'Britons living in the EU face Brexit backlash, leaked paper warns' - headline in The Guardian today. This obviously spills over EU nationals living in Britain, and pushes me further to the end of my GB platform ...
Wasted 50p on an Ipaper today, wasted in the sense of more troubling news - 'Nineteen hospitals face closure in major overhaul of the NHS'. Hampshire and IOW not among them, but big savings ahead. Can't see how this will work - it's like trying to pressing the same amount of stuff in a smaller bag. Possibly if people stopped going to A&E for colds etc, that would make a small difference. Otherwise, you can't ask the pharmacist's advice when you're having a stroke or a heart attack... .
I think the only way today is concentrate on the positive. Today I saw 'Lion'; heart-renderingly tough on many levels, but also beautiful on many others. Makes me think how fortunate I have been all my life; so safe ...
And tonight it's Scottish dancing, tomorrow meeting up with good friends wanting to celebrate my birthday, and this weekend is the IOW Weekend School. Can't be bad.
More positive news in the Ipaper is the story about the 21-year old model with Down's syndrome who conquers catwalk with her own collection - brilliant! Must show Dave (Oxford)!
Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Monday, 19 December 2016
Minimalistic
Thin volume of Christina Rosetti poems - ff
Wearing a woollen scarf and small shoulder bag,
just right for a thin volume;
A man
Why not me
Listening to the radio
I listen to the radio, doing the washing up
and am grateful to have a sink to clean;
I listen to the radio, favourite music channel,
and am grateful for musical memories
being kept alive;
I listen to the radio, books are discussed,
and am grateful for old and new authors;
I listen to the radio,
and am grateful for being able
to listen to the radio,
in my own kitchen.
If I was in a refugee camp in Greece,
or Syria
I think these are some of the things I would wish for;
to be able to do the washing up in my own kitchen,
while listening to the radio.
and am grateful to have a sink to clean;
I listen to the radio, favourite music channel,
and am grateful for musical memories
being kept alive;
I listen to the radio, books are discussed,
and am grateful for old and new authors;
I listen to the radio,
and am grateful for being able
to listen to the radio,
in my own kitchen.
If I was in a refugee camp in Greece,
or Syria
I think these are some of the things I would wish for;
to be able to do the washing up in my own kitchen,
while listening to the radio.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Emily Carr and Victoria
Outside the Empress Hotel there is a statue of Emily Carr, one of Canada's most prominent artists and writers. The statue shows her with her favourite monkey Woo on her shoulder, one of her dogs by her feet, and her sketchbook at the ready on her lap.She was born in 1871, and the only thing she really wanted to do from an early age was to draw and paint. She attended art schools in USA, England and France, but it was the forests of her Canada, i.e. Vancouver Island, that eventually opened up her artistic vein to full flow. I am reading her autobiography, 'Growing Pains', and enjoying every page, which reveals her long and tough unglamorous life journey with an unabated sense of humour. She reminds me of my Swedish grandfather's sister, Tora Vega Holmström, who, born in 1880, also wanted to do nothing but paint, who also choose not to marry to in order to have her artistic freedom in tact.
Saturday, 26 October 2013
Victoria, Vancouver Island
Visiting family in Victoria, and am enjoying lovely autumn days; everywhere you look, an array of autumn colour in every shade, from deep red to golden yellow, and everything awash with glorious sunshine.
Walking down Cook Street - pass a second hand shop which was selling 'Experienced Goods'. Doesn't this give the items in the shop a more dignified status? - they are not weeded out from people's overfilled cupboards, they are now available to tell their life story to somebody new.
Outside the Empress Hotel there is a statue of Emily Carr, one of Canada's most prominent artists and writers. The statue shows her with her favourite monkey Woo on her shoulder, one of her dogs by her feet, and her sketchbook at the ready on her lap.
Walking down Cook Street - pass a second hand shop which was selling 'Experienced Goods'. Doesn't this give the items in the shop a more dignified status? - they are not weeded out from people's overfilled cupboards, they are now available to tell their life story to somebody new.
Outside the Empress Hotel there is a statue of Emily Carr, one of Canada's most prominent artists and writers. The statue shows her with her favourite monkey Woo on her shoulder, one of her dogs by her feet, and her sketchbook at the ready on her lap.
Saturday, 19 October 2013
Books and ebooks
Just back from a day at the Isle of Wight Literary Festival, running this weekend at Northwood House in Cowes - http://isleofwightliteraryfestival.org/ - and this evening there was a publishing debate between authors, booksellers, and publishers of ebooks and printed books. Publishing today is a very precarious business - at the moment ebooks are doing well, how the printed books are doing is a more delicate matter. Some of the speakers (author and publisher) expressed the view that the WORD is at the centre, whether coming to you from the printed page or electronically, and also, concerning the ebooks, that the essential thing is that you still buy them from the BOOKSHOP - without that we will certainly be up the creek without a paddle. Yes, wise words indeed.
But still. An ebook is so invisible. How can you get any vibes from a small computer screen, and, as one of the authors were saying, how can you get a sneak view of what your neighbour is reading on the train or on the underground? - so frustrating! More serious for me is the total loss of inspiration or possibilities of finding new books, authors etc that you get from just by picking up a printed book because it looks enticing, interesting etc. And what about bookshelves - is there anything as comforting as a room with books, - or a public library for that matter - to look at, to remember the reading experience they gave you, giving you the possiibiity of new reading experiences, or to just being there - shelves with good old friends, and friends waiting to be known. I can't imagineI would get the same feeling from ebooks. The contents is the same, I'm sure you get the same thrill/excitement/satisfaction from your ebook reading experience, but once it's read it's gone - you can't turn it over, have a browse. And there is something special about turning over a printed page ... - and you can't put the ebook up in your book case and look at it and remember a good story, which to me is half the fun of reading.
Now off to bed with my library copy of Donna Leon 'Beastly things' - a good bedside printed companion!
But still. An ebook is so invisible. How can you get any vibes from a small computer screen, and, as one of the authors were saying, how can you get a sneak view of what your neighbour is reading on the train or on the underground? - so frustrating! More serious for me is the total loss of inspiration or possibilities of finding new books, authors etc that you get from just by picking up a printed book because it looks enticing, interesting etc. And what about bookshelves - is there anything as comforting as a room with books, - or a public library for that matter - to look at, to remember the reading experience they gave you, giving you the possiibiity of new reading experiences, or to just being there - shelves with good old friends, and friends waiting to be known. I can't imagineI would get the same feeling from ebooks. The contents is the same, I'm sure you get the same thrill/excitement/satisfaction from your ebook reading experience, but once it's read it's gone - you can't turn it over, have a browse. And there is something special about turning over a printed page ... - and you can't put the ebook up in your book case and look at it and remember a good story, which to me is half the fun of reading.
Now off to bed with my library copy of Donna Leon 'Beastly things' - a good bedside printed companion!
Monday, 30 September 2013
Monk's house
Monks house in the village of Rodmell, East Sussex, the cottage that Virginia Woolf and her husband bought as a summer residence, but where they lived permantly.
A home full of character and atmosphere, and a garden made for reflective walks and thoughtful placings of benches for a meditative sit-downs. And, at the top of the garden, the writing hut. Inspiring.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)