Daffodil Season

My Spelling Seems Have Gone to Pot

Every post I've made in the past few days has needed several
revisions. Apologies to anybody who may have deduced that I'm verging
on the illiterate. My typing has been affected by the horrific wind that
hit the British Isles at the beginning of the week. It has subsided now,
but the effect, which was rattling in the exteme, has remained.

Here's hoping we can enjoy a quiet Saint Patrick's Day,
free from Western Gales. Much as I appreciate Shelley's
effort to praise that particular form of geographical
turbulence, its emotional effect is much over-rated,
in my experience.

I Must Get My Categories Sorted Out Before I Write This Post

If you do a web search for "Grannymar" and "Fury" you will be
as surprised as I was to find that an ageist slur has been made
against her and, by association, against Grandad.

Here is where I must start to tread very gingerly indeed.
Not only has the Great Spam Buster in the Virtual Sky
stopped any possibility of my posting any response to
Grannymar's distress, I have started THINKING.

This activity, attempted on a cold March afternoon in Northern Europe,
is probably not a good idea. I should be uploading some of the increasing
body of photographic work which is the result of leaving the house far too often
in the past few weeks. I should be making a rhubarb, orange and almond pie
for my nearest and dearest. I should be learning yet another foreign language...

But instead, I'm sitting here wondering how Grannymar might best get an
apology for strange refences to "silver" bloggers and "weird web" and other
catchy phrases that sub editors seem to produce like the proverbial rabbits out
of proverbial hats.

Should my solidarity include "Coming Out" as a practising Granny.
Probably a bit extreme, as I continue to feel as lively as a Spring Chicken
and could never make much sense of ageism. A true grandmother is a wise
and venerable person, in my mind, It somehow seems to be a status earned over
years rather than a glib label.

Grannymar, through her fine contribution to the Irish Blogging
Community has earned this status and well deserves her
Award.

Perhaps she can take some comfort in the fact that journalism deals very often in labels and is meant to be superficial and entertaining.

The problem lies in linguistics, I'm afraid, and until somebody wakes up to the fact
that words can be hurtful when printed and directed at well-meaning people, the world
of print journalism will continue to be the mixed feast that it is.


Here, for what it is worth, is the reply I typed in an effort to get my thoughts
round this complex subject:
"You are right to protest, Grannymar.
Captions are not necessarily written by the
journalist who writes the piece, however.
Often even hacks are puzzled by the unusual
slant a catchy headline can put on their work.

If any editors should ever read this,
it's worth recording that I tend to go
to the Internet rather than to the mainstream
media for news and ideas and I don't tend
to think much about age when I read a piece
that is well presented.

Ageism has always been a feature of European
society. And it's not correct, I agree.

Well done on writing such a clear analysis of your experience,
and an apology would be in order."

The title bar here leads to a well written and respectful article
in the Daily Herald
about
older women and how they contribute to the lively
tapestry of everyday life.



It seems that I'm in the process of developing a hybrid new
sub-genre in the Blogosphere, that of the Outsider Poster,
who, unable to access other Blogs, comments in the Exosphere,
hoping to be heard.

What shall this genre be called?

Exospheration?

Pressing on Regardless

I finally got Wordpress to work.

Shall post photos there for a change.


The link is in the Title Bar, here.

But just to be on the safe side, here it is again:


Anouilh at Wordpress

"Comment Box!"

This jibe was often used by primary school teachers to indicate that
less was more and that nobody was listening.

My view, often confirmed, that the Internet is like a large institution for
the seriously zipped-up is here to stay, I think. I can't, whatever I try,
get comments to work.

A paranoic would assume that they have been black balled.

This technophobe assumes that the "Open Sesame" words that must be spoken,
virtually, to their computer, have not been yet found.

Damien Mulley has (yet another) great post about community building and music on
his site.

Do you think the machine would accept my comment?

Well, here it is, anyways, for what it's worth:

"I'll certainly be sending this great blog post round to my friends.
Many of them take photos at concerts.

Musical house parties were an everyday occurence when I was a student.
You never went anywhere without your guitar."


Really and truly, it's a hard station...

Branded

I read everywhere that the road to success on the Internet
is linked to Branding.

Create a clear Brand, put it out there, and (if you're really enterprising)
sell it.

I'm living proof that it's impossible to teach a lazy dog new tricks.
At one point in my increasingly long life I had a very clear (and probably non-brandable)
insight:

I was in danger of taking on the qualities of a performing flea.

(Fans of P.G. Wodehouse will recognize the reference.)

Society is very complicated, overwhelmingly so in some cases.
It is important to pick one's way carefully through its various and
ever-changing vagaries.
While innocent types get busy trying to conform to new ideas,
there are very lively minded leader-types who are cooking up
new games that upend all the games already on the table.

Perhaps gamers are taking over the World?

Why get branded, when you could be making up your own game?

Author-i-taire...

I read that comments are the life blood of blogging.
Much more of my minimalist approach and I'll need a
transfusion.

I have had an eye out for the Technorati Ranking and Authority system
for some time.
Photographedublin dropped to a little 3 position a few months ago,
and I
1. have no idea why, since I had no idea why it had a higer ranking in the first place

2. do not intend to seek further rank improvement.
This is based on an experience with a photo in Flickr recently.
I put it in the wrong category by mistake and had it moved back down the ranks.
There's nothing to so distract a body from real life as wondering why one's photo
is not up to scratch.

3. I have never been in an army, so Rank and Authority say little to me.

Three points is enough on any subject, as those subjected to French dissertation will tell you. The "Introduction" here was cursory.

Now all that needs be said is:

I'm really not that "bovvered".

La Saint Patrick

There's nothing for it.
I go into Paddy's Day mode every year,
working out how to make mint sauce for the
new Spring lamb dinner

that is "de rigueur",
making photos that are of a green shade
so extreme that they seem
to burn a hole in the paper.

Let's get cracking.
Let's enjoy...

Irish Blog Awards 2008, Podcast is On The Air

I tried to leave a congratulatory comment about the great podcast
of the Blog Awards Night.

No dice!

It seems I must wander round the net,
bleating to myself about the fact
that Wordpress seems to enjoy
blocking my little attempts to
make contact...
be hearted...
get a life...
go with the flow...

It seems to be having a detrimental effect on my
ability to make sense in basic English,
this strange on-going problem.

Since there is nobody there to hear my ululations,
I shall continue to

ululate

Alone.

A Time for Elegant Colours?

During an idle moment at IMMA, I looked at the light streaming onto the table and tea cup from a high window.

The colours were pleasing. They reminded me of the paint I chose for my house in the
1980's.


Soft, elegant and easy on the eye.