Because There Can Be No Other Words.

Thank You.

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An Afternoon Affair II

Sometimes cities can get cold and impersonal. Efficiency, Efficacy and Economy. The person fades and all that remains is the functions. It’s pleasant to find humour in the nooks and crannies where you least expect. It brings back some colour to the bleakness.

Someone once defined humor as a way to keep from killing yourself.
I keep my sense of humor and I stay alive.
- Abe Burrows

PS: Yes, Burrows is American, so his humour doesn’t include ‘u’.

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Passage.

Spiders. Some of you hate it so much you’ve probably closed the page by now. For those still here, I don’t really have a fondness or distaste for them – until they invade my space, then retribution is visited on their hairy heads. This one lives down the road upon a giant stair frame. Its sheer size caught my attention (it is bigger than my palm from end to end) as it flapped around using its web as a kite on one of those windy days.

I don’t know much about spiders, according to the locals this one is a Golden Orb Weaver. A friendly non-poisonous spider capable of growing to sizes that allows it to take down a small bird. Maybe that’s the reason for the flying lessons mentioned earlier.

Like a spider on the web of life, Time devours all things.
From forgotten firsts to the final light it swallows every change.
The smiles and tears and simple fears we keep locked away,
in memory, print or parchment to help survive the day,
Is gnawed and nibbled often by Time and ourselves no less,
till all is but an illusion like the lines of a tailored dress.
Alas! Each trembling thread tumbles towards its terrible embrace.
To realise when Time’s unmasked it is Death we face.

Adapted from Ovid’s “Tempus edax rerum “

52.52 Friendship.

For the concluding shot of the 2010′s project 52, I decided to dig up a shot, taken some time in December, that captured something that has constantly been on my mind throughout the year. I was privileged to attend a gathering of friends who have known each other for longer than I’ve been alive. I’ve also attended a few reunions/gatherings of peers I’ve had over the years. Some I’ve not seen for the better part of a decade for good or bad.

As time catches up with you, friends seem harder to come by. Friends slowly become like pandas – slowly dying out but refusing to f*** each other. I’ve often joked that a good friend requires two secondary school subjects – Chemistry and History. To all I call friend, this photo/post goes out to you.

52.52

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

52.51 Would you like one?

It was the Christmas week and I didn’t seem to be able to capture Christmas through the lens. So as a peace offering, I’ve decided to offer you something from my desk. Hopefully, for those who have had a bitter Christmas this might help ease the twists and turns.

Shout out to Pris ,who was also doing Project 52, for the lovely eats you see in the picture.

52.51

In famine, a hot meal.
In drought, a cool spring.
In desperation, a helping hand.
In death, a detention.

End on end we seek what we lost
a vicious carousel, the human condition which befell.
From Adam to you and I, upon this road well trod
lessons learnt, and taught, and forgot.

When Sorrow’s teeth keenly sink
Regret comes with charms a-wooing.
God is abased and brought to trial
while Love lies in velvet bleeding.

- Z.

52.50 Peace on earth..

In the week leading up to Christmas, I met up with an old friend on mine whose name will be withheld for his own safety since his mugshot will be available below. He so generously provided me with the perfect photo that helped me sum up the sentiments I was feeling during this period.

The words of the angels were “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men” and though it is oft repeated now in carols and greetings, where do we find ourselves since this was first uttered? Personally, as the years roll by I am increasingly amazed at how the celebrations are more widely accepted, while being utterly removed from it’s actual meaning and spirit. Even in His house.

52.50

“When you are joyous,
look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart,
and you shall seethat in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.“

- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

52.49 Lamentations of the Nostalgic.

Bring it on grammar nazis and word purists.
I’m still gonna use nostalgic as a noun.
The colour orange was picked to further annoy.
Mwa-ha-ha-ha.

Some of you might know I’m on vacation back on my rock. Yes, my rock – ownership and governance is two different things but let us not delve into that can right now. So J brought me out to one of the older townships for a photo adventure.

Needless to say, it rained.

Not the sissy, face mist, incontinence rain. It really rained. The Noah, God flooding the earth kind. But that’s another story.

Back to the main story, exploring the ‘ruins’ of the old town evoked a lot of feelings and thoughts regarding my rock. I will probably write a proper post on it later, in the mean time I hope that the photo below might convey some of it.

52.49

“Future, under the treads of your minion Progress, the good things of the Past and Present be ground to dust and fed into the gaping mouth of Economy.”

- Z.

52.48 Dining on darkness, from the depths, in the dark.

Andddddddddddddddddddddddd, due to all the celebrations massed in the end of each year, postings have been tardy. But because everything that is started should be finished. The next few posts will be the to wrap up p52 2010.

This shot was taken as a jest in a dark restaurant with a lovely dinner companion C. This was taken on film with minor editing to touch up some dodgy scanning. The joke being the dish is squid ink pasta.

52.48

“There is a wisdom that is woe;
but there is a woe that is madness.“

- A prize to the first person to tell me the author and the book from whence this quote came. = )