Libyan Desert Sand

Driving through desert, a smile on my face.

Ever had a smile you can't wipe away?

I highly recommend driving from Ghadames to Tripoli to pick one up,

though it might crunch 'tween teeth.

Let me know if you need a guide.

Mouse-click Keyboard Music

image from [xinita] passed trigonometry!'s photostream

You're at work, you sit down, you start to type.

Listening, you hear the clatter of other people's keys, as their thoughts appear in front of them in pixels. They sound like small beetles communicating to one another.

Click crunch click.

Rather than the same tune every day, you are able to choose 'dog woof' or that 'chack chack' style 'clap' from a Yamaha keyboard from the 80s. Perhaps you can run a 'demo' or tune in to other people's compositions.

Perhaps some company somewhere could come up with a xylophone keyboard. Just think.
It'd be nice to have something as a tuneful haphazard distraction every now and again.

Snow in February

Richmond is splendid in the snow.
You see people smiling, a rarity, and the place takes on a 'chalet' feel.
Envious of sledgers and snowboarders, I like it very much.
Today my arms ache from carrying the body of our snowman.
I wonder if he'll be there when I get home?

Ideas for a better understanding of someone else

Old hoodies and young mobility buggies: a game where the elderly switch places with the young. Instructions: wear a hood, hang around and talk with your friends.

When working on the ageing population project a friend mentioned wearing clothing that restricts movement. Get a 'young person' to try texting with restricted movement gloves on.

Scenario: kid gets on bus with mobile phone slide speaker blaring. Everyone else on the bus starts to dance to the music/ sing along/ play their own music back.

Front room projects - bringing back the idea of the front room, people pop over for a pint and a chat, go round to other people's houses, spread this over a couple of months. Cheaper than the pub.

Or... switch front rooms with someone, understand more about how they live.

104 opens tonight

www.104.fr

Handkerchief

I wanted to write about an image that popped into my mind.
A young woman waves her parting beloved off to war.
I wanted this image to exist, outside of my head, perhaps online. So I tapped in etching and goodbye, specified image but, just as when you take a pencil and put it to paper, it never comes out the way you wanted it, so I did not find my dream image.

Instead, I found a book that you can read for free, with the most beautiful images illustrating it. I greedily scrolled through the sheets, but didn't read. Hopped, skipped, jumped, searching for my image. How would that person who wrote that feel? Me, sifting through with my sieve, searching for imaginary nuggets.

An Onlooker in France 1917-1919, by William Orpen

Next, handkerchief and wave - a load of handkerchiefs and their various purposes came back. I have seen them used for many things: washing a child's face before church, as a flirtation tool in a dance, on old men's heads to shield the sun, with a knot tied to remember something to someone.
And then, for magic.

Camille - Ta Douleur

a good friend recommended her to me.