"The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery,
even when they have to take a detour."
-- James Jeans
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| Red truck 3-30-14 |
"My mother said I should have a 'change of scenery.'
The word scenery made me think of a play.
And as we were driving around, it made sense that way.
Because no matter how much the scenery changed,
we were still on the same stage."
-- David Levithan, Every You, Every Me
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| White barn 3-30-14 |
"Sometimes a change in scenery is good,
sometimes time runs out in a certain spot.
It did for me here."
-- Phil Nevin
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| Tanker under red sky 3-30-14 |
We had to take a car trip to my hometown yesterday for a family thing.
It's a drive we've made hundreds of times. We take the Ohio Turnpike and interstate highways, and the view out the car window at this time of year is drab and gray and dismal and grim, with a guardrail slicing through everything. It is, as my 10-year-old nephew Marco would say, "Bo-ring!"
When we go anyplace with Leo in the car, I get relegated to the back seat because he needs the room up front for his giraffe legs. Plus, he wanted to drive.
I didn't feel like reading. I didn't feel like napping. I couldn't get into the music Leo was listening to.
So I started fiddling with some of the unused settings on my camera.
I had the most fun with the color swap feature. With a couple of clicks I could change the flat grays and boring beiges into vibrant reds, vivid golds and deep blues. The ho-hum view out my window became a kind of neutral canvas that I could color in however I wanted, turning the monochromatic unimaginative winter landscape into something far more ethereal and interesting.
Much better.
Sometimes you need a change of scenery.
But when the scenery is stubborn and won't change for you, go ahead and take matters into your own hands and change it yourself. It's a good way to pass the time -- at least until you get carsick from riding in the backseat and looking through a viewfinder with a teen boy at the wheel who is changing lanes, and radio stations, abruptly and often.
Then it's time to take a nap before you puke.
