Holding the camera

Tom is certainly the Official Photographer around here. He is the one with camera in hand for every occasion, who will suggest a walk simply because ‘the light is good’.

I love sharing adventures with someone who so happily (and unobtrusively!) records them. After the classic teenage embarrassments of ‘Say cheese,’ and ‘Just take one more for luck,’ I have a slight aversion to cameras. So I am happy to leave the snapping to someone else. But, this does mean that looking through our albums, you’d think I’d been on a decade of holidays by myself. There is also a danger, on this blog, of my taking credit for pictures that are nothing to do with me! Tom’s made me appreciate the pleasure of revisiting a trip through pictures, and I don’t want to lose him from every scene.

So, this is me promising to do better. To not only carry my camera in my bag, but to actually take it out and use it. I suspect 99% of the photos round here will still be courtesy of Tom, but I will endeavour to add my fair share to our photo memories.

Pen & ink

If I’m honest, I’m a bit of a show-off about my typing. I love being super-speedy, hearing the efficient rattle of pressed keys at a rate that keeps up with my talking out loud (which I tell myself is not crazy; and while we’re at it, neither is talking back at the radio..) Typing has the fresh, clean-edged feel of Getting Stuff Done.

But it could never compete with putting pen to paper. I love the easy pen-in-your-pocket freedom, no need for chargers and no worries about sand in the keys or coffee on the screen. I’m a hoarder of notebooks, a scrappy scribbler and incessant list-maker. Tom reminded me today that ‘writing it down is not the same as doing it’, but in my head it’s halfway there. There’s a certain magic to a well-timed scribble. And it’s a lot harder to doodle on a to-do list trapped in a screen.

Mothering

In one of my favourite songs Alela Diane sings of her mama giving her melodies that she will one day pass on to her own daughter. I love the thought of sharing and passing on the things we love best. I have many happy memories of baking and sewing with my mum as I grew up, and many more of us exploring new places by bicycle. So it seemed fitting this Mother’s Day to meet my mum at a favourite cafe, mid-bike ride, and give a hand-sewn gift.

Bikes, stitching and cake; three of my favourite things. And only a few of the marvellous things that my mum has passed on to me.

Derek: World Explorer

Tom is not the only world explorer I am lucky enough to have in my family. My dad has always shown a passion for understanding how the world works. He’s a man of extreme adventure, always aiming to reach the edge of the land, the top of the mountain, or the middle of the ocean. As a child, I recall many trips by foot or by bike that were a little too long for my little legs. As a teenager, he would drive me crazy with his insistence on stopping to point out an interesting outcrop or ponder a museum display. But, with my teenage eye-rolling days over, I suspect that his adventuring spirit has rubbed off on me, as I dream of new places and new ideas.

A few days ago Tom and I went to hear Derek speak for the local Geological Society about his recent trip to El Hierro to study the active volcano. It’s always inspiring to see someone who has clearly found their element and wants to share it with others. We heard tell of spatter cones, parasitic vents, and flank collapse; all new ideas to me, despite having grown up around a Geologist!

I may not think geology rocks quite as much as my dad does, but it’s always a privilege to spend time with a world explorer.

Wildwood

Turning off the lane, I make a long trudge into the wind into the oak trees…The whole wood creaks. The curious thing is how quiet and calm it can be inside a wood during a wind. The wood shelters itself. All you hear is the wind in the fringes and in the treetops, a sound with the quality of a shingle seashore not far away.

– Roger Deakin