Stray thoughts, tamed.
Sketches in ink 34-35 Days pass too swiftly into night but there is little rest; no snug hearth nor the bed of yesteryear with warm arms to enfold me as I drift into dreams. It is cold and already dark, yet I have chores outside to complete, and shutters to close. I look inside as... Continue Reading →
Sketches in ink - 14–33 Most of what I have written in the nineteen days since my last blog has been handwritten in flashes of inspiration with an urgent intensity to capture the thought before it skitters off again and gets lost in some pressing domestic chore or other. I spent almost a month enjoying... Continue Reading →
Sketches in ink - 6-13 I am cheating. I am not going to sketch the last few days today. I fly back home to Portugal tomorrow. This is my last night in Brisbane with my parents, my sister and her family. My holiday is almost over. My sister, the artist and art teacher for many... Continue Reading →
... some years ago he planted "sap-free" pine trees from Japan, and now makes flat-pack coffins...
Sketches in ink - 5 You may have noticed that I seldom talk about tomorrow. That is because - briefly - my vision does not extend that far and every day there is something that happens which I have not anticipated. Clearly, I am not in control. We think of the Mad Hatter's tea party... Continue Reading →
Sketches in ink - 4 Anyone can blog using WordPress and an iPhone. It is annoying that you have to toggle the keyboard view for punctuation marks, but may well lead to shorter sentences. In my case, this could be a good thing. I have not synchronised what will soon be referred to as my... Continue Reading →
Sketches in ink - 3 We had a picnic on a beach in Caloundra today, which involved making our own sandwiches with fresh wholewheat bread and a variety of foodstuffs all neatly packed in plastic containers. It was a cloudy day and at some point we were swimming in warm, pleasant sea in the rain.... Continue Reading →
Sketches in ink – 2 Eat Street is the name of an open-air food market in Brisbane. We went there for early evening dinner. The place was teeming with consumers of this markedly consumer society. Numerous stalls were selling dishes from many different nationalities, and there were a few arts and crafts stalls. It seemed crass,... Continue Reading →
Sketches in ink – 1 I cannot pretend that the New Year's Eve dinner of linguine with prawns I enjoyed in the company of eleven other people originally from Zimbabwe amid intense heat and humidity at a marina on the outskirts of Brisbane, Australia, where I am currently on holiday, is responsible for the lethargy of... Continue Reading →
A story as told to me by my father (79) a few days ago. I don't know where, but when I was about five Squeak∗ got hold of a pellet gun and he and Jack went off with Pat Cloete. Pat Cloete was naughty; he was always naughty and always getting into trouble. Next thing... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 