Knowledge and Madness

“The love of knowledge is a kind of madness” – C.S. Lewis

Photographing the Vanishing Quote

I noticed this quote on an abandoned Blogger site today.

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on Earth which can make them come back again. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

It applies to almost everything photographed. From a smiling child to the sun itself. Nothing stays exactly the same forever and the photographer won’t be standing in the same spot, with that same angle, at that same time either. Something will be different, maybe just the weather. Maybe how the photographer feels or gets different perspective. Life is about change, but a photograph can capture what was there, while it was there.

This is what rephotography can showcase. The changes over time and other changes to our culture.

Rubbing Yourself Out and Getting Worn Down

I found this quote by Amy Tan:

“I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water.”

People ask if you are sad or tired. I could say yes to those but neither is quite right. I am worn down, like a stone in a river. I try to hold on, be stoic and strong but I’m eroding all the time.

I feel this way more often as I get older. None of us are getting any younger of course. But, I don’t think we should have to feel worn down. Does it happen from others or do we do it to ourselves. I’m trying to figure that out for myself.

I found this quote on an old site by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen.She writes about writing, relationships, travel and living in a camper van. I started reading that post, first.

She has a few sites these days:

Second Hand Books are Wild

Do you remember BookCrossing? It’s been years since I last logged in. Funny that I was thinking of the book which I had last read the last time I was at the site. I couldn’t remember the author or the title, but there it was, first on my profile page.

“Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack.”

– Virginia Woolf

A friend who joined the site with me, Skye Truheart, I have not heard from for many years. Each time I find something, a link to her somewhere, like her old Blogger account, or now this, I try again to find her. No luck. I’m sure I had her name and address to send a Christmas card but I’ve lost it long ago. I’d like to find her and know she is doing ok.

There are Times in Life When you Just Have to Kill your Babies

This quote is about the break between having the dream and living with it. But, you can read so much into a few words.

I’m a fan of writer Ann Patchett, whose book, Truth and Beauty, is one of my favourites. This week, thanks to the website, Brain Pickings, I came across a fantastic Patchett quotation that hit very close to home, especially the last line:

“The journey from the head to hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write — and many of the people who do write — get lost… Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.”

The stark disappointment of words is something I know a little too much about. So often the idea in my head, which initially seems so good, falls apart once I begin to try to assemble the words on paper. Suddenly my remarkable idea becomes frustratingly ordinary.

Source: Lindy Mechefske – “the stark disappointment of words” and an easy flourless chocolate truffle cake

This quote makes me think about writers having to kill their babies. That was a quote I read about editing your writing. Your words and phrases being taken out of existence. Deleting unnecessary wordage. Editing.

But, I find in life, the idea of editing things or deleting them, or exterminating… there are lots of good words for it… is an important skill to have. All things but in moderation. If you can master that in life you will save yourself a lot of stress, have more space (physically and mentally) and save money too.

Of course, no one should literally kill babies, or other children. At least let them get to adulthood, or the age of 20, and be guilty of something on the extreme side, first. Its ok to be a little dramatic, just not too literal about it.

Are There Psychogeography Enthusiasts in Ontario?

“There is a class of walkers who share a certain camaraderie. We are not drunks, tramps, hookers, cops, priests, party-goers or night-shift workers; we are merely outsiders. On the rare occasions when we meet we acknowledge one another with a tiny tilt of the head, or a quick nod; but each of us carries his or her own solitude. We are invisible and cannot be touched.” – Sean Stewart

A quote for explorers and those who enjoy psychogeographical explorations.

I started Ontario Psychogeography on Blogger but I haven’t found a lot to post there.