It’s time for a quick catch up. I abandoned the Alphabet book sharing from my shelves as I found I was having to spend too much time online either researching the authors or looking up photos of the books plus writing about the book. During lock down there are more phone conversations of people I usually catch up with, emails to friends and relatives overseas, book blogs to read, books to read. All in all I was just on screens too much and it was getting to me.
It felt too much like a job and that meant stress to get everything done regarding a simple blog. So I just packed it in.
One thing that has just started that I am enjoying is the Shakespeare Sonnets sharing from Tim, a Doctor of Philosophy and assistant manager at Fullers Book store. As the store is closed it isn’t possible to visit though you can pick up books at the front door if needed. Tim discusses one sonnet a day and it will take three months to get through the 120 he plans. The online group has the book Sonnets which is a Pelican Shakespeare edited by John Hollander. Each day we read our one page sonnet and then receive a discussion email from Tim. It has been fun and doesn’t require a lot of time.
In the meantime I continue to read blogs that are still very active and hope everyone is remaining in good health. Until next time….
It’s been a pleasant weekend. There is a very large book sale down the road put on by Rotary club this weekend. I took my motorbike down yesterday as Mr. Penguin was helping out on a friend’s farm.
BOOKS:
I didn’t think I would find much and I wasn’t going to go but you know how it is. A very large book sale less than two kms away? Would you at least check it out? I did. I found six new books and I could not believe it. The ones I found could not be left behind. It would keep me awake at night. I went straight to the literature/classics section. Wasn’t interested in anything else. Here you have them.
I have never read any of his books and I have always wanted to.
Very unfamiliar with this author but hey, it’s a Persephone. It must have merit.
Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory
Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock
Persephone (which you NEVER see in Tasmania) Saplings by Noel Streatfield
I like Hemingway a lot as long as I don’t have to read about his African hunting excursions and the Bullring in Spain.I have a very small collection of Virago and think they are lovely books.This is close in size to a coffee table book. Just beautiful.
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Over the Frontier by Stevie Smith – green Virago
The Illustrated Edition of Charles Dickens. A very large, double column gorgeous book filled with illustrations. Simply gorgeous.
The next thing I did was come home and culled 16 or 17 books from my shelf and they will be donated to the Red Cross book shop. I chose that shop because it is in the city centre and each time I visit it is full of young adult and the elderly picking through the books. They also sell them for the most affordable prices than other op shops. My shelves look emptier already. (*cough *sputter)
PHOTOGRAPHY:
I had another weekend win today. My good friend in Florida sent me a photo that was taken of her with a phone under a beautiful tree in Charleston, South Carolina. She just returned from a short trip there. The problem is there were heaps of tourists and she asked me if I could get rid of the man dressed in orange. This is an exercise I need to work on in Photoshop so I enjoyed trying. I didn’t think the result would be so good though so once again I am happy (and terribly surprised.)
BEFORE:
She is dressed in red. Isn’t it a beautiful tree. So much clutter in the photo though. Everywhere !
AFTER:
1. Cropped it. 2.Got rid of people and the shed. 3. Brightened up her top. 4. Filled in the bare patch in background right and filled in the space between the branches.
I looks a lot better now.
WALKS WITH OLLIE:
The last thing that was a happy event today is that Ollie and I took a walk up to the fire trail up the road from our house. We used to go up and visit the donkey. We would take her carrots. Odie and I did this a lot before he died. But the last two times we visited the donkey was gone. As there’s been a drought I was worried they sold him. I was hoping they only moved him to a better paddock. He’s been gone all summer so I figured that was it.
Today. as we walked up the road I heard the loudest, biggest braying. I couldn’t believe my ears. Ollie and I walked up to his regular paddock and lo and behold, she was there. He was on the far side of the paddock but as soon as soon as she saw us she walked over so we could pet her. I felt so bad I didn’t have a carrot for her as I usually do. She and Ollie sniffed noses.
The two of them were really interested in each other. Ollie is more fearless than is good for him.
This weekend has been a good one and I am continuing ignoring all the hype about everything going on in the world at the moment. I really can’t take it much longer so I’m making a concerted effort to do other things that make me smile.
Okay, your turn…. What did you do this weekend?
Currently reading a book about Antarctica. Would love to visit one day.
Today I came across a photography competition (Lens Culture) being held somewhere. It’s online and international. I saw that the winners of the competition will have their photos exhibited somewhere in Paris. The competition closes in April and anyone can submit one single photo, five single photos or five photos that are part of a project where the photos are linked together to be a project or tell a sequential story. I chose the five single photos and I also paid the small extra fee to receive a critique back on them from the judges. If I am not going to end up in Paris at least someone from another part of the world will explain to me why not.
Now, I am not a professional photographer by any means as I’ve never made a cent from my photos. But I am somewhat of a dreamer and I can see me walking in to the well lit gallery on a Parisian street with dozens of wonderful street photography hanging on the walls. Standing around in a quirky outfit with other people in interesting dress. I might even wear a hat. We’d be sipping champagne discussing the settings we used in our cameras and the experiences of dealing with the people we stalked through the streets.
(Though I am more of a photographer that sneaks up from behind.)
As it is fun to give things a go, even when you know you have no chance, being in that moment for a second, on a cold, blustery, rainy Tasmanian day is a fun way to live once in awhile.
Making herself more comfortable on a street in Moscow while life passes by.
My favourite genre of photography is Street Photography. Documenting life. Street photography are photos that presumably tell a story. I also try very hard to not take a photo of anyone holding a mobile phone unless it is imperative to the story. All of us are living stories each day that very few people ever witness. I like that about life.
Often I will sit in traffic and be stopped at a light. How often do you watch people cross the street in front of your car and wonder what’s in the shopping bag or think about where they are coming from? How did they spend their afternoon? Probably not too exciting but the thought does cross my mind. I enjoy looking at the expressions on their faces and while really stuck in a long line of traffic, begin to make up stories in my head about them.
Two friends hanging out on a Moscow street. The dog has his own agenda.
Perhaps she wouldn’t be so cranky if her son hadn’t just slammed the car door on her and disappeared down the street. Or the three girls giggling because their school day has finished and they have big plans for the weekend. How good will it feel for the elderly lady, carrying too many groceries in that bag, hoping she makes the bus and can finally relax when she gets home. It is no wonder I love books so much. It also keeps me calm when some idiot does something on the road where I want to ram him or her. I won’t describe the stories I think up for that person but *hint* it involves crime and will I get away with it?
Morocco: Waiting for his friend to come back with jumper cables maybe?
It is with the idea of these little stories happening every second of the day and night, right around the world that I decided to enter five of my favourite shots I have taken whilst travelling. I may never hear of them again which is most probable but I’ve had fun making up the dream and working with the photos.
I share them here with you today.
A Street Cleaning Woman on a street in Seville, Spain.
It’s time for a quick catch up. I abandoned the Alphabet book sharing from my shelves as I found I was having to spend too much time online either researching the authors or looking up photos of the books plus writing about the book. During lock down there are more phone conversations of people I usually catch up with, emails to friends and relatives overseas, book blogs to read, books to read. All in all I was just on screens too much and it was getting to me.
Travellin' Penguin 