Thanks to
caring friends excited to be going on vacation to the beach, and who love “family
time,” I was able to spend some wonderful days by the ocean in great
company. Via the internet, I just
listened to a “flash-mob” small orchestra in a city square, prompted by a
little girl dropping a coin into a black-tied, bald bassist’s upturned hat. How
we choose to “spend” our coins, our time, our energies can bring beautiful
surprises full of music of all kinds. Sitting on the balcony at the hotel room,
16 floors up, looking at the endless water, feeling the wind from the sea that
is like no other, I felt my whole body smiling.
Such a sense
brings Magritte to my mind. The modern image, poetry for poetry’s sake, the
juxtaposition of layers of life, the symbols that beget symbols and march
forward into a world not yet seen yet imagined as each image comes to life. The
ocean tides remind me. The laughter that comes with friends sharing life, the
moments as they spring up, pass, fill, march forward, ease into a night and
day, the sun shining, clouds hazing over water, the bright movement of bodies
of all sizes happy to move over the sand bridge to the sea.
These song
lyrics came to mind, too. Written by Richard and Robert Sherman for Walt Disney’s
Carousel of Progress, commissioned in 1964 for the World’s Fair: “There’s a
great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day.”
Being at the
ocean invites such delirious optimism, the constant smiling that happy faces
and happy music brings. Hearing the rumbling of motorcycles on the street far
below, mingling with the sound of waves just on the other side of the
boardwalk, seeing the empty carousel rides with their bright colors- all gave
me a renewed image of the celebrations of being alive in so many ways. Like the
review introducing the Museum of Modern Art’s Fall survey show of Magritte’s
Art, this trip for me was good, solid fun. What can be better than that?
