Before Selfie Sticks

I do have a couple of selfie sticks but I have never used them to take a selfie! I got them because they were being sold for £1 each and I took the opportunity of getting them while I could. The idea was to use them a bit more creatively than to pamper my ego. I've used them only a few times and then mainly to take a photo of somewhere hard to reach - like the top of a bookcase. I needed to know what was (lurking) up there.

Four years ago, having one would have been very useful. I was aware that some blackbirds had built a nest in a tree in our garden and I was quite sure that it had been vacated. I wanted to look inside but didn't want to make too much disturbance - just in case. A camera on the end of a selfie stick would have been ideal had they been available (for £1!) that summer. In the end I got a number of photos of the inside of the nest but it took a lot of trial and error, stretching at arm's length and hoping the angle was right - it often it wasn't. The photo below is probably the best I got (which says a lot.)

My Fascination With Right Angles (again)

Here is a collection of images (some my own; the first two are web finds) which reflects, in various ways, my fascination with right angles and the like:

To the above I will add this, a photograph I took in St Peter's Square (which, of course, is not square!):

Epictetus - 28

From: The Golden Sayings of Epictetus (translated by Hastings Crossley) - from Project Gutenberg.


CLXXXIX
What wouldst thou be found doing when overtaken by Death? If I might choose, I would be found doing some deed of true humanity, of wide import, beneficent and noble. But if I may not be found engaged in aught so lofty, let me hope at least for this—what none may hinder, what is surely in my power—that I may be found raising up in myself that which had fallen; learning to deal more wisely with the things of sense; working out my own tranquillity, and thus rendering that which is its due to every relation of life. . . .
If death surprise me thus employed, it is enough if I can stretch forth my hands to God and say, "The faculties which I received at Thy hands for apprehending this thine Administration, I have not neglected. As far as in me lay, I have done Thee no dishonour. Behold how I have used the senses, the primary conceptions which Thous gavest me. Have I ever laid anything to Thy charge? Have I ever murmured at aught that came to pass, or wished it otherwise? Have I in anything transgressed the relations of life? For that Thou didst beget me, I thank Thee for that Thou hast given: for the time during which I have used the things that were Thine, it suffices me. Take them back and place them wherever Thou wilt! They were all Thine, and Thou gavest them me."—If a man depart thus minded, is it not enough? What life is fairer and more noble, what end happier than his?

More Sky Lines

Standing at the bus stop, I often look up to see the trails of aeroplanes. (As I have previously mentioned.) These not unattractive features are, unfortunately trails of polution. From below, they look clean; white and bright wisps like any other cloud. What is noticable when travelling in an aeroplane is how dark they appear from above.

Just try...

Although it is not wise to be too harsty, it is also not wise to delay. Consider these sayings...


"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

"If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads"

Anatole France (1844-1924)

To the latter I would add '...but let us not tarry lest the path ahead lead to more spectacular views.'

"The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed."

Possibly Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981)