Life with cats, and other things…
"Glad to see you finally got your clothes back on. You were looking dead scruffy!" When you spend a lot of time in your own head you imagine all sorts of conversations. Your imagination may very well run away with itself. Take, for example, what I said yesterday about being stigmatised when my parents took … Continue reading Better late
1938/15th May 2026 Earlier in the week, warm weather persuaded us to open the air vents and attempt to activate the air conditioner. It wasn't unpleasantly hot, but it is better to find out early on if maintenance is needed. Sure enough, I was soon on the phone to the fix-it folk who penciled us … Continue reading Home
15th May 2026 Without notification, my email provider last week handed me over to Yahoo. I can hardly complain, since I haven't paid that company since moving to New York, only because they don't offer service here. It would have been better to abandon my old address and use my secondary G mail instead. I … Continue reading Communication
Kep, Cambodia 1961 It may have been my Christmas present in 1956, or perhaps a 9th birthday gift the following February. At any rate, it was thereabouts that I was given the Kodak Brownie with which I took a few photographs when I went back to boarding school in Kep. . My first camera was … Continue reading Escape
A very wet field, 15th May 2026 There is a saying: "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Applying that logic, when the weather brings rain - celebrate wetness! In the same way that I am captivated by snow and ice, I am drawn to water drops. . How can you be expected to celebrate … Continue reading Grace
0527/12th May 2026 The current view is not as nice, but that is why I take pictures. . Route 372 has adopted its summer configuration. We cannot expect every day to be spectacular, after all. . A long bank of cloud impressed me the other day as we drove to Schuylerville. . It appeared to … Continue reading Posh
1734/5th May 2026 The subject of greeting cards brought me to address books. How many does one get through over a lifetime? Perhaps they too are fading into the past as more and more information is stored on computers. Thanks to the invention of Tipp-ex or Wite-Out, I have managed to hold on to my … Continue reading Things you hold onto
Couvent Des Oiseaux, Notre Dame du Langbian, Dalat, Vietnam. Some old photographs found their way to my inbox.... On 23rd December, 1959 my mother brought me to this building, the Couvent Des Oiseaux, where she turned me over to the group of French nuns who ran it. My father's 18-month contract with UNESCO in Saigon … Continue reading Schools
Checking back, it appears I've often mentioned dandelions. I had been thinking that this year's crop was particularly impressive, but in retrospect perhaps it is only average. Maybe it is only that I notice their jolly faces more these days. . There is beauty to be found wherever you look in Nature, in one form … Continue reading Noticing
1835/30th April 2026 Like "love", I think the word "hate" is used far too freely. I may sometimes describe something or someone as hateful, but I avoid saying that I hate. It was never possible for me to hate even people who caused me pain, because hatred is something that gets inside you and eats … Continue reading Patches of blue