Derived from the Eden project, this photo was taken on the way to the restaurant, then I messed with it in anice way......
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
The Planet Eden
Derived from the Eden project, this photo was taken on the way to the restaurant, then I messed with it in anice way......
Monday, October 23, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
British Colombia et al..
Just got back from a tour of Western Canada. This was one of my best ever trips for sure. Started off in Vancouver then went to Banff then Jasper them Prince george, cought a train to Prince Rupert and then sailed down the inner passage to Port hardy on vancouver island.Drove down to Victoria and then back on the ferry to Vancouver. On the jouney went on the icefields on a snow mobile, Flew over glaciers in a helicopter, saw Bears and Elk, and Moose and Beaver and humming birds and humpback and killer whales, golden and bald eagles, went river rafting...man o man what a trip!And the Canadians must be the most polite nation in the world! If you tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of a car, you'd die of starvation before the car would hit you. They pull up to let you cross the street 50 yards away.(OK not in Vancouver, but in Banff and Jasper.)Just got to post some of my photos.......
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Carving at Hardwick
I recently went on a one day stone carving course at Hardwick Hall http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hardwickhall/
This is what I achieved in 1 day, along with some of the efforts of some of my fellow apprentice masons!
This is what I achieved in 1 day, along with some of the efforts of some of my fellow apprentice masons!
Monday, May 08, 2006
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Openings for Imaginary Novels
1. An atomic Bomb exploded behind his eyes. He was suddenly in a billion pieces, experiencing every particle of dust in the room. Being every particle in the room. The smoke cleared, the dust settled. Hayley Johnson had just entered the room.
2.The wind swept icicles into my face as my ketch turned. In the distance, rising and falling with the waves I could see the lights of Novya Zemlya. I desperately wanted them to be the lights of home, but the spray washed my face and the salt stung my eyes. My vision blurred and one hundred metres off starboard, a giant black wave hauled itself out of the sea and towards me.
3. The street was wet. The neon shone a thousand parody reflections across the street. A 1930 Oldsmobile slid up to the kerb. A rear door opened over the sidewalk and Danny O'Rouke, the shoeshine boy rolled out. The Oldsmobile pulled away at breakneck speed and disappeared around the first corner. Danny lay still until I got to him then looked up at me and grinned.
4. The tabby roused herself, flicked her ears and performed the obligatory backstretch. She settled back and gave herself an ablutionary lick, then shot a glance over to her sister who was lying along the back of the settee. A glance shot back, before they turned together to look at a mouse in the centre of the floor. Their eyes glowed momentarily, and the mouse, caught in the crossfire, erupted in flame.
5. The galleon heaved to port as the wind caught her full and the sails billowed. Above, the dirigible struggled to hold on to the anchor caught in the rigging of the galleon. It bobbed and waved like a cork until someone on the rigging cut the rope and the ship of the sky shot upwards, leaving the crew gasping for breath.
2.The wind swept icicles into my face as my ketch turned. In the distance, rising and falling with the waves I could see the lights of Novya Zemlya. I desperately wanted them to be the lights of home, but the spray washed my face and the salt stung my eyes. My vision blurred and one hundred metres off starboard, a giant black wave hauled itself out of the sea and towards me.
3. The street was wet. The neon shone a thousand parody reflections across the street. A 1930 Oldsmobile slid up to the kerb. A rear door opened over the sidewalk and Danny O'Rouke, the shoeshine boy rolled out. The Oldsmobile pulled away at breakneck speed and disappeared around the first corner. Danny lay still until I got to him then looked up at me and grinned.
4. The tabby roused herself, flicked her ears and performed the obligatory backstretch. She settled back and gave herself an ablutionary lick, then shot a glance over to her sister who was lying along the back of the settee. A glance shot back, before they turned together to look at a mouse in the centre of the floor. Their eyes glowed momentarily, and the mouse, caught in the crossfire, erupted in flame.
