Sunday 31 January 2021
Saturday 30 January 2021
Friday 29 January 2021
Thursday 28 January 2021
We are often wealking past this house by the river these days...recalling the story of a pair of swans who befriended a lone goose, and apparently the three were usually to be seen together as a threesome along the river... recently we have only seen the white goose, all on its own...a little apart from the gaggle of darker grey geese gathering on the other side of the river, making quite a noisy din together... but then one day we couldnt hear the gaggling geese and noticed they had all gone away: presumably on their annual migration ? ... then, turning the corner at the end of the Quay, we saw that one grey goose had remained... for there it was, happily wandering in the salt - marsh beside the white goose, each following the other's every move...
...and yesterday they had clearly discovered something really tasty to eat down by the edge of the reeds...
Wednesday 27 January 2021
Tuesday 26 January 2021
Monday 25 January 2021
Saturday 23 January 2021
Thursday 21 January 2021
Monday 18 January 2021
pages from the Book of Kells : 8th Century MSS of the Gospels on exhibition at Dublin University...the Monks copying this manuscript must have had a good sense of humour along with incredible patience, judging by all the detail of their designs and the cartoons of cats or dogs in between the lines of Latin text...
Sunday 17 January 2021
Saturday 16 January 2021
This morning I woke up to see snow blowing around outside our window and immediately imagined deep snow everywhere... though in fact it hardly settled at all before melting away... I still remember snow piling up in deep drifts... about 60+ years ago on the very day my sister was due to take her 11+ exam, we opened the back door to the shock of discovering the snow was a good three or four feet deep...suddenly our cat jumped out onto the snow and immediately dissappeared, sinking down into the snow, which of course couldnt hold his weight...can you imagine the scene yet? ... the complete chaos and panic...and yet, we had to do something...my father pulled on his wellies whilst mum handed out our warm jumpers, macs and smaller wellies :) ... fortunately the radio weather forcast had been for snow & so our parents had searched the garage for spades and shovels, bringing them indoors the day before, just in case...but they had never thought of drifts this deep... this was quite unusual...well, we did manage to rescue the cat...but my sister's dilemma took hours to solve...our nearest neighbours lived in the farmhouse next door,so we began to slowly dig our way out to them, making a deep trench through the snow, carrying a thermos flask of hot water in case their electricity had been cut off...they were surprised to see us, but immediately took us through to their warm kitchen to warm up with hot chocolate... "oooh I doubt any buses willbe running today, and trains are bound to be stopped... how will anyone be able to get into Colchester for that test on a day like this...and if hardly anyone turns up they willhave to cancel it... why not phone up and see... well, if the phone lines arent down, that is...lets try and see..." "O good, its ringing..."...well, to cut a long story short :) transport was completely disrupted & no-one from villages outside Colchester, & even some people living in Colchester could not get to that exam...so they had to arrange another testing day later in the springtime...
On a completely different tack, I have also been delving into a recent book by Pope Francis: Let Us Dream... basically asking us to imagine what future we would like to see before us when the pandemic is over...and what are the realistic first steps we need to take...?
Friday 15 January 2021
Monday 11 January 2021
Sunday 10 January 2021
Saturday 9 January 2021
Friday 8 January 2021
Monday 4 January 2021
The Needles, Isle of Wight, autumnal haze: oil on canvas, Janet Driver
I was fascinated by the way the light made quite different patterns over the Needles at different times of day
the first light of dawn lit up different parts of these rocks that were hidden in shadow later on... their sharper needle points seem to be more emphasised latr in the day, especially in this heavy haze & low cloud...This is one of the reasons I became so interested in Monet's paintings... he also noticed the changing patterns of light...giving different patterns on the architeture of Rouen Cathedral...or trees reflected in the river at Giverny...[look on Wikepedia ]...
Sunday 3 January 2021
Saturday 2 January 2021
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