jermalism: Abandonment Issues: Lightle House on the Prairie

We leave these bones behind. We inhabit these shells, these domiciles, and then we abandon them. We go vacant. It all rots and decays, as nature always defeats nurture in the end. But we leave these bones behind. Fragments of our selves. Proof that we formerly existed. Our possessions. Our things and stuff. Our bones. Physical reminders that we once lived and breathed and simply were. Bones, or even ashes, that is what we're reduced to.

We leave these bones behind in the form of memories as well. For a time, we live on in the hearts and minds of loved ones or those whose lives we may have touched. But eventually, they leave their own bones behind and we are eternally forgotten.

Happiness is in the moment, ever afters never last. Happy endings are an impossibility. I've seen enough bones to know that much.

It was a fierce and bitter bone chilling wind that shook us to our cores as we trekked up the hill in late November of 2013. Ninja and I, in the company of our friends terapr0 and tash.0, having just toured the elusive Ontario Reformatory together, embraced the cold. Our teeth chattered and our spines shivered as we took high step after high step through the snow covered driveway toward the old stone house atop the hill.

We had entered under a clear blue sky with soft white clouds, and after a time period somewhere between a moment and a lifetime, we exited into the midst of a full on blizzard.

Inside, we found so many bones.

On a muggy day in mid May of 2014, we were crossing the province exploring new terrain and encountering more bones. Along the way we stopped in for a second look at the Lightle House on the Prairie.

Lightle House on the Prairie (Springing into Summer)

The following images are a mixture from both of these two visits, falling into winter and springing into summer.

Sweeping the Ashes

Man's Salvation Out Of World Distress At Hand!

Time stands still

Elmira Stove Works

Bones

Please leave a message

On the inside looking out

Fly on the curtain

Please wait to be seated

The day the music died

Keys to success

The Estelle Costanza Doll

The Daily Mercury (Guelph, Friday, August 27, 1982)

Ann's Science homework

Cabbage Patch Kids

Romper Room

Ho Ho Ho! Green Giant!

Ann's Diazepam

Put your best foot forward, or on the table.

Et vous?

In May of 2014, a half dozen barn swallows are zipping in and out of the house through broken windows. A female swallow nesting above the door frame at the bottom of the stairs chirps to proclaim it's turf and protect it's newly laid young. Life goes on here.

Swallow swallows and regurgitates

A swallow nesting above the door frame at the bottom of the stairs chirps to protect it's newly laid young.

In the next room over, another swallow flies in circles overhead for two or three minutes. And we watch, Ninj and I. It never does land, it out waits us and eventually we give it some space to either escape or settle back into it's nest atop the door frame above Ninja's smiling face in the photo below.

Birdwatching