Trying not to Bond... and other things...

Sunday, 30th October 2011

It has been a wonderful and relaxing day today.  I have been uber lazy...  didn't hoover... reheated leftovers from last night for dinner...  and spent time snoozing with Helena's puppy...  playing with the puppy and generally having lots of fun... yep... with the puppy...  I am definitely NOT supposed to be bonding with her puppy...  not a good idea...  but he is so sweet, playful, friendly natured (except to the cats who really really hate him), and loveable.  

As soon as I sit down, he is on top of me lounging across my lap.  Sadly for him, he will grow a bit big for a lap dog, but for now, he is very sweet.  But honestly, with a puppy in the house, how does anyone achieve anything?  I mean... they really are the most enormous time wasters.  When I sweep the floor, the puppy tries to help...  when I tried to open the Sunday paper, the puppy took great interest...  when I decided to turn on the tv to watch Diagnosis Murder the puppy sat on top of me like a small living breathing wall between me and the screen...  so, I gave up, after all if you cannot beat them... join them... and played puppy games... ball... fetch... tug of war... squeak and bounce...  nip and whimper (I did the whimper... he did the nips)

We took him out for his evening walk, across the upper path on the Cavehill, and looked down through the darkness at the twinkling lights of Belfast.  I remember as a child in mum's car, looking out of the window at the city lights, and thinking it must be just like fairyland...

We had barely arrived at the best viewpoint for looking across North Belfast, where we usually turn back as the puppy isn't supposed to be walking too far yet, when the main firework display in the city centre, beside the river Lagan, began...  It was mesmerising.  We watched the whole display, the huge explosions of golden stars, cascading through the night sky.  The green and red sparks looked like exploding glitter across the darkness.  

So beautiful.  Neil said it would have been better close up, but I disagreed.  I have stood in the crowds looking up and only seeing a little of the firework, but from the distance, I could see the sheer scale of some of these beauties as they exploded in a million sparks which spread out and gradually faded as another exploded into its sudden and short life...  

As I stood there with Neil and the puppy, I thought what a shame that I didn't have a camera with me.  Neil tried taking a few photos on his phone and a few of them came out surprisingly well.  While I, was wondering how I could take a shot like that.  Would it work with the 300mm lens, would I need a tripod, have I got a book about taking night shots...  mmm questions questions...

Have found myself asking a lot of questions in my morning pages recently.  I have been working through the Artist's Way and felt that I wanted to look at the idea of Morning Pages and freewriting in more detail.  That I wanted my Freewriting to be a bit more searching.  So I have been listening to the audio book Accidental Genius by Mark Levy.  I am finding some of his methods (although they are aimed more at the business person) to be really exciting.  One technique that I want to explore in more detail is in Chapter 17, the Writing Marathon, where I will choose a question or subject I want to look at in more detail, then write about it for 20 minutes, followed by pausing to read through the writing to underline notions that grab me as interesting.  Then I look through the piece of writing to find a new starter thought and write for a further 20 minutes on this, allowing myself to meander off topic as much as I wish...  this is repeated for a few hours...  I am also reading Writing with Power by Peter Elbow, in particular, his chapter on the Loop Writing Process which is a way to get the best out of both controlled and creative writing.  It is fascinating exploring these new ideas and creative concepts.  

Treats...  which are (I have to admit) just a little too tempting...