nostalgia for the summer of 2019 and all the summers before

 

Ancient World 

W. S. Merwin, 1927-2019, American

 

 

Orange sunset

 

 

 

A photograph of the moon rising and the sun setting taken by Renu Rajpal Miller on the beach in Margate, NJ  in July 2019

 

 


in the deep shell of summer

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Gone Mad, 1997, oil on birch panel. 

Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936.  Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia

 

 

 

a long silence reaching

 

 

 

 

 

Detail of Sea Gone Mad, 1997, oil on birch panel. 

Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936. 

 

 

 


across the dry pastures

 

 

 

 

 

West End Pond, 1973, acrylic on canvas. 

Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936.  Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia

 

 


in the distance

a dog barks

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail of West End Pond, 1973, acrylic on canvas. 

Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936. 

 

 

 


at the sound of

the door closing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail of West End Pond, 1973, acrylic on canvas. 

Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936. 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail of West End Pond, 1973, acrylic on canvas. 

Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936.  

 

 

 

 

 

and at once I am older

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maine Portrait (portrait of the artist’s daughter), 2016, oil on canvas. 

Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936.  Exhibited at Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia in 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 thoughts on “nostalgia for the summer of 2019 and all the summers before”

  1. And not only nostalgia, Sarah. My feelings feel more like grief. But thank you for the introduction to Elizabeth Osbourne. What a joy those mad sea and distant pond scenes are. And that portrait…so many subtle emotions.

    1. I understand the hovering grief, Tish.

      When grief comes close, I am overtaken with the sudden understanding that what we are experiencing is a speeded up, sensation-enhanced version of what we have always experienced and the lives we have always lived. True colours are showing in every sense. That is to say that what has changed most is my understanding of and experience of life as we have lived it before Covid came. I suppose this is a restatement of the words of Jospeh Campbell, the American scholar of myth: we live always in the forefront of a horror and our discipline is to say: yes. And live.

      Then the nostalgia overtakes the grief for the intermittent times – fewer for an Ethiopian, perhaps, than for most Westerners, though not necessarily – that I did not remember this!

      Your photos of your physical environment help stave off grief. There seem to be more shades of green in England than anywhere else: natural and recreated in textiles, paints etc. So thanks to you!

      1. Speeded up everything – yes! And while I have been telling myself: who am I to expect my life to comfortable when so many of the world live in strife-torn places. I do fear, though, for where all this is heading.

        But yes, greenness we have, and a shade I keep turning to at present.

      2. Many people also are building and rebuilding and a very large number of young people among them. If you have a moment and have not heard of him, as an example, do look up the Australian Aboriginal Tyson Yunkaporta and his Sand Talk. He is also on Utube. Just one example and very heartening. Spread by word of mouth into many of our hands.

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