Sunday, December 16, 2012

the sound of gulls



I'm packing my bags again after barely unpacking them— mostly because I'm horribly lazy when it comes to unpacking bags. I will continue to live out of my suitcase once I'm home from a trip, and use it as an unfortunate surface to heap the clothes I've peeled off myself at the end of the day. I'm heading to Portugal again, and then I'll be going Stateside for the first time in a long while. I haven't been back since my grandad died, which was two years ago this Friday. My goodness, the things that have happened since then— wonderful things, that I know he would delight in knowing.

Last night I dreamt I was on the shore surrounded by a flock of gulls. I could see myself in the distance as a little girl, playing in the sand with my grandad crouching by my side. We were looking at the green waves and laughing. I strained to hear our conversation, but the noise of the sea and the gulls deafened me, so I tried to walk closer. I suddenly realised that we were never really there; that I had imagined it all, and just as this thought came to my mind, we vanished. I found my present self standing alone in the wet sand, with white flashes of gull wings.

Photo by PeF.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I dream about my dead father, dead Grandpa's and their houses and fish. It's a theme.

I was in Portland this weekend. While riding the bus, I heard an old guy and young man talking about traveling to Istanbul. I mention your blog and how you paint a hunger in my stomach with you words and images.

My sketches of Portland are not so much food stories...But should you ever go the little donuts at the Rocking Frog coffee shop, where I sketched the squishy face girl, are super hot and fresh. The donut is excellent before a rainy evening walk through the cemetery on the way to the main course of Gumbo, Fried Chicken, and collard greens at the Screen Door restaurant. I don't even like chicken, no words, just darn good.
Should you ever be near by, go. Perhaps you can do the place adequate justice with your blog.

Some of my Portland here::--->
http://thesmellofsmoke.blogspot.com/2012/12/portland-to-rest-my-bones.html

szaza said...

Thank you for your kind words, Dan.
I do hope to go to Portland one day, and if I do, I'll be going to that Screen Door!

The "squishy face girl" is great— so much character.