DISTRACTIONS: LITTLE STORIES THAT SAVE ONE'S SANITY

A series of essays.....

NAVIGATING THE FRENCH ALPS....
A VIEW GUARANTEED TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY!
LE TOUR DE FRANCE, 2018

.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes

Writing and photography have helped me get through many potential and actual perils in my lifetime. To see and feel a world that others may not be able to has taken me to great heights of understanding about myself and, unfortunately, introduced me to some extreme lows when considering this ever changing world we live in today. Like the Sword of Damocles, danger resides over us in the form of uncertainty, fear, and loss of hope. To protect our sanity, it is wise to incorporate diversions or distractions that help guide us through the rough times.

From the beginning of time, painters, writers, sculptors, and artists of all varieties and backgrounds have attempted to escape the tension that bleeds from the open wounds of the heart by concentrating on their ability to.....create. The power of observation becomes a popular distraction that affords men and women the opportunity to visualize ‘fresh ideas’ and turn them into powerful examples of timeless beauty consisting of vivid colors, molded clay, cool granite, and a thousand words of wisdom and creative distractions set into poetic motion.

Many of us are feeling the intense grip that today’s political climate has on us. In order to counterbalance the heaviness of this burden, it has become more and more important to believe in the positive ideals represented by the people and values we love and hold dear to us. Making the time to focus on the more obscure, smaller things that surround us, as well, is all about holding on to our identity (sanity) and allowing our imagination to run wild and free. Our power of observation offers us a distraction from the threats of reality we tend to wallow in; an escape mechanism that enables us to resist and persist by rejoicing in the simple art of daydreaming....

I offer you a few 'little stories' I've written in the last several days. Based upon my personal activities, they are designed to capture my daydreams, urge the creative juices to flow freely, and save my sanity!

CAPTURING THE SPIRIT
OF 'LE TOUR'

VIEW DU JOUR

The hand-held camera is gripped tightly by the Frenchman seated behind his leather-clad motorcycle driver who is gingerly navigating the extremely narrow road. The camera is positioned low enough to capture the whirling spokes of each bicycle tire blazing past him; each smooth and muscular, pumping leg of the men powering the bikes from one valley up to the mountain summit and down again into the next valley waiting far below. A virtual train of colorful machines and raw, physical power flashes on the television screen in front of me.

The surrealistic ‘view du jour’ is orchestrated by this particular cameraman with his own sense of artistic flair, daring to capture a unique view of his own French landscape. This rhythmical shot is nothing short of mesmerizing. 

Slowly, he pans up and repositions his camera to shoulder height, mocking physics by challenging the properties of gravity and inertia, simultaneously. What I see now takes my breath away! As if fixated upon every shadow and detail of Mont Sainte-Victoire (located in the South of France) forming in the fertile mind of Paul Cézanne, I witness the finished product captured high-up in the French Alps at precisely this moment in time by a Frenchman and his camera. Merci!

NICE TO SEE THAT EVEN TOILET TISSUE
CAN BE IMPROVED UPON!

TOILET TISSUE

It’s just toilet paper after all! It’s a product we, certainly, take for granted, often purchase in bulk, and stuff in a cabinet or neatly stack on the highest shelf in the pantry; out of sight, out of mind until absolutely required. Often, we miscalculate the timing of its necessity and find ourselves in full-fledged panic mode while dashing about and feeding another puffy roll on the spring-loaded rod, before securely clicking it into place.

It’s precisely because of the timeless war we’ve waged with our spouses throughout the years as to whether each sheet is fed on top of or behind the roll of toilet tissue that I, innocently, made a very interesting discovery one afternoon. 

Peeling off the one dimensional plastic skin of the cuddly, brown bear smiling up at me, I decided it was time to replenish each bathroom with several rolls of toilet tissue. Releasing each roll from its second plastic wrapper and removing the spring rod prior to piercing it into the center of the cardboard roll, I was distracted by something I’d never seen before.

Gone was the straight, austere edge I’d come to know for so many years! The edge of the first sheet that fed over the top of the roll reminded me of the soft, scalloped trim of a Victorian dress sleeve; the delicate edge of a hand-embroidered pillow case. This small, almost unnoticeable change delighted my sense of artistic balance as it softly laid atop the other sheets and, when pulled away from them, was released with much more efficiency than its straight edged counterpart. 

Smiling, I tucked a few rolls of ‘prettiness’ into the empty basket and moved on to the next bathroom realizing that sometimes it takes such a small change to happen in order to make a world of difference.

GETTING READY FOR AN EVENING DUET
 WITH THE 'BIG BOYS'

A FREQUENCY OUR FROGS CAN IDENTIFY WITH

Within the past several months we’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon that we’d never picked-up on before. Sitting out on our lanai at sunset always offers a myriad of visual and audio delights, mostly attributed to nature but, with a few being, strictly, man-made. The amazing part is that our minds and bodies have become attuned to these various activities and we have come to know when to expect them to happen.....almost down to the precise moment!

Even more amazing is when a man-made object directly interacts with nature in such a way that we’ve grown used to the joy it fills us with each time it happens! The distraction it provides helps us to understand more about the interconnected, emotional environment we live in.

Among the unique beauty of our Floridian sunsets that fill the senses with indescribable color, deep shadows, and spectacular highlights, we witness the pouring rain that sifts through the tiny, mesh holes of the screen enclosure creating a soft and surreal backyard world. We can predict the moment when the harmony of the crickets and the high-pitched droning of the cicadas begins. When the colors of the sunset blend into the semi-darkness of dusk, our frogs appear and begin walking the high frame of the pool enclosure like expert tight-rope performers. And, while all of this is happening around us, the large, metal birds aloft in the evening sky come from all over the world to land at OIA (Orlando International Airport) only a few miles away.

Our ambitious frogs spend the day sheltering from the sun by resting in the nook and crannies afforded by the metal bracing. As the planes approach at dusk (one of the busiest times at OIA), the frogs appear and leap along the damp, aluminum rails with gusto! The frequency of the sound waves produced by the plane’s engines overhead are of a distinctive quality of sound that matches the specific vibration of our friendly frogs. Their instinctive reaction to each plane is a short litany of croaks as if to say, “Go away, you really do bother me.”

Even if we become distracted by the television after coming inside for the night, our predictable amphibians lament their guttural songs before we realize that yet another plane will soon be touching down on the tarmac just down the road. I’m still not certain if they are friends or foe of one another but, I do know one thing....they will be missed when we, finally, pack-up and leave them behind in the Orlando twilight.

REFLECTIONS OF TIME AND SPACE
AFTER MY MORNING READ...

I AM TOTALLY INFATUATED
WITH THIS PICTURE!!!

Copyright © 2018 by Jacqueline E. Hughes

All rights reserved