The Vespa GTS 250ie still sits in the garage awaiting the rise of the Vespa mechanic. Tools are ready, parts on hand, even a sign hailing service was acquired hoping to prod the mechanic into motion. All reports indicate an unusually resistant strain of procrastination. Theories are mixed to the cause and lasso everything from cold weather to indolence. Regardless, scooter riding has ground to a halt along with a list of other creative and spiritual endeavors.
Still, some things continue on — more from coercion than desire. These images, all made during the past week, markers along a narrow trail seeking a way out of a mental winter.
Junior insists on walks. Walk is too tame, runs, wild reckless forays involving blaze orange rubber balls that whistle and sore throwing arms. No excuses accepted and minor variations in schedule are met with snorts of frustration. Repairing the Vespa? Junior couldn’t care less.
Trudging to work to meet his needs is fine as long as the balls continue to fly.
Kim saw the doll first, captured it, resolved the strangeness with her camera as the totem reached out as if to make one last horrible shake of winter stupor, laughing and cursing the actions not taken by the man with the iPhone, the Vespa, darkroom, writing, photography and a dozen other paths thick with weeds and fast disintegrating beneath the sadness of winter.
Kim always sees things first. And not just in regard to pictures.
Avoidance isn’t limited to the Vespa. It’s locked cameras away and transformed the needed repairs to the darkroom into a mystical task of construction known only to long gone Druids or craftsman familiar to King Solomon. With great effort and focus and days of meditation a few moments of photographic expression became possible with the iPhone using the Hipstamatic app, Tinto 1884 lens, D-Type Plate Film.
For a few moments I could pretend to be a photographer.
Two more rolls of black and white film through the Leica M6 and added to the growing collection of unprocessed images, quiet reminders of a road less traveled.
Under a bright blue sky and dreams of warm air a miracle occurred and prints were made. An excited, agitated buzz of creative energy was quickly strangled by the harsh reality of returning snow. Gordon Harkins captured this fleeting moment of hope.
A Walmart print.
After midnight, fiddling with Hipstamatic, watching Project Runway and the wild, driven antics of designers pursuing an idea. A dream.
I remember that feeling, that drive. And I realize now, for no good or bad reason, at a pace all its own, things recede, there’s an ebb and flow to what the mind demands. Last night I looked at the shop manual for the Vespa again, shaking my head at the simplicity of the repair that has kept me grounded all winter. Over the weekend I looked at the sink and the minor nature of the repair.
Winter was for rest and reflection. And with the coming of spring things will change and grow. The Vespa will return to the road, the camera will fall into compulsive use and the world will be different.
Damn, I am having fun. And I didn’t even know it.
I remember Jean-Luc Godard saying that you have to go back to zero, not just start over. Interesting thought. Hard to implement. But worth thinking on.
This particular post is most heartening to me. I have fallen into a malaise, a bog of neglect. My camera hangs from the back of a kitchen chair mostly forgotten. My blog is all BUT forgotten. No rides to comment on, no new photos to present to my most loyal of readers.
I don’t rejoice in your winter dole-drums, but I do feel a bit vindicated. I do so enjoy reading your thoughts.
Thank you, I feel quite encouraged.
I too am being pulled in a variety of directions. Winter was slow for business which is not good because I prefer the opposite. Suddenly when Vespa riding weather is approaching, my business is getting busy and will require more of my time leaving less to riding. However, as usual, my determination will hopefully balance both passions. Luckily I got a ride in yesterday and now have some work to do on mine. Install windshield, change tires, spark plug and belt (getting ready for this summer).
So Steve, that’s what’s happened, your “inner rider” has gone into hibernation?
Is it perhaps a realization, like mine, that you’re going to the same spots, shooting the same scenes?
Your pictures never showed repetition, whereas mine do, so I guess that’s not it.j
I hope, with the advent of Spring, that your “inner rider” will awake your “inner mechanic” and get all of you back on the road and showing us how its done in terms of picture taking.
