[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 9 February 2024].
off yer nut
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 25 May 2023].
After so much time away from home, I've finally caught up on most things, excluding sleep.
Unfortunately, poor wee Dougal had an operation on Monday afternoon and is still recovering, so we cancelled my sitting with him. His owner and I both hope he comes good soon.
As much as I don't like to hear about Dougal being poorly, having more time at home has been helpful for my mental health and catching up on life admin.
I will still go to Bromley on Friday evening until Monday to sit my regulars plus one.
In the meantime, I'm pleased to be home and that the repairs to the building are currently paused between the roof replacement and re-pointing (and then painting).
Footpath reconstruction is due to start on our section of the road next Tuesday, so it would seem I chose the ideal time to GTFO of Dodge.
All of these things are well overdue, but so is my sleep!
If I'm being honest, that's the one thing I'm looking forward to most with my time away: some relaxation, alongside catching up with family and friends. I suspect it will still end up hectic.
I woke to a less-than-positive update about an extended family member in Australia today, but I'm hoping the cause proves to be minor. At least, hopefully, I can be of some assistance during my stay.
I've managed to import the photos I took in Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery one day while sitting Mia. And those of Jilly I took with my D700 during my sitting with her. I hope to share some of these with you soon, along with other photos and artwork.
In the meantime, please enjoy a few photos of The Nut in Stanley, Tasmania, I took in 2018. I didn't know this was a volcanic plug until I looked it up to link you to more information. And I didn't know what a volcanic plug was until now.
Photography feeds my curious mind.
camber sands
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 28 September 2022].
Despite visiting Camber Sands with friends on such a lovely day with perfect weather, albeit a bit windy, I barely took in my surroundings. I only captured a handful of photographs with my dSLR and my iPhone.
And some of those iPhone photos were taken while I sat in the car with my mind elsewhere.
Specifically: on the outcome of the Brexit referendum, which had taken place the previous day.
I'd stayed up into the wee hours keeping an eye on updates but had finally succumbed to sleep before the result was confirmed.
I woke up a couple of hours later and checked the news on my phone. Seeing the headlines, I tossed my phone on the bed in disgust, went to the bathroom, and then returned to a fitful sleep, brought on by my disappointment and disbelief.
My mood hadn't lifted over breakfast. It wasn't helped by our B&B hosts being unashamedly pleased with the outcome. Phil and I both struggled to contain our frustrations out of politeness to our otherwise welcoming hostess.
Even now, my disappointment over the decision for Britain to exit the European Union is still present. It's reinforced every time the current Conservative government takes the Overton Window further and further to the right.
The political situation in the UK, US and Australia had already been heading that way for at least two years. But I feel Brexit was the beginning of an even more accentuated move away from common sense toward the politics of Drumpf and beyond.
And it doesn't seem to be swinging back anytime soon, unfortunately.
living on bridlington time
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 21 December 2021].
burleigh heads
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 3 August 2021].
Today was a stressful one, and there was a "doze, not quite a nap" this afternoon when I pushed through for too long without eating.
But I got important life admin sorted, and I booked an appointment for my second dose of the vaccine, so there's that.
Today I felt the urge to share a little photo essay of photographs I took at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast in Queensland back in 2009.
At the time, I was visiting for my birthday. But later in the year, for various reasons, I moved to live with my parents in Redland Bay at the other end of the Pacific Highway.
In 2002, when I'd returned from the UK, I'd lived with them in the Gold Coast hinterland. In Bonogin. My then-partner and I would drive to Burleigh Heads most days to walk along this stretch of the Gold Coast.
It was a beautiful spot to be and provided a stark contrast to the Gold Coast tourist drag of Surfers Paradise. I was more familiar with that part of the Gold Coast from my primary school years when I lived in Brisbane.
I feel a postcard from another's life related to my relationship with the Gold Coast coming in time. It was an annual pilgrimage for our family in my early years, punctuated by fluorescent beachwear and putt-putt golf.
Later, while at college, it was a place of cultural cringe for me.
In 2002 and 2009, I could see the beauty again in areas outside of the tourist traps. I hope this is what I shared with a partner in 2019, though I still hold a love for the kitsch 1980s Surfers Paradise in my heart to this day.
It's complicated.
Isn't it always?
untitled #140
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 13 July 2021].
In the wee hours of this morning, I had the chance to watch the final episode of Can't Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World. I mentioned it in my post on Friday.
