at the ocean again!
ReplyDeleteJeffrey -- You raise an interesting point. But for most of us, I think, life isn't so neatly compartmentalized.I never argue in favor of a position I hold (I don't think... It's true, too that I don't always manage to not write about work and be utterly respectful of my surroundings -- goals that I aspire to, but cannot always achieve.. these things are so subtle after all!). But I do sometimes admit to having a worldview. I have written before, for instance, that I don't subscribe to religious beliefs. But no one could say that my blog strays into ideas about religion and I don't shy away from entering a church when my daughter marries or I'm visiting a distant city where religion matters to a certain group of people.
And, too, I am somewhat propelled into thinking that politics enters the discussion, often inadvertently, by the book that I am writing about growing up in post war Poland. It is not about the politics of Communism. But nor does it shy away from mentioning how the context (including political context) influenced my life profoundly and some would argue daily. But I do not argue there in favor of a position nor against it and I don't expect all readers will come away with some deeper understanding of Communism, even as I hope they will have a better grasp of what daily life was like in post war Poland.
Nina,
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see from your word choices that you don't often argue for one position over another. I note the use of hedge words and qualifications. That's okay, of course, if you're not going to take a stand on an issue. As you say, you prefer your basic worldview. Let others try to persuade each other that their view or opinion is the correct one.
I like you blog because the language is simple and honest and the pictures (although repetitive after a while) illustrate a good life lived with your occasional traveling partner and your daughters.
Here's a question, though. How do you keep blogging each and every day? Don't you ever wonder what life would be like without publishing something every day in such a public forum?
Anyway, thanks for keeping it going.
Nina,
ReplyDeleteOh, one more thing. Years ago, I kept a detailed journal for eleven years. I recall the exhilaration and relief I felt on the very first day when I no longer had to take notes through the day on what I was going to write about at the end of the day. I felt I could start living a very beautiful (and unrecorded) life. Since then, the only time I kept a journal was after one of my sisters died. I started keeping a journal almost instinctively. I wrote in that notebook for about three months and then stopped.
Anyway, do you ever wonder what would your life with Ed would be like without recording the flow of each day? This is question, of course, for all diarists and, today, personal-diary bloggers.
Jeffrey -- We live our lives as we want to live them. It's that simple.
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