Tangledally

An Old Space

2020-09-21T10:22:00.000-04:00

This is my old blog. Tired, tatty, and very jumbled-up. For such a long time, I've been wanting to write and publish regularly again, but I keep getting stuck. I would like something shiny and new. I would like you to see something polished and wonderful. I would like to sweep these bits under the carpet and put them away.

The thing is, it doesn't seem to happen. I don't quite fit in here anymore, but I'm not yet clear on what the new space will look like.

I'm going to trust that this will come in time. I'm going to be okay with the muddled up bits and pieces that are here from years gone by, and I'm going to get comfy again in this friendly little space that gave so much to me when I started it about 11 years ago.

Here's a little poem to get started.

Within

In all the order of this world, there is a precipice

And along, farther along from there, you will find

A space of quiet warmth and solitude

If you can find it, go there often

For that is the place where true beauty emerges

Light and strong, picking its way among

The dandelions of "ought" and "shouldn't"

And in the stables, love and truth

Quietly await their freedom

On Nearing the Winter Solstice

2019-12-18T16:42:00.000-05:00

I feel a pull towards wild and ancient things. Towards the natural world, folk traditions, potions, recipes, remedies, practices, stories, candles, fireplaces, cold air, dark nights and bright mornings.
Weaving life's rich history and experience into the fabric of this moment.

Fifteen

2013-04-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

He liked Tom Petty.

On the night they met she bailed him out of a bogus gaol.

She was a fake whore (it was for some cheesy fund-raiser) and he took her number, written in smudgy eye-liner on the back of his hand.

One afternoon, as they watched television, he pointed at the clock and told her she could make a wish.

Later he kissed her, and as she hurried back for geography she thought about the red numbers: 2:22

__________

EK 2013

A loose connection and a spot of French Horn

2013-04-11T11:00:00.000-04:00

Fixing things today at Echosound HQ. The lads are cooking up a few things for their most recent project and a key microphone was down.

Luckily the problem was just a loose connection.

A quick solder job and they were back in business. They even asked me in on the session later in the day, recording my French Horn on the newly-repaired equipment.

Paying Attention through Small Stones

2012-06-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

Back in September 2011 I took an e-course (Writing as a Spiritual Practise) with Fiona Robyn through Writing Our Way Home. These are fragments (or Small Stones as Fiona calls them - a polished moment of paying proper attention) I recorded as part of the course.

1. She ran from me, weaving through tables,
watching strangers' faces, laughing.
Her steps joyful, clumsy but without inhibition.

2. I let the music flow through me and out of me
Singing out fragments of memories buried within familiar melodies.

3. Blood sticky and bright red covers small hands that do not want to remain still.

4. Perfect orb catches the light, streaked with iridescence. A face upturned. Outstretched fingers fail to capture the fragile sphere.

5. Pale pink petals, papery now and edged with brown. They droop apart, spilling down to rest on a stem still tied with two ribbons.

6. He sat, his back to us, watching. We surprised him coming from the other way. He turned. Waiting, insular, to open, loving in an instant.

7. She picks up a small, fluffy grey feather, examines it, then shows it to me. "from a bird" I say.

___________________

The 9th Glenn Gould Prize

2011-04-01T19:38:00.001-04:00

I had an exciting time this morning at the announcement of the 9th Glenn Gould Prize.

There was a delightful performance of Beethoven's Spring sonata by students Emma (11) and Tony (12).

Shortly afterwards, they introduced the jury members, which included Atom Egoyan, Gary Graffman, and (a highlight for me because I'm an enormous fan) Stephen Fry.

Then the recipient was announced - Leonard Cohen. Everyone applauded enthusiastically and I don't think I was alone in glancing around the room half-expecting to see the man himself!

Alas he did not appear (deliberations concluded only last night) but he did send a message to be read.

There will be an official award event at a later date.

You can read more about it all here

And here's Mr. Fry!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Little Bookworm in the Making

2011-03-12T15:22:00.001-05:00

Little M is crazy about books already. Watching her reminds me of this beautiful E Nesbit dedication from 'Five Children and It':

My Lamb, you are so very small,
You have not learned to read at all.
Yet never a printed book withstands
The urgence of your dimpled hands.
So, though this book is for yourself,
Let mother keep it on the shelf
Till you can read. O days that Pass,
That day will come too soon, alas!

