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| Alentejo; a little field therapy at the end of a 6 day hike |
Too much happening.
back from my holiday walking in Alentejo, south-west Portugal
back to reality
no time to write
not enough sleep
big changes
scary and exciting
stepping out of my comfort zone big time.......................
looking for the magic.
What is she rabbiting on about I hear you say. Has she lost her marbles? Should she seek help?
Probably.
In order of importance here is what has happened since I last wrote
'Being alive' went live. Many good friends made their way on a Sunday evening to support me in my biggest venture yet; a solo show at St Julian's private members club in Sevenoaks.
This was my first attempt at hanging on wires. Not as easy as it looks. The first one took 2 people ( me and my trusty helper) 30 minutes, and after 18 more I think we just about had it cracked. Getting them level is tricky. Taking them down will be blissfully easy.
Making labels and a price list seemed to take more time than could possibly be justified. Just when I thought I had it looking good I showed my beautifully mounted personal statement and price list to my other half, and he clearly didn't understand the terminology regarding limited edition prints. Back to the drawing board, tail between my legs, and started all over............
Anyway, here are some of my latest images of ice and water from Iceland, proudly lined up on one wall in the lovely dining room at St Julian's.
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| Iceland series © Caroline Fraser 2013 |
I would show you some pictures of me in front of my first sale with red dot proudly displayed, but my other half didn't get a single one in focus, and I'm not going to show you one of me looking blurred and half deranged.
So here is one of me, taken by my youngest, greeting my very first guests before it all got very busy and I had to answer lots of questions that I hadn't prepared for, such as '
is that a whale in the picture?' (of an ice crystal), or '
what exactly is a C-type print?' . I was really not ready for that one!
Shame on me.
So, the show is up, and I can breathe again.
Next on the list
I gave notice to take early retirement at work.
Now that is quite a big one. Something that has been creeping up on me slowly but surely over the last few months. I intend to work to live instead of live to work.
So today I have been practising for being much less well off.........
I didn't buy the new shoes that I tried on in the shop.
I walked to the shops instead of taking the car and paying for the privilege.
I went for a swim but didn't have anything to eat afterwards in the cafe.
I also did some gardening, and OH and I were delighted when we managed to sharpen and tighten the blades on the edge trimmers that haven't worked for the last 8 years and now they are good as new and we don't have to buy new ones.
Previously I have resorted to using the kitchen scissors to trim the edges of the grass.
I have talked to a really nice guy in New Zealand about going there to work next year.
So now you know all my secrets. The future beckons. It looks bright and exciting. My dreams of the last 2 years are becoming reality.
This one has been the hardest. OH didn't really believe that I was serious about this for the first 2 years of suggesting that I would really like to go back to NZ to work and do some serious photography. So I went about telling everyone except OH that this was what I wanted to do, and gradually it became reality, because no-one said
'you can't do that
'.
They all said '
that sounds exciting!'
And little by little I began to believe that it was possible, and everyone started asking me how my plans were going, and little by little OH realised that this was for real.
Which it is.
So I will keep you updated on my progress.
I watched a talk this week entitled 'Happiness - 8 principles for successful optimists' by Mark Stevenson
2013/01 Happiness - Mark Stevenson from
CreativeMornings/London on
Vimeo.
It makes very interesting viewing and is immensely thought provoking, although it takes 40 minutes.
But if you lie in bed to watch it, as I did, the morning after my show opened, it really takes very little effort.
The most impactful slide that he shows about successful optimists and the pursuit of happiness was something like this;
It really resonates with where I am right now.
Looking for the magic.
