This will hurt me...

Who what now? Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. September 2012. I love you all. Honestly. I Love You , Sara Teasdale When April bends above me And finds me fast asleep, Dust need not keep the secret A live heart died to keep. When April tells the thrushes, The meadow-larks will know, And pipe the three words lightly To all the winds that blow. Above his roof the swallows, In notes like far-blown rain, Will tell the little sparrow Beside his window-pane. O sparrow, little sparrow, When I am fast asleep, Then tell my love the secret That I have died to keep.

This is the lazy man's attempt at pointillism...

I want to break free... East Derwent Highway, Lindisfarne. April 2012. Two very different books this week. The first is Judith Schalansky's Atlas of Remote Islands . Helpfully sub-titled Fifty Islands I have not visited and never will , this is a coffee-table book that combines hand drawn maps of fifty of the most remote and hostile islands on earth with brief, fable-like narratives of elements of their histories on the facing page. Schalansky grew up in East Germany in 1980 and, unable to journey far, (and like many of thus) she travelled via the atlas. This book continues these imaginary voyages. Especially fascinated by isolated islands and tales of prisoners, castaways, natives and colonists, she has developed a book that draws the reader into these journeys. Not for everybody, but if this sounds appealing I would bet that you'd like it. Recommended for atlas-fanciers. Second up is Up The Junction by Nell Dunn. Controversial at the time of its release in 1963, it depicts c...