5. The galleon heaved to port as the wind caught her full and the sails billowed. Above, the dirigible struggled to hold on to the anchor caught in the rigging of the galleon. It bobbed and waved like a cork until someone on the rigging cut the rope and the ship of the sky shot upwards, leaving the crew gasping for breath.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
The Alchemist
Through the crack in the door, I can see my Master at his work. Strange smelling brews drip into glass bottles. Every so often he tends the little fire he has made below the bottle, and he examines with an eyeglass, a magnifying lens he has told me, the contents of the bottle.
Suddenly, a crack! sounds, the bottle spills its contents into the fire and puts it out.
"Duffin!" he cries, "Duffin, where are you, you idler, you waster of time and energy."
"Here, Master" I cry from my bolt hole, and then rush forwards with cloths, and a pail of water.
"Take care not to get this substance on your hands" he warns, "Use much water to wash it away, and test it with a little rag to see if it will burn."
"A liquid that burns?" Says I.
"There are many that burn, and they are called humours, you must take note Lad. And do not let this liquid touch iron, for it will fizz and crackle and scald."
"Well I never," says I. "A liquid that will burn a metal."
"Keep your wits about you, Lad, and keep this all to yourself." He drew his finger across his mouth and held his finger up in front of him. It was both a warning to keep silent, and a threat. A very gentle one mind, not like a clout across the ear or a boot up the backside. That was about as far as my Master went. As far as he needed to, for I was in truth both terrified of his powers, and in awe of this kind and gentle old man. Old, but I don't really know how old, for he has looked exactly the same this past twelve years that I have served him. Gentle, for that is what he is. In all the time I have known him, he has taken the time and trouble to explain his doings, and me a half-wit! But he has kindly tried to show me that the Alchemy that he practices is naught but natural law, but I do fear that if certain priests were to apprehend him in the course of his experiments, then he would have to do some fast talking.
That being said, my Master does have friends in high places. There are many nights when Sir Jeffrey this and Sir Harry that make a call, and I have even seen certain high ups in the Church make their secret ways up and down the back stairs. There was once even a lady. A very distinguished Lady by her dress, who came to call. My Master is tall, but she was taller, and pale, oh so pale that it made me shiver. It was the only time that my Master has called me from my bolt hole, in the cupboard by the fire, and asked me, asked me mind to leave the room and wait outside.
I was not supposed to listen, I know, but of course I caught a sentence or two.
"My Lord Cabraham," she said. I had not heard him called thus before. People usually called him Nicodemus the Sage, or Master Nicodemus. "My Lord, I have a great boon to ask of you, and I have little to offer in return."
"You are the daughter of my sister, I take no payment from my family. Pray ask what you will, and if is at all within my power I will comply" he replied.
The words got quieter then and I could hear little else, but what I did appeared to be I a strange language, not Latin, or Greek for I know a little of them. No, this language had shrieks and whistles, almost birdlike, but not unlovely. I heard the phrase, "Sometimes these magics do not work on this plane," then I heard the door close. Later I let myself back into the room. I dare not question my Master for I did not want him to know I had been listening.
In the next few weeks he arose very early, and I of course with him. He constructed what appeared to be a great square bath; easily large enough to immerse a man, and then spent many days filling it with I know not what mixtures. He occasionally consulted one of the very large books that were on the very top shelf of his laboratory, as he called it. He read, committed to memory and returned the book, almost as if the book would suffer if it were out of place. Those books were too heavy for me to lift by myself, I know because I tried one day and it was as if they were stuck like glue to the shelf. My Master though, he handled them as if they were feathers. It is all very strange to me.
He said that we were constructing a portal, a gateway to the heavens. I know of but one heaven, but I know that my Master is extremely wise and knows many things that others do not, so I kept mum and did what he asked. After a few days the contents of the bath seemed to turn into a jelly. My Master would spend many hours testing the surface and adding smaller and smaller amounts into the mixture. He would then stir very, very slowly and test again. He said that he was tuning it, much as one would tune a mandolin. I am familiar with that, as I have played upon the mandolin since I was given one by my Master five years ago. He taught me to play a simple tune, and chuckled as I jumped and shouted after I had made my first piece of music. How I love that mandolin!
