hmmm….cannot believe that I have left Madonna’s face staring out at you for so long!! Apologies…

2007 has obviously NOT been the year of the blog for me. The truth of it is that earlier in the year, when my brother was dying in hospital (as the result of an assault), the thought of writing blog entries just didn’t seem very appropriate or necessary or interesting or compelling. Quite simply: I had nothing to say. Death will do that to you…

I am not sure I have anything to say even now…I’ve been directing most of my down-time into photography and just can’t seem to find anything to write about. At the same time, I can’t leave Madonna’s ghoulish face staring out at you from an ad for condos.

I actually started to write this about 2 weeks ago and then my whole blog site crashed (cue: sinister organ chords signalling a spooky coincidence). Nothing earth shattering that I really had to impart, so I left my blog in purgatory for a few days. What I actually wanted to write about is quite mundane - it was this:

I had just made myself a “Toast and Tomato” (as my father always called it, although he’d never put cheese on it: he was a purist). As I was savouring the flavours, I had this flood of really happy memories of my dad. When we were kids, just lounging around or reading or whatever, he’d saunter into the room and say: “Ya-wanna-toast-and-tomato…?” - it was, he knew, hard to resist because he was probably the world’s best toast and tomato maker (generous amounts of salt, pepper, and butter - there is nothing worse than a toast and tomato that has skimpy amounts of any of the key ingredients). Of course, I’d never turn him down and I think he really, truly, enjoyed preparing them - he had this thing about feeding people, being hospitable, offering them a drink. It was more than mere politeness: I think it truly made him happy to be able to make you something to eat; maybe it was more than that - maybe it was because he remembered scarcer times during the War and maybe because he could…who knows…? I certainly never thought that much about it when I was on the receiving end of a T & T…

After having these thoughts, I felt compelled to find this particular picture of me, my mum, and my dad - it was 1972, in Scotland (I think in Oban, “Gateway to the Highlands”, but I was too young to remember key details of our visit). I guess my sister was taking the picture (because she’s not in it and there was certainly no one else around to take the shot) - I love the big sky behind us, and it brings back a lot of happy memories each time I look at it.

I suppose this is a good way to end 2007…happy thoughts and memories of my family (although only my sister and I now remain…). I won’t dwell on the events of 2007: I am looking forward to 2008 and, if there are still any readers of this blog remaining, I hope that 2008 is full of good things for you too.

Almost New Year’s Eve here (a few more hours to go) - I’m heading out with my camera…