Day 104: This writerly life...

Day 104: ...as community-building

When I learned I would have a year away from teaching this year (a combination of a number of things including long service leave), I planned to write quite a bit...I have much to catch up on. I imagined part of that would involve sitting and reading in writerly places...the back verandah, little coffee shops, a kind of faux-bohemian existence. 

Reality of course has been a little different, with constant deadlines and work matters to deal with. Nonetheless, there is some progress. A little coffee and gift shop has re-opened under new management in my local shopping strip. I was chatting with the owner the other day, telling her of my 'writerly dream' and she said that was exactly the atmosphere she was trying to create. So,...

...given that my politics is all about community-building, the least I could do is assist. So I have chosen a rather large book I must read for research purposes and I shall endeavour to read a chapter or two a day over coffee, as my schedule permits. 

Politics in the coffee shop...

Who knows, this might be the space from whence the politics book with all the answers emerges...

[Camera : iPhone 4S, 1.34pm]

Day 103: Down came the rain...

Day 103: ...and flushed the fungi out

Perhaps it has something to do with the cyclone up north, but today in Brisbane it was a wet and rainy day. Perfect day for staying indoors and reading (Hannah Arendt, of course). Until I noticed that the Gallery of Modern Art in town was showing the Orson Wells classic 'Citizen Kane'. And so I thought, why not? 

That got me outdoors when I least expected it to do so and the rain always brings out interesting additions to the lawn...these two caught my eye as I stepped out to catch the bus: the mushrooms weren't there yesterday...and I'm a little intrigued that, as I looked a little closer,  I might have caught a mushroom in the process of emerging from the ground...now I haven't seen that before. 

Fungi 1

Fungi 2

As for Citizen Kane, it is a deserved classic...with strong resonance still today with media moguls and their ilk. Glad I stepped out to see it, in the rain. 

[Camera : iPhone 4S, 12.02pm]

Day 102: It was writ...

Day 102: ...in the clouds

With North Queensland on high alert for a category 5 cyclone overnight, those of us further south just had the radio and reports to listen to and hope that the cyclone wouldn't cause the destruction anticipated.

This morning's clouds then had a touch of the ominous about them on the back of cyclone warnings, even though we are quite some distance away. Without the cyclone, perhaps they would have seemed different. Nonetheless, they made for a rich and textured canvas for the emerging sun beams as we greeted the day. 

Cloud bank

Later in the day, by contrast, as I looked out over South Bank (having just seen the Scottish play) the almost full moon, and now cloudless sky, loomed over the skyline. Full moon in a few days...now there's a photographic challenge, writ large...

South Bank

[Camera : iPhone 4S, 5.38am, 4.57pm]

Day 101: A flash of...

Day 101: ...not what I expected really...

A day on the highway, #theBruce as we affectionately know it, to attend to a couple of meetings at work. One was one of those meetings that is simply one of a series of seemingly never-ending negotiations...

The other one, well...the less said the better. I imagine when I'm 80 (and wearing much purple) and standing in a line at a shop waiting to be served, I'll be overlooked for ages...that happens with some meetings I go to...people see me, think it can't be a 'proper' meeting and talk to my interlocutor like I'm not there...sigh.

At least it meant an early departure home again where my eye caught this flash in the late afternoon sun...

Flash...

It was a crystal ornament hanging on the window...I don't often get to see its effect at this time of day...just reward for being overlooked really. 

Turn the prism on its side...see things differently

Tomorrow, it's the Scottish play...my favourite, time to be a Lady MacB...


(Camera : iPhone 4S, 3.51pm)

Day 100: What you see here...

Day 100: ...may not be what I see...

Really day 100, back on track (we hope). And so, to a couple of meetings in the city today: one in West End on the south side of the river and one at Riverside, all the way over to the other side of the CBD. I walked quite a bit today, in fact, according to Google maps, somewhere in the vicinity of four or five kilometres, on foot. 

There was just enough time in between the morning meeting and the lunchtime meeting to sit by the State Library and read....Hannah Arendt...

The weather was pleasant enough to sit outside. From where I was seated, I was struck by the roof line of the library...and the changes that came about as the clouds above changed their colour and shape too.

Face in the clouds 1

Face in the clouds 2

Face in the clouds 3

An accidental artwork. #nofilter

I walked into the city a little bit later. I always look at our city in a slightly different light (no pun intended) when I return from overseas...the sorts of objects in the urban landscape that entranced me in Chicago for example, could I see the same sort of thing in Brisbane. What does our city look like from a visitor's point of view...?

You should do it in your place one day...it is quite fascinating. 

(Camera : iPhone 4S, 11.40am. 11.54am, 12.11pm)

Day 100 of #project365...265 days to go.

Day 99: Sit tight...

Day 99: ...while we adjust your set...

Yes, I have to make an adjustment...I want to reclaim the missing day, mainly because 10 April is day 100 in the project, which means 265 days to go, which means nothing really except I like symmetry in my projects.

Wallpaper

So, because we missed a day somewhere between 1 and 6 April, I thought I'd opt for some of the Palmer House attention to detail which didn't make it to earlier posts. There is an elegant olde worlde feel about the place, and everything is nice...

I hear you knocking...

So, day 99--insert where you think most appropriate...

Ice bucket

(Camera : iPhone 4S, times: various)

Day 98: Missing in action...

 Day 98: ...where did that day go? 

It is official... I should be up to day 99, not 98. Oh well, I'll catch up at some point. Darn dateline. Though I suppose, really, I did lose a day...

Today was a day of working at home, making notes and reflecting on the conference, thinking about what comes next in terms of revising paper to journal article; reviewing the book manuscript in light of recent reading; planning for the next three conference papers coming up in July. And/or, just continuing to read. So many things to do. 

 I did notice the drop in temperature this morning so I guess that means autumn is on its way. More, albeit minor, changes in seasons in the garden. I didn't get too far from home base today (although I've discovered a new coffee shop/gallery just up the road; I may have to do my reading there each day...it's an image I have in my mind of the life of a writer, no time like now to try it out). 

Autumnal 

Time to replenish some of the herbs and clip the bushes. The windswept leaves on the verandah, the stunning colours of the flowers just past their prime...how could I not capture their colour and texture as they move on with the dictate of the season...

Last blush of colour...

Easy to lose a day really.

(Camera : iPhone 4S, 4.21pm, 4.37pm)