When the jelly was tuned, and he was happy, he blew into it, emitting a bird cry and the surface folded inwards like a giant bubble. He called again into the bubble, this time a series of sounds. There came back not my Masters' sounds but answering sounds all beautiful as the night my Master met the pale young woman.
Two weeks later, it was a very cold winter's night, and the stars shone like diamonds in a black velvet sky, the pale lady appeared again. She came as before, but dressed so like a queen in all her coronation glory. She removed her cape and her body seemed to glow from within. On her forehead the skin glowed like gold and a single eye seemed to be in the centre, with an iris of emerald.
The Master kissed her lightly on the lips then led her gently to the portal. He blew on it, and a hand lifted through the surface. She stepped over the edge and into the portal. She took the hand that waited, and then she sang with the strange tongue that I had heard them speak, before as she slowly descended into the pool, and was gone.
For some reason I was crying. I think it was her beauty, and the loss from this world of such beauty. Master Nicodemus took me by the shoulder, and said,
"You know, young Duffin, you may have all the world can offer you, but unless your heart is settled, then you will always want more. My niece there, oh yes, I know you know who she is, she could have had any husband in this world, but her heart lies in another. I grieve for I will never see her again. She cannot come back, and I cannot leave, for I am destined to guard this portal now that it opened."
"Guard the portal?" queried I," 'gainst what?"
"The many things in my world that may invade yours," He said.
"Then close it! Destroy it!" said I forgetting my place in fear.
"Not so easy, the thing. This portal, once opened will remain opened for a thousand of your years, and we must remain ever vigilant, taking no sleep until time has healed this opening. Come young Duffin, I have much to teach you, and you have much to learn before I can take my rest. You will become a guardian of the portal. But first, I think, you had best put the kettle on for a little rose petal tea."
I think it was then that I caught sight of a wink from somewhere in the middle of his forehead.
Suddenly, a crack! sounds, the bottle spills its contents into the fire and puts it out.
"Duffin!" he cries, "Duffin, where are you, you idler, you waster of time and energy."
"Here, Master" I cry from my bolt hole, and then rush forwards with cloths, and a pail of water.
"Take care not to get this substance on your hands" he warns, "Use much water to wash it away, and test it with a little rag to see if it will burn."
"A liquid that burns?" Says I.
"There are many that burn, and they are called humours, you must take note Lad. And do not let this liquid touch iron, for it will fizz and crackle and scald."
"Well I never," says I. "A liquid that will burn a metal."
"Keep your wits about you, Lad, and keep this all to yourself." He drew his finger across his mouth and held his finger up in front of him. It was both a warning to keep silent, and a threat. A very gentle one mind, not like a clout across the ear or a boot up the backside. That was about as far as my Master went. As far as he needed to, for I was in truth both terrified of his powers, and in awe of this kind and gentle old man. Old, but I don't really know how old, for he has looked exactly the same this past twelve years that I have served him. Gentle, for that is what he is. In all the time I have known him, he has taken the time and trouble to explain his doings, and me a half-wit! But he has kindly tried to show me that the Alchemy that he practices is naught but natural law, but I do fear that if certain priests were to apprehend him in the course of his experiments, then he would have to do some fast talking.
That being said, my Master does have friends in high places. There are many nights when Sir Jeffrey this and Sir Harry that make a call, and I have even seen certain high ups in the Church make their secret ways up and down the back stairs. There was once even a lady. A very distinguished Lady by her dress, who came to call. My Master is tall, but she was taller, and pale, oh so pale that it made me shiver. It was the only time that my Master has called me from my bolt hole, in the cupboard by the fire, and asked me, asked me mind to leave the room and wait outside.
I was not supposed to listen, I know, but of course I caught a sentence or two.
"My Lord Cabraham," she said. I had not heard him called thus before. People usually called him Nicodemus the Sage, or Master Nicodemus. "My Lord, I have a great boon to ask of you, and I have little to offer in return."
"You are the daughter of my sister, I take no payment from my family. Pray ask what you will, and if is at all within my power I will comply" he replied.
