one thing leading to another (or: domino day and a lighthouse)

today: a domino.
visiting a neolithic exhibition in February with a friend (this one) now sparked the idea to go and visit the place where the little neolithic Venus figure was found - it's only an hour from here. so that was the plan for today, only that due to life in all its unexpected twists, my friend had to postpone it. which made me look for an alternative place to drive to and visit, for the joy of it. more about that tomorrow (hopefully without twists) .. it's funny how when travelling in another country, it's the common thing to go and look for the highlights of the region. while when living in the region, it somehow takes an extra spark to do so.

the not-going today then brought some extra time, and as it was sunny, i read in May Sarton's "Journal of a Solitude". it's a book i came across when reading the Alaska journal of Sheila Nickerson, who quoted the first lines from Sarton, which i then quoted in my own blog note:

"Begin here. It is raining.." (more here)

Sarton's journal starts in autumn, and includes many notes on the place she lives in: the garden with its changes, the light, her writing, her life there, on her own in a house that stands there, alone, surrounded by green. and her work: the writing. here's a passage i read today:



next to the entry is the photo of the house in the evening, the windows alit.
reading Sarton also makes me think of Annie Dillard's journal, "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek", especially with the image of the lighthouse keeper:

"It is comforting to know there are lighthouse keepers on rocky islands along the coast."

the line, it also brought back the memory of the lighthouse in Lanzarote, or rather: the lighthouses. at the southern end of the island, there's a bay with an old lighthouse. and next to the old one, there's a new, much higher one, which probably is automatic.

and 3 related notes / links
"Rain": that's also the theme of photo friday, while there's a sunny weekend upcoming.

the source of the quote: GoogleBooks, "In Her Own Image: Women Working in the Arts", pageview p. 122

and another link that came up when looking for the quote:
Single-minded - The writer who chooses solitude finds purpose and inspiration in the absence of others