I haven’t blogged for months. Lockdown knocked ‘Normal’ into the long grass. We had to adjust to the strictures of a new so-called Normality. The familiar flow of a day was disrupted and with it went so many features that added colour to life. The camera has sat gathering dust for much of the time. When I picked up my Lumix LX100 recently, I had to read part of the camera manual to remember how to change a setting!
Instead of capturing images, I’ve been writing – not about photography but writing about me and may family so that there will be something in print for the next generation. Gone are the days when the concept of oral tradition was sufficient to pass on family facts.
I’m going back into the archives with this image but, in a way, it sums up what so many of us are missing in our everyday lives. Human contact. The ability to meet and greet friends and family. How long is it going to take before the old Normal is restored?
LensScaper 
I was just thinking about you the other day and even went to LensScaper to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Wonderful to hear from you again, Andy, and glad you are well. It is a good image for the times.
Speaking of recording personal and/or family history. As a birthday gift from my daughter, I’ve been processing throught writing answers to a question a week via the StoryWorth (storyworth.com) site. Some question are generic and some are specific to things my children want to know about me. It’s been an interesting and therapeutic venture and I believe the structure and process provided by StoryWorth has helped me stick with it. At the end of a year or the end of the process which ever comes first all my writing can be printed in book form for my children to keep if they want. Disclosure – I have no ties with StoryWorth, just a happy participant. 🙂
My cameras have been gathering dust as well. Maybe I’d better find the manuals! Again, nice to see this post.
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Thanks you so much Earl, nice to know I’ve been missed! I’ve just checked out StoryWorth, a unique idea that has a lot of potential. For a whole year I used quotations that I had come across that acted as prompts or literary ‘hooks’ that led me to reminisce on paper. I think it’s vital that we engage in this sort of thing to preserve family history for the next generation.
My next target is to keep posting here on WordPress, and make sure the next generation knows the password. Just in case!
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Great image! I’ve been working from home since March, but I’m glad to write that the camera has stayed busy – I don’t have to worry about social distancing etc. when I’m out on the land. 🙂
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Hi Frank, thanks for your comment. We live on the edge of a town, so I can get out into open countryside in about 15mins walking. But I need somewhere new to really get me in the ‘zone’. It’s been a long haul throughout Lockdown, but I’m getting bolder in where I go and one day soon I’ll head down to the coast.
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Great to see you here again, Andy. Pleased you are well, and hope you do get using that camera again
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Hi Sue. Thank you. I hope you have managed to stay well through these last few months. Our camera club has been closed for about five months now with no expectation of opening as a public gathering until Easter next year perhaps. We use Zoom for on-line meetings but it’s just not the same.
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Hi Andy, so far I’m OK, thanks! My photo club has been closed 5 months too, and we use Zoom which has been OK, but as you say, not the same. But we just have to make the best of what we have….
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Welcome back, Andy. Glad you are well. May we all achieve a new normal soon.
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Hi Linda. Good to hear from you. I hope you have avoided this wretched virus too. Over here new countries are being added to countries that are ‘quarantined’ – meaning that if you go there on holiday, you have to self-isolate for 14 days on your return. My beloved Switzerland has just been added to the list. We must have a new normal by next Spring otherwise I will be suffering severe withdrawal symptoms!
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Hi Andy. Good to see you back. Like you, I was away from WP for months – lost the feel for creativity – had a block. I don’t think we will have our normal back for a long time – if ever. All hope is on a vaccine but I read that there is still no vaccine against HIV and some of the other Sars viruses and they have been around for a long time. We’ve been very careful – have hardly been out and haven’t had visitors to the house (except a neighbour offering produce from his garden!). That’s due to change this weekend with friends expected to arrive and a picnic in the garden.
I guess we’re all going to have to navigate our way through it in our own individual ways according to circumstances but I’m finding it very hard. All the best to you and yours – I like your idea of writing for the family.
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Thank you Meanderer. I think there is a good chance of a vaccine. Medical science has advanced so fast, but the volumes of doses required is astronomical. Speaking as someone in their early seventies, I will be close to the head of the queue than a lot of people, but economically it is the workers that should come first. Without a thriving economy we are in a right mess.
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It’s so good to see you again, Andy. I hope you’ll stick to that resolution to keep posting here. What are archives for, after all?
Things here are going well. I’ve limited my travel primarily to the various wildlife refuges that are around, but there are so many within a two-hour drive, with such different environments, that the problem has been finding time to visit them all. With September on the horizon, we’re about a month away from somewhat cooler temperatures, and more visits will be on the docket.
Of course, the fact that I work outdoors and am essentially alone during the day has meant that my life hasn’t changed much, other than donning a mask to go to the grocery store. So far, my friends and family are navigating it well — including my 94 year old aunt who got tired of her kids keeping her chained up. She called the husband of a friend, and away they went — to the grocery store, a cafe, and so on. She’s been tested three times since her jailbreak, and she’s just fine. As she said, she’s not going to live her few remaining years in solitary confinement.
I’ve been posting more often on Lagniappe, and enjoying it more. I’m trying some more abstract images, and even have done a very occasional black-and-white. Who knew? Change comes to us all!
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Hi Linda. Good to hear from you. I am going to have to spread my wings. We’ve already lost a year of Life so far, and I can’t afford to lose too much time – who knows what is just around the corner. I recall the word Lagniappe from your previous writings. Is that the word you’ve uses as a title for anther blog?
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Yes, that’s a second blog I began for mostly photos and a few other things. I’d link it for you here, but I’ve been reduced to an ipad while my poor computer is at the doctor. Both the computer AND the external hard drive I was using for backup ended up corrupted — or something. The guys at yon computer shoppe say it will take an extra day or so to set things right, but they seemed confident.
Anyway: the URL for Lagniappe is lindaleinen.com. You might enjoy some of the more recent postings. My photography has improved a good bit — I even have a black and white photo in the very recent post about black-bellied whistling ducks at Brazos Bend.
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I’ve found it and am now signed up. Will take a closer look tomorrow
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Yes, this image pictures what we miss…and who knows when things will return to normal? I’m beginning to wonder if they ever will! I’m glad you’re writing. It’s a wise use of this time. My father wrote the story of his life, put it into a very simple book and gave copies to each of us kids. It is such a valuable document, all the more so because he died unexpectedly early, just a few years later. I always wanted my mother to do the same, but she didn’t want to. I think about it frequently but the prospect is daunting!! Still, I got a start when I posted about my first five years of life and I hope to continue that.
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Hi Lynn. I’ve heard of quite a few people who are doing the same – writing about themselves. It’s the only way we will live on. The concept of Oral Tradition is dead, I think.
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