ACCEPTANCE!

Within days of sending off the submission, I was delighted to have my memoir/travelogue/short story TUNIS accepted for publication, along with photos, in Clever Magazine. My short work especially often doesn't fit into any neat category, editors are not sure what to do with it, and so much of it remains forlorn and unseen. Nowadays, of course, we can defy the critics and the odds any time we please, going online. And vanity publishers have been around for centuries, producing books for frustrated would-be writers at a price and with no guarantee that anyone outside the writer's personal circle will ever read them. Not a path I would want to follow. 

TUNIS is an amazing place, nearly as old as recorded time. I love it. Spend as much time as I can there. Sadly there is political turmoil there once again as I write. But it will pass. The city has survived worse. One day it will be great again. Next month I will be getting back to my novel set in the city at the time of the 2011 turmoil. It was a scary but fascinating time to be there.

FRIVOLOUS DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK  

This morning I discovered the secret of subduing American jelly - use a fork. American jelly (known as jam or marmalade in some cultures) is so thick and stiff it simply slides off bread, especially toast. It has always baffled me. No more! Now it is lifted from the jar, mashed and subdued with a fork in seconds. Why didn't I think of this years ago?? In this litigious culture it is probably possible to patent the discovery, but I am in a generous mood and will share with the world for free.

SWEET SORROW?

In just over a week I will be parting with a dear friend. Neither of us is looking forward to that day. Was the poet right in speaking of the sweet sorrow of parting? There is nothing sweet in that moment for the one- or both - journeying reluctantly on alone. Yet the pleasure of shared memories, the warmth of friendship, does in time strengthen resolve, ease the solitary path ahead.

      TOMORROW I WILL CROSS THE WATER

      and you who never sailed with me

      will be there, a shadow, breath

      of my life, a stirring of the water,

      memory, a scent on the sea wind

      your whole being before me now

      smiling in a dream made flesh

      Tariq's mountain would have been good to us.

      

     

     All my photographs are in natural colour, I never use filters, retouch or Photoshop. The challenges of digital photography are quite different to those of traditional film; it is so easy to cheat and falsify, I wonder if there is any point in having standard photographic contests any more. Creative design contests, yes, but many creations are hardly what you could call photographs by the time the computer has finished with them.

    I enjoy capturing those special fleeting moments in the natural world where you need to move fast before that scene is dissolved and gone forever.

   

 

  HOLIDAYS never seem to be long enough - at least when they are happy ones - and this working holiday is no exception. The real world is waiting and the sands of summer are fast running out. One more blog, and I will be back at work without much time for contemplation. But what an experience it has been,seeing and learning so much, making new friends, seeing new sights and capturing them on both still camera and video. In spite of all its problems this world is still a wonderful place.