Posted on by Pat Coakley

The Benefits of No Car

I am supposed to hear around noon whether my local auto shop can fix my car or whether I have to tow it to a dealer two towns over.

In the days without car so far, (3 and counting), I have discovered a world I would have flat out missed.  If I weren’t watching my budget, I would have rented a car so in a weird way this financial crisis is beginning to pay off for me!

I am going to try and adopt this strategy for all current and future losses by the way: what mysterious worlds have I missed because whatever or whomever I’ve lost kept me from seeing them?

I call it my “No Car” world and for right now I’m just posting this photograph from a Sunday morning stroll through the adjacent industrial park following a stormy night of torrential rain and high winds. (The same place that offered up a portfolio of images called “Asphalt Art” which can be viewed as well on Mobile Me, details to follow.)

The time of the walk (8:30 AM) gave the lighting these leaves would not see as the sun rose higher.   The combination of this morning light, the cool, crisp air following the storm, the wet asphalt and scattered autumn leaves gave me a mysterious world that I have posted in a gallery of photos called “No Car”.  You can view this gallery here:

http://gallery.me.com/patriciacoakley#100094&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=14

The Asphalt Gallery can be viewed here:

http://gallery.me.com/patriciacoakley#100025&bgcolor=black&view=grid

(It has occurred to me that if I stopped taking pictures of asphalt and empty industrial parks and turned to photographs of “nudes”, I’d replenish my 401K a whole lot faster!)

I hope you do visit these galleries as I am curious as to your feedback.   Yes, you can be churlish, Razz, as my goal is to truly get better each day. Plus, I’d like feedback on the viewing experience.   I think I shall use this method of pointing to a web gallery in the future to post multiple photos of a sequence.  This is not currently allowed with this Monotone template I use in this photo blog.  FYI: on the lower left hand window of the gallery, (you may have to scroll down depending on the size of the gallery), you can choose several ways of viewing photographs: grid, slideshow, mosaic, etc)  I like slideshow for a quick perusal and mosaic for a more leisurely stroll.  Let me know if you have any problems viewing the images as well. This would be my first time using Apple’s MobileMe galleries.

So, carry on, as only we can do.  In between writing this and posting it, the auto place called.  Yup, it has to be towed.

Another few days of no wheels but mysterious worlds await.

©Pat Coakley 2008

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

16 Replies to “The Benefits of No Car”

  1. Here’s my take:

    YEOW!!! It’s an all you can view buffet.
    I wondered, as I looked at the one photo on your blog opening, how many others we wouldn’t get to see, and how you chose the singular image you DID post.
    I like this new addition greatly, Pat.
    The leaves on the shiny almost patent leather looking ground are poised like witting subjects, waiting for their debuts. Marvelous, really.

    And the asphalt art- well they could be a written language of symbols.

    I’m sorry about your car and it’s pain factor. That’s a hard one.

    You’ve been channeling your angst into some great work.

  3. I love this photo, I literally did a double take once my browser loaded – seriously now you got a physical reaction out of me!

    I shan’t mention my license, I think it’s best not to… they might be listening!

  5. BonnieYEOWluria. I love that response. You kill me, truly. In my pocket you go. I get the car back tomorrow after I rob a bank.
    Razz: Judging by your motorcycle driving history, maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t get on the road till 35?? Do you enjoy driving or is it just a means to an end?
    Sanity, better not mention that license cuz big brother may be listening! A physical reaction? I hope you didn’t hurl. Shades of Mike Meyers and Wayne’s World!
    Allie: I just looked up “sassafras” and you may be right. I don’t know is the real answer. But, the tree I saw when I looked it up is similiar to one that is on the corner of the parking lot where I found this leaf. It absolutely looks like a mitten! I named it leafhand in my photo folder.
    Love it when you visit, sweet girl!!

  6. Pat… I love your photography. Its like poetry to look at….

    Not being an artist myself… I so appreciate it in others. The way you see things most people miss is truly a gift. That and your sense of humor just keeps me coming back!

    Plus I loves ya!

  8. MWAAAAHH! ( that’s a kiss from a pal ).

    Getting the car back is great. The bank part, well, be careful- you know it’s hard to blog from the Womens’ House of Detention.

    And please don’t deprive us of these multi image posts.

  10. well now this a complete statement series, the compositions in the asphalt gallery are very like chinese brush painting somehow, the colors/the leaves on the dark ground are tactile-ly delicious, the details and the sweeps of motion and the silent stilllife stillness, it is gorgeous just gorgeous, a remarkable show in a different sort of gallery, this is some wonderful work here pat, i wonder what you actually would do with nudes ha ha, something entirely nudely new thats for sure

  11. Was a good stunned oh wows kind of reaction… the traffic officer doing my test had the physical reaction of trying to be batman when I accidentally slight knocked her over

  12. I may be a strange one,
    but I do love, when a maker, an artist or a creator shows me one thing only…and I can speculate, dream, wish to see more. Do I see more…”entzaubert” is how we call it in German. I often feel like this in Galleries with solo exhibitions. Or in Museums with a Werkschau, a retrospective, a showcase. Strange, because dealing with a series should not be a problem, it’s a common thing in the art world, no? I guess I love the space for my mind to stroll to much…
    If I see the picture with the leave, I think of a bird, and imagine many many bird shaped leaves all trying to bunch up in a flock to escape the rain clouds.
    If I see the series, I see leaves.
    Last not least I love your hand and mind choosing for me.
    It makes me think and wonder why you chose and what you love.
    But I must say:
    You did get me with the Asphalt Art series … like looking at a wall of paintings! Thanks!

  13. Amber girl, The world is waiting for your new camera to arrive so you can show us your world.
    Razz, in other words, you like driving when no one else is on the road? Yes, that’s my preferred driving state as well. Of course, I’d prefer having a car at this point, regardless of traffic. Today is pickup day.
    BL, oh, crap, that’s right. No blogging in prison. But, you know someone’s doing it somehow someway. Am a bit ambivalent about the multiple images thing, sort of along the line of sannekurz’s comment below, although not nearly as articulate as she is.
    Tipota, I want you to have a daily talk show on TV so I can tune in and in effect tune out the world and just listen to your take on things. I’m not kidding. It is an alternate universe. I think if you and Sannekurz could co-host the show, it would be must see TV, as they say. Tipota, this is Sannekurz, Sannekurz, this is Tipota. I think you two should look at one another’s work.
    Sanity, oh, I’m just smiling at this encounter with the traffic officer. I told you of my girlfriend taking her license test who for her final auto move crashed into the parked police car in front of the registry, didn’t I?
    Sannekurz, oh, you are absolutely not strange (at least on this issue!)…I have similar thoughts although not nearly as articulate as yours but I have been thinking even this morning about this day’s entry (not yet posted) about whether to post some of the ones I didn’t choose.( I’m not going to)

    I totally love how you see this issue: “if I see the series, I see leaves”..but if you just see the one leaf, you see so much more. Much, much to think about, thank you.

    Thank you all. Truly.

  14. Sweetiegirlz, I forgot to tell you that I laughed out loud at “obligatory kudos comment”!! Are you joining the photo challenge, Wednesday is the deadline. “Beginnings” is the theme. Hmmm…I actually should have used Tuesday’s blog image for that. Oh, well, I guess it’s not a bad thing if there are more than one beginnings go on in a household.

  15. Pat, it’s a funny thing, I just got a great new camera. It makes toast in the morning, but I can’t figure out how to take a picture yet. Believe me, when I do, I will be doing some more challenges.

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