Tuesday, June 30, 2009

More morning light... and blogging on about blogging.

Having complained most churlishly about the summer light, it has to be said that first thing in the morning, it can be really very fine.















I'm partly doing this to practise moving pictures around using HTML, since my defection to Wordpress probably isn't going to happen. I don't really want to put everyone to the trouble, especially the few friends and family in the incarnate* world who are very happily not especially internet savvy or just not very interested but who do sometimes take the trouble to come here, especially if something's going on. And there's the whole business of blogging ID and creating a links trail to get people there, and others having to change my address on their blogrolls, and getting into and remembering new procedures. None of which is beyond my powers to cope with really, but I'm just too shiftless and anodyne to want or need to reinvent myself anyway.

I did actually open a Wordpress blog just to see how to go about it, which I might in time use for photos and/or a Three Beautiful Things blog. I've always been drawn to the 3BT idea, but also like the untethered nature of an all-purpose, one-stop-shop general blog like this one, and perhaps yet another iron in the fire would be overkill; I still try to do my 30 word walks, there's Questions which we're thoroughly enjoying (or I am anyway!) batting back and forth like an existential shuttlecock for the foreseeable, and I don't keep up with my Flickr photos as well as I should. I often feel a bit put off when I see people have a large number of things on the go like that. And sometimes I even like to read a book or watch a film or have a conversation...

Lovely Sister's coming to visit tomorrow, so I'll probably be a bit scarce for a week or so, but the new car is longing to meet her, so we'll probably get out and about a bit and take some pictures. I was in the almost unprecedentedly happy state on Sunday of having scarcely a feed in bold on my list, and totally bog-eyed as a consequence, but it won't last.

Be seeing you.

* I thought I'd try that word rather than the unsatisfactory 'real' or rather horrible 'meat', which I've never been able to use comfortably, though something in its flesh/spirit dualist dichotomy does appeal to my inner Manichean... Neither can I bring myself to use IRL, any more than I can do LOL, though I do occasionally succumb to BTW, and I don't mind if anyone else does. What about you? (I don't do that very often either, though some of the very best of bloggers do; I'm always afraid it will make me look like a sad and desperate comments junky, though when others do it it's fine and I appreciate their interest...)

30 comments:

Zhoen said...

Perfect light in the morning.

Rouchswalwe said...

On the walk to work this morning, the angry-looking slate clouds pushed the light down into concentrated form. I thought how different it all appeared when compared to yesterday with the sunstreaks streaming through the branches. Lucy, I like your use of "incarnate world" (more satisfactory than physical world). And you are working with HTML. Bravo! (be warned, it is an awful lot of fun once you get rolling!). Now I have to admit that I have no idea what IRL, LOL, and most of those other thingies stand for. I figure they are timesavers, so I don't mind when others have to use them; but I find that for my part, I'd rather write things out ... suppose that comes from my daily interactions with people from other cultures and from just plain being stubborn.

Elizabeth said...

Hi Lucy,
I LOVE your photographs! I am addicted to the way morning sunlight dissolves objects, especially when there is fog. I did a watercolor once of a field of hay rolls in the early morning fog. I'll have to post it one day.
I'm not one to use "IM" language often, but LOL and BTW are pretty innocuous and fairly easily understood.
BTW congrats on the new car.
Blessings, E

blackbird said...

So, did you have good luck moving your photos? Have you cracked the code? I do write down the order of my photos and post them in reverse- I hadn't really thought of it as being old-fashioned but of course, it is. I've learned a bit about HTML- usually to put a break in the text that 'compose' doesn't want to make and to move a photo if I change my mind. It's always good to have as many tools as you can master.

I like the idea of the natural world- as opposed to digital world. It's hard sometimes to find a balance as we become more connected in cyberspace.

I find that the 'IM' language is distracting for me- I usually have to stop and figure it out. And, I enjoy words too much to want to use it myself.

Enjoy your sister's visit and bring us back more wonderful photos of the natural and very real world.

Reluctant Blogger said...

Oh good I'm glad it's not just me. I just can't bring myself to use LOL at all. Just can't. I did it once and nearly died afterwards from the shock of it. It's just not me. Everyone uses it on Twitter but I just cannot.

You are right about switching url of course - it does make it harder for followers. I have lost quite a few as a result. But I suspect they will drift back at some point. But I am glad I changed as it has made it easier for me to write somehow.

Enjoy your lovely sister.

jzr said...

In summer morning light is the best. During the rest of the year I adore late afternoon light and its sweet softness.

Unknown said...

The blue of those hydrangers is blue before blue came into being in the first spectrum.

Roderick Robinson said...

Dominate the technology with content; that's what you've done in the past, why take the risk of changing when you're ahead? Opting for Twitter would be like cutting off your arms and legs and saying now any dress fits. Shorter forms are not you: you resonate like the Gregorian chant LP (mono but hair tingling) my mum used to iron to and which kicked off with a slow serious toll of bells from the abbey at Solesmes mingled with early morning bird song. See what you've done? Stirred up a memory that has lain buried for perhaps forty years. That's power!

marja-leena said...

