Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The woods near the lake close to the house where I grew up in Ledyard, Conn.





"Just a quick one before I go." I am still organizing pictures and the work project is ending with more of a bang than a whimper but at least its ending. I did buy the new Pynchon, Against the Day, for the flight home and have read most of the blurbs about it which run from indifferent to enthusiastic with some claiming both at once. As to be expected I suppose.

I am convinced that bringing only this book along will be the best way to get over the hurdle of actually starting this thousand page monstrosity. His last one sat on my shelf for nearly ten years so I hope this approach works. I also think the Pynchon Wiki is a great idea and will be most useful.

We used to spend a lot of times in these woods. The lake (not shown) is where I basically learned to swim despite the leeches. There is a new street of houses that extends near the cemetery and they named it after the Captain above. They even put a path that leads partway to his grave marked by the flag. The woods seem to have shrunk far more than just the land being developed. It must also be in part that in our youth everything seems much larger than it actually is. (Trite but true as the cliche goes.)

6 comments:

Churlita said...

How weird to have headstones from the 1700's. I've never lived anywhere that was colonized by white people that long ago. Maybe one of these days I should get myself over to the East Coast.

Churlita said...

Oh, and was your last response about the spellchecker particularly pointed? It probably should have been for me. As you know, I'm not the best proofreader ever.

Unknown said...

No, not pointed and it turned out that it was just the feature of a specific place i was working at. And as far as the colonization goes it gets better...the reason Melville chose the name Pequod was for a long ago local slaughter etc... friends still own the land... you need to see it...

Unknown said...

P.S.

Churlita,

I still go back and correct grammar and spelling from old posts of my own.

Anonymous said...

It's strange because the trees around where I grew up still seem to be getting taller and taller.

Maybe it's the nuclear power plant next door?

Oh wait, you're the one who grew up near the power plant

Unknown said...

I used to work at one and there were a lot of reactors nearby if you count the submarine base.