Today I came across this Daguerreotype portrait of a teacher with her students, estimated to have been taken sometime in the 1850’s.
It took me a few moments to realise that there was only one lad amongst the class.
Mainly because, I know I’ve said before that I do love old photographs, but I’m sorry:
those kids are creeping the bejesus outta me!
It looks like a scene set on the fictional world of Tatooine, but this shot is of the sun setting on the empty, desolate planet of Mars.
In the whole of our history, we are the first human beings to witness a Martian sunset. Just think about that. We can see from the vantage point of an island that we as a species should never have reached.
I’ve said it before-this is a place where the silence has never been broken by spoken word.
One day it will. I wonder what that first word will be?
I say ‘silence’, but if you do a search you can discover an audio video that enables you to listen to the sound of this far-flung place. A place with few natural sounds except the wind.
I find things like this awe-inspiring. And there’s now lots of images to keep me going for some time yet. Rocky landscapes beneath a salmon sky.
I hope they instil in you the same sense of wonder that they do me. But if you are looking for a photo credit, though – I’m sorry, I didn’t take them.
It wasn’t until Boxing Day night that I realised that I’d not had my Christmas pudding. Nor my brandy sauce. We are going to have to do Christmas Day all over again.
In the meanwhile, my daughter, Courtney, tried to make a nice, spontaneous Christmas greeting photograph for her friends with our dog, Bryn. You know, one of those cute festive things that would have everyone going “Aw.”
Like I said: she tried.
This morning the estate I live on was a cold one. People seemed to carry more weight as they moved about it, with backs bent and shoulders hunched.
But there was a beauty there, too (something not often said about the place), if they would just stop for a moment, straighten up, and take it in.
A stark urban beauty, shaking off the shackles of sleep.
A beautiful sunset.
We sat watching the sun disappear over the horizon as the tide slowly came in to shore on a cool summer breeze.
James: “I’ve been told that when you’re having a poo, if you squeeze too hard your organs will drop out.”
A little imagination is all you need.
Small town lass visits big city (I can’t say Village person, it doesn’t sound right). After more than two years, I finally get on buses and head west…
Jill goes to Manc
A fellow blogger’s visit to my ‘town’. I know it’s a city, but we always say town!
City Jackdaw 