Watching the Wheels

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin
When I say that I'm o.k. well they look at me kind of strange
Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

Ah, people asking questions lost in confusion
Well I tell them there's no problem, only solutions
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry
I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round

I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go

- John Lennon, “Watching the Wheels”

It’s hard to believe it’s been thirty years since John Lennon was shot and killed by a deranged fan. I was only thirteen. I remember the alarm on my clock radio going off that morning, probably tuned in to WDVE, or maybe “96 Kicks”. The alarm came on when the announcer was in the middle of a sentence, something about “John”, something about “shot”, and immediately, barely 15 seconds awake, I said out loud, “oh no. Not John Lennon.”  In the subsequent weeks, and on each anniversary afterward for years, I listened to all the retrospectives, the interviews and songs, taping them all, and mourning the loss of someone who felt like a friend I just hadn’t yet met in this lifetime.

It’s hard to believe I’m on the other side of 40, older now than he was when he died.

“Watching the Wheels” speaks to me these days, as you might imagine, given what I’ve been up to for the past 16 months. Somebody I hadn’t seen in a long time recently asked me what I’m up to, and I answered, “I’m a stay at home mom to my inner child.”

Rest in peace, John.

In other news, let the records show that 25° and windy is kinda cold for a walk, and neither the camera nor I really enjoyed it.

The only thing that seemed worth photographing today is ice formation.

Those are bittersweet nighshade berries.

milky ice.

Stream border grasses, dipping in and out of the stream, ice up into clumps