Fabulous photos, I do love summer's early morning light. You have such a beautiful garden and home. And wonderful comments. Good for you on learning the technology. I'm a lazy learner unfortunately, though I too have had urges to want to be able to place certain photos in certain ways.

Catalyst said...

Gr8 fotos. Hv a 1derful tyme w yr sis. L8r.

(Egad! The horror, the horror!)

Jen said...

I'm sure you know how much I love early morning light, no matter how early that might be at this time of year! Your photos prove my belief that it's well worth getting up for X

Dave said...

One idea to consider is registering a domain name (box-elder.com or whatever's available) through an independent registrar (i.e. not Blogger), and then try and hassle people into linking to that instead of your blogspot address. In my experience, this can take many months. But then after that, you're free to relocate the blog to anywhere else, and everyone who's switched to your new link will be taken there automatically as soon as you switch where the address points to.

Julia said...

Let me know if you need any help with the html side of things for your pictures! It's pretty easy once someone walks you through it.

Lucy said...

Wow, what a response, did you all decide to come in from the garden and look me up a the same time?! Thanks anyway.

And just to prove another aspect of Blogger's crapness, I've got a spam comment (since deleted).

The HTML wasn't too bad once I started noticing where the breaks were, though I doubt I'll do anything very sophisticated with it, it will certainly resolve some problems.

RB - with your blog's being so popular, and your conscientiousness in replying and dealing with everyone's comments, a thinning of readership might be quite welcome! Also, you were at a point, I gather, where you rather wanted to start afresh to free up your writing, so the move was right for you, I guess. It wasn't any trouble to follow you.

Thanks Dave for the advice, which I'll keep a note of.

I am especially impressed with Catalyst's cutting edge grasp of IM language, (thanks Elizabeith for telling me what it's called! I love hay rolls too) and with BB's mum listening to Gregorian chant over the ironing, as well as the fulsome praise in comparing my blog to this experience!

Lovely to see you all.

Bee said...

The dewy freshness of these pictures is almost making me forget the stuffy heat of my under-the-attic study. Summer mornings make me wish that I could become a morning person . . . but since it is midnight now, that seems unlikely as ever.

I was much interested to read the technical details in the comments . . . I could do with a tutorial. I've learned everything I know through trial and error.

The Crow said...

Poppies awakening at dawn, their sleepy heads still bowed; just beautiful.

Crafty Green Poet said...

gorgeous light in the morning....

leslee said...

Lovely morning light. Enjoy it! We've had none in the past month here in Boston. Several hours after sunrise, I still have to turn the lights on in the house because it's dark and rainy. (sigh) Thanks for sharing some of yours.

Laura Frankstone said...

Lucy, you've given me a real respite from Crazy World (IRL ;D) with these lovely photos from an apparently peaceful time and place.
Btw, I had shingles about the same time as your husband---I came and read, but was too dispirited myself to comment. I hope HE is all better. I think I'm just about back to normal. Or whatever the state I inhabit that passes for it.
I hope you are enjoying your sister's visit. I look forward to seeing you myself in a couple of months, or so.

Pam said...

Incarnate... I like that.

No, don't like LOL or ROFL though BTW is ok - seem to be ok with ok, though.

Beautiful pictures. I love the mornings especially now, when during the day it's much too hot. And this is Edinburgh!

apprentice said...

light will be better in September, golden hours will return. Enjoy your sister's visit. Real flesh and blood is important.

apprentice said...

light will be better in September, golden hours will return. Enjoy your sister's visit. Real flesh and blood is important.

Bee said...

I hope you are enjoying your sister's visit, Lucy. Was just thinking about you . . .

Granny J said...

I figure I'm just too old to be using LOL or smileys. But, like you, I do give in on BTWand FYO, which predate my Internet days. I'm having a grand time with my relatives -- I hope you and your sister are enjoying the visit.

HLiza said...

I'm finally visiting again..now in my healing period..and with this one-eye sight your flowers had made me envious..I live only with greens..no colourful flowers (blame my non-green thumbs, he he). Have fun embracing your sister..they're for us to cuddle and fight..play with Wordpress if you must..which I have no courage..and do update us when the time allows you dear..

Jan said...

Have a lovely time with Lovely Sister and please can you spare me some of those gorgeous blue hydrangea??

marly youmans said...

Lovely misty morning...

We've had naught but rain until late yesterday. And mildew on my shade garden.

meggie said...

Breathtaking blue of those beautiful Hydrangeas!
Enjoy time with your sister.

Anonymous said...

Pictures #3 and #7. I love that kind of light. It gives the flowers in #3 a feeling of community, to me, like the hats of gentlemen in Manet's Masked Ball at the Opera in town here.

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

I so envy your weather -- or any other sane weather. This time of year I keep my blinds shut all day so as not to overstrain the air conditioning, and put reflective folding shields in the windshields of the car. Over 100 degrees F. -- 38 C. -- almost every day for weeks.