Something Old

Stormy Skies Near Abandoned Hotel
Along the Hudson Valley,
New York

There were many abandoned buildings in my life.  It seemed that the nearby countryside and the neighboring towns all shared the same sense of abandonment.  Buildings now barely stand as symbols of a better time gone by.  In these towns, time stood still as gears of commerce ground to a complete halt; taking with it not only prosperity but hope.  Long gone are the clock shops, mills, thread shops, and independent machine shops.  Only the noise now heard in these structures are creaking planks and the whistling of wind through broken window panes.

Abandoned Catskill Hotel
Tannersville, NY

A long time ago, back in high school, I wrote a short story about finding beauty where there is none.  I've spent a life time trying to reconcile the ugliness of reality with the beauty of the details.   The eye wants to reconcile both and it wants to make things right within your heart.

You might say that I found beauty out of the necessity to survive.  The old New England tenements were not pretty.  It was my way of escaping the unpleasant facts surrounding me.  I learned to make sense out of nonsense.

 It doesn't have to be light to see the light.  Light can be seen best in absolute darkness.  The characteristic of light is the same.  Darkness enhances the characteristics and the appreciation of light.

Clapboards and Shutter
Tannersville, NY

Each day I choose to see images and pieces of images that I discern in fractions of seconds.  I find the core that draws me to them in the first place.  There is beauty in many things surrounding us.  We simply must explore beyond the surface.  It's then that our eyes can serve their true purpose as they discern what the heart yearns.