The words got quieter then and I could hear little else, but what I did appeared to be I a strange language, not Latin, or Greek for I know a little of them. No, this language had shrieks and whistles, almost birdlike, but not unlovely. I heard the phrase, "Sometimes these magics do not work on this plane," then I heard the door close. Later I let myself back into the room. I dare not question my Master for I did not want him to know I had been listening.
In the next few weeks he arose very early, and I of course with him. He constructed what appeared to be a great square bath; easily large enough to immerse a man, and then spent many days filling it with I know not what mixtures. He occasionally consulted one of the very large books that were on the very top shelf of his laboratory, as he called it. He read, committed to memory and returned the book, almost as if the book would suffer if it were out of place. Those books were too heavy for me to lift by myself, I know because I tried one day and it was as if they were stuck like glue to the shelf. My Master though, he handled them as if they were feathers. It is all very strange to me.
He said that we were constructing a portal, a gateway to the heavens. I know of but one heaven, but I know that my Master is extremely wise and knows many things that others do not, so I kept mum and did what he asked. After a few days the contents of the bath seemed to turn into a jelly. My Master would spend many hours testing the surface and adding smaller and smaller amounts into the mixture. He would then stir very, very slowly and test again. He said that he was tuning it, much as one would tune a mandolin. I am familiar with that, as I have played upon the mandolin since I was given one by my Master five years ago. He taught me to play a simple tune, and chuckled as I jumped and shouted after I had made my first piece of music. How I love that mandolin!
When the jelly was tuned, and he was happy, he blew into it, emitting a bird cry and the surface folded inwards like a giant bubble. He called again into the bubble, this time a series of sounds. There came back not my Masters' sounds but answering sounds all beautiful as the night my Master met the pale young woman.
Two weeks later, it was a very cold winter's night, and the stars shone like diamonds in a black velvet sky, the pale lady appeared again. She came as before, but dressed so like a queen in all her coronation glory. She removed her cape and her body seemed to glow from within. On her forehead the skin glowed like gold and a single eye seemed to be in the centre, with an iris of emerald.
The Master kissed her lightly on the lips then led her gently to the portal. He blew on it, and a hand lifted through the surface. She stepped over the edge and into the portal. She took the hand that waited, and then she sang with the strange tongue that I had heard them speak, before as she slowly descended into the pool, and was gone.
For some reason I was crying. I think it was her beauty, and the loss from this world of such beauty. Master Nicodemus took me by the shoulder, and said,
"You know, young Duffin, you may have all the world can offer you, but unless your heart is settled, then you will always want more. My niece there, oh yes, I know you know who she is, she could have had any husband in this world, but her heart lies in another. I grieve for I will never see her again. She cannot come back, and I cannot leave, for I am destined to guard this portal now that it opened."
"Guard the portal?" queried I," 'gainst what?"
"The many things in my world that may invade yours," He said.
"Then close it! Destroy it!" said I forgetting my place in fear.
"Not so easy, the thing. This portal, once opened will remain opened for a thousand of your years, and we must remain ever vigilant, taking no sleep until time has healed this opening. Come young Duffin, I have much to teach you, and you have much to learn before I can take my rest. You will become a guardian of the portal. But first, I think, you had best put the kettle on for a little rose petal tea."
I think it was then that I caught sight of a wink from somewhere in the middle of his forehead.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Mini Sagas
The Clown
Alberto swings onto the waiting trapeze.
The handbar has been greased
a little, not so you'd notice.
With the next swing, Alberto launches himself into infinity.
Gina, the bareback rider cries "Oh!"
Lampoon, the clown giggles,"
Surely the greatest of my jokes."
He will be the first to comfort Gina.
The Three Bretheren
In the Church of the Three Bretheren, there was only one tomb left to fill.
Duncan MacLean, clothed in shadow, waited, ritual knife in hand.
The new priest carried the wine and the host.
A flash in the gloom, "Odin!"
Duncan's beloved church now boasts the relics of three saints.
The Mallet
In the battle, Hasrubal pulled out his chisel and placed it on the head of his elephant.
He remembered the hours playing with the young elephant,
How the jealous elephant had trampled his mistress, the dancer Salene.
