Making eyes by the pool
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2008
The scene: Early morning, poolside. I've come here to do some photo editing and shooting because there's nothing quite like early morning quiet-creative time when you're on vacation. That and sitting outside on a warm December morning is a welcome novelty for a pale-skinned Canadian.
I spot these goggles as soon as I arrive. They're sitting forlornly in the middle of a table underneath the sunshade that stretches over a good chunk of the deck. At first I wonder why they're here, then on closer inspection I realize the elastic band is snapped; its owner likely gone for good.
When I was a kid, I think to myself, I would have tried to fix 'em. "When I was a kid..." The phrase trails off in my mind as it dawns on me that I sound increasingly like the retired folks who live in this community. Uh oh.
Your turn: These goggles have a story. What might that story be?
About this photo: This week's Thematic Photographic theme is "transparent". Click here to dive right in.
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10 comments:
I find myself saying "when I was a kid" all too often. Its probably because I AM the "retired folks". I try not to say it but there are just too many years to talk about, I guess.
I don't know why but when I saw the goggles I thought about JAWS. Perhaps someone can make a good story about that...
Nice story you have for your Googley eyes!
I think that I will writing about mystuffs too.
These goggles belonged to little Jimmy. He was having a good time under grandma careful eye.
What they didn't plan on was old Mr. Jones to come along and start retelling old stories, with new exaggerations.
"By golly," Jones declared, "I remember my scuba diving days when I came face to face with that man eating shark."
"Why, that old behemoth ripped my goggles right off my head," he said as he grabbed at the little red pair sitting on the top of Jimmy's head.
Snap!
i'm up too early to be brilliant
guess I'll tumble back in bed and try later
the story of the goggles..they were tossed aside by a young woman who, after days of solitude in her bedroom watching re-runs of Dance Fever, she broke from her trance like prison and rushed to the pool to swim some dozen or so laps.
Lap after lap, after all the muscles in her legs and arms and torso were stretched and used and were just on the brink of exhaustion, she neared the wall after one last lap and grabbed the side - exhaled breath after breath, at first with hard deep breaths.. then with a more steadied and tempered rhythm of breaths, she slung away the goggles, climbed out of the pool and left to go live out her days. Again alive.
Maybe they were left out in the sun too long and the weakened elastic just snapped when the wearer tried to put them on. Poor, lonely goggles can't fulfill its purpose in life. It lies in a pool of its own tears.
Nice capture. At first it seems like a cheery poolside picture but actually it's a little sad as these goggles are old and unwanted. I think the fact they were just left there shows what a disposbale society we have become. Things have little value for us any more and that is quite sad really. As I kid I would have fixed them too. I also find myself thinking things like that alot too, Lol!
Netchick sent me this time my friend, adn I'm glad she did as I have precious little time for blogging lately and miss far too much here.
Esther Williamstein left them when she realized her water proof mascara would be okay in the cloreen and they never had elastic, it would have ruined her bouffant ... the sides had arms like sunglasses but she kept those in case she needs them .. you never know
"When I was your age..." You know when hearing yourself say that really gets depressing? When you're saying it to your son... who's 26.
I would've tried to fix 'em myself. I'd probably try it even today. The lessons from a dad who grew up in Eastern NC during the Depression are ingrained deeply from a very young age. I like to joke about some of the things he used to do -- like pulling the nails out of a piece of wood and carefully straightening them back out to put in a jar and save for the next project. I think I was probably 14 years old before I realized that you could actually go to a hardware store and buy nails already straight!
And it never occurred to me that this wasn't common practice. Not having any other model, I just assumed that everybody straightened out used nails and recycled them.
You couldn't fix them with this stuff though. Magic or not.
Thematic Photographic 39: "Transparent" v.5.0 "Whoa-oh-oh It's Magic"
What a nice story about goggley eyes! I'll try to make mine too.
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