A Still Life
Is it Thursday again? Do you also find yourself wondering how it is whatever day it is because it was literally just that day yesterday? Where did the time go? It feels like the slowest and fastest of times. I would personally like to ask the emptying hourglass of sand to take five. That's how quarantine feels to me most of the time. Yet amidst the groundhog's day moments and fear that time actually is “slipping into the future”, there have been magical instants where time feels suspended and I can feel myself savoring the actual minute I’m living in.
Ted, my dog, has been the reason behind many of these moments forcing me to be out in nature and on a schedule. My hope has always been to find the best routes and paths that stimulate us both. Low and behold my prayers were answered when I finally heeded the advice of my father to visit the La Brea Tar Pits just a few short blocks from my front door. The actual tar pits aren’t technically open, but the park where they are warehoused is and it’s an oasis plopped in the middle of the city streets. According to some quick research, the tar pits were discovered in 1769, 251 years ago! Ted and I can finally say we found our LA version of Central Park. Each night as we enter the LACMA gates, we are overwhelmed by Michael Heizner’s gigantic 340 ton boulder called “Levitated Mass”. Look it up if you haven’t heard of it. The sheer enormity of the rock is arresting and it sits atop a cement pathway you can walk under in what feels mildly nonchalant. It is breathtaking and bewildering at the same time. Both securely fastened and precarious all at once.
Ted’s tail flaps like the windshield wipers of a car during a rainstorm as we approach the park and I see his nose twitch delighting in all the smells (I’m grateful I can’t smell them all). His excitement makes our impending sprint feel less daunting. Ted’s tongue falls out the side of his mouth and he pants and smiles. We slow it down and walk through shady paths that surround the tar pits. When we make our way to the end of the big grassy field, we turn back often walking south towards LACMA’S famous outdoor installation “Urban Light” by artist Chris Burden, an installation comprised of 202 street lamps from the 1920’s and 30’s and considered the most recognizable work associated with the museum. When we get home we are exhausted, satisfied and better than we were when we left. I am grateful to live near such an extraordinary place. I know that this time at home working with ARTnews has created a new type of awareness in me. I’m not sure that six months ago I would have taken the same amount of time to stop and appreciate my surroundings in the same way. So while things can seem slow, I’m realizing slow might be a good speed for right now. I’m also realizing that this moment is one small fragment in a much longer story.
My boyfriend, Brian captured these pictures during a few of these recent special visits. Even the tar pits require an outfit. I’ve been working to evolve my New York city wardrobe to make sense for my life in LA. Easy tee shirts, coordinated athleisure, shorts, denim and sneakers are my new normal. Goodbye over the knee boots and Wolford Velvet Deluxe Tights hello Adidas Originals and Nike tube socks :-) Relishing in my newfound comfort dressing, slower than usual speed and knowing I’ll look back on this moment one day with gratitude.
xoxoxox
Brooke
