Comtemplating Widow's walks

I am starting to understand widow's walks. As a child they always fascinated me, when I would be in old houses I would race up to them and look out to the sea wondering why someone would use them. I figured a long once a day would be enough, the idea of pacing or spending time watching seemed so foreign to me.

I am not sure I really had that concept of that kind of the unknown before. The concept of knowing that someone wants to come home, they are trying their hardest to come home, not knowing when it would happen and trying not to think that it might not ever happen while being realistic about the dangers of the voyage.

It is kind of a semi secure helplessness. The security is in knowing their intentions. The helplessness is knowing that there is nothing you can do once they are gone, you just must wait and have some sort of faith/hope/belief that they will return in one piece.

The Empire that was Russia-Aug 17, 2004

A few weeks ago instead of doing what I was planning to do, I was exploring The Empire that was Russia. The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population.

These photos have been gone under Digichromatography, a color rendering process. The original photographer shot them 3 times to present a kind of 3 color processing effect when he projected them. Very interesting if you've ever processed film.
It is just fascinating! I like the above photo for some strange reason, maybe because I wish my collection (aka stash) was as neat and tidy.