Thursday, September 16, 2010

All in life is transitory, except ....

The "work station" changes, grows, expands, at times becomes smaller. The television and the printer now also are in place. More books are present. Actually, a third pistol as arrived on the scene, but it is hidden from view. It could be interesting to consider the various and varied work stations each of us has experienced in our lives. At times, my work station has included a typewriter rather than a computer, a rifle, a camera, a notepad and pen, a car, a blackboard, a lectern, and on and on and on. Think about your own work stations for a moment, both personal and professional, both past and present.

I looked out this morning ....


Here is a lesson for you. Or, a thought, if you resent the implication that I might possibility be telling you what to do. Or, an idea, if you like to examine the ideas of other people and compare them to your own.

Everything in life is transitory. And, it does not necessarily change by minutes or centuries or millennium. It changes in nanoseconds, or even in some smaller unit, if there is some such thing. Being "unscientific" in nature, such means of measurement are a mystery to me.


Look at the photograph. I have been in the Lake House for two weeks, and it took this long to build my “work station.” In about five weeks, most everything in the house that is me and mine will be gone except for these tables and the items on them. In about six weeks, all of this will be gone, too -- gone from this place forever. Other than a photograph, there will be no indication any of this existed. No one or nothing, other than the Lake House itself, will ever be able to factually demonstrate that I passed this way.

And, even as the work station exists in real time, it changes. The computer screens change. The television screen and the Blackberry screen change. There is no respite from change, from time, from ourselves. Dust gathers at some places. A sheet of paper vanishes. See how different the setting is in today's photograph from the photo taken only two days ago. I will wake up one morning, and this scene will have ceased to exist. Or, maybe, I will have ceased to exist.

All in life is transitory, I think, except, maybe, there is one thing that never does change for some very few people. Maybe, the look in the eyes of another is the same for as long as time exists. Maybe, but I doubt it.

.... and the sun was gone ....


It happened again to me yesterday. I jumped into the Suburban, turned on the radio, and Boston came blasting out at me.

It is fate, destiny. Someone or something is trying to send me a message. I am being followed by the music of Boston wherever I go, whenever I turn on a radio. This time the song was, "More Than a Feeling."

So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet I still recall as I wander on
As clear as the sun in the summer sky

When I’m tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day
And dream of a girl I used to know
I closed my eyes and she slipped away
She slipped away


I wonder if the words are prophetic. For me, that is to say. Somehow, I do not think so. I never have climbed Mount Everest (although my camera has), but it seems to me any of us can attain seemingly unattainable heights in our lives if we really want to do it and are willing to pay the price.

With that in mind, rock on, Boston, until all the lights have gone out and the concert hall is empty ....



19 comments:

Kaya said...

Fram, your working station gets different every time I look at it. It starts to live it's own life and I think sometimes separate from Fram.

What you wrote about ideas is very true. They are coming and going and most my ideas come from other people. It can be a word or a thought and suddenly I completely obsessed with it until it will turn into something interesting and worth thinking about....

It is interesting what kind of military jacket this time hanging on your chair. I am not going even guess about it but would like to know.

That is true that everything in life is transitory. Perhaps, it is good. Sad but good... I know it is sound strange. I like to follow life's flow and never look back. No, I am not completely honest with myself I look back from time to time and I wish I would learn not to do that.

About that everything will be gone when you move out to your new place isn't true. I truly believe that everything in your house will have memories of you. You and house right now is one whole world and if you leave this world, the invisible part of you (your emotions, thoughts, moments of happiness and sadness) will still be there....

Fram, once you said that I have to write more about myself. I couldn't do it for a long time. I started Russian blog and decided to be honest about everything to the point of cruelty... I installed recently Google translation and you can visit and read my Russian blog in English. Of course, if you would like to do so... Translation is so so but it is better than nothing.

If you will decide to stop and visit my Russian blog please, don't judge me harshly...

Next, time I tried to be more short in my comments. I promise.

Anonymous said...

It is nice to see your little cute bear is having a nice time.I can not view your video.Sony has blocked it in our country.

Tonight i got this melody on my mind..on and on again.. midnight blue, a modern version of "Pathétique" by Beethoven..oh why is love so difficult?..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HejJcZVp6FQ....


Thanx for nice post.Like it very much.

Fram Actual said...

Well, if the work station starts to live its own life separate from mine, Kaya, it probably is because White Bear is utilizing it while I sleep.

This is more of a shirt than a jacket, short sleeves but heavier material for Spring and Fall use or to offer a bit more protection than an ordinary shirt in places with thick vegetation.

I constantly am looking back and measuring this and that, thinking about the turns that I made in life and wondering where I would be today had I gone the opposite direction. It also would be nice (I think) to be able to stop the clock now and then so as to be able to catch up with yourself. Time out !!

