This has been an unusually event-and-people-filled week for me. I went to Betty's and did some gardening on Monday. I had meetings both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. I went out on work assignments Tuesday. Today I spent the afternoon with a friend named Mary Ann. She's been gone for two years, but is home for the summer, so I went to her house, which is right on Lake Michigan. Tomorrow I am going to see both Betty and Ellen. It's all rather bizarre. I don't usually have such a social calendar!
At Mary Ann's I commented that the view out her window today was rather lonely. Here it is.
Mary Ann is also a writer (of poetry), so we both like words a lot. She agreed that the lake view is lonely, but added that her room is on the landward side of the house with a view of trees. "Leaves are not lonely," she said.
What do you think? What kinds of views or natural features make you feel lonely or befriended?
17 comments:
Our views are lonely, but the trees and leaves for sure are not lonely.
I think open spaces or cities always seem kind of desolate to me. Trees though make me always feel like I have plenty of company.
The only lonely views I can think of are oil fields with the derricks pumping. They seem so bleak. The most welcoming are water areas that are isolated by trees so that "civilization" can't intrude.
I could live with that view. It might evoke a feeling of solitude rather than loneliness.
Honestly, the photos I see of some urban development make me feel bad. Like smokestacks and such. But I don't think there is any natural view that I can't find something good. And never lonely.
I usually hike alone like you do, I like being lost in my thoughts, taking pictures, viewing the wildlife. I often say to myself "alone but never lonely"
I guess I would have to agree with loneliness in an urban setting, though lonely or bored are rarely a feeling I experience.
We had relatives that lived on Lake MIchigan, I remember watching the freighters and thinking it was the ocean when I was a kid.
Thanks for the memories
I don't think there's nothing more lonely than I am today. Wife and baby is on vacation since late April and I won't be seeing them not until the end of the month. That's life full of solitude. LOL
I am always lonely in big crowds of people.
A tumble-down house makes me feel lonely and nostalgic at the same time.
Thanks to everyone for the great responses. I have to agree that although I said that the chilly lake looked lonely, it isn't a view that made me feel bad in any way. For sure, if I lived where I had a choice to look out my bedroom or den windows at either Lake Michigan or trees, as much as I love trees, I'm pretty sure I would choose the lake. The moods of the big water are so varied and wonderful, I don't think I could pass that up.
it may sound strange but crowds and big cities make me feel lonely.
Ann- not so strange- many of us feel that way.
Wide open spaces do that to me, whether on dry land or an ocean (or great lake) location. But my internal mood makes the difference between loneliness (bad) or solitude (good.)
For me, looking at the pond can be lonely sometimes. This week we had a lot of flooding and I lost my big bullfrog. Now when I look out, my heart sinks for the loss. I still have one frog out there, but that big beauty is certainly missed. It makes my heart sink each time I look at it.
I hope my tadpoles turn soon so I'm not sad anymore!
That view is not lonely at all, it is wide open and fills one with a sense of being able to sit back and take stock.
Sometimes I can feel serene in a place and, at other times, the same place makes me feel lonely...it sort of depends on my mood and what is going on in my life. Usually, the ocean and mountains nurture me but, at times, their vastness make me feel lonely. I can feel totally alone in a crowd, if there is no one I know or with whom I share an interest. It is easy to feel lonely, I think, in the frenzy of some cities.
Ferd- wide open water makes me feel good, but wide open landscapes seem desolate
Lin- sending good thoughts your way for bullfrog polliwogs.
John- we feel the same way about the lake, I think
Carmen- I'm always good with oceans and mountains. Cities make me nuts, mostly.
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