I’m hoping the Alaska ride reboots something within me that’s “stuck”.
dom
Redleg’s Rides
“It’s locked cameras away and transformed the needed repairs to the darkroom into a mystical task of construction known only to long gone Druids or craftsman familiar to King Solomon” I hope you like this as much as I do. Well done. 🙂
Steve;
I am experiencing a similar malaise. The things I was once so passionate about don’t seem to interest me so much now…is it the “been there, done that” phenomenon?
Maybe it is the weather…
I don’t know.
Steve
Glad to see you’re writing here again…I have missed your frequent postings recently.
I installed a new drive belt & Dr. Pulley sliders on my ’10 GTS 300S…should have done it years ago! My gosh, what a difference they make…so smooth.
Stay well, Steve.
Karl U
Should the indolence persist, Bobskoot and I will drop in sometime in early July for a visit and while we’re there, after we treat you to breakfast, we’ll install that spark plug lead 🙂
Dear Sir:
The crowd awaits the soft interpretation of the master. It really isn’t that hard to get started again. Yet the creative commitment becomes more than a challenge when there are witnesses. That’s when you sometimes wish you were alone.
Forget that option. It’s not part of the devil’s deal.
Fondest regards,
Jack/reep
Twisted Roads
The Blog That Goes Nowhere At The Speed Of Light
Steve:
I think I understand “lack” of motivation. I had great hopes of shooting some 4×5 sheet film but the selection of film types is much less than it was. But I splurged and bought a box of “chrome” and there it sits unopened, just waiting to be loaded into my sheet holders. I think it has expired now and I feel a bit guilty.
Most times I feel that I have photographed everything within a comfortable radius thus lack of creative thoughts.
Like Dom, this year I am riding to places I have never ridden before and WE are trying to make it to Saints in July. As David mentioned above, save the date for our visit and we will help you to plug in that spark plug lead, unless of course you beat us to it
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Martha Tenney: There’s something attractive, useful surrounding the idea of going back to zero. Like closing a checking account and starting all over to put all the accounting chaos in the rear view mirror.
I keep thinking about these things…
Marilyn Elmore: Perhaps, you, I and many others should just learn to chalk these doldrums up to the distracting spell of winter. Warm air and bright light will transform us all.
Thanks for your kind words about this post. Always good medicine to have someone respond.
Peter Sanderson: Determination is powerful stuff. Mix it with desire and often the malady retreats. Like you, I look for the balance between work and riding — work being a catch all term for family, career and much more.
Good luck with your Vespa maintenance. Hope it goes fast and easy and you are on the road in no time!
Charlie6 (dom) Hibernation at least. Suspended animation maybe. Or if I’m honest he left the farm and was on a sloth bender of epic proportion.
I don’t worry about going to the same spots. I know I could visit the same place every day and see something new, feel something new, experience something new. That may be why my pictures don’t seem repetitive to you. They do to me a lot of times but that doesn’t stop me from taking them. Practice is always a good thing. It’s why I still practice panic stops and slow speed figure eights.
I’ll be back on the road soon. Was just in the garage trying to figure out how to get to the Vespa…
jason.ewert: Thanks for the nod to my attempt at prose. Hopefully soon I’ll be waxing on about the ecstasy of accomplishing a repair!
Anonymous: Been there, done that generally isn’t an issue for me. I suffer more from shutdown as a response to the thought of too much to do. Takes me awhile to step off that wheel.
And winter didn’t help. Let’s hope we both change with the longer days.
karlu: I’ll look into the new parts. I”m not far off now from a belt and roller change.
David Masse: If the Vespa isn’t on the road by then I must be dead.
Dear Mr. Riepe: I don’t remember making any deals. I think my soul is still intact…
bob skoot: Gearing up to shoot 4×5 sheet film, especially chrome, just sounds daunting even in the best of circumstances. I just shake my head thinking about all those years I worked in that medium.
There’s no way you and Dom will get to Saint’s before I fix the Vespa unless you are already on the road heading East.