Indiana Was Enough
FIELD NOTE No. 021There is a tendency to believe the interesting stuff is somewhere else.
Mountains.
Wilderness.
A coastline.
A summit.
Some distant river with a name already printed on a shirt.
Hell, that’s part of how Esker emerged.
Look at enough outdoor brands and eventually the outdoors starts to look like a destination.
Something over there.
What about here?
What about the Third Coast?
Indiana.
Michigan.
Wisconsin.
Minnesota.
Illinois.
Ohio.
Pennsylvania.
Freshwater.
Farm fields.
Hardwoods.
Swamps.
Dunes.
River bottoms.
Two tracks.
Lake effect snow.
Places where being outside isn’t necessarily a trip.
It’s Tuesday.
More than a hundred years ago, T.C. Steele was already looking.
He painted Indiana.
Hills.
Trees.
Fields.
Weather.
Seasons.
An old mill.
A clearing.
A stand of oaks.
Nothing particularly exotic.
He found the light.
That may be the whole thing.
Apparently he never ran out of things to see.
Indiana was enough.
Paint was the tool.
Today it might be a camera.
A notebook.
A Field Note.
Different tools.
Same problem.
How do you make someone look again at something they’ve already decided they know?
Maybe you don’t.
Maybe you just keep looking.
Maybe it’s lonely.
Eventually a place develops a vocabulary.
Cottonwoods.
Ochre.
Fog.
Frost.
Ash.
Poison ivy.
Lily pads.
Dune grass.
Walnuts.
Duck blinds.
Old bait shops.
And people live here.
Work.
Fish.
Hunt.
Camp.
Farm.
Raise kids.
Stack firewood.
Livestock settled in.
Gardens put up.
Snow shoveled.
Storms watched rolling in.
There is plenty here.
It just doesn’t always announce itself.
Familiarity is good at making things disappear.
Until somebody stops.
Looks.
Finds the light.
And decides it is worth remembering.
Steele did.
The tools changed.
The habit didn’t.
Indiana was enough then.
All of this freshwater country is enough now.
It always was.
You just have to keep looking.
Artwork: T.C. Steele — Morning - Old Schofield’s Mill. Image/info via Friends of T.C. Steele Virtual Gallery, tcsteele.org.
— Esker