Thank you, Oliver and Peter

Sad days.  Smallfilms is such a creative and humane body of work. It's much cherished by three generations of my family and holds an intimate place in our lives and in the imagination of so many people I admire and respect. See Dharma Rascal's lovely tribute here:

http://www.facebook.com/not.php?note_id=50913789907

Here's some images of him and the  beautiful work he made with Peter Firmin.

Oliver Postgate, born 12 April 1925, died 8 December 2008

Just had to share this....

...incredible image, which is on my desktop just now.  I never tire of it.

Dunabrattin

And more pictures from the coast.

Dunabrattin

Here are some pictures of where my mum and dad live in the south of Ireland.

Brambles

This post is a little behind the times, but never mind. Here are some pictures (taken at the end of September) of bramble picking in the south of Ireland, starring David, Bob and me, taken by Suriyavamsa. The brambles later starred in an apple and bramble pie. Translation note, bramble = blackberry.

Red, Blue, Yellow

This is 'Asia Style', a chinese restaurant in Glasgow.

Puttin' on the Ritz

This cute wee graffito lives just round the corner from my house.  It has survived undamaged for a long time, maybe a year.  Genius.

The Night Watch

I recently finished reading Sarah Waters' "The Night Watch" which I enjoyed very much.  It starts in London in 1947 and then goes back to 1944 and finishes in 1941. So rather than discover the outcome of certain events, the reader retraces the various pathways of the characters to uncover why people or events became the way they are.  A very simple devise and very engaging.

The book is set around London after and during WW2 and is largely concerned with the bombing raids, which form a backdrop for the characters.

I saw Sarah Waters give a reading from this book before it was published and then forgot all about it until the other week when I was looking for something to read on the train.  Glad I came across it.

feed://community.livejournal.com/vintagephoto/data/atom

I found this atomspheric photo today on the above address.  I paticularly like the hidden mother ("Paging Dr Freud...).  The vintage photo site is always worth a look and is added to daily.

Evening Light

Here's a photo I took on the way home yesterday.  I was walking west along Sauchiehall Street and the sun was doing it's swan song, pouring silver light all over the street.

Writing Retreat, Taraloka

Following the Lojong Retreat I continued on my "buddhist holidays" with a week long writing retreat led by Dhammagita and Srivati.  This was quite spacious and easy-going and it was good to just do some new writing and have lots of space.  Nothing very remarkable happened but it was a pleasure to be there.  Here's a haiku:

yellow marigold

like the clown in the garden

laughing at the rose.

Thanks Dhammagita and Srivati for a rich and satisfying time.