What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why?
When this question popped up on my blog host site overnight, I was a little perplexed. There must be millions of places in the world that I wouldn’t want to visit but surely I would have to visit them or have very solid research first to realise that. Life is too short for such ponderings. I will never visit all the places in the world that I want to visit or revisit. I suspect this particular question is one of my ‘ Great imponderables’
Much better on a rainy day to think of somewhere in the world I would like to be. Sitting in the shade on a very warm day eating figs fresh from the tree. Again there must be millions of places around the world where I could achieve this. Hunting for the positive is so much more enriching than dwelling on the negative.
I am not much of a repeat reader. If I reread a book it is often circumstantial rather than a choice. Book Club is a good source of a re-read but with the added benefits of being able to talk with a group of fascinating people about the book. This last month I read the book club book twice and I had also read it a few years ago. 3 times for a book I consider to be not worth reading. I probably didn’t finish it the first time. I didn’t plan to give it such diligence this month but after the first read I researched the reviews from when it was first published and gave it a skim-read second/third go.
I am an ardent reader for pleasure. The more I read this book the more I took from it, but pleasure was not something extracted on any one of my three adventures between its covers.
I feel I have failed by not thinking that this book is an insightful and fitting final novel by a great writer. But in truth this is not her final novel. She didn’t finish it and her hastily written manuscripts fueled by end-of-life medications were assembled by her much respected editor. Would she have sent it out in that form to her adoring public?
Could it ever be accurately judged as it was published after her death. Once one critic, from an unreliable cohort, mostly white men, had said it was her masterpiece ( mistresspiece) could anyone have disagreed?
Much better to read this article and the books mentioned. Written a day after her death the article mentions my personal favourite The Birthday Boys about Scott , a local Plymouth hero. But read by me long before I lived here.
I am going to read it again now. I suppose despite what I said earlier I am a re-reader. Just not over and over again. Life is too short!
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
I think I would be the character or role that might be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I think they always seem a little more interesting and perhaps better written than the lead roles. There is also a good chance that your character survives for most of the narrative. I like survival and longevity.
Having had a week of really interesting conversations with artists and art lovers at an exhibition for the last week. I am certain the book or film would need to be literary or arty. I don’t think I have action or thriller in my bones, although they are genres I can enjoy.
If this question was, what plant would you be? The answer would always be a border perennial, by the sea.
What a question! Every cell in our bodies and every experience in life makes us unique.
I am like an old rock. Created by the gift of genes donated by my parents and then shaped by my life experience. Every day I am shaped by the previous day and every day before it. My pleasures and harms altering the way I bend towards the next day. Every person on earth is affected in the same way making us both unique compared to each other and indeed unique compared to ourselves of the past. I would suggest we continue to evolve in unique ways until our last breath. When just like that our uniqueness is altered by the love and memories we left behind. Unique again depending how every person recalls us, both good and bad.
Yesterday was the perfect Spring Day so we set off to a perfect beach for a long meandering dog walk. The beach and surrounding estate were sold over winter.
Sold for an undisclosed sum. The asking price was £30 million
It is alleged that the previous owner had wanted to turn the area into a millionaires play ground. If that is true,that would have been rather sad. Bantham is a spectacular place enjoyed inhabited and visited by regular humans since the Bronze Age.
What makes you laugh?
Now it has to be said that I laugh at most normal things, but the idea of a natural paradise being turned into an unnatural paradise also seems to be so laughable that I can quite see why local people protested with enough vigor to stop such a scheme. I hope the new owners don’t give them cause to protest again. For now all seems peaceful. We paid our £5 parking fee, had the beach mostly to ourselves and the dogs made themselves giddy and exhausted with play and paddling.
I took some deliberately bad photographs to reprocess into Hybrid images and was once again surprised and puzzled by my results. Just two of my chosen images worked. Jenkins Boathouse turned out pleasingly vibrant.
If I had the answer to this I would almost certainly be far too busy to live a normal life. Explaining the ‘something’ to most people would take a lot of time and effort.
Better to concentrate on the things that I don’t understand and give myself a little mental upgrade. Most of my contemporary understanding arrives accidentally at my door. I often wish I had understood something better years ago. But am always grateful that late enlightenment has arrived. Pondering helps.
In defence of my inquisitive nature I would say I never slip from curiosity into prying.
These steps had been away to be refurbished over winter. I was curious to know if they felt any different on their return. They form a vital link on the South West Coastal Path near my home.
The sound of my feet on the metal structure has changed very slightly. More importantly a favourite circular walk has been restored to me. Curiosity satisfied.
A prying person might demand to know exactly what Civil engineering and refurbishment tasks have been undertaken.
Curiously inquisitive, but not in a prying way.
For curiosity’s sake I flipped these two images. I don’t think I can begin to describe how uncomfortable these stairs feel to me running in the opposite orientation.
I believe my confidence levels are at about the right place. But I would say that wouldn’t I?
Like many people I am a little in awe of hugely confident people but I am wise enough to know that massive confidence in others is built on foundations that are often less than desirable or wealth and status.
I am a lover of moderate confidence x compassion and interest in alternate ways of doing things. With a specific ratio of 35:65
35 being confidence and 65 being all the other elements of thinking, including doubt.
Clearly I sit comfortably on this ratio in my own opinion. It doesn’t mean a 65% lack of confidence. More like 65% opportunity to learn new things, see a different point of view or be flexible.
These images are 35% of my creative output of the last 2 months. The other 65% will never see the light of day but that 65% made these what they are. Less is more in confidence and creativity.
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?
For the last two days, a busy bee. Yesterday with fun stuff and creativity. Time spent with a two year old is never dull.
Drakes Island from Stonehouse Lawn Tennis ClubDrakes Island, in the rain from West Hoe.
This morning’s busy bee stuff is far less interesting. Trips to two industrial estates and the dullest of shopping lists done in my least favourite supermarket. The afternoon will not have to work too hard to liven things up. I will let you know how it goes.
And then nust like that the day perked up. My wallet, missing for a week turned up. Misplaced and overlooked not, as secretly feared, lost forever.
That a pause, even for fifteen years is still a pause. This painting was started and paused 15 years ago when I was doing a painting course. It was painted using only my fingers. A technique I never tried again until this week when I realised what I needed to do to make it exhibition-ready.
The Wheelhouse proportions needed to be altered and the moon tweaked with copper leaf. Having tweaked the moon the ponies required a little tweakment and then with all that bling the shadows needed darkening and on and on it went. All the time using my finger tips! All well and good until they start to get sore and the top layer of skin is worn away. Really not a technique I ever need to use again. Useful if I ever need to enter the world of crimes created with two fingerprintless fingers, but really not so smart for operating my smartphone with its fingerprint recognition.
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