Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Lakeside Rocks!

It was a pleasure to spend a couple of days at Lakeside Ohio this week, and always a welcome home with good friends and fellow Lakesiders from all across the county. If you are not familiar with this resort community on the Marblehead peninsula, I hope you will put it on your travel list. In fact, this fall the Midwest Birding Symposium will be the perfect opportunity to see this lovely "sea-side" Victorian town and enjoy the beautiful fall colors.


Two of my most treasured sights from this visit were the local rocks, and the irony and humor on display. Occasionally stretches of the Lake Erie shoreline will be magically transformed with Zen-like rock art. Many times over the years I have seen rocks stacked, one upon the other, creating an "eerie" other-world feeling. Who stacks these rocks? It must be elves working at night, because I have never seen the artists in action. The effort and balance has risen to new heights this year, as this is the first driftwood been utilized. Something about this art make me humble; our lives are as temporal as the rock-art on the shore. Wood and rock stand, only until the lake reclaims its treasures.

Painting Rocks has always been a favorite rainy-day past-time for Lakeside's youth. This is a true "Rock Garden" -one to be appreciated on many levels: the color, the durability, the lack of maintenance and the pure whimsy.

Lakeside- gathering eccentrics together for over 125 years! It is good to come home.

2 comments:

  1. Cheryl- We drove through Lakeside two weeks ago, and I have really fond memories of it from when I spent a week there with my friend when I was twelve-ish. And yes, way back when, there were actually scheduled rock painting activities for kids to partake in. Fun Stuff. The one thing that I was surprised about was how small everything was compared to how I viewed it as a little kid. Anyways, it brought back great memories.

    Tom

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  2. Another thing about Lakeside, it never really changes: smiling people, ice cream, long walks and Victorian cottages. I loved working in Lakeside and it is more beautiful than ever!

    Cheryl

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