kelseybacon.com

Last night my mother-in-law rang up and said to have Dylan ready to go by 9PM, and that she’d be by to pick him up.  “Cool,” I thought.  Then it was pointed out to me that I had only Kirynie till Friday afternoon.  At 19 months old, she is easier to do things with than either of the two young teens who make their demands known, and who fight with each other incessantly.  So, I, in passing, thought of what I could do today, including Abergavanny, Wales, and Hereford Cathedral.  The freedom is of course in the ability to decide for myself whatever I want to do!  Kiry is not old enough to vote me down!  I am putting last minute charges on the camera and gear, checking the weather, and packing the stuff I will need to make this a successful day out with the camera, including the GPS units, and even lens filters.  My wife has described me as giddy…  Well, yeah!  And as the sun starts to light the morning sky, I look forward to the bright day ahead! 

Today’s weather is forecast as “a real mixed bag” with fog, sleet, snow, and more…  Sounds perfect!  Dress warm, fill the water bottle(s) and cover up the push chair with a rain cover, and away I go..!!  After a healthy breakfast, of course…  Oh, and getting Kirynie ready!  The only thing I am unsure of is if I have to transfer at Hereford Station, how do i get the pushchair off the outer platform?  There is a hellish bridge, and I don’t know where a lift is there.  But that is not to dissuade me!  Shall I bring the headphones and mic too?  Podcasting?  Maybe…

I am at Colwall now.  We have just come out of the tunnel after Malvern.  Readers think, “so what!”  But I have to note this sort of thing because I want to remember it for years and years to come.  It is foggy out, ant the view quite obscured, but this is not something I will experience in Nevada, or some place like that, so I am enjoying it to its fullest! 

Hard to believe that Abergavanny, Wales is only about 40 miles as the crow flies from our house.  Little Britain!  Yet it is an hour and a half by train! 

Abergavanny

Well, Kiry and I have walked all through Abergavanny’s High Street, and past the Market, which is closed today, possibly because it is snowing.  I had to buy a hat to cover my head and keep the now off my face and glasses.  It is not a perfect day for the camera, especially with he GPS unit fixed on top, so I may take that off as it is not water proofed. 

We are sat now in a place that sells chicken and burgers and fries (chips).  I am positive it is the same place as Katrina and the boys and I sat in the last time we came out to this lovely little Market Town four or five years ago.  The all tile interior is partly a give away.  Apart from the ceiling, the whole place is food fight proof!  Will we go out to the castle ruins?  The weather is not great, nor is the idea of walking in the mud. 

Kiry has dropped TWO…  Not one, but TWO BBQ sauce bottles on the floor..!! 

The staff here are speaking Welsh.  Thankfully they are not looking our way, or I think I can guess what they’d be saying! 

I almost dread putting on the warm clothes and going back out in it.  Kiry is so good natured, and keeps tapping my arm to point to things.  I wonder what she’d say?  I assume that it would be friendly, and nice.  By the time she is old enough to tell me, I may find out it is not.  But for now, it is fun to pretend that she is speaking nicely about nice things.  More people pass by, and finally, an older couple enters and takes a seat.  Time to get my warms on and get ready to get out in it.   Kiry is now wiping BBQ sauce on my sleeve.

Took a While to Get Home

Getting home turned out to not be so easy, so I have waited till I did, and defrosted, in order to write the rest of this post!  For any unaware, I have psoriassis on my feet, and as a consequence, I have to wear sandals all the time, or they really act up.  When I said all the time, I meant it..!!  So today has been extra fun.  I am not complaining!  It really has not bothered me in the least, but I wanted to document the fact so you have a full picture of the day. 

When I finished the ride back to Worcester, there were no taxis at the rank, there were no bus 33, and there were no taxis after I waited an hour for the non-existent bus.  So I ended up walking home from town to our house, exactly a mile and a half as it turns out, and may I add, up hill almost every inch of the way, and quite steep for the last half mile.  That was fun in the snow..!! 

As it turned out, I was sat out he train from Hereford next to a photography instructor from Israel.  She encouraged me to go professional.  Did I dare tell her that I have been trying for a long time now, but it is hard to get off the ground?  Maybe it is a case of those who can’t do, teach.  Was that what she was doing?  Is that what I should do?  Either way, I never want to put my camera down.  I will take holidays, because I know that is necessary for sanity.  But I do want to do it till I die, and NOT SOON..!!! 

I plan to put some of the photos I made today on my photo blog.  No intent on selling any.  So look there for them! 

Kelsey Bacon

Worcester, Hereford, England and Abergavanny, Wales.

This morning I find myself unexpectedly free from the usual constraints of life, so I am packing up the camera, the one child I have with me, and the travel kit, and I am going to go find me a train to Abergavanny, Wales.  You get to come with!

On the train the stop in Great Malvern was touristy as I took a couple of tourist photos of Kiry, to document her being here, and out the window, with reflections on the glass and all.  We have picked up food for the day at Tesco Express next to the Station in Worcester, and while I write this, we are passing through the tunnel after Malvern.  We do have to make a change at Hereford, so the option to stop and stay is open, though I have no particular reason to on such a foggy day.  It is a bummer there is no free Wi-Fi on this train.  I’d bet more people would ride it if they could finish their work before they got home.  Welcome to Colwall!

