nostalgia – Leah Wise

Everyone Who Searches

October 20, 2015August 14, 2019Posted in UncategorizedTagged answers, christianity, life, memory, nostalgia, original poem, original poetry, poem, questions, rilke, searching, the search1 Comment

And everyone who searches
finds – maybe not
the missing button, maybe
an old note, yellowed photo
with a missing corner.

And you realize
what you find is
good enough,
or better

And the cardigan can
do without mending –
its gapping filled
for now with a memory
of summertime,
or last year’s loss
– you never lost at all.

It was hiding under the bed,
stirred awake,
an answer. The question
never mattered.

———

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” – Rilke

two post it notes

August 4, 2014Posted in thoughtsTagged death, hope, nostalgia, original poetry, poem, the futureLeave a comment

Someday, when the world begins
to darken, I’ll
walk in the silence
of early morning, peering
into empty shops with
cataract gray eyes

And I’ll remember being
young, moving fast, skin
smooth like a new bar of soap,
and wondering when I would
make it.

I’ll know then, there
is no making it.

Child, you’re already home.

At 4:00, I’ll eat my
dinner, just the basics –
salad, potato, tea.

And I’ll look out the window
near the garden and watch
the early robins feast
until my eyelids flicker,
slowly, closed.

The final act, not a drama but a lullaby.

old charlottesville

September 4, 2013September 4, 2013Posted in life in photos, UncategorizedTagged belmont, black and white photos, charlottesville photography, john shepherd, lifestyle photography, nostalgia, old photos, photography, street photography, vintage photography, west main street2 Comments

John Shepherd is a Charlottesville local who focused his early photography efforts on “people on the street.” These 1970s film photographs of downtown Charlottesville fascinate me because they’re simultaneously familiar and foreign.

Where could you get a huge wig dyed all colors of the rainbow? Try the Love Wig first. That’s Batten’s Auto Parts on the left, now a consignment shop.

I don’t know who are at the counter but that’s Pearl behind the cash register. I gave her a copy of this when she retired.

Click the image to be redirected to the etsy listing. All images used with permission from the photographer.

black & white

March 9, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged bare branches, black and white photography, ceramic artist, charlottesville, film, film photography, florida, friends, mountain, nostalgia, photography, summer, winterLeave a comment

Black and White film is as close as you can get to encapsulating nostalgia. Photos from late summer in Florida and winter in Charlottesville.

inspired: Mathijs Delva

November 15, 2012Posted in inspirationTagged flickr, forest, golden hour, image, landscape, mathijs delva, nature, nostalgia, photography1 Comment

Mathijs Delva‘s work is difficult to describe in non-cliche terms. It’s breathtaking, ethereal, harmonious, nostalgic. His landscape work makes you want to fling your arms wide in exaltation and go live in the photograph.

(one, two, three, four, five)

Images via Mathijs Delva on flickr; individual links above. To purchase images, visit the photographer’s website.

home tour: The Kitchen

October 12, 2012Posted in interior designTagged chevron, decor, diy, fall, home design, home your, kitchen, nostalgia, photos, rental, rustic, warm, wood2 Comments

It’s difficult to keep our tiny kitchen clean enough to photograph most days. If there’s one space that’s really lacking in our rental, it’s this room. There’s no dishwasher, which I can deal with, but the lack of counter space can make it difficult to tackle basic kitchen tasks and previous tenants have added an odd assortment of hooks, nails, and pins to the walls and ripped a hole in the linoleum. We’ve had to get creative with counter top appliance placement, facing the microwave out to the great room to take advantage of the open counter design.

The room theme is a bit rustic on accident. Daniel’s mother made the needle art early on in her marriage and gave it to her parents-in-law. They gave it to us as a wedding present and it has shaped the overall feel of our kitchen ever since. I purchased the “Equal but different” tea towel on Fab and stretched it over canvas stretcher bars when I still worked as a framer. I made the unfinished clothes line frame to hold post cards, but decided to feature favorite photos of loved ones and travel destinations this time around. I love looking at beautiful faces and places and getting nostalgic. Nostalgia is particularly suited to the kitchen, I think.

Custom cutting board, wedding gift; Swedish pot pad from my parents; Candles and holder, wedding gifts; Ceramic vases handmade by my sister.

There you have it. This is the cleanest the kitchen will ever be, so I hope you enjoy it.

inspired: Stanislav Sidorov

September 18, 2012September 18, 2012Posted in inspirationTagged art, bold, japanese watercolor, nostalgia, post impressionism, sidorov, sidorovart, stanislav sidorovLeave a comment

Etsy suggested the work of Stanislav Sidorov to me; they know me well. His pared down outlines, bold colors, and hazy landscapes combine my two favorite genres: Japanese watercolor and Van Gogh-esque post-Impressionism. Sidorov’s work is dreamy and joyful. His subjects emphasize the vivacity of daily experience, uncovering a hint of the divine in the terrestrial.

In his words:

I like small towns’ secluded streets and old architecture. They inspire nostalgia about previous generations, events and cultures and capture the beauty, wonder and emotion of the human experience .

Whether it is a portrait, a genre, a landscape or a still-life, – I Like touching one’s soul, challenging one’s mind, and not allowing the beholder to remain indifferent.

sources: one, two, three, four

week in a list

September 15, 2012Posted in thoughtsTagged butcher, commercial, fall, list, local, mellow mushroom, nostalgia, photography, thoughtsLeave a comment

The online business experienced a high point this week, for which I am quite thankful. If you need to update your wardrobe, you should take a look.
My manager asked me to take some photos of the shop for the company website. Although I didn’t get paid anything extra (apart from photographing on the clock), I’m excited that I had the opportunity to dabble in commercial photography (I have previously only done portraiture or product photos for my own business).
The weather makes everything better. Today, everyone downtown whipped out their boots for their first wear of the season. A friend once told me that fragrance travels farther (or at least we can smell it better) when the humidity drops. I theorize that that’s why we’re hit by a wave of nostalgia in the fall and spring; scent is one of the strongest memory inducers. Alternately, we’re just all relieved to be able to walk outside in a single layer of clothing and feel perfectly comfortable.
Daniel and I explored midtown today. It’s where all the cool people are. Charlottesville pleasantly surprised me again when we discovered they have a local food market and an organic, locally farmed butcher shop!
A middle aged, male customer told me I have nice skin today. I could feel creeped out, but let’s be honest: when people say they are creeped out by compliments, they are just covering up their elation at having received one.
We hung out with some of Daniel’s colleagues at Mellow Mushroom last night. It was less awkward for me than I anticipated (when you’re a non-student among students, it can be difficult to add to the conversation).