The other day I stumbled across a little known alley way in Potsdam. Well, little known to me. The locals have their tricks on getting through town. Necessity to get from point a to point b during the rush hour of college kids heading to class or lunch or home.
Walls of Old Potsdam Sand Stone on either side framed it with some pretty ivy.
It reminded me of somewhere. Right as I was standing there I had a flash back to my trip to Peru.
Where rock walls have stood since Incan time and still exist mingling the old with the new.
Potsdam is the same way. Perhaps an old dry goods store, now selling college books, tattoos and pizza. Three staples for college life.
The workmanship of both impress me.
Long after our latest crop of graduates head off to new jobs, lives, and the future, these rocks will be standing weathering the long winters.
In Peru, earthquakes make the rocks dance, but not fall withstanding the test of time.
Scrapbookers stand with one foot in the past and one in the future. We feel most strongly the urge to preserve our day to day lives.
I imagine that will be our legacy for future generations. Some digital Archaeologist will sift past blog posts talking about flowers and paper to the meat of the subject.
What made these people tick. They will keep digging through words and photos to learn more. Our words will be our walls of stone.
I do believe though they might be eating a slice of pizza.
Linking up to Story Telling Sunday over at Sian's. I believe her town across the pond has walls of brick which are also standing the tests of time! ;-)
Looking at your pictures reminded me of a thing I saw on TV many years ago where an archaeologist put his hand onto the stone wall of Machu Pichu and said "How can we say that people who lived all those thousands of years ago were unsophisticated? I don't think thre is a stone mason alive today who could make joints as tight as these are." I love your story and they way you are still discovering your own city. Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteStone is always such a fascinating thing to me - so enduring and as Ladkyis mentions so often used with such skills we marvel at them now.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post, very thought provoking x
ReplyDeleteYes! Yes! you are absolutely right. Our red bricks look so wonderful at this time of year in the autumn sunshine and at this time too, our flocks of new students appear around the grounds of our red brick university. I love how you have put into words the way I feel about these surroundings too. A really good post Mitra. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect pairing of photos! And you are so right, the things we take for granted as everyday will be a source of historic interest in the future, and must be recorded.
ReplyDeleteSuch a thought provoking post Mitra. Love the way you linked the two photos and the title, Walls of stone.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos and writing. Thanks for sharing :-)
ReplyDeleteA beautifully written and crafted post with wonderful comparisons stretching geographically across continents and backwards and forwards in time - I have enjoyed your post very much.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your post Mitra !
ReplyDeleteI love stone roads, dunno why, they would be very bumpy, but they too have stood the test of time.. and to think these stone creations were made before the dozers and trucks that we have now.. interesting post.. thought provoking!
ReplyDeleteI love this post Mitra! So thought-provoking and so well written. I have to agree that as scrapbookers we are bridging time, creating a connection between us and the past, between us and some unknown future - and you are probably right, the guys trying to figure out what made us tick will still be eating pizza!
ReplyDeleteOh thank God, pizza will live on!!!! ;) That was one 'deep' post M. I loved it. The way you brought to life the image of cyber archaeologists unveiling history via antiquated blog posts was fascinating. Love the way that brain of yours ticks. Fantastic photo comparison too....
ReplyDeleteJust dropping in from Sian's. A great post and so interesting to see your thought process as it moves from initial inspiration to all the other interconnected ideas. :-)
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