Never Felt More Like Singing The Blues

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These bluebells are from my garden. They are a protected species, in case you don't know, which means it is illegal to pick them in the wild. As my bluebells are true English ones, which need defending from the Spanish invasive species, not only am I enjoying them in the home but are planning propogations. Anyway,  I was working on how best to display and photograph the bluebells as a cut flower and then went to my local friendly photo club (#ebphoto) that evening. We were all set the task of working on one single colour of our choice and producing shots for the meeting next month. My first thought was that I couldn't choose blue because so many of favourite photographs are already of sea and sky. Then again my favourite flowers are also blue and the china I favour likewise. Do I love blue because it is the colour of open sea and sky? Did we even move to the sea because I love the colour blue? Scary thought.

Some years ago, when we lived in Kent, I picked a racehorse, probably in the National or some other big race.  I'm not a regular punter and don't bet every year but when the opportunity presented itself, or rather when the husband waved his newspaper at me, I chose the horse Call Me I'm Blue. I've got no memory at all of how the horse did but never forgot the name. Incidentally the novel I have written (still being edited) is also named after a racehorse but I'll keep that title to myself for the time being. Horseracing can be a useful resource for prompts in writing and other creative activites I'm realising.

Still, I'll never figure out why it is they call it, depression, the blues. I did briefly google the question but mainly came up with pages of the music. Does something that can run as deep as the oceans have to be dark? Blue skies are uplifting and full of sunshine. I'm already finding it a difficult colour to do justice to in photography but it's interesting thinking about directions a single colour can take you in.

A favourite old song of mine is called Blue for You.  I like how, in this performance, there is so much joy in the singing.

Blue For You, Wet Wet Wet

Permaculture And Me

Bit messy but it's a work in progress.

I heard about permaculture quite a few years ago. Not long after I got internet I was researching some growing information and came across a fascinating article with diagrams that demonstrated not a way of gardening but a way of life. The article impressed me so much that I can still see the pencil drawings of the trees in my mind’s eye.

From rough memory I remember being so impressed at the simplicity of the lifestyle described and the common sense it was built around. Basically the plants that required the most care and resources most often were closest to the house and those that needed the least (trees) were the farthest away. At the time I was trying to run a nursery three miles from my house, one that had no mains water supply, so it’s easy to see why I was so impressed.  The dream I had at the time of one day owning a smallholding, like that of many people, was an impossible one.

There is much more to permaculture than the concept above but for me it was the most memorable aspect. The word, quite simply meaning permanent culture, was created in 1978 by Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist. One resource I have seen suggested he, and a student of his, invented permaculture but I  think that he discovered, or identified it. If early man hadn’t built permanent systems to ensure feeding himself, or that his descendants could feed themselves, then we wouldn’t be here. Yes, we’ve lost our way and much of our lifestyles and consumption of the earth’s resources is unsustainable. I think permaculture is a way of life that incorporates the best in organic gardening with green lifestyles, like re-using and re-cycling, and overall just consuming less -- putting back more. Diversity is key, to me, and living in harmony with nature.

We can all think globally, on issues that affect the whole earth. On Saturday night millions of people switched off the lights at the same time for Earth Hour. On every other day we can all do something locally, so much closer to home, even if it's growing a few lettuces in a window box. Some people, incidentally, believe that permaculture only relates to permanent plants like perennials, rather than plants grown from seed. I don’t agree with this myself because nature gave plants the power to propogate by seed to ensure their species became permanent. We do regularly sow seeds but if we didn’t then those native to our climate would find a way. They would need the space, but like the birds and bees,  and also co-operating with them, they would breed.

I’m building my own permaculture garden now, well my take on it. The plot available to me is very small: 25’ square. So far I’ve got a plum tree, blackcurrants, raspberries and five raised beds for vegetables. Around the edge I’m growing climbing plants to make the most of the vertical area and sunshine..I'm collecting as much rainwater as I can from a nearby shed roof and working on other methods.

