I am, at the moment, technically "not here"

The call of the wild in the back garden has meant that I have stolen a few moments
to offer some words of comfort to Ellybabes, a kind lady who was very helpful at
the Irish Blog Awards last year and who worked like a Trojan to make everybody feel
comfortable.

She has taken criticism of the people who organise the Blog Awards to heart.

No need to do that, I think, as most sensible bloggers see that the best blogs
win on the day.

I would try to post a comment on her blog, but the thoughts of the virtual stangulation
I usually experience when trying to get past all the secure systems has made me
"howled my whist".

Perhaps she will find this by chance and be consoled?

Setting the Record Straight

The impetus to write seems to have weakend, thanks to the call of Spring in the garden.

However, I came across a very inspirational post by Davimack, which is relevant for anybody who keeps a blog or who writes for even the most distant of readers.

Since many visitors here may not know "Erase History"
I have put a link in the title bar to the post that took my fancy.

And here, if you do not have time to visit there,
is the comment I have just posted:

"This is a great post.

I spent many years trying to work out the practicalities of what "record" means, as I wrote for the main "newspaper of record" in Ireland.

One day I just went through a copy of the paper looking at the photos and came up with a startling result: less than ten per cent of the images contained women; the rest celebrated men.

Just because something is recorded does not mean it is true to life, a thought I keep close to my heart whenever I take photos or write."


The question of verisimilitude is constantly debated on the Internet.
The abstraction that formed thought and art in the latter part ot the Twentieth Century seems to have been overwhelmed by the realism and hyper-realism of the forms that Internet communication and imagery impose.

Worth thinking at length about...

Madam is Calm...

It may be caused by jet lag, but the wise saws of my
Singaporean taxi driver have been keeping me thinking for
the past few days.

I'm home, safely and with all baggage intact, having come through
Heathrow at an ungodly time yesterday morning and managed to get
through all the security hoops without one cross word.
(More about which airports to avoid if you do not want cross words later.)

Singapore is full of witty and philsophical taxi drivers.
They share jokes, tell visitors which are the best places to see
and have a sort of Confusianism that transcends all creeds.

"Madam is calm" was the assessment made, without invitation, by the
friendly driver who, having shared the fact that he possessed Sixth Sense,
went on to praise my air of quite peacefulness as I sat, stuffed to the gills
with a Chinese breakfast, in the back of his cab and soaking in the tree lined
atmosphere of one of the most beautiful cities in the World.

The theme was developed at length...
It was decided that I must have performed many good deeds in my
youthful life to have reached such a state of balance and easefulness.
My husband's eyes were dancing with merriment at all this praise.

Right or wrong, my taxi driver had a point in taking such a positive
view of the World. I literally can't wait to visit Singapore again
and enjoy, yet again, the calm that seems to fill the air that smells of
soft water and noodle spices.

If Madam is calm, it's probably because she has just been touched
by the gentle air that fills the Orient and makes her realise that
there are many fields that actually are greener than the ones she
normally sees on Eireann's green shore.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you all...