Yes, I think part of me will become part of the house. I am not certain if you have noticed it, but sometimes I mention the "manitou." A manitou is a spirit which is part of every object, both animate and inanimate. This comes from a concept among some Native American tribes, and which I think is real.

Give me a day or two, and I will have read your Russian blog, and then we shall see what we shall see.

Please, do continue to write long. Unlike many people, I prefer both to write long and to read long.

Fram Actual said...

White Bear always is happy, Anita. He keeps himself busy all day long with computers, television and reading.

I found blocked music to be a problem when I was in Poland, and I still do here in America periodically.

I listened to your song a little while ago. Very nice. Now, we will see if the tune stays on my mind.

Peggy said...

Fram, I have viewed carefully both workstation photos and thought about the man behind those photos. Interesting to imagine the whys behind various items - like why 2 staplers neatly side by side in the first photo.

Of course the question must be asked - why was the printer and television missing from the first photo but included in the 2nd? What tale will you tell to clear up this mystery?

I agree with your comments about everything being transitory. Like the ocean's shore - the waves of the sea bring to shore this and that... and they are picked up, buried by sand or are washed back out again. The sea shore is always changing, always rearranging itself. On a calm day just a slight change where the waves soak into the sand, or a drastic rework of the shoreline after a violent storm. Life is like that and so it seems is your work station. Small changes now, larger changes to come in 5/6 weeks.

Fram, my last comment is about the pistols. We in Canada do not have the right to own pistols and I must admit to finding it a bit disconcerting to see 2 sitting on a table just like that, never mind that there is a third hiding somewhere (strapped to your leg?). I have to add that I have fired pistols once at a gun club, but that is a different thing than just having them out sitting on a table. But that is just me.

I have the feeling that one would not want to surprise you in your Lake House. The interloper would come out of it the worse for the encounter.

Fram Actual said...

Silly as it might sound, Peggy, one stapler is there for nostalgic reasons, the other there to use.

The printer and the television were still downstairs sitting on the kitchen counter, the site of (the un-photographed) work station No. 2. It was sort of nice having a TV there, and the printer remained there until I actually needed it and had to carry it upstairs.

The ocean/sea/lake shore is a good allusion to life and the changes that occur to each of us along the way. A very nice touch.

Ah, yes, the pistolero. My knowledge of Canadian gun laws is non-existence at this point in time, and I do not want to disillusion you, but I have carried a holstered pistol more than once in Canada. Back in the days before 9/11 and before paranoia ruled the Earth, there were times I canoed in places like the Rainy River between Manitoba and Minnesota. We would carry handguns, and we would camp on whichever side of the river looked best. I probably would not do that today.

I do not leave firearms lying about the house if there might be children or strangers present, but most people I know are comfortable with them in plain sight and know how to handle them safely. You might also note these are in a bedroom, a place strangers are not likely to be found. (At least, where I live they are not !!)

Then, too, people who "belong to the gun culture" ordinarily do not pick up another person's firearms without first asking permission.

Finally, to me, a handgun or a rifle inside a house is no different than having an axe in the garage or a butcher knife in the kitchen. They all are tools, and should not be used without having received proper instruction on how to use them.

But, the bottom line always is that accidents do happen, and gun owners accept that risk just as automobile drivers risk highway traffic.

The third gun, incidentally, is behind the computer screen. It is small, commonly called a "pocket pistol."

I have written about this in the past, but I will mention once more right here and now that a mother and her eleven-year-old daughter were murdered only about three hundred yards down a country lane from my home a few years ago. There was one house between mine and the site of the murders.

The killer was an escapee from a facility for the criminally insane. I often have said that I wish to god he would have kept on walking until he reached my house and tried breaking in there. If I had my way, I would never be without a pistol in my pocket.

This comment is longer than my original post .... very cool !!

Anonymous said...

I should, would and might, at some point comment on all the questions you leave us in this text. However, there's only one now, lingering in my mind, that I really need to ask.

What would you define a home?
For yourself, that is, not others.

And, of course- since you practically laid the words in my mouth;

Do you believe in fate then?

Fram Actual said...

About once a month, I say or write these words: Communication is the most difficult, complicated task in the world.

There are two reasons for this, Nanna. First, because few people carry a dictionary in their pocket, and life experiences and communications with others lead to variations in interpretations of some words over time. Next, because there are people like me who sometimes expand or bend or modify meanings of certain words in an attempt to better explain themselves.

Therefore, the "dictionary of Fram" separates "fate" and "destiny" into somewhat free standing words with somewhat independent meanings.

Destiny, to me, means something is predetermined. I was "destined" to marry the woman I did. I am "destined" to die at a certain place on a specific day and in a predetermined manner.

So, now, I am an agnostic about destiny in this sense. I simply do not know if this is actual and really the case, and I do not believe there is any way any of us can ever know if this is the case.

