A New Year's Walk

Happy New Year! I hope I've learned and grown in 2021, even if what stands out more clearly right now are the struggles and worries. May 2022 be a gentler year for all of us, and may we remember to be grateful for what we have -- including each other.

So, in this picture, I'm waving to you from the banks of the St. Lawrence river, with the Biosphere in back of me. Yesterday we went for a long walk at Parc Jean-Drapeau, site of Montreal's Expo 67: this geodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller, was the United States pavilion for Expo, and is now a museum dedicated to the environment. But yesterday we were pretty much the only people on the two islands in the middle of the river, and even though it was a grey day, it was just what I needed. Lots of wildlife tracks in the snow, many birds including a huge flock of robins (what are they thinking?), the St Lawrence roiling along in its winter mood, red rose hips against the snow, junipers loaded with blue berries, overgrown plantings, a greenhouse where large tropical plants were being overwintered, and many odd graphic images from the desolation of winter and the decay or remnants of structures built for Expo that have fallen into disuse. I hope you'll enjoy taking this walk with me, and I wish you all the best for the year to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Peter]

My family went to the New York world's fair in 1966 and Dad, having gotten a taste for spectacle, I guess, talked Mom into bringing us to Expo67 the next year along with our usual trip to Sharbot Lake. (It wasn’t until years later that I learned that he was bored to tears at Sharbot, where he spent half his time doing some project for my grandfather and the rest fishing, which I don’t think interested him much, either. We kids loved it, of course, so I owe him that.) We have pictures from our visit to New York, but I don't remember any from Montreal; instead, I remember we cast around in the French-labeled streets looking for a reasonably priced restaurant and ended up eating spaghetti, which I thought was funny. We stayed at a hotel built for the Expo, almost entirely of plywood, which meant the floors went "thud" as you walked on them and shook a little when a herd of guests went by in the hall. Of course, a modern concrete floor will do that, too.

Loved the pictures of real winter. Here on the other side of the jet stream, it's 40 and raining again. I should count my blessings, I guess. In any case, I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

[am]

Thank you for the lovely winter walk. All the best to you and your beloveds in the New Year.

Just returned from a New Year's Day walk in the woods in the snow -- something that I've been able to do only a few times in the almost 50 years I've lived in this far northwestern corner of Washington State where Christmas is often rainy or cloudy or even sunny but rarely snowy.

Last night I dreamed that I was drawing in the context of other people. Today before I went out walking, I sat down at my drawing table and felt blocked until I picked up a 6B pencil with my non-dominant left hand and began to draw what I saw when I looked around the table. It was startling and heartening to see that I can draw fairly well with my non-dominant hand. I'll be doing more of that. There is a feeling of joy connected with drawing. I've been out of touch with that joy, only experiencing it vicariously when I've looked at your drawings.

[Duchesse]

I too took a long winter walk, winding through residential streets, pondering remnants of holiday celebrations, and encountering hardly anyone except cats who seemed to appreciate the lack of traffic. It's good to walk in a place that reminds us that pauses and 'closures' are part of the natural world. Happy New Year, Beth.

[Natalie]

Wonderful pic of you, Beth, like a signpost of joy for 2022. Much love to you and Jonathan and may joys of all kinds, ordinary and extraordinary, fill all our lives every day.

[Liz Nestler]

Happy New Year! I’m waving back at you! We were at that site in 2010 as part of an accepted student weekend at McGill with Michael. Sort of a strange, abandoned feel to it.

[Valerie]

Love the photographs....winter can look so desolate in a beautiful way. In my area, Maryland, we had a brief beautiful snowfall that coated all the trees and blanketed the holiday lights that shine through the snow softly. Even when I tell myself I “hate” cold weather, the beauty of a snowfall never fails to stir. Enjoyed reading everyone’s comments. Happy New Year.