14.8.12

wish you were here


A friend - Veshoevious, actually - sent me a link to a piece about 'is social media making you crazy'. I read it and thought, yeah, sometimes. And instead of posting that day, I went for a swim.

Sending this from the East End of Long Island, on the North Fork. My friend Joseph Keller, a brilliant photographer based in NY (but really, a citizen of the world), took this shot of me on the most magic, private beach, below our family's summer home. He and I used to do these great photography sessions together, decades ago, and we were losing the light - this was shot in deepest twilight - and had the most magic experience. Just as we were shooting this, two swans appeared in the twilight. But that's for another post.

The dress, by the way, is old. Very old, like me. I think I even posted old shots from Joshua Tree, in this dress on this blog, somewhere. Wow, that's weird. I was going to call this post 'boats against the current', because of something I was talking about with Joe, that night, on the beach - at the moment when the swans appeared - and then, would you look at this. Same dress, but all my cells have long died and been replaced. I am - literally - not the same woman I was then. And yet the threads that make up this dress - by a brand long gone, along with the tag - are still the same.

Haven't swam all day and it's nearly 1:00, but I just wanted to say hi, and wish you all well, wherever you are. I send my love to my friends, including the blog friends I haven't yet met, and wish you were here.

12 comments:

Veshoevius said...

What a wonderful picture and the beach looks amazing - you'd be crazy to be blogging on holiday somewhere that beautiful. Go! Go swim!

daisychain said...

stunnnner.

Emily said...

You look so glamorous Jill. Love the LBD - the oldies are always the best :) And I love the bright nail polish on your toes. Hope you're having a really wonderful holiday sweets, xxx

Odyssey Home said...

Stunning! I see a spot of color on your toes - pretty.
Social media...yeah, it gets to be too much, doesn't it?
Now this is weird but on Bloglovin', I can see all of you but on your blog, the image is cropped at your neck. No one else has mentioned it so maybe it's just at my end.
Enjoy every moment of your holiday.
xoxo

Jessie in Fashion Limbo said...

You are not old my dear friend, you are a young, beautiful creature and a spirit full of life :) Wish I were there indeed. I just got back from a few days in Marbella visiting my sis. Wishing I were still there xxx

jill said...

Oh, each of you.. it's funny, every one of the five beautiful women who have posted here are true friends, and one (daisychain) I haven't even technically met! And here's the irony: if I HADN'T engaged in 'social media', via my blog, we'd have never met. So figure.

And Stephanie, I found the photo cropped, too, when I opened this page. But my layout is 'expandable' and when I pulled the corner wider, I could get the full shot. I guess my blog has now taken on a life of Its (or is it Hers?) own - like Hal in 2001 - and decided I look better from the neck down!

Jessie hope you had a wonderful time in Marbella - a well deserved holiday. Altho, living in Barcelona.. every day is, in a way, a holiday!

love to you all - hugs across the pond, this time from the other side xoxo

Odyssey Home said...

RE: "if I HADN'T engaged in 'social media', via my blog, we'd have never met." True!
xo S.

Alexandra said...

Jill - I absolutely LOVE this shot of you. You look so relaxed and incredibly cool. Have the most wonderful holiday - you deserve it. I thought of you the other day actually as I got up early and stole down to our nearest beach for a before breakfast dip. It was as if I was drawn to the water - by the time I was descending the rocks to the beach I was practically sprinting and once I'd taken my shorts and t shirts off (my costume was underneath)I ran as fast as possible into the cool water - calm as a millpond. The first plunge has the electricity that only cold water can. Revitalising and utterly, utterly calming. One of my favourite poems (and it's been set to a four part choir score by John Ireland) is John Masefield's 'Sea Fever'. Do you know it? Here it is, just cause I think you'll appreciate the draw of the sea:

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

So true and so beautiful. Alexandra xxx

The Foolish Aesthete said...

Oh, Jill, have a wonderful time in Long Island! What a lovely beach and piece of weathered wood you are on! It sounds too perfect to have had the swans appearing right at twilight. But then again, I realize there is always magic happening all around. We just have to slow down enough to see it.

I have a black summer dress that I've been using this summer that is also from a former life. My life back in NYC, and I'm sure I took it to the beach in the Hamptons too. As you pointed out, so much of my life has happened since those days that I am a much different woman now than I was then.

I agree with the other ladies who commented here: beautiful coral toes! Enjoy the rest of your summer! -- J xxx

April @ Disco Ball Jewellery said...

Wow, wish I could relax like that and just completely forget my worries. Nice shot!

mtg said...

Cute photo, Jill. I have some old clothing too but unfortunately I can't fit in my old dresses :(

So, you're visiting your family in NY? Have a fun and relaxing time!!
xx
Maya

My said...

Fab!!!!
Love it.
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