Music Monday

2011-03-07T14:15:00.001-05:00

From the brilliant Out of Season

Typetrigger

2011-03-04T20:25:00.006-05:00

I just found out about this lovely little site called Typetrigger.

It sets a new writing prompt every six hours and you can write about it in 300 words or less.

From the website:

Four times a day,

we help you

get the words out.

Write in any genre in

300 words or less.

Hit publish.

Read. Be Read.

Write. Now.

Fun!

Five Senses Exercise

2011-02-15T19:48:00.006-05:00

Hear: Soft tones of Talk Talk's Laughing Stock on the stereo, quiet hum from the computer fan, muffled guitar sounds from the rehearsal happening upstairs, soft static over the quiet baby monitor.

Smell: Faint traces of dinner (Aubergine Parmigiana) and Chanel perfume.

Taste: Rooibos tea and a hint of dark chocolate.

Touch: Smooth keyboard keys, soft lambswool blanket, cool leather sofa.

See: Living room in soft light, amplifier tubes glowing, toys lined up waiting for tomorrow.

Is it bad...

2011-02-11T09:40:00.003-05:00

...if my laptop looks like this right now:

I'm in the midst of a minor computer crisis as I attempt to repair a broken power jack. I finally worked out how to take the thing apart (which is very very tricky, much harder than dismantling a desk top computer) and got the old part off, which was very stubbornly clinging on to the motherboard for dear life. (Yes I know many of you have switched off now at the extent of my geekery) Then I found out that the part I've got to replace it does not match the original.

So, unfortunately my poor little computer is sitting in bits until I get this all sorted out.

Tiny Inspector

2011-02-03T18:39:00.002-05:00

A small index finger inches along the carpet

and stops to point at a speck of something left behind.

A Canadian Groundhog Day

2011-02-02T12:52:00.005-05:00

It's been five years today since I was officially sworn in as a Canadian citizen.

Snow is falling steadily outside, but I'm keeping bundled up.

Here's some Canadian music for you:

Words

2011-01-28T13:03:00.007-05:00

I went through something very strange a little while ago. I had a falling out with words.

Words, which have, for as long as I can remember, been my trusted and comfortable companions.

You see, it occurred to me, and I'm not quite sure why it hadn't done before, that words can be horribly deceitful things. People can use them willy nilly without meaning any of them. We can be surrounded with words, deceiving others or even ourselves without even knowing it.

And for some reason, I decided that I was very cross with them for that, and that perhaps I didn't trust them any more, and that perhaps I needed less of them around for a while. I decided it was time to stop listening to words and to start listening to actions, if you get what I mean. It's all very well to say something, but is what you are saying reflected in action, or are you saying one thing and doing something completely different?

Anyway, all of this sort of made my head spin and ache and I felt a little lost, because I've always been a bookworm and I've always loved words.

Words have always been sort of magical to me: the discovery of a new word, unfurling it's meaning, feeling it curl around your mouth and slip away from your tongue, seeing words assembled into interesting sentences, the vision that leaps out from a particularly well crafted scene.

But silly me - it isn't words that are the deceitful things, and it isn't even that they are all that reliable or trustworthy - they are just words after all.

Their power lies in how you or I choose to use them.

So I feel a lot better now, and am looking forward to cuddling up with some good words again. I won't forget to keep an eye on myself though, to make sure that what I'm doing isn't so far removed from what I'm saying.

Photograph of Jesus

2010-11-24T21:42:00.004-05:00

My work as a visual researcher always turns up new and fascinating requests. I can be immersed in Marine life footage for weeks on end, and then suddenly be transported to 1960s crackpot inventions. Luckily, I haven't been asked to find a photograph of Jesus...yet.

Here's A fantastic short by Laurie Hill which was produced as part of the Getty Images Short and sweet film challenge.

Music Monday

2010-10-04T08:00:00.001-04:00

A bit of music to start the week off. He's one of my favourites...

Something to strive for?

2010-10-01T20:00:00.000-04:00

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast"

Lewis Carroll (from Alice in Wonderland)

Untitled

2010-09-17T07:00:00.002-04:00

She poked out a soft pink tongue

And tried to taste the sunlight

Just sneaking back in here

2010-09-15T23:08:00.007-04:00

I'm tip-toeing back into the world of my blog today. Like a lot of my wardrobe, it hasn't fit or felt quite right in some time. Things need to be dusted off and furniture needs to be rearranged. There's also a lot that should probably be put in big black bin-bags.