He remembered the order, "If the animal is wounded, bring down the mallet!"
Thunderstorms and Neon Signs
The jukebox played Hank Williams' "Thunderstorms and Neon Signs."
Towards the Gulf of Mexico the thunderheads roared.
"Reckon it'll be here come nightfall," said Jed,
"I reckon Rosie'll need some comfort", he leered.
With the next roar I shot him in the back.
"Maybe this afternoon then," said Jed, dying.
The Girl from Ipanema
Juanita leans against her beau, the incomparable Jose.
The roar of a motorcycle and Juanita's shoulder bag is stripped from her arm.
Eduardo the dwarf swings into action, vaults two cars and lands on the thief.
Juanita and Jose laugh as Eduardo returns.
"It was nothing."
"I know," she says.
Fairy Dancing
Diana slept and her
dream brought a fairy dancing on her head, spreading fairy powder.
"You ask for a gift, I will give you mine." As she danced she left a row of footprints in her wake
Morning came, and Diana's forehead had been enhanced with a ring of pimples.
The Great Houdiana Jones
Hanging by a thread, Houdinana, the great escape artiste twisted and cavorted.
The crowd gasped and shouted "Bravo!"
First one strap then another.
It was only as he removed the straight jacket that he realised that it was the straight jacket that was attached to the thread.
"Aaaargh!" he cried.
Zen Lesson
Hari, great sage, sits under a flowering cherry.
He thinks, "This is sublime."
His student Sen, is disgusted "You are a lazy Old Man!
You said you had no time to teach me!" he scorns.
"You are correct", says Hari, "but I am a great sage, and you are not!"
Alberto swings onto the waiting trapeze.
The handbar has been greased
a little, not so you'd notice.
With the next swing, Alberto launches himself into infinity.
Gina, the bareback rider cries "Oh!"
Lampoon, the clown giggles,"
Surely the greatest of my jokes."
He will be the first to comfort Gina.
The Three Bretheren
In the Church of the Three Bretheren, there was only one tomb left to fill.
Duncan MacLean, clothed in shadow, waited, ritual knife in hand.
The new priest carried the wine and the host.
A flash in the gloom, "Odin!"
Duncan's beloved church now boasts the relics of three saints.
The Mallet
In the battle, Hasrubal pulled out his chisel and placed it on the head of his elephant.
He remembered the hours playing with the young elephant,
How the jealous elephant had trampled his mistress, the dancer Salene.
He remembered the order, "If the animal is wounded, bring down the mallet!"
Thunderstorms and Neon Signs
The jukebox played Hank Williams' "Thunderstorms and Neon Signs."
Towards the Gulf of Mexico the thunderheads roared.
"Reckon it'll be here come nightfall," said Jed,
"I reckon Rosie'll need some comfort", he leered.
With the next roar I shot him in the back.
"Maybe this afternoon then," said Jed, dying.
The Girl from Ipanema
Juanita leans against her beau, the incomparable Jose.
The roar of a motorcycle and Juanita's shoulder bag is stripped from her arm.
Eduardo the dwarf swings into action, vaults two cars and lands on the thief.
Juanita and Jose laugh as Eduardo returns.
"It was nothing."
"I know," she says.
Fairy Dancing
Diana slept and her
dream brought a fairy dancing on her head, spreading fairy powder.
"You ask for a gift, I will give you mine." As she danced she left a row of footprints in her wake
Morning came, and Diana's forehead had been enhanced with a ring of pimples.
The Great Houdiana Jones
Hanging by a thread, Houdinana, the great escape artiste twisted and cavorted.
The crowd gasped and shouted "Bravo!"
First one strap then another.
It was only as he removed the straight jacket that he realised that it was the straight jacket that was attached to the thread.
"Aaaargh!" he cried.
Zen Lesson
Hari, great sage, sits under a flowering cherry.
He thinks, "This is sublime."
His student Sen, is disgusted "You are a lazy Old Man!
You said you had no time to teach me!" he scorns.
"You are correct", says Hari, "but I am a great sage, and you are not!"
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