2016

I've kept this blog, on and off, since 2006. In 2015 I used it to chart daily encounters, images, thoughts and feelings about volcanic basalt/bluestone in Melbourne and Victoria, especially in the first part of the year. I plan to write a book provisionally titled Bluestone: An Emotional History, about human uses of and feelings for bluestone. But I am also working on quite a few other projects and a big grant application, especially now I am on research leave. I'm working mostly from home, then, for six months, and will need online sociability for company!


Monday, January 22, 2007

Before and After

Dr Cat and Paula have been kind enough to imply that trying to write deathless prose for a book, an essay, and a grant submission on three different topics while at the nadir of radiotherapy treatment and its aftermath might not be the smartest thing I've ever done, in the struggle to find the perfect balance of body and mind. Has this blog taught me nothing?

The trouble for me is that writing, when it's going well — and even when it's more of a struggle — makes me happy and content. But since Paula gave me a firm reality check (and zucchini frittata and blood-plum crumble) on Saturday night, I've done no real work for a couple of days. And here are two photographs to prove it. First, the "before" shot:



And now, the "after":



First person to find the St Louis reference gets a chocolate....

Fortunately my grant collaborators are working at our draft while I recover (though one has a pre-school child and a baby to care for) and the other has a bunch of other applications from his faculty to read and assess.

According to the radiotherapy technicians, the worst of the burning should have emerged by today, so it should start to clear soon. When I was moaning to Paula the other night, I found myself saying I was sick of dragging my body around with me. I shocked myself, as I normally feel rather more integrated and connected than that. No wonder it's hard to work.

5 comments:

Elsewhere007 said...

Don't want to add to your load, but I think you should gather all the blog posts together for a book on illness & treatment. They're beautifully written. And they're not deathless.

The St Louis reference is the mask on the door?

This old world is a new world said...

Oh, thank you El, you are very kind. I wonder... a book would be a challenge, generically, for a blog, wouldn't it? Or at least, for a book designer.

No, it's not the mask; which, by the way, by the time Joel went to bed, had been taken off the door and placed in a more customary position — on the floor. Along with at least one change of clothes, and several books. Hey ho.

Elsewhere007 said...

Err, depends on how it was edited, I'd say, tho you can have your blog made into a 'blook' by a website somewhere. I'm sure there must be a lot of fairly ho-hum stuff written on the subject...

Are there mardi gras beads in there?

Btw, i am in contact with Karen Manton these days, who works up the Top End part of my institution.

Kansas Guy said...

Do I spy a snow globe containing the Gateway to The West (aka The Arch) on top of the bookshelf on the left side of the room? I believe I may. By the way, Happy Australia Day!

Suse said...

Too late to play the St Louis game.

I just like that you placed the boy's chest of drawers against the door. Heh.