Kirynie and I have walked the length of Abergavanny now, past the Market, which is closed today, and the whole of the High Street.  It is snowing and I had to buy a new hat to cover my head in a cheap shop.  £15 to keep the wet snow off my face.  Then it was down a little further to a shop to fill our bellies for another £4.50.  Kiry and I shared a chicken and chips meal.  The snow is still coming down, and I am told by the man in the cheap shop it is to be like this tomorrow too.  Of course,tomorrow we shall be tucked safely into our warm little living room on the Gorse Hill. 

By the way, it has got to be said that I ordered our food, and the man behind the counter must have been waiting with the plate in hand for as fast as the waitress brought it out to us!  This is amazing!  I am not even sure the word waitress is in my British English spell checker…  ;-)  Only a couple of people have walked in to order chips since I have been here.  Perfect for a chance to sit and write a not down.  Too bad there’s no Wi-Fi. 

After walking out to the Castle, Kiry got a bit fussy, so I walked us back to the train station and caught a ride back to Hereford.  I thought about going down to Hereford Cathedral, but it was snowing too hard by then, and gave no sign of letting up.  Kiry wanted out of her push chair too, so I let her out a bit at the station Cafe, but that was not enough, so after a bit more than an hour hanging out there, we caught the train back to Worcester. 

On the train back, the lady across the aisle asked me about the photos I was shooting out the window, and after I told her, she said that she was a photography instructor at Hereford University.  So we had a great chat. 

I tired to catch a taxi outside Worcester Forgate Street Station, but there were none, so I waited an hour at the bus station with a massive queue of people before deciding it was fruitless, and walking home.  On the walk home I only saw one of the busses on the route I needed, and it never passed me to get there, so I must have caught it up.  It was having a hell of a time getting up the hill on Tolladine Road! 

In the end, I got home with Kiry safe and warm(ish) a little after six in the evening. 

I do plan on putting some of the photos I took today up on the photo blog, so check there! 

I woke up this morning and looked out the bedroom window to find the most stunning morning!  It is bright and sunny, but with banks of fog rolling around the city and valley.  To the left, on Ronkswood Hill where the trees are in silhouette, the fog covers half the hill, and leaves the other half exposed in such contrast to the light grey bank.  Further down in the city centre St. Andrew’s Spire occasionally peaks out from behind another grey blanket, it’s point with golden weathervane the last thing to vanish, and again the first to show.  of course, this is all shifting around and the light along with it, leaving my house in shadow sometimes, and at other times in the bright morning sun. 

Now that I am up and getting ready for the day in earnest, I will look forward to enjoying some of this fascinating weather as soon as I can get out with Dylan and Kirynie to go up to the store to get some things.  Maybe it is time to haul out my camera…!!  This winter has been too long! 

Last night did not feel comfortable at all for me or for my family.  I walked up to the shop with Dylan in order to get some air and refresh myself from having been indoors all day yesterday.  The topic turned towards death and life, and the brevity of life, and then we were greeted by the sign at the shop telling of the headlines in the Worcester News about a man who had driven his two children into the River Avon over in Evesham.  To add to the tragedy of the weekend, it turns out that there was also a body discovered in a stream here in Worcester.  I hear that the man, in his 30’s was stabbed and shot, though I have yet to see news to confirm this. 

On the way home from picking up the newspaper and all of the things we were after at the shop, we ran into a neighbour who informed us that the man who had driven his children into the river had previously lived within a stone’s throw of our front door in our street, and that the five year old has died earlier in the day.  She also said that another neighbour close to us has been disallowed to be alone with his children because he has been “fiddling with his daughter.” 

I got home to find Katrina sitting in the living room with the hammer in hand because Kirynie has been freaking out and pointing to the windows, so rather than disregard her instinct, Katrina armed herself and took Kiry into her protection. 

At bedtime, we locked up and checked all the locks and windows a second time, and left some extra lights on as we went into the bedrooms. 

Too many things pointed in the direction of something bad happening, so we adjusted and went to bed a little on edge, even bringing Kiry in with us to sleep just so we’d have that extra feeling of security.  It was too eerie of a night for any of us.

I got a decent amount of the stuff last night, even though I feel like I have had my butt kicked before getting into the ring with Mike Tyson.  But my brains got some dreamy rest last night.  They did..!!  I can’t prove it, but they did.!!  Today looks like it is going to be a good day…  😉

Nothing spectacular today, except that a bout the time Katrina was due to come home, it started snowing out of the blue.  Not literally out of the blue, but damn near.  I took Kiry out to look at it, and there was snow all over the walk in front of out house alongside the street.  The wording there is careful.  See, it was on the walkway, but not on the street.  It snowed to about there pretty hard, then tapered off abruptly, leaving the street and the other side of the street clear.  It was very strange to see the border of a snowfall like that.  But then Katrina came home to say she had to ride through a blizzard for about half a mile or so on her bus ride home, then it stopped and did not start again for her on the way.  She didn’t even notice the snow on the walks…  Go figure!  So the very threat of a sudden and hard snow put us on a little bit of an edge, but nothing has come of it yet.  So there we go then! 

