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Showing posts from May 6, 2012

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.

Hen and Ez do their best impersonations of sharks. With flotation devices.

I would leap too/ Into the light,/ If I had the chance.

Cracks in the road. Wellington Road, Lindisfarne. April 2012. This poem by James Wright really is one of my all-time favourites. I've waxed lyrical about this poem to quite a few people over the years, and more than a handful struggle to believe that the image of a frog destroyed by a car could ever be interpreted romantically. I assert that it is! [SPOILER ALERT] This is a poem about risk . Sometimes, just sometimes, the risk is worth it. Small Frogs Killed On The Highway , James Wright Still, I would leap too Into the light, If I had the chance. It is everything, the wet green stalk of the field On the other side of the road. They crouch there, too, faltering in terror And take strange wing. Many Of the dead never moved, but many Of the dead are alive forever in the split second Auto headlights more sudden Than their drivers know. The drivers burrow backward into dank pools Where nothing begets Nothing. Across the road, tadpoles are dancing On the quarter...

It's bad taste to be wise all the time, like being at a perpetual funeral.

Ezra and friend re-enact the sinking of the Lusitania .

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

Even dead trees carry life. The Hastings Caves State Reserve, Southern Tasmania. April 2012. Three quite different books finished this week, an eclectic mix very much more accident than design on my behalf. The first is the latest from one of my favourite contemporary writers, This Is Life by Dan Rhodes. A complicated and convoluted novel that interweaves the story of a young art student, a (seemingly) abandoned baby, a women so beautiful that all of her ex-boyfriends (and their mothers) tend to kill themselves or stalk her, the upstanding proprietor of Paris’ last genuine cinéma érotique (who has a particular fondness for sophisticated ‘girl-on-girl’ films and a lesbian daughter), a pair of Japanese tourists and their hapless translator, the world’s most acerbic art critic and perhaps the novel's finest creation, the mysterious performance artist Le Machine whose global smash-hit production Life has returned to his home town of Paris. Rhodes's novels have always ten...

Among mortals second thoughts are wisest.

The Emperor surveys his dominions...

A big man has no time really to do anything but just sit and be big.

Down low atop the overpass. East Derwent Highway, Lindisfarne. May 2012. Theme Thursday and I still haven't posted? Damn! NEIGHBOURS. Gay bars? NEIGHBOURS! Hay cars? NEIGHBOURS!! Toppled Tsars? NEIGHBOURS!!! Hekmatyar's? Gulbuddin Hekmatyar??? For crying out loud, NEIGHBOURS!!! I don't know why I am, just that some days I am.

Finally I'm becoming stupider no more.

Now please stand as Ezra readies himself for his next trick. Yes, he will now EAT his way through this entire pile of car tyres!

What they do in heaven we are ignorant of; what they do not do we are told expressly.

Wordless Wednesday...

Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision.

Hen and Jen exit the bunker to inspect Ezra's handiwork in refitting and refurbishing the big guns and lining the sights etc etc...

Every man's memory is his private literature.

Home (with a little help from the zoom). Geilston Bay, as seen from atop Mount Wellington. April 2012. This week's Tuesday Q and A is a little different this week. In a shocking turn of events, I have not resorted to stealing the questions from Sunday Stealing! Instead, long-time lurker and erstwhile commentator Dr. Hallam volunteered this motley (but challenging) set of queries for me to tackle. As ever, if this kind of thing is your bag, I'm happy to tackle any such examinations! Just let me know in the comments or send me an e-mail. To the questions! 1. What do you think your children will be like when they are 30? How will they be different from each other? It is very difficult to guess what they'll be like in quarter of a century. There are just too many variables to factor in. I expect that they will continue to be different though. Ezra has the sharper temper and a far more ruthless (and daring) streak to him. Henry is a little more sensitive a seems to...

I always wanted to be an explorer, but - it seemed I was doomed to be nothing more than a very silly person.

Ezra does a mean Betty Boop impression...

Generally speaking, everyone is more interesting doing nothing than doing anything.

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to. Howrah Beach. March 2012. Normally I would be at work and you'd already have seen a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning , but I didn't today. Instead, I had a very pleasant morning strolling to school with Henry, and then promenade around the waterfront with Ezra and Jen. A very nice way to spend your birthday!

Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.

Henry considers possible birthday presents for tomorrow's bug event...

Silence is true wisdom's best reply.

Ezra impersonates Clint Eastwood. Mount Wellington, Hobart. April 2012. I figure that for today's Sunday Top Five we may as well try and be useful. Today I present to you My Top Five Quick And Easy Tips To [Hopefully} Take Better Photographs! Go to where the picture is! Be prepared to get your knees dirty for the sake of a shot. Get down on the ground, climb up a tree, squat low and reach up high. Like a lot of things in life, even the most ordinary thing can look far more interesting from a different angle or a different perspective. Don't fixate on the centre! If you're wondering why your photos might all look a bit 'the same', it could be that you are always focusing on the centre of the shot. Don't! Mix up your composition. Try and encourage the observer's eye to follow through the photo by using of strong lines or patterns. It's not always about the thing in the middle. Know where your light is! Light can make or break a picture....