It was postively balmy, almost sultry today. After spending most of the day writing a funding application for someone else (my new money making activity) it was a relief to get out and get moving. There seem to be lots more birds around at the moment. I saw three different kingfishers in different places, and there are great flocks of anonymous birds that this lovely blog could no doubt identify but all I can say is they are small and brown and noisy and there are lots and lots of them.
I met a friendly cow on the way back: not only did she not run away at my approach as most of them do, but she let me scratch the top of her head, and mooed loudly when I walked on.
It was a good walk for thinking some more about book I have been mulling and planning since before I moved here, tentatively titled An Atlas of Purua. Today those early thoughts about map making to develop a sense of homeplace coalesced with other recent interests such as my collections of possum bones, feathers and invertebrate shells; obsessive box making activies; an article about an exhibition of curio cabinets; and my newly developed web design skills. I envisiged making a cabinet containing: artifacts from the farm, a book of maps of my walks, a catalogue of related poems and a CD-ROM with links to this blog and my other web site- all elaborately cross referenced and hyperlinked. I have a couple of projects close to completion and then I think I will start on this one.
sounds like a digital era "cabinet des curieux". V. big among the hoity-toity aristocratic classes in the 17th-18th centuries. A sort of cacaphonous assemblage of artifacts and oddities, that chatter amongst each other to tell the viewer a "story" about a far-off and exotic place...
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the last time I read the word sultry, especially as it relates to weather. It's a good word, and underused, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Rach, you hit the nail on the head, that is it exactly, but so much more knowlegably and articulately than I could say it, thanks. And of course my cabinet will be a mundane story about home. Sounds like you might have some special knowledge in this area? Care to share off line? xxM
ReplyDeleteSultry and languid are two of my favourite words. I moved to Northland so I could use them more often.
ReplyDeleteCapacious is another good word, and I carry a big bag especially to engender opportunities for saying it.