the most boring thing ever to blog about - packing diary II

it's kind of nice how rooms slowly empty out, like a stuff detox, walls and floors appearing wider and clearer. 

i'm surprised nothing had appeared that i was 'looking for forever', i guess i have definitely, finally, become *that* tidy. 

time to go.

something about memory

something about stories, something about presence, something about voices, something about offering and receiving help, something about love, something about pragmatism, something about distance, something about choosing, something about gratefulness, something about warm embraces, something about..., something about sharing this departure.

the most boring thing ever to blog about - packing diary

packing day two - have nearly emptied the storage cupboard in the sitting room. have sorted stuff into 'glorious stuff', ebay stuff (including my rolller skates), freecycle stuff, stuff to throw, stuff for charity, stuff to keep, tool box (to decide later - should i take tools with me? is that mad?).

best thing? going through my old homework for the Access to Computer Graphics and Design course I did 96-97. was i a child! and such a good girl... i found this text.

previously, day one consisted of emptying out my 'airing' cupboard which had bedding, winter jumpers and - mysteriously - a VHS player and two tapes: Eyes Wide Shut and Jane Fonda's Legs, Bums and Tums workout.  mothy jumpers thrown out, old bedding to recycling bin, bag for charity sorted, video player and tapes off to a better home.

photography project, 1997

I started taking pictures of my stairs in the winter. Maybe they're a silly thing to take pictures of, but they are after all the entrance to my new home in this foreign country. Maybe that's why I've grown so fond of them. They welcome me after being out there in the big scary world, and they say good-bye to me every morning.

So I've taken the pictures, and developed them and printed them, and how much work that has been... almost as much as getting used to living in this country, almost as hard as growing out of my habit of wanting to run away home every time I was out in the city.

And here they are, my stairs with their flowers and the people who go up and down it every so often... Only when I looked at the pictures I realised they were quite gloomy and sad, and I'm not any more, so to cheer the pictures up, as I'm cheered up, I added some colour.

And that explains it all. Hope you like it.

packing up

last time i packed up all my stuff it went to live in a dark room somewhere while i went around the globe looking for adventure.

this time i venture back to where i came from. the place i've kept calling home, while making a home elsewhere.

what is home? a common place. a place. somewhere to rest your head. the nook of somebody's neckline.