Tuesday 11 January 2011

Tuesday

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

In bed again, still feeling very weak and cross. But you must have the hill because that has become some kind of inexplicable imperative, so I stumped outside in my pyjamas and took today's view. Very odd that when one decides to do things like this, the idea that a single day might be missed invalidates the ENTIRE PROJECT. This is madly stupid. First of all, it is really only for my own pleasure and interest, although some of you are kind enough to admire the lovely hill. Second of all, what does it matter at the end of a year if there are 364 pictures instead of 365?

When I say 'one' of course I mean ME. The element of obsessiveness that lives in me is mostly under control. I do not do OCD or anything like that. There is no counting. But there is slightly more magical thinking than I would like, for someone who prides themselves on reason and rationality.

That's my flaky thought for the day, because mostly my head is fogged up with bug and so there is no thinking.

I would like to say something about the sadness in Arizona, but this is not the time. I think about it quite a lot, while everyone else is shouting. (Oh my God, the shouting; could there not be one moment of still?) It's turned into a culture war already, which I suppose was inevitable, and there is a weird level of 'you said it first, no you did', as if this were a schoolyard game instead of the end of six lives. Mostly I think: why is it considered a good thing that people can go into shops and buy automatic weapons? Why would anyone think that guns becoming part of a culture is ever useful or lovely?

The hill:

11th Jan 1.ORF

7 comments:

  1. Oh *arses* am sorry you feel no better.Please treat yourself kindly and I hope you feel much better soon. Am also nodding fervently about Arizona and the rank stupidity of guns in Wal-Mart next to the damn toothpaste.
    Anne.x

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  2. How can the hill look so blue today? Wonderful.

    Just to say, your hill photos reminded me of some similar obsession I had and I posted the results on my blog h<a href="http://helenahalme.blogspot.com/2011/01/view-from-window.html>here</a>. (I didn't do the 365 thing though - I'm far too disorganised for that).

    Re Arizona, it's all very well to have memorials and silences if no-one gets to the root cause of the problem, ie the guns. There's sadly a very similar situation brewing in Finland - luckily there are only 5 million of us so the odds on the amount of crazies with guns is slightly lower. Still.

    Helena xx
    Hope you feel better very soon.

    Helena xx

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  3. This is my favorite picture of the hill thus far. Who knew it could look so different than the day before and the day before that. Thank you.

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  4. Also housebound (since last Friday!) with something I'm stubbornly refusing to call "flu" -- cough, runny nose, achiness and sometimes fever...so several random comments...

    Archangelica (homeopathic) cream topically applied on swollen glands works wonders (they really do shrink!)

    And, more than one artist has successfully exhibited series of photos, paintings, sketches based on a daily theme, why not "The Hill"?

    That is such a special blue today. Wow! Thank you again!

    Get well soonest!

    Pat (in Belgium)

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  5. This morning's newspaper (here in Tucson) has an article describing the burst of gun sales, especially of the Glock pistol with the extra-large clip, since the murders on Saturday. It seems that many people fear that this event may lead to more restrictive gun-ownership laws, so they are buying on spec! It is more disturbing and disheartening than I can express. The US celebrates violence as entertainment in a way that I've not witnessed in the UK or the Netherlands, the only other countries with which I'm familiar, and the embrace of murderous rhetoric and imagery seems to me even greater than ever.

    I'm sorry you're feeling poorly. Stay warm and take care of yourself. The world needs more photographs of your hill and many fewer photographs of crime scenes.

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  6. Anne - thank you so much. So agree about guns and toothpaste.

    Jenny - thank you.

    Helena - have been to see your wonderful views on yr blog. I LOVE them.

    sjd69 - so pleased you like the dear old hill. :)

    Pat - thank you so much. Shall hunt down special cream.

    Colby - it is always wonderful to get yr despatches from across the pond. I am so sorry that this tragedy happened in your state. But have just been watching the memorial, and there was a touching sense of hope in watching the community come together. I wish you all the very best.

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