suburbia

I’m Still Here

Posted by Marlene Hutchison
My shadow at a neighborhood skateboard park
A mere shadow of my former self at a neighborhood skateboard park

 

There are many advantages to an unplanned retirement in addition to the wonderful memories of  great times you had while not saving money. When you must stay close to home  because of financial constraints, you can explore  your neighborhood in depth. For example, how many 70 year old woman actually get to explore the ups and downs of a neighborhood skateboard park  as I did recently one  morning around 9:00 a.m.?

As Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) wrote about age in his book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

” You were old, Father William, the young man said, ‘And your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on your head–Do you think, at your age it is right?’ ‘In my youth, ‘Father William replied to his son, “I feared it might injure the brain: But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none, Why, I do it again and again.”

I may have little brain left and not a lot to say, but as the great director Federico Fellini’s character Guido said in “81/2”, “I have nothing to say, but I want to say it anyway.”

Another advantage to an unplanned retirement  is you have ample time to work on a long-term photography project since you won’t be out shopping or traveling. You can shoot thousands of pictures practically free. I currently work on a project about ranch land being lost to suburban sprawl. The project is slow going, but so am I. With any luck, I’ll be around to take the after photographs when the houses are finished. In October, look for more pictures of building progress on this site.

copyright © M. Hutchison, 2013

When Photographers Cease to Roam

Posted by Marlene Hutchison

Chance and the Unplanned Retirement

Don’t just sit around and fret if you left your retirement up to chance and are now forced to spend your final days close to home. If you can  find your way to a bus stop or still have your car keys, there are many photo subjects to explore near home. Even your house or room can make an interesting subject with a little imagination.    

Voyage Around My Room in 42 days 

is a delightful free e-book on Google Books by a mid-eighteenth century writer Xavier de Maistre who wrote it while confined to his room under house arrest for dueling. There he plotted the room’s latitude and used  compass readings to give directions to various items in his richly described room.

Expect Hometown Photography in weeks to come–

I have lived in this suburban town of 46,000 for the past six years and have photographed what I think are the  highlights. You’ll see the best of my Dublin, CA wildlife and park photos, plus my series on new house construction. Think about bread for the ducks and geese, but never the wild turkeys.

Wild Turkeys at Dublin Apartment Complex
Young Wild Turkeys at Dublin Apartment Complex

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Do you believe in the life to come? Hum: mine was always that.” from the Samuel Beckett play Endgame (1958)

 

Copyright © 2013 Marlene Hutchison