Fate, to me, means I have certain choices in life. I am offered a job in three cities or I meet five women at a party or I decide I am going to drive to California rather than fly there.

I believe we all have some inner senses -- six or seven or even more senses -- some instinctual or genetic elements, which are part of our thought processes and which, if we utilize them, guide us.

I take job No. 2, date and marry woman No. 1, and decide to drive to California. As life goes on, I have no way of knowing if jobs No. 1 and No. 3 would have been better for me; my marriage ends in divorce; and the aircraft I would have flown on crashes and everyone dies. These results (or endings, at least in one example) are what I would describe as fate, which has been brought about as a direct result of the decisions I made.

Drawing further on just one example, was it my destiny to marry and to divorce this woman? I do not know, but I think it was my fate to do so because of the decisions I made. Had my inner senses or instincts been wiser or more acute, it might have been my fate to engage in a successful marriage.

I will be less wordy writing about a "home." A home is a place -- house and land -- where I feel comfortable and safe being in and around; that I know every inch of; that I feel literal warmth from whenever I physically touch part of it; that I probably would be willing to die for to keep or to save.

Notice what I wrote to Kaya about the "manitou" concept. A home would be a place where all the manitous are in concert with my own, and have a strength through unity which provides a peace of mind that probably cannot be found anywhere else I might be.

In the end, I suppose a "home" is a state of mind.

Fram Actual said...

P.S. for Peggy (and anyone else interested) ....

Judging by the American media and the anti-gun crowd hyperbole, it is easy for people not to realize how truly prevalent firearms are as an everyday factor in the American lifestyle. I looked for some statistics this morning, and here are a few notes:

About one in every four Americans personally owns one or more firearms.

Firearms are present in about one-third of all American households.

In forty-eight of the fifty states, an individual resident (such as you, Peggy, if you lived in one of them) can obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

In Minnesota alone, about 77,000 residents have a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

In a personal sense, I began firing rifles, shotguns and handguns at age ten, and I know many people who began even younger. For me, holding a pistol in my hand is no different than holding a pen, and I feel more comfortable wielding one than I do trying to pound a nail with a hammer. To me, it is considerably more nerve-wracking and, I believe, more dangerous, to drive in Minneapolis/St. Paul traffic than it is to be in the backyard firing a gun.

Firearms, I think, are like most things in terms of finding a personal comfort zone.

Thanks, Peggy. As you can tell, I enjoy talking about guns.

Peggy said...

Thank you Fram for helping me to understand gun culture in the world of Fram and indeed the average American household. Interesting to consider the differences in our two cultures as far as guns are concerned. It seems Americans exercise their right to carry a gun.

We Canadians have no such right. According to stats I looked up, only 5.4% of the Canadian population owns a registered firearm. All firearms are required to be registered by law. Except for hunters/trappers in remote locations, it is virtually unknown for anyone outside of the police, Brinks Truck guards and criminals to carry firearms.

I grew up in a rural area and my father grew up on a farm. There was always a shotgun in the house to deal with wild animals in the garden (by wild I mean the likes of a porcupine!)... but no hand gun and the rifle was always locked up and only taken out when there was a "mission in hand". My father would go every fall deer hunting with his rifle. So I never saw firearms very often in the home.

Several years ago I accompanied a friend to a gun club and spent an evening target shooting with a pistol. It was quite an experience.

In Canada you need a bonafide reason to buy a gun and self defense is not allowed as a reason. All guns, even long guns require a license to buy and also a gun safety course, criminal reference check, etc. Guns are not allowed to be transported without a specific additional license and there are restrictions regarding the transportation from location a to b. You cannot just "carry a firearm"... concealed or not.

In order to carry a handgun you need an Authorization to Carry (ATC)and there are only 3 reasons: a hunter/trapper while in remote wilderness, a job which involves guarding or handling money or items of substantial value , or if the person's life is in danger and police protection is inadequate to protect him or her. Apparently licenses are seldom granted for the last reason.

Right now there is a bit of political controversy going on about our long gun registry and desire by some political parties to scrap it. I don't think that will fly.

Interesting differences in gun laws in our two countries.

Did you take/buy a gun while you were in Poland? If not, did you feel like you were missing something important?

Anonymous said...

Heyy Peggy.what a nice note..i like that comment!!

i dont know much about guns.In norway we are not allowded ,even the police doesnt carry one..It is not much killing by gun shoot here..More knifes and ect,,and that is mostly the people from foreign countries which likes to stabb people..The norwegians is more into old hand fights when they are drunk .. if you understand me..but we dont have so much criminality..i think we are a very quiet country compared to big America!!

Hope you all have a very good weekend..Kisses!!:))

Fram Actual said...

My assumption would be that Canadian law regarding firearms is heavily influenced by European law and social mores, particularly British code.