I was going to quote some definitions of permaculture in this post originally but have decided that it can be different things to different people. What it is, or can be, depends on where you live, and how much time you have. Which direction your house roof faces, and how much rainwater could you collect and re-use in the house or garden are factors that affect permaculture lifestyles.  I live by the sea so fertilise my soil with collected seaweed. I'm using our garden to try and sustain our lifestyle in various ways and our diet is supplemented with fish. Any fish resulting from husband's hobby are line caught so have minimal impact on fish stocks. Any work I do at home saves using fuel, and hey I could even earn money from my writing!

I think the last thing permaculture means to me is keeping a sense of humour.

Great resource here

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/

Writing And Photography

Old Man's Beard at Holywell, Eastbourne

Well it's a funny old business this blogging malarkey. I started off last year sometime with little idea what I was going to write about but a strong aim not to write about my own writing. In the bio it says that I wrote a novel but that's pretty much the only mention.  Until today anyway.

I imposed a rule on myself that I would only use my own photographs to illustrate my posts and I've pretty much kept to that which I'm pleased about. I like taking photographs and getting out there to find them gets me out of the house.

It's taken me about ten years to start calling myself 'a writer' which I think is a step up from being a person who writes things down.  As far as taking photographs is concerned, I'll remain a snapper forever, although just lately I'm getting a huge amount out of taking and uploading photographs. Even in the last couple of weeks something has changed in that I've gone from seeing nice scenes and capturing them to noticing things, trying to capture them, and then seeing things in the photograph that I didn't know were there when I took them.

This has taken me back to when I first started writing fiction and using images or sounds or smells, or anything really, to kick-start some writing.  It was, and is, a constant challenge looking for that something  that would justify some words of mine, let alone deciding which ones. In a way what I've found in photography is helping with writing. Perhaps it's possible to transfer that ability to freeze a moment that helps me to look harder for inspiration. The previous post, for example, included a picture of a moving bird and the shadow behind it which was not obvious to me at the time of the snap. In the picture, above, the plant, that is really just a hedgerow weed, stood out as something really special in a photo. Maybe because it was a very dull winter day?  This encourages me to look around at the world a lot more carefully - perhaps when I'm writing sometimes I should imagine my keyboard a camera. 

I took the picture below today. It's not easy taking pictures of people. At the very least it feels intrusive, almost like I'm stealing something from that person. Although they are out there, being viewed all the time anyway, I'm taking a moment of their life to keep. If a person is performing in public then it seems fair to me but otherwise I'd ask permission to take or share the photograph. The photograph didn't bring any surprises, like the crow's shadow, but helps me to remember the music. I know little about music but this picture gave me the feeling of better hearing the individual notes that made up the tune.

Identifying and capturing interesting scenes, wildlife and people in the world around me, does help with my writing but it also carries the risk of hindering creativity. Tapping words down can sometimes, as it does today, seem pretty futile. With a bit of luck I'll spot the shadow, and not too many typos, tomorrow.

One Bird, Four Views

'All the first-rate writing is on television now.'

Stars in current BBC series The Indian Doctor

Dustin Hoffman, one of my favourite all time actors told  The Daily Telegraph 'All the first-rate writing is on television now,' recently in an interview,

HERE:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9086192/Dustin-Hoffman-All-the-first-rate-writing-is-on-television-now.html

When I first saw this quote I remember feeling a bit miffed.  It seemed a bit like Mr. Hoffman was biting the hand (of Hollywood)  that had fed him so well and given his audience so much enjoyment over the years.  Don't get me wrong -- I love TV. What I have always enjoyed is the shared experiences that families or communities could talk about. This probably goes back to when there were three or four channels and when everybody watched a programme at the same time. We all talked about it the next day and I can still visualise the brilliant impressions of Basil Falty by a friend of mine in school. Her goose stepping around a classroom of twelve-year old girls was hilarious.

