During the many winters we've had this year it's been fun to settle in with a nice cup of coffee or tea to read a book, while giving the demanding mammal the desired fuzzy blanket lap. As I pointed out here, I am merely a fuzzy blanket substrate.
These are all library books, mostly put on hold because I read about them somewhere. That's a great way of getting a specific book, but it isn't as much fun as browsing the stacks. And as should be obvious, these are all books on paper. I tried the e-book thing back when iPads were a thing, and didn't like it. I was thinking of getting a Kindle or a Paperwhite, but never did. In any case, reading a photo book on one of them just wouldn't be the same. In fact, I have an old iPad that's been sitting near the charging station, unused. I don't even know which version it is. In fact, plugging it in for a while doesn't seem to be charging up the battery enough to turn it on. Which means it goes to the e-recycling bin soon.
I just looked outside on the way for another cup of coffee and see another winter has started. It isn't cold. In fact our outside thermometer says it's plus 1. But it's snowing fairly hard. I confidently expect another "Carnage on the Deerfoot!" headline. We get the winter tires taken off on May 6. I did bison burgers on the barbecue yesterday. Wearing a T shirt.
Today might be the day I gather up all the recently purchased books that are in various piles upstairs, and scan the ISBN code to add them to the current list of books. There are old versions of the list, manually entered into a spreadsheet. We were told that if the worst happened, the insurance companies would need a list of books to value replacement costs. At one time I knew to within a dozen or so books how many were in the house. I've no idea now. None at all. In fact, while the normal process is to take them downstairs, we are out of shelf space. I don't even know where the current batch of new books is going to go.
I'm thinking it might be easier to arrange the books so the spines are visible, and take photos of them. Hmmm. Although that means moving some furniture, though we have to do that sometime before September. It's a long story.
Six Decades by Christopher Pratt
At first I thought this was a photography book. His work sort of sits between photography and paintings. It's a little bit surreal. I quite enjoyed leafing through.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Suppose you got a box with a string inside that was proportional to your lifespan? Would you open it? Would knowing if you got a short string or a long string change your approach to life? Would you engage in more risky activities? Would it matter the string didn't care if you were in a wheelchair or a hospital bed? Talking much more about it turns into a spoiler pretty quickly.
The title says it all. A fun read.
Lots of in depth information about manipulating digital black and white images originally shot in colour. People think of black and white as a more restrictive medium, and I admit I kind of thought so as well. But the difference is that we look at the world in colour, and short of having some form of colour blindness, we know what the world looks like. Pushing an image may achieve an artistic effect, but we instantly know it isn't real. Usually that detracts from the image. But in black and white there's much more freedom to play with the various elements that make up the photos.
He is a mid 20th century British photographer with what might be called an eclectic body of work. Some of it is similar to what Michelle wanted to do. Some of it is gritty documentary work. Lots of information about him, done in a way that reads as scholarly but not pedantic which makes me nuts about so much literary work.
Of the Day
Driftwood (NZ)
Driftwood (NB)
Film and about 60 days or so ago
Linda
Newfoundland
New Brunswick
Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did
Flower
Landscape
