In 8 days
my father will be 90 years old.
and, in 19 days my mother will be 90 years old, too.
as a caregiver, i don’t get out much. my range is limited by emergencies, not by desire. i can’t go where i want when i want, or do what i want when i want. so, i rely on “sources” to keep me in the world. i cling by fingertips to the world i’ve missed for the past four years and four months, 1,582 days. while i’ve had some outings over the years (besides grocery shopping on fridays), i haven’t been able to go very far from this place. i’ve kept myself within a 45 minute “distance” from this “home base” so i can get back quickly if something happens to my parents or their caregivers. this is the radius of my life right now. i figure… 45 minutes (measured in traffic and urgency, not miles) is as much as i can stomach driving while under duress should i have to tend an emergency.
cameras and my keyboard keep me “in the world.”
i’d like to share some of my favorites with you:
other people’s windows around the world.
sometimes i’m on the u.s. west coast and sometimes i’m in europe. sometimes i’m watching traffic. sometime’s i’m watching the sunset. it’s just nice not to be here, where i am.
fallingwater is under construction. but, the waterfall runs all the time.
right now it may not be “pretty,” but seeing “outside,” and especially the woods can be lovely. it’s also fun to watch animals appear (and people, from a distance). not incidentally, it’s a world heritage site under repair at the moment. you can read about it here:
frank lloyd wright’s design for the kaufmanns
“tune into forests from around the world"
when i’m desperate to hear the woods… this one does some heavy lifting.
this one does some heavy lifting with forest sounds, too.
watching the falcon nest atop the new tappan zee bridge (NY) is wonderful, not just because i love the hudson valley, but because it feels like going home. and, birds are the bomb.
here, there’s cameras from around the world. this is different from the windows link above because it’s city and town cameras, with some travel destinations available, too.
this one is a frame by frame ride-along with someone who uses maps to chart routes and to visit landmarks. i think for aesthetic appreciation, you might have to be a little neurospicy or technically-oriented because of the slowness and mechanical execution. there was a cross-country trip featured on this link a few months ago, and it was incredible to watch the person “drive” coast-to-coast, frame by frame.
this dude literally drives highways and records sections. the familiar ones feel nice.
for when i want to watch people doing silly walks (and there’s quite a few each day), especially during tourist season.
one of my top 10 favorite PA towns. a place i’ve not visited in nearly ten years. the friend i stayed with regularly died nearly that long ago, and i’ve not had reason to return since. the camera affords some nostalgic pleasure.
thank goodness for the internet… and being able to feel transported to places elsewhere while caregiving. at the intersection of caregiving and february/winter is a lot of mental and emotional fragility.