While there was a little cognitive dissonance for me in some of what Adam Curtis talked about in the closing section of the docuseries, I'm willing to look into that further. I think elements may not stand up given further information that has come to light between the series being released to BBC iPlayer on 11 February and now.
However, I was (pleasantly) surprised that the docuseries ended on a hopeful note.
It was not so much Curtis providing a 'solution'. But he quoted an American anthropologist and anarchist activist, David Graeber, who I'd not previously heard of. Based on the quote and the title of his books, I will definitely have to read up more on him and read his books.
About this time last year, I first heard about Doughnut Economics. And in September last year, I wrote a rant titled Fuck capitalism! What's next? I spewed out ideas that had been whirling around my head since close to the beginning of the pandemic.
I haven't re-read my rant since I wrote it, so I'm not sure it's worth sharing, and it wasn't complete. But around the same time, I was having conversations with anyone who would listen about how we needed to take this opportunity to do things differently going forward.
Some people were open to what I had to say. But a lot - including many close to me - responded with statements like "That won't happen in my lifetime". Or "That's a pipedream". Or (in respect to discussions about Universal Basic Income) "But how would we pay for it?"
Graeber's quote from The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy neatly encapsulates my response to most of those naysayers:
The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.
At the time of these discussions, I didn't claim to have all of the answers. Or even any of them. And I still don't. But I didn't (and don't) see why we couldn't (and can't) be asking the questions and completely changing things up.
People before us came up with capitalism, communism, socialism, dictatorships, and on and on. Why can't we create something new that works for everyone? That may include the best elements of the above and/or completely new ideas?
And yes, I know I sound blindly optimistic about this. But why not? What is actually stopping us?
I have learned so much in the past year or so. Predominantly through listening to others and being more open-minded about how we could improve. And how we can move forward with greater equality as a global society.
Sure, there are likely to be few "quick wins", and there are plenty of right-wing folks scaremongering and creating division to protect "the old ways" that favour them.
But there is so much to gain if we can make the world differently.
cædmon's cross
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 7 March 2021].
I took this photograph in February 2012, in St Mary's churchyard, Whitby, and only just found out about the poet it was erected in honour of, Cædmon, tonight.
I've got quite a few things still left to do before midnight as today was an exceedingly lazy one, but I will have to read more about him when I get those things done.
Once again, my photography leading me to more learning and discovery :)
take a long walk off a short pier
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 21 August 2020].
So, I 'lost' a week to the heatwave. And just as that finally finished I found out my Dad was in hospital.
He's home now, and the situation wasn't life-threatening because antibiotics. But let's just say the past couple of weeks have been stressful for me for the above reasons and others I won't go into right here, right now.
In that time, I did manage to:
get all my collages from The 100 Day Project up onto my blog and add credits for the illustrations to the posts on Patreon (in case you're interested),
decide retrospectively on a title for the project (to be revealed), and
think about what I would do with it next.
I know it's been much delayed but, once I can, I'll share my thoughts on the project and some other (hopefully) exciting information with you.
---
Over the past months, I've also been dealing with the impact of conspiracy theories on those around me. I'm thankful it doesn't include direct family. It's heartbreaking to watch friends being drawn into this, and I've had to step away from friends of over 10 years.
My condolences if you've also been dealing with this. A friend shared a tweet with me recently that garnered myriad comments which read like memorials and shared experiences about their friends and family members' deaths.
I'm not exaggerating to say it's felt like that to me at times. Having to 'let go' of people who I've had a mutual support system with and admired the photography and talents of for so long.
They're not dead. Just completely bought into these conspiracy theories. I can't watch it. It breaks my heart and is detrimental to my mental health.
---
On a lighter note: when I was creating my collages for The 100 Day Project, I came across George Du Maurier's illustration, Vae Victus, from Wives and daughters, volume one.
It sparked the idea for a series of collages entitled lost in her own world. I started creating collages for the series this evening. This image is one of four I've created so far, with more to come.
Each collage uses the same illustration with a variety of backdrops; all my photographs.
As you may have guessed, today's collage is entitled take a long walk off a short pier.
The title conveys how I feel about 2020 so far (despite this year allowing me lots of creativity and productivity thus far). And how I feel about those spreading conspiracy theories. But at the same time, it creates an idyllic backdrop for our protagonist to lose herself in.
Which feels much needed at this time.
squid pro quo
Day eighty-five of The 100 Day Project.
Illustrations:
Clubhook squid, umbrella squid and European squid (loligo vulgaris) by an unknown artist from Mollusques vivants et fossiles