About

Lurching: to move in a way that is not regular or normal, especially making sudden movements backwards or forwards or from side to side. (Cambridge Dictionary)

Lurching. In my case, lurching is not just a physical manifestation of a bad hip and sciatica, it is also essentially how I have gone through life. Perhaps due to a childhood in a wandering family, where friends were found and lost constantly, I came to a type of introverted independence, where, beyond family, all my pastimes were solitary. Then, as of now, my interests were eclectic and would change and sway from casual appreciation to intense involvement, and some did not go beyond imagined participation.

However, there have been interests that have been constant throughout all my years. Since about the age of nine, I began reading for pleasure and understanding. In my teens, I began writing, first by expressing myself through creative prose, then on to letters, and now through journalling and blogging.

Which subjects will I explore? I have a wayward mind, impulsive, often unruly and sometimes impish. While my training is in landscape gardening and horticulture, I’ll lurch into a variety of subjects including history, art, photography, travel, and nature. I’ll include almost anything that piques my interest or raises my hackles. For instance:

• After years of amateur macro, nature and travel photography, I will share some of my favourite images and why they appeal to me.
• I’ll do some cultural mining, delving into the past for the good and the beautiful. Some of that mining will include art and artists from the post-Roman era and into the Northern Renaissance.
• I’ll resurrect (and perhaps refurbish) some favourite posts from my old blogs, which means I’ll explore aspects of evolution, atheism, reason, science, nature, gardening, and photography.
• Warm nostalgia will be part of all this. There has been much in my life and former interests that were good and are worth retrospection.
• Then there’s my most recent passion, cycling. Not competitive, but cycling as a pursuit of health, small adventures, excitement and escape. I like the whole concept of the bicycle itself, the design, the look, and, most importantly, the person-driven power of it all. The best invention since legs.
• And finally, the subject that will leaven this whole lumpy, lurchy mess: History. I have always found that looking into origins makes every subject so much more fascinating.

If there is one overriding purpose to this blog, it is to exercise my mind (fickle and feeble as it is) by giving me a reason to dig deeper, to find facts and to force me beneath my surface. To facilitate this, I hope that readers will contribute. Constructive suggestions as well as friendly and relevant conversations are always welcome in the comment section below each post.

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