Right now I am sat in the back waiting room of the optometrist’s office.  Jordan is here to get his eyes tested.  The fool didn’t even study!  He’ll be lucky to pass at all!  Kiry and Dylan are here as well.  Kiry is keeping Dylan busy with his cell phone.  Dylan is trying hard to get it back from her, and failing badly.  As for me, I have tried to find a WiFi connection here, but the two available connections are both protected, so I am out.  Still, I thought it might be nice to publish a post when I get home..!!  The highlight will be when I get home, and get a couple of meals off the cooker in Cafe World.  Ain’t life exciting? 

Here is a photo taken with my Netbook’s built in camera.  It is not the greatest, but it does at least do the trick!  Very basic stuff.

I didn’t get to bed till a bit late last night, and frankly, I am tired and wishing I was not here.  But then again, I am glad I am not at home wishing I was out in town. 

I was going to try a video but it has to be loaded to a server on the web first, and I can’t at the moment do it.  Knowing that now, I wonder if I can set up an ftp folder on my server to do that. Then I could address it and put the thing in my ftp folder on the fly.  I think I would have to be online to get it done though…

Here it is, the day of the most watched game in America, some think the world.  It is not the most watched game in the world, it is just that some Americans think it is.  Here in the world outside the USA, nobody cares, just like on the fourth Thursday in November, when nothing happens here.  But in America, according to CNN and other news organizations, it is the biggest thing in the world.  This really shows once more the American egocentrism.  Not that it is a bad thing as such.  It is just something that I think limits the views of Americans, and I think could well be addressed by a mandatory period abroad.  It would do so well for Americans to travel out during college, and see the world outside, and appreciate the world beyond America’s borders.  Then when returning to America, decisions could be made less from that centrist view, and from a more appreciative, world view.  Broad mindedness and greater education from just such a view is what I will promote upon my return, to make America stronger. 

I have been locked in a box for some time now.  The living room is a box.  The home school schedule is a box.  The frame of the photo is a box.  Nations, whether they be England or America, are boxes.  To fill out a VISA application, I have to fill in each of the boxes.  There are the boxes into which I must deposit money, called Banks.  There are the boxes on the computer screen called browser windows, which are boxes.  There is the lunch box, the mail box, the toy box, the box on which people watch the news.  There are so many boxes, and so many more…  This is a phase I go through.  I want to smash all of the boxes in my life.  Today is a definite box smashing day. 

I would love to smash boxes today.  Today I would love to get out and go and make things happen and life happen.  Nothing much ever seems to happen when I am locked into boxes.

I have not lifted the camera on weeks.  I don’t feel its call to me right now, so I needed a break from it.  There is something amiss about it and I cannot figure out what it is.  There is nothing wrong with the camera.  the problem is with the art, my view, how I am seeing things.  I think I have needed the time away from it.  This last month I have had to buy a personal computer that I can use to travel around with, write from, load pictures to when the card on the camera fills up.  I am planning to travel.  I NEED to travel.  But I need to have a few good lenses too, but I cannot afford them.  So I was not all that happy about having to buy a computer.  I got a netbook in the end so I would not begrudge the cost so much, and for extra portability.  It is great so far, and does more than I expected it to.  I will upgrade the RAM soon too, allowing it to run even a little smoother than it already does.  But it has otherwise been a delay in saving for and buying the lenses I need to get for the sake of business, and for art.  I am sat here typing about on it now. 

If there is one thing I need to do, it is create!  I need to make something, and not be lazy about getting started or finished on whatever it is I make.  I layered onto a paper machet mobile I am making for my daughter this morning.  It is the sun, some planets, and a star and the moon.  It is mostly an experiment on my part to see how  do at this.  But as I elected to make something for Kiry,  want to do it well too. 

I could write too.  I never seem to be able to come up with the dialogue to make it happen though.  I feel like there is not going to be enough in my mind to finish what I start. 

It feels good to let this out.  I need this! 

One thing that could help to overcome this strangeness, this feeling, would be to get out of England.  I love England, don’t get me wrong.  It is a wonderful place to visit, though I am not so sure how much I would want to live here, unless I had the money for a country cottage with a nice garden and a peaceful village very close by.  It would be lovely to not have anyone close by to talk to. Then, when I went months without talking to anybody, I would have a good reason not to.  But being in a city, this concept is a bit hard.  I have people living all around me, and very few I ever talk to. 

It’s a kind of sadness, a kind of madness, and a kind of gladness. 

I follow some other photographers.  There are several out there that I really admire.  I really want to be as good as they are.  I need to develop the skills.  I need to do the things that I feel are really worth doing.  These things are photography, gardening, making things for our home.  I need to learn to find and refinish furniture.  I need to learn how to make what I need, rather than relying on others.  I need to get on with the resolutions set for the New Year..!!