Windows into Other Worlds

One of the things I most love about the internet is the growing presence of web cams. I find them totally enchanting - little windows into places I love, or have not seen in many years, or have never been. Right now I have half a dozen web cams set as desktop items and as I work during the day I can take breaks to see what is going on Gloucester harbor, on The Strand in Galveston, at Niagara Falls, and in downtown Nantucket - a few of my favorite places in the world.

I don’t know who thought of this idea but it is truly entertaining. Of course the Gloucester cams (there are four that I know of) overlook places that I see every day but that doesn’t matter - I still check them. During a particularly intense storm last winter I kept an eye on the waves breaking over Dogbar Breakwater while I worked at my desk by repeatedly refreshing the image. I have seen people I know passing in front of the cams and gotten a chuckle out of that.

Discovering the Galveston web cams was a treat. When I lived in Texas Galveston was a favorite weekend getaway. When I was working on My Last Romance I kept the Galveston cams on my desktop and refreshed them often to help remember details of this city that I loved so I could record it more faithfully in the story. There is a web cam now that pans The Balinese Room which is the setting of much of the beginning of the story. The Balinese Room captivated me from the first time I visited it in the early eighties. The murals of island people that line the walls and the column painted to look like palm trees seemed deliciously retro back then. I’m happy the new owner has kept and refreshed them. Maybe I’ll get back there one day.

The Niagara Falls web cam, on the top of the Sheraton is simply spectacular. But of course The falls are simply spectacular - you get to see a lot of weather on that cam! Ice clouds in winter, storm clouds sweeping up the river, intense sunlight creating long shadows across the water and rainbows - many, many rainbows. The Falls was much a part of my childhood. Nearly every summer we would make a trip there to don yellow plastic coats and walk under the Falls, ride the Maid of the Mist and gaze in total astonishment at all that water.

“Where does it all go?” I asked my father. “What happens when the Lake gets filled up?” I don’t remember what he told me but I stopped worrying about it.

Toward the end of The Old Mermaid’s Tale Clair and Baptiste reunite at Niagara Falls. That is one of my favorite parts of the book. Thinking about the old hotels there where honeymooners consummated their union against the background of thundering water made the writing of that scene exciting.

The Nantucket web cam is so interesting that I can’t keep it open on my desk. It is a live feed on a busy street in downtown Nantucket and for a compulsive people watcher it is delicious. I have watched shoppers rest on a bench while eating ice cream, parents trying to gain control of rambunctious children, lovers kissing, and have several time seen people - male and female - expose themselves to the camera. Whoopee!

Then there was the bicycle. Last fall a very nice looking bicycle was chained to a lamp post near the cam. It was always there - early in the morning, late at night, in the rain. Sometimes it was turned the other way. For the better part of last autumn I kept an eye on that bicycle. When I was working late at night, I would check in on it to see if it was still there. A couple times I saw people studying it, presumably and concerned about its welfare as I was. Leaves fell on it and collected around its tires. The first snow dusted it. Then one day it was gone. Another mystery to ponder.

Thanks for reading.