If you happen to pop in over the next little while, please excuse the mess, I will try to sort things out and settle back in quickly.

In the interim, here's a small thing:

Lather, Rinse Repeat

Every day she washed away pieces of him.

(Lather, rinse, repeat.)

If I keep this up

She thought,

There'll be nothing left by Christmas.

EK 2010

Little M

2010-06-11T09:00:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the silence here, I can only say that it has been quite an eventful couple of months!

I want to let you know that my heart has been stolen by a little bundle with ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. Our sweet baby girl was born one month ago on 11th May at 7:40am, weighing 8lbs 5oz.

I had a wonderful birth experience with my husband at my side and an amazing midwife attending.

It's hard to believe what an impact this tiny person has had on our lives. She is bringing us so much joy (and quite a lack of sleep too, but she makes up for this by being utterly adorable)

Happy one-month-Birthday Little M, can't wait to share many more milestones with you.

109 boxes, 750 words

2010-03-24T16:41:00.009-04:00

I haven't been around much lately, that's because we've been dealing with lots of these:

109 of them to be precise.

Yes, the mister and I have moved into a bigger space in preparation of the little one's arrival. We're gradually wading through the last of the boxes, getting things in shape in our lovely new space, but it has been a busy time.

I would like to share this link with you for something I discovered recently, 750 Words, which is currently my favourite website.

Since the move, my journals and notebooks have been slotted away in different boxes and bags, and despite the fact that I know exactly where my new journal is, I had stopped writing in the mornings. Discovering 750 words was exactly the change that I needed.

The inspiration of the site comes from the idea of Morning Pages from The Artist's Way in which you are supposed to write three pages of stream-of-conscious writing in order to clear your head for the day.

I love the way the site looks and works, it has a lovely layout, and it keeps a word tally in the bottom right of your screen as you type.

After writing your words (you can write more or less than 750 - it's up to you), you are rewarded with a great statistics page that gives you a breakdown of your writing session - I really loved that part!

Well, I hope you all are well and enjoying some of the warmth of spring, wherever you are.

Thanks always for stopping in to see me here, it means a lot to me.

The sun is shining brightly here today and I am feeling very happy.

Untitled

2010-02-23T12:00:00.009-05:00

Snow fell softly on us

As we climbed the hill,

And emerged over the brow,

Revealing a red cardinal on every fence post.

EK 2010

Photo used with permission.

To purchase a framed or unframed print of this photo visit
www.imagekind.com/Winter-Color_art?IMID=61829eec-3d7f-4466-a3fd-d51efcac7e41

Thinking about Dialogue

2010-02-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

Last night I saw an episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe in which he interviewed a number of television writers including Russell T. Davies, Graham Linehan and Tony Jordan. (I believe it originally aired in December 2008.)

At one point the discussion turned to writing dialogue. I can't remember who said it now, I think it was Russell T. Davies, but one of the writers described real life conversation as being like two monologues.

This comment reminded me of a snippet of a conversation that I recorded one night as I went home on the bus:

Woman: You kicked your teenager out of your home? How old is she?

Man: No, she went to move in with her boyfriend

W: My baby's going to be 16 next week

M: I never liked the guy

W: I can't believe she's going to actually be 16

M: He's one of these wannabe homie types

W: I'm sure she'd like to move out if she could afford to support herself

M: There's nothing worse than a wigger

W: She's so independent

They were so intent on telling their own story that they didn't even hear what the other person was saying, and there's something really fascinating about this, far more so than if the woman had shown polite interest in what the man was saying to her, or if the man had accepted the change in conversation and shown interest in the daughter's upcoming birthday.

I wrote it down at the time to remind myself that people don't always answer each other's questions when speaking to each other. In fact, sometimes they aren't listening to each other at all.

Going back to the Screenwipe special, the discussion of dialogue was only one point in a very interesting programme, I highly recommend tracking it down if you haven't already seen it.

Musical Stairs

2010-02-02T10:41:00.002-05:00

I thought this was delightful!

Avoiding Cliches

2010-01-25T08:02:00.002-05:00

"Beware of the bits that seem to write themselves"

-Jean O'Brien

(from an excellent piece by Steve Moran at The Willesden Herald detailing common slip-ups in short story writing - a must read before submitting your next short story!)