Category: Creativity
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Challenging joys
So yesterday I finished printing all of the programmes for our exciting concert presentation on Saturday. It was a labour of love throughout the day, which mostly involved wrestling with the wireless connection to the printer, orientating the paper so that the marginless printing worked as expected, and regular ink replenishment, until 167 copies of…
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Metaphor and meaning
Sometimes I wonder if the best meanings are most often conveyed through metaphor. I know I’ve not been able, for example, to make any sense of the venality of so many contemporary politicians across the world, without thinking of original sin and selfish lies. But then, my upbringing was built on a foundation of metaphor,…
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Coastal Odysseys
Over the past couple of months, we’ve had the opportunity of visiting both west and east coasts of the British Isles: west to the Mull of Galloway; east to Whitley Bay north of Newcastle upon Tyne. We went in our ancient motorhome, Harry Hymer by name. Of course, here in the UK, you’re never far…
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The clock re-setter and the over-wintering butterfly
One doesn’t usually associate clock maintenance with large rubber mallets, a stiff piece of hardwood, and assorted mole grips, nor does one expect to see a small tortoiseshell butterfly fluttering by at the beginning of February. So today I’m musing about the unexpected, as remarkable experiences in an observed life. I’m getting more efficient on my…
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Advice that makes sense . . .
I’ve borrowed a clipart image from the blog of fellow Canadian Mobashar Qureshi, who relates that two salient words of advice have kept him going: Keep Writing. Indeed. Through all the tribulations of searching for an agent, hunting down independent publishers, after having ventured into the murky realm of self-publishing on the big platforms (Amazon/KDP), and then…
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When a gate is not an entrance but a barrier . . .
The strong steel gate in our new-to-us driveway has served primarily as a barrier, to keep the friendly family dogs safely within the garden, over the past year. But it’s also been a barrier, or at least a huge hindrance even when fully open, to convenient entrance and egress by our ancient motorhome, Harry Hymer. And therein…
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The joy of a bound volume . . .
I seem to gravitate to prolonged projects: diaries; novels; long-running blogs; more novels; social histories; even a lengthening set of joys. My personal joy this morning is the completion of one project, and the anticipation of delving into another. The social history project that I devised, some 18 months ago, was to create a lasting, tangible set…
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Not only, but also . . . looking ahead while looking back
Both perspectives, it seems, are golden: the golden years we may have experienced, and the golden future we might hope to inhabit. Today I’m musing on the simultaneity of the visions; though we often think of looking back at the year gone by, or looking forward to the new year coming, I think I tend to discount…
Roads to Joy 