Once I realized that the sunrise was not at that conjunction but over land, I raced down the beach, but I was too late to see the sun lift off the water. Oh well, there’ll always be another time. The real question is what do I do now that I’m up?
I could take pictures of prints of paintings on the wall of our motel.
adam
Nice capture on the wheeling gull, and I think the spit of land makes for a better image than unbroken horizon, myself.
Heckuva serene painting, too … Embodies the peace for which I imagine you go there …
Jen
That settles it. I’m going to the beach today. I think I’ll go to Falmouth and catch a sunset.
michael
I never thought of that. How embarrassing. There is a way to look west over the water without flying to California.
I agree, Adam, that photo has potential. I used a neutral density graduated filter to keep the sun from getting blown out while preserving more shore detail.
jennifer
But I don’t get this. I mean, the directions. The photo that you said was northeast … how does that relate to this sunrise photo; this spit of land? If the night desk guy had missed a few sunrises, he would have thought the sun would rise was further south or RIGHT, not further left than it in fact was.
(So, mostly the purpose of this comment was to solidify your impression that I can’t enjoy something that I don’t understand.)
As for a location with options of sunrise and sunset over water without lots of driving … Wauwinet, Nantucket. Oops, I guess the sunset is over a spit of land there.
jennifer
I’m getting no new entries since 08 04 20 6:55 and no comments since 08 04 21 14:23. Is that right? How can this be? Or, as happened once before, is my computer not getting the newest mainecourse version? (This is a test. I’ll see if my comment shows up.)
michael
Better yet post a long story about camping with a dozen family members at Cinnamon Bay, St John, and see if that shows up.
Jen
Nice try Mike.
jennifer
The thing is, at a distance of 18 years, that trip was pretty boring, except to a story teller like you. I’ll see if my friend Peggy remembers any interesting details from HER 13-family-member trip to Cinnamon Bay.
michael
In the meantime how about a Travesties review?
jennifer
Ok, ok. Travesties. We ended up not going to dinner before-hand, by the way, because when we called we were reminded of how unpredictable they can be and we didn’t want to spend unnecessary time in town. You’d expect a restaurant to say “Wed. night, 6 PM, no problem” or “… when do you need to get out? You might want to give yourselves a bit more time” rather than “no reservations for parties smaller than 6; goodbye”.
The play. We enjoyed most of it very much but I was a little frustrated I hadn’t read up on the Russian revolution. (Lew laughed in places I totally missed.) I am glad I was pretty familiar with “The Importance of Being Earnest”; I caught a lot more quotes from it that Lew missed … but I bet I missed a lot too. (That sounds competitive, but it’s not. It’s just how I could gauge whether I missed something or not. If someone across the theater laughed, I didn’t know whether it was because their friend had told them about the action right there, because they understood dadaism, the Russian revolution, or what. But I do know what Lew knows about.) At the time, neither of us understood the director’s choice to have the Cecily / Gwendolyn scene (pretty close to the end) that is straight out of TIoBE be mechanical dolls; but since Lew didn’t realize that WAS straight out of TIoBE, I realized it probably was to help us notice. But I think it detracted, like someone reciting poetry that follows a simple meter with heavy emphasis on the meter. We thought the accent of Tzara* detracted as well; the other actors were very good to excellent. *Although I wondered whether the real Tzara wasn’t in fact faking a different accent — was the actor trying to convey that? But I often think a tv actor is trying to convey the character is lying … and everyone else watching knows it’s just bad acting.
Now that might all sound on the negative side, but we talked the whole way home and for another half hour or so about what it all means; that’s pretty positive.
michael
I loved the mechanical dolls part – like adding slapstick to Shakespeare. And much of what you say speaks the complexity of the play which, for me, is enticing. I’d like to see it again. Proud mama’s been three or four times. Proud papa did his best to convince El Kib and smilingDan that they should see the play.
jennifer
It’s funny; I look at what I wrote two days ago, and can’t believe I was so negative. I’d definitely see it again. It’s a shame Smiling and el K. didn’t see it. I think they both would have enjoyed it very much. And I’d love to talk about what it all means.
I think adding slapstick to Shakespeare would be a bad idea … but I’m no longer sure I think the mechanical dolls detracted. (I still think Tzara’s accent detracted, though.)
jennifer
Michael, I have to ask — did you realize that the mechanical dolls part was Oscar Wilde’s original scene, with at most one word per sentence changed to fit “Travesties”?
michael
Nope.
anon
Even though I told him that very thing.
jennifer
I took his answer to mean that he didn’t know when he saw it. So, I’m curious Anon, since you obviously DID recognize TIoBE, what you thought about the mechanical dolls — were they useful and helpful in setting that scene apart, or were they distracting, or both at the same time?
One thing I loved (which Lew missed, surprisingly) was in the 1962 scene at the end, learning the identity of the ambassador. Actually, I liked that whole scene a whole lot, especially the acting and the script.