Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” Orson Scott
Books
I am having a lot of winter fun journaling with my new desk space. I have a new bright lamp arriving soon too.
Keeping track of what I want to do/read/photograph on a really cold, blowy winter’s day is great fun. I do some junk journaling too and play with a couple of wonderful sticker books I have. I even got my fountain pen filled with ink again.
I recently acquired Julia Cameron’s latest book, Walking In This World. I can’t tell you what it is about yet but once into it I will.
I finished the book The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. I am really glad I read it. There was so much in it.
There is such a myriad of motivations that drive the protagonist, Charles Arrowby and the other characters that Iris Murdoch lays bare. There is human vanity, jealousy, and lack of compassion behind the various characters, especially Charles. The whole story is played out against the ocean from beautiful to terrifying. The ocean is a metaphor for Charles’ actions and mood. He varies from erratic, gentle, terrifying anger then calm.
I began the latest book by Charlotte Wood, an author who I like. Stone Yard Devotional but I can’t say anything yet as I only cracked the pages last night.
I did finish another short book by David Sedaris on audible. It is titled Naked and it is both sad at times then hilarious.
Sadness as he describes his mother’s death and funny when he visit a nudist colony. Non fiction memoir at its best is what Sedaris is known for.
I like hearing him talk about his family. His father and mother were unusual characters and he portrays them in both an exasperating and loving way especially as they age. They was so much dysfunction in that family between him and his siblings yet they all remained close.
He explains how hard it was growing up with OCD-compulsive behaviours. For example he would get out of his chair at school and go over and lick the light switch, he had so many bizarre behaviours that he couldn’t control. He was bullied very much as a result of his behaviour. He spent time in his room making very high-pitched noises in his throat. The behaviours were the only way he could comfort himself before the cycle began again.
His visitation to a nudist colony retreat was very funny – both how he handled walking around nude and the descriptions of the others.
He is very good describing his observations of people which I love. I spend a lot of time going out and observing people myself with my camera and although I don’t write about them I enjoy photographing them.
Photography
There is a Facebook page that is called Street Photos. Each day they take the best street photography posted in a 24-hour period and post up what they see as the best photos.
I submit two photos a day but have yet to be selected in the “best of”. There are many excellent photographers on the site and people “like” the ones they think are worthy. It makes me really study how I take photos and I find they are getting better.
Good photos of people have colour, gesture and light. They also need somewhat of a story or reason to exist. One also needs a good character, location and event. (See comment under a recent street photo I took above.
The photo is good if you can get all six of those features but it is very difficult. It is more challenging if one doesn’t live in London, NYC, Venice or other beautiful cities. One must work hard to find the equivalent in Hobart! The biggest task is just to have that information in your head before you push the shutter.
I have been studying the book The Photography Storytelling Workshop by Finn Beales. It is a five-step guide to creating unforgettable photographs. I am taking lots of notes in the margins.
So enough on books and photos.
Pets
We were at the vet’s again this week. We took our cat Grizzy for his final dental check after his big clean. He is doing very well. Ollie goes every three months for an injection that hopefully keeps him mobile on his back, reconstructed leg. He is doing well and so far, no arthritis. He will be five years old in August already.
Food
Yesterday I cleaned a few things that were hiding in the back of the refrigerator and found a bottle of Marion’s Kitchen Satay Sauce. I forgot it was there. She was a MasterChef contestant, winner? I forget, from a few years ago and has a line of Asian style sauces and kits. I have used them once or twice before and they were good.
I put some chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions into the slow cooker and all the sauce from the bottle and stirred it so everything is covered. The smell is wonderful as it is a really cold Sunday (10C – 50F) as it is quite windy with the cold coming down from the mountain. It feels like 30. S0 this is just what we will need later.
Your turn 😄🌻
Let me know something fun you did this past week and we’ll keep the conversation going.
Bye for now…
Travellin' Penguin 