Blog Archives
There is something about winter which pares all living things down to their essentials – Moya Cannon It learns…something – Lex Fridman talking with Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO) In 1999 Jeremy Paxman asked David Bowie for his views about the internet. “It’s just a tool though isn’t it?” Paxman suggested. “No it’s not, it’s […]
Does the outer space into which we dissolve taste of us at all? – Rilke There are shadows because there are hills ― E.M. Forster I find aesthetics interesting and relevant for photography, as it is with art and books. I’ve been reading the Chinese Book of Changes, and it refers to aesthetics. The I […]
In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public […]
But I think if any song can touch the heart, then one should value it – Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong I’ll ask the interweb – Lance, Detectorists A few years ago I read about Amy Liptrot when she lived on Orkney, was preparing a book, and using a GPS sky app. I investigated and found there […]
Creative work needs solitude. It needs concentration, without interruptions. It needs the whole sky to fly in – Mary Oliver In all things, the Way does not want to be obstructed – Chuang Tsu Before undergraduate university I read preparatory books. Bertrand Russell, Sartre, Thomas Hardy, Steinbeck, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. […]
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we! – William Shakespeare I watched the Detectorists for the first time a few months ago. Then again, and a third time, and I’ve now watched the Christmas Special twice. When the jokes arrived I smiled on two levels. At the joke, and with the recognition. I laughed […]
The reason for evil in the world is that people are not able to tell their stories ― Carl Jung Landscape pictures can offer us, I think, three verities – geography, autobiography, and metaphor ― Robert Adams It can stay silent a lifetime. Who knows anyway what it is, that wild, silky part of ourselves […]
There is something about winter which pares all living things down to their essentials – Moya Cannon, Winter Paths There’s quite good local walking where I live. River, woods, lake and nature reserves within reach. Kestrels occasionally, kingfishers rarely but memorably, perhaps once a year. There are owls in the woods. In the pandemic lockdown […]
I find it heartening that we use these coded phrases as a kind of acknowledgement that we’re all in the weather together. Of course we should be preoccupied. It’s the one circumstance of life which we share in common – Richard Mabey, Turned Out Nice Again I’ve camped and walked in Scotland eight times […]
In the mountains, there you feel free – T.S. Eliot Some years ago I met two ladies in a Lake District pub. They were animated and interested in whatever was happening and who was there. I was enjoying food and drink after a walk. They’d been exploring valleys, not the high places, as a weekend break more than […]