Lobster buoys find a new life as art.
As a proponent of a lifestyle that tries to be more responsible with the earth's resources, I sometimes find it necessary to weigh and balance the need to conserve and be responsible with the desire to keep a bunch of stuff that can, in an instant, transport my mind to some favorite place in memory. The problem is that reducing "stuff" and not acquiring more "stuff" is fundamentally opposed to the American consumer economy and mentality. But keeping a few things is good - for example, a hat from South Carolina that I spent weeks searching out, a small oil painting from Ecuador of indigenous folks in native dress, photos of whitewashed hill towns in Spain. I also really enjoy using today's technology for keeping all these hundreds of blog posts saved in the cloud by Google/Blogger. Gone are bulky photo albums - plus it's free, accessible, and doesn't take up any physical space!
The power of simple things to evoke place and memory is a remarkable attribute of the human mind. The sight, sound, or smell of something long forgotten can unlock the drawer in the mind's filing cabinet to allow full access to the memory - say the trigger word and out explodes the connection. I think that's astounding.
I bet the owners of the shed in the photo above will always remember that home and their life in it, anytime or anywhere they see a similar buoy either floating in the water or elsewhere.
As another example of the power of a word to evoke memory, while beach walking recently, I met a dog named, "Fenway." For millions of Boston Red Sox fans, that word alone conjures up spectacular memories of the 2004 and 2007 baseball season winners and always will in the future. What a great way to keep the dream alive!
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