Another, very poignant, memory of sharing TV enjoyment is the image I still have of my late father when we watched Only Fools And Horses one evening.  More than one episode of this programme became a treasured family memory but once, when all our tears of sadness turned to those of laughter in a blink, my internal camera clicked.

Shared experiences of films are important too. I saw the first ever Rocky film at the cinema with my older brother and sister. I'm not surprised that so many years later we are still able to enjoy these films in the home and our grown up kids love them too.The cinema experience is superb but also the ability to see many films, so many times, allows you time to reflect and pick up aspects of the story you may have missed the first time. It's annoying, knowing some of the lines as well as the actors did, but hey ho.

Just lately it does seem to me that TV dramas have really stepped up. Although we are not watching programmes at the same time so much I'm seeing tweets and comments from people watching Downton Abbey in America. So while the conversations are less time specific, the spread of these discussions, and programmes that inspired them is impressive.

Upstairs Downstairs is an excellent programme too. I loved the originals and  like that they are showing periods of history in some detail, as in the recent episode the period just before WWII was declared, that are not so well covered in many great War films. I don't think that these two period dramas compete at all but rather compliment. There is an excellent  drama on BBC1 in the afternoons called The Indian Doctor. Does the 1960s qualify as period yet?  I hope not as it was the decade when I was born. The series is set in a Welsh village in the 60s, the music and scenery are lively and nostalgic, and the storyline is very strong. Ditto Call The Midwife.


Writing out this post has made me realise I'm much more in agreement with Dustin Hoffman than I realised.
There hasn't been a film lately that has inspired me to go to the pictures. Animations and 3D have never tempted me, and you can keep your silent movies, thanks. Where are the big stories nowadays and great musical scores? I'd go like a shot if one of those came out.

I read an excellent blog post recently about our town centre cinema which is where I like to see films when I do go. I think these modern multi screen buildings are carbuncles on car parks.

Lovely article here:

Support Your Local Cinema!

Well today's post is rushed and a bit rambly but hopefully my reader won't spot too many crimes against grammar or typos. I had to rush this one to the press, ho ho, in order to knock yesterday's silly idea down the page.

Plus my net curtains are a disgrace and the sun's out.

Leap Day in Eastbourne...

but let's be careful out there

'Are We Nearly There Yet?' by Ben Hatch

Before writing this post I googled ‘astral plane’. I’m on Twitter nowadays and most of my feed is full of tweets about books, local news and some fine photography. The first tweet I read on Saturday morning was by Brighton author, Ben Hatch, saying that he was on his way to Waterstones, Eastbourne, for a book signing. I didn’t know him or his book but love local connections so clicked on the title.

It tickled me that Ben's book was about an adventure in a Vauxhall Astra. He took an 8,000 mile trip around Britain with his wife and two children under four. The most interesting journey that I have ever been on in my life was also in a Vauxhall Astra. Hopefully you're seeing the Astral connection.

I popped along to Waterstones and not only had my book signed by Ben but was offered chocolate by the delightful small children who starred in the actual story. My husband hovered near the door and recommended, to the bookshop generally, that I should not be offered chocolate. Then he carried my new book home for me and that was rather sweet. We make allowances sometimes.

Well, that was pretty much my Saturday.  I threw some food at the family during a brief interlude but other than that I sat down and did not move until I read the book to the end in the early hours.

                                 'Are we nearly there yet?'

Oh, yes. What did I think? The book is entertaining, heartwarming,very funny, sad and a thoroughly satisfying read.  Apparently e-reading types can buy it for £1 but I’m really glad, apart from the fact that it has already been borrowed, that I bought it in paperback.

I remember finding, in my research on the definition of ‘astral plane,’ that one online urban dictionary had no definition yet. I’m tempted to pop back there and write ‘Are we nearly there yet?’
 
Amazon