One of the amazing things about writing a novel set in a real city is the opportunity to visit it. I went even further in my book, The Great Dagmaru, and had my main character, Stephen Dagmar, go to school at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. That I get tingles walking around the beautiful old campus is an understatement.
When I took these pictures, I thought of our dear departed friend, Paul Curran. He went to this school too. I hoped to show them to him, but I never had the chance.
Enjoy.
I took this picture not so much for the doors but to capture the reconstructive work they were doing. Note the missing bricks on the left.
Queen’s Theological Hall, east side
East side door.
Back of the Queen’s Theological building
…and the front.
Sign reads: “Same bat time, same bat channel.
“We’re awesome
you can be awesome too.”
1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. This year, I’ll be posting prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). You don’t have to follow the prompt word every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday. Each prompt post will include the rules. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section.
3. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.
4. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!
5. The prompts will appear every day that’s neither a Wednesday nor a Saturday–Saturday’s prompt will be Stream of Consciousness Saturday. You’ll find the list below. Remember, you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you.
6. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.
7. Have fun!
Here are the prompts that I have so far. I’ll fill in the SoCS prompts as I have them:
January 1st – Spider ( ghostmmnc)
January 2nd – Time ( JoAnna)
January 3rd – Warning ( Dan Antion)
January 4th – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 5th – Spangly ( Judy E. Martin)
January 6th – Tangible ( Prajakta)
January 7th – (SoCS – coat)
January 8th – Mongrel ( TanGental)
January 9th – Power ( 20/20 hines sight)
January 10th – Danger ( MWLange)
January 11th – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 12th – Tingle ( Tessa)
January 13th – Hospital (Charlene Bullard – FaithtoRaiseNate.com)
January 14th – (SoCS – “P”)
January 15th – Mercy ( BarbCT)
January 16th – Impenetrable ( Blog Woman!!!)
January 17th – Complaint ( Willowdot21)
January 18th – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 19th – Rubbish ( Wendyj59)
January 20th – Transcendent ( Deborah Drucker)
January 21st – (SoCS – glass)
January 22nd – Contempt ( Rosemary Carlson)
January 23rd – Compromise ( Ritu)
January 24th – Elusive ( Eclectic Evelyn)
January 25th – (One-Liner Wednesday)
January 26th – Extraordinary ( jetgirlcos)
January 27th – Incomplete ( Cyn K)
January 28th – (SoCS – wood/would)
January 29th – History ( KL Caley)
January 30th – Blue ( John Holton)
January 31st – Detritus ( Lorraine’s frilly freudian slip)
I was playing around with my phone camera last week and realized there were some cool settings on it. I hadn’t noticed before that I can take a negative picture, or a monochrome or sepia, or solarized…
I had no idea what I was doing at the time; I couldn’t see the screen for the sunshine, so I just started snapping photos. The first two are solarized shots of the sun setting over the water. I did nothing to alter these after they were taken.
All-focus
All-focus
Here’s a panoramic shot I took, without filters, of the same scene.
And here’s one I took a couple of weeks ago from the same spot.
I’ve always been a little fascinated with this little house around the corner from where I live. As I walked past it a few weeks back, I decided to take a picture.
It’s not just the narrow doors that intrigue me, it’s the iron bars on the upper windows and the lace curtains in the lower ones that really bring the whole thing together, which sparks my imagination.
Here’s a closeup of the lovely doors.
I live in a decidedly old part of town. Many Loyalists settled here in the 1850s, and quite a few of the houses from that era still stand. Here’s one that’s a bit different.
I’ll have to go back after the leaves fall to get a picture of it all the way to the top.
It’s the time of year again for the Kingston Writer’s Festival! I bought tickets for seven events this year, one of which was last night at the Grand Theatre.
I had the pleasure to attend an interview with Annie Proulx, of Brokeback Mountain and The Shipping News fame, and Emma Donoghue, who, most famously so far, wrote both the novel and screenplay for Room. Both lovely ladies talked about and read from their newest releases, Barkskins, (Proulx) and The Wonder, (Donoghue), and I must say both books sound fascinating.
The best part of the evening, for me as an author, was when they talked about writing. I nodded my head when Ms. Donoghue said that if she were to describe where “home” is for her, it would be her laptop. Both authors agreed that when writing a novel, they live there inside it. It’s true for me as well. Emma also told a funny story about when she was writing Room, how she used her young son to figure out the logistics of escaping a rolled-up rug. I did the same, using my son to help me figure out the intricacies of a certain magic trick in “The Great Dagmaru.”
It was wonderful to be able to relate to two famous authors on a professional level – as professional as it can be to use your offspring as a prop, that is. And, of course, to be in the presence of greatness.
Most of the events I’ve signed up for to come are more for the sake of learning. A few are on the subject of writing non-fiction, in anticipation of putting together my memoir on parenting a Deaf child. I hope to update you all on how things are going throughout the weekend.
In response to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge prompt this week, which was shadows and silhouettes, I decided to use a picture I took in May. I was standing under a cherry tree and for some reason or another, took a picture of the sun through the branches.
Here is the original:
I thought first to see what my new phone could do with it. I was quite happy with this version, which I did nothing particular with except change the filters available. I like the way the branches stand out, giving it a skeletal look:
Then I decided to play around with that. This version, I think, has a bit of a Dystopian feel to it:
And finally, here’s what I ended up with when I played around with the original. I was trying to bring out the prism of the sun’s rays. It certainly shows off the actual brilliance of the pink blossoms:
Anyone who would like to participate, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do,
you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!
Anyone who would like to participate, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do,
you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!
For this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge, the prompt is “architechture.” Since I don’t have a lot of fancy tools at my disposal for altering photos, I decided to choose a building and pick it apart. I thought what better place to look than Japan, where aesthetics is everything.
Here’s a picture I took in December of 2014, of the Disney store in the Shibuya section of Tokyo. Click on the pictures for a closer look:
The whole building, for perspective
Who wouldn’t want to go in? Note the sign that says 7F… that means the store is 7 floors high.
Above the entrance The store inside is tiny in square footage. It’s all upwards, via a skinny circular staircase, on which you have to squeeze past the people going the other way.
This is where you come out – the cash registers in most stores in Japan are at the back.
Above the exit is all interesting textures – for no particular reason. There are no windows in the store.
Fancy frontage, but not part of the store. It’s all between the entrance and the exit.
And finally the roof, with the obligatory plants. The Japanese grow things anywhere they can – and it’s all beautiful.
It was 2009 and I’d already decided to buy my house. During the inspection, the real estate agent and I were poking around in all the nooks and crannies when we discovered that the inside of one of the closet doors had been used, for decades, as a place to record the growth of the children who grew up here. Click on the pictures for a closer look.
Some of the dates go back to before I was born
This is the oldest one I found. Judging by height, “Peri” was a baby.
Of course, I had to add my own.
It’s fun to find history displayed in public places. It’s even better when you come across it in your own home.
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