Today

Today I saw a bumble bee, trapped in a web on the wooden pillar of the barn, and a spider half its size, but big enough, ran out to catch it, changed its mind and ran back in again.  I freed the bee with a clothes peg; instantly it flew towards a small cyclamen flower, which opened a pink door for it and let it in.

Today I saw a straight old man, tan jacket, smart cream linen hat and trousers, walk with a cane and a brisk purpose into the lotissement they call 'le Tertre'.  Was it to see a woman, old now, he had once loved, or a young one he'd like to make a fool of himself over, or an old pal from service days, or was he simply going home, or none of these?

Today I saw the finely-pointed gable wall of the old house there, the walnut tree in splendour next to it, the Calvary beneath the limes, their leaf litter and the tiny hard velour-skinned fruits amongst it underfoot, and the strangely self-effacing angels on the housefront.

Today I knew that these, all these, hold  meanings, stories, histories and worlds that I can't know, sealed in by time and space, holding themselves in mute and distant gentleness apart, refusing all translation.

Save in a play of light cast, aslant and rippling, onto the receiving presence of an inside wall.

(30.8.2010)

Oddments

' What happened ' Benj asked Tom, man to man over the remains of lunch 'between you and Grandma?'

' What happened? We divorced.'

'And a long time later' I chipped in, 'he met me.'  (Let's get that one straight while we're here.)

' Why?  Was it because she was so...like this?' He made an odd little movement.

'Like what?'

Benj glanced at his mother, who gave him an the OK.  He got up and did an impression of a tight-lipped, huffing woman marching furiously about the room, elbows pumping.

'Your trouble is, lad' said his grandfather 'you see too much.'

~

St Michel

pink rocks     

deep pink flowers 

green fish flickering 

tiny crabs in spiral shells

brown boys splashing

fierce love

a boat comes to the shore.

~

Droplets on flowers, always a favourite.

~

On the new mini notebook, I'm using Google Chrome as a browser, which I'm enjoying.  It lacks the feeds and favourites functions of IE, but there are ways around this.  One is a toolbar thing called extensions, which gives little icons you can click on to tell you immediately when something updates and link you to it.  I don't fully understand it, but have managed to acquire a button for my feedreader (which I only use for two or three rarely updating and/or more private blogs), and one for my gmail, which I keep open anyway.  When the latter gets a new message, and then when I read it, the red envelope icon does a jaunty little spin.  Occasionally I send myself messages just to see it do this.

~

Aargh.  The webcam works. Haven't had one of these before.

 Happily not very well, so much of my face is in shadow.  Makes me look rather brooding, I hope, and my shirt looks an interesting colour.  In fact my shirt is many quite interesting colours, but nothing like this.  And I suppose I am a bit brooding sometimes, but not in a very interesting way.  I don't imagine I'll make it a regular feature, but it's a novelty. 

~

And so to bed. 

Saturday 17 July

~ To keep this little notebook as refreshingly speedy as it is now, and its small memory unencumberd with clutter, I must find different, efficient ways to use it.  Thinking I can't really do photos on it, I then realise that one can pop the camera's SD card straight in and work with the photos from that, then remove it leaving no trace.  On-line documents and web-albums offer more possibilities.

~  Remembering Jos the still life painter from Bogard, relaxed and popular and very busy last night at the vernissage of an exhibition he's having at Erquy.  We catch him for a few seconds to say hello and goodbye, and he points at me and tells the stranger he's talking to on the other side 'She's a good writer!'  I know it's flattery and tell him so, but I enjoy it anyway. 

~

There's been a yellowhammer in this spot, a long lane between cropfields and pastures with no human habitation, leading down to the hedge with the mirabel trees, for as long as I've been walking it, 12 years at least.   Surprisingly, though, I've never seen it before, only ever heard its humble request for 'a-little-bit-of-bread-and -NO-che.e.e.se!'.  This morning he obligingly perched in the top of a small oak tree, and stayed there a good while.

Thursday 15 July

~  Moo are having a 48 hour 30% off sale, ending at one minute to midnight tonight.  I allow myself to be sold to, and find 20 photos to turn into postcards.

~  I go out briefly, and when I come back, my new refurbished teeny-tiny shiny white dolly-sized notebook computer has arrived.  Eventually I remember you have to press the button on the Livebox ( I just mis-typed that 'Lovebox', which sounds much more interesting...), and lo!  I am connected.  I find my way to my Gmail, and find a mail from someone I always love to hear from as the first message on my new toy.  Still need to find my way around it, and preferably order myself a new miniature pair of hands, so I'm not posting from it now, but I was able to read some blogs from the sofa, without trailing cables.

~

Pansies.  Somewhere on the way home from Morlaix, back in April.