I think the phrase “safe as houses” may be more familiar to my British friends. I’d never heard it until I read Alex Jeffers’ novel Safe As Houses in 1995.
Jeffers is allegedly the grandson of one of America’s (often underrated and overlooked) great poets, Robinson Jeffers, who himself was the builder and inhabitant of one of the places I’d most like to visit in the U.S., Tor House and Hawk Tower. I came so close to it on my trip up the California coast in 1998, but my fear is that if I ever visit it, I might not leave. My grasping of rocks with fingers of steel might be a problem for the Foundation and the Jeffers family.
One reason I enjoy reading about Robinson Jeffers and his wife and contemporaries is because, as is so often the case, a group of gifted and intelligent individuals–poets, painters, photographers, writers, musicians, teachers–befriended, nurtured, and inspired one another. I think these groups are best when they’re organic, unforced… That’s really all I want to say about that.
I do want to publish the entire set of photos I took for Lindsey in West U yesterday–because she knows, as I do, that our friends are “safe as houses.”
A red door.
Another red door.
A welcoming entrance.
This shot was for the weeping willow, a tree that always reminds me of
Uncle Gerald and our two families during my childhood.
A red door.
A red…yeah, yeah, you get it.
A purple door! Such boldness!
cool photos, Becky
Thanks, Gary. =)
i think i might love that purple door!
It definitely catches the eye. It’s more purple than it looks on my monitor, but I haven’t checked the photo on the laptop, where colors look more vivid than they do on my desktop.
I used to live in Richmond, Virginia and there’s this very fancy street called Monument Avenue with traditional old homes. A little before the biggest houses there’s this lilac purple house that everyone (except me) couldn’t stand. I really wanted to be friends with whoever decided to have a purple house.
It’s like that house with the trees all around it on the corner of San Felipe and Kirby. That’s a prime piece of real estate with an old house and unmanicured lawn. It doesn’t really fit with its showy neighbors, so I’m always intrigued by and attracted to it.
Are you sure it’s not “Safe-Ass Houses”?
Pretty sure! I need to introduce you and Marika…
I think that’s funny!
Catch me, as Jim would say when feigning shock.
My favorites are a toss-up between the 5th photo and the last one. Such good proportions on those houses. : )
I’m lucky to have such rockin’ real estate.
#2 is my favorite. And weeping willows always make me think of the first house I lived in, where I spent so many hours on the front lawn under those hanging branches that always felt like castles.
Doors
The whole door thing made me think of Georgia O’Keefes’ paintings and her obsession with doors…are you a fan?
Re: Doors
I like some of Georgia O’Keefe’s stuff. I didn’t realize she’d done doors until your comment made me look at more of her work. (I’m mostly familiar with skulls and all those flower paintings that evoke female anatomy.) I use one of her poppies in one of my user pics (will use it on this post).
I love photos of doors. Especially decaying doors. Even their hinges, handles, and locks. That’s why I so love shooting in New Orleans. Every door is a work of art.
I think this thing with doors is also part of why I love Rothko’s work, because eveything looks like a threshold, a door, to somewhere else in his paintings. I used that idea in a painting I’d been commissioned to do (a project that’s now null and void), though mine was a view through a window instead of a doorway.
I think weeping willows might be my favorite trees. And I’ve always wanted a red door. Maybe the next house….
Jeffrey R.
Weeping willows are the most romantic of trees. Until their roots find and embrace your water lines. That’s why I stick to admiring them on other people’s property. =)