I might write some thoughts about this in a post, Peggy, but, for now, I will mention only a few things. American laws have loosened considerably during the past decade, largely due to the will and the demand of the majority of the American people. "Don't tread on me" is more than a hollow motto for most of us.

Firearms purchased from licensed dealers, which would include retail outlets, must be registered here, too, and a criminal background check run on the person making the purchase. Thanks to the age of computers and cell phones, this process requires only about fifteen or twenty minutes time.

No registration or background check is required for transactions between two individuals although, in theory, all laws that do exist must be followed.

As for Poland, no, I did not have or use any firearms there, although I was surprised by the number of shooting clubs in and around Warsaw and the degree of gun ownership possible in a nation that only two decades ago was part of the Soviet sphere. I am not certain, but it could be that Canadian laws are even more restrictive than Polish laws.

I would also mention (and have in recent posts), that in many ways I felt more free in Poland than I do in America. While gun laws have eased here, personal freedoms in many other ways are visibly disappearing by the year.

Fram Actual said...

The point of the exercise is personal freedom, Anita. The American philosophy, which I think often escapes people in other countries, has always been that it is not anyone else's business -- and especially not the role of government in a republic -- to decide whether or not I can own firearms or even to ask why I want to have personal firearms.

Whether I wish to target shoot, or to hunt, or have one for personal protection, or own one simply to use as a paper weight on my desk, is no one else's business as long as I do not harm anyone else with it and follow a few simple rules.

Too many people wish to govern the lives of other people rather than merely handle their own lives. They wish to tell others how to live and what to eat and where to go to church and you name it, instead of simply taking care of their own lives and problems.

The point to me is this: If I like guns and wish to own some, it my decision to make, not anyone else's.

Anonymous said...

I see the difference between america and norway..In a way I think norway has become very very sosialistic..and I dont know what side of the red it is turning to..No one trust the goverment here,,they hold us down with very high taxes,,but for themselves the politicans have they trix to gain more and more money for themselves..i think they are corupt all of them..The latest news now are the smoking.They soon will have a smoking police to go to each home to see if we smoke inside..well what do you think the next will be?..There are many good things in norway..but also many things other countries doesnt see..I dont know any more..We just keep quiet and do our work and go home again.Hoping soon some young people with new ideas will take over the goverment..but i must say in the end, after all Norway has money and is a good country to live in.Thank you for the exercise.I like when it is something to challenge.Beautiful,nice, good and thank you very much can be very boring in the long terms.I hope you take good care of the guns..you never know when you get use for them..Continue with good weekend.We have sooo much rain..it is impossible to go out ..

Fram Actual said...

The problems with the American political system stem from corruption and personal greed among those in the bureaucratic structure and, most unfortunately, among those representatives and senators who have been elected to look after the welfare of the country and the people who reside here.

It sounds like Norway and America might have that in common, Anita.

Here, those who control the federal government are the worst offenders, but the problem is endemic to the nation, and begins in the small towns and moves on and up through all levels of government. I do not think there will be any stopping it until the entire country is bankrupt, at which time, firearms might become a necessity for survival rather than an implement for entertainment and sport.

TheChicGeek said...

I think you should hide the bear and the guns...people might begin to find you, hmmmmm, how shall I put it... a bit peculiar :))))
Boston speaking to you is always very cool :)
Later Alligator :)

Fram Actual said...

I did not notice your comment here until now, Kelly, but I guess I am not too far behind you.

I am peculiar.** I flaunt it. I thrive on it. I never have cared what people think about me, and I can produce witnesses to that effect. Two ex-wives, for instance.

On the other hand, White Bear thinks he is quite normal and is sort of annoyed with you. Fram the First thinks you have insulted the family honor. They would tell you that themselves, but they are watching a Dirty Harry film on television and cleaning some guns right now.

If you are worried about me, think about a friend I had in high school who was known to go outside and shoot his shotgun at the full moon at times. He would challenge us to prove he was not hitting it. He went into the Navy, and that was the last I heard of him. I wonder whatever happened to him. He probably is an admiral now and a presidential advisor.

Thanks, for "worrying" about me, Kelly, and rock on, Boston ....

** My theory is that if "they" do not run away screaming in terror, they might be worth keeping.

TheChicGeek said...

Ok, Peter...LOL. May I point out the word "ex" along with wives??? Teasing :). You may play with your bear and guns...I know they are a part of you that makes you, you...and that's a good thing:). Nite*

Fram Actual said...

I would bet if anyone asked them, "they" both would say they loved me still, but could not live with me. Hmmmmm, I suppose it was unwise to put it in those words.

Two more thoughts, which might be unwise, also, but the fine print should always be read. When I write to my eldest daughter, I sign my notes Peter Pan. She understands. Women are the wiser sex, I think.

Well, I will skip the second thought for now .... it is time for me to adjourn to the porch again.

Nite, Kelly ....

Something special ....