Reasons to be cheerful

First off, I am orgulous as a peacock because I've got a poem and photos up at qarrtsiluni. It's called 'Cabbage whites', and it came from a walk I did with my sister, niece and nephew-in-law to some local wind turbines. They are in fields on a hilltop, one of which had had oilseed rape in it, which had been harvested, and a huge number of cabbage white caterpillars were in the process of pupating all over the lower part of the wind turbine. It was an odd and oddly moving sight. I took a number of photos and wrote a couple of poems. I sent them both in with pictures, and they accepted one. The other I'll post here in a day or two.

I haven't submitted anything written there before, only photographs, including the first 'Handbook for Explorers' collaboration I did with Joe. If that had been rejected I would have felt entitled to be miffed on his behalf, as he doubtless would have done on mine. As it was, if they had returned both the poems, I was determined to be grown-up and take it in good part but privately accept it as confirmation of what I had always suspected, that my poetry is rubbish. And better writers than I have been turned down by qarrtsiluni. I would have tried not to say sour grapes. I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for both the guest editors, Marly and Ivy, their work and their judgement.

However, they accepted one, with a few editorial reservations about things which they invited me to revise. A rather woolly extended metaphor went nowhere; having had it pointed out I was immediately irritated by it and was able to change it. Some punctuation was sloppy, failed to define ideas as it should. That sorted, we had a three-way discussion about whether a past participle linking back to a modal perfect some lines previously was too much of a strain, and should be replaced by a simple past, which in order to scan would need another syllable, which to my ear didn't really sound so well...

Now this may sound a bit like angels on pinheads but by this time I was beginning to enjoy the process of being edited. It all felt rather flattering, no one, especially no one as clever and special as Marly and Ivy, had ever paid so much attention and taken so much trouble over anything I'd ever written before ( not that I'd ever invited anyone to before...). It was somewhat akin to going into a hairdresser or other beauty professional expecting to be laughed off the premises as a lost cause or hopeless frump, then being taken in hand, one's possibilities assessed, plucked and preened and given a careful and expert makeover, and ending up feeling rather pampered and the better for it.

I was not least impressed by their care and attention since they clearly received a lot of submissions, both of them have other significant and demanding responsibilities, they aren't getting paid for it, and I have the impression that they were finding possibly hurting people's feelings and making them unhappy about their work difficult and invidious.

So thanks, Marly and Ivy, and the q. regulars, and confetti to you too. And I'd have said that even if you'd rejected the poem. ( Oh, and I was allowed to keep my past participle.)

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Other honourable mentions. Jean is doing fantastic things with Picasa collages, involving repeats and rotations and all kind of subtleties. When I try to do subtle it just looks dull, Jean does subtle. Jean is subtle. She thanked me for putting her onto Picasa, and I must thank Joe for putting me onto it. Also check out Andy's dancing leaf, quite enchanting, and a post about a blanket over at Sheila's with a photograph of an interior which I found beautiful and compelling.

Molly is back from having stitches out, and getting full cuddle treatment with Tom on the sofa. While she was knocked out I stayed around, and jokingly suggested to the vet that we should have her coat clipped while she was out for the count at the poodle parlour next door, since she is nearly as recalcitrant about grooming and haircuts as she is about vets. He said, yes, yes good idea, went and grabbed the dog grooming lady and roped her into the job. So now she is the best coiffed she's ever been, all her felty bits gone and in between her toes done and everything. She should be bucketless and back to normal in a week or so. A huge relief.