Today’s Pictures: 8 Apr 21

On By stuartakenIn Nature, Photography
  • Afternoon sunshine

‘For a week they lazed and loved, swam in the hotel pool, ate in restaurants, took in Virtual shows, walked, danced, drank together.’
Stuart Aken, The Methuselah Strain

Daily shots from our walks in the local forest will continue here for a little while longer. And I’ll add another from my collection of pictures to show more of the world and its wonders. But these posts use valuable writing time, and can irritate readers who follow my posts for information about my books and writing, so I’ll stop this series eventually. But I may replace it with a series of single pictures from my files.
If shared on social media, more people will be able to enjoy the natural beauty of our world, so please do that if you can. Thank you. We might also restore a bit of love and respect for nature and help slow the damage we’ve inflicted on our world.

  • Charmouth cliffs.

All photographs here are my own, unless otherwise credited. More of my pictures can be found here. And a small sample of my work lives under the ‘Gallery’ tab, top of this page.

15 thoughts on “Today’s Pictures: 8 Apr 21”

  1. Most editors are able to remain neutral about story content, Joni, but the best are also able to empathise with many different characters. In your case, that empathy would be difficult, of course, as it’s a situation relatively few find themselves in, fortunately. I’m glad you managed to get your books published. I know about The Path Toward the Light (not for me,for reasons I think you understand), but can’t see anything about your autobiographical work on your site.
    So disappointing to think you’ve found the place you’re looking for only to learn it isn’t what it seems! We were lluckier, in that the last place we looked at was the one we now live in. Our problems with the move were all caused by the purchaser of our old house, but we finally got that sorted!
    I rarely do anything online at all when away from home. My mobile phone is too small for me to use in most practical ways, and I’m still learning how to use it! I use a desktop computer, so don’t have a laptop (Valerie works on a laptop, but I couldn’t stuff all my stuff on that for a trip away) and, in any case, I always view a trip way from home as an excuse to be offline for a while; it’s good for the mind, eyes, and body!
    I’m so pleased you enjoyed The Methuselah Strain, Joni. There’ll be a couple more quotes as well as two or three from my fitst novel, Breaking Faith, but I don’t think you’d enjoy that, or the one I’m currently working on, as they both deal with religion from an atheist point of view.
    Glad you’ve decided on your place to live. It’s uncertainty that can be the real problem, and now you know you’ll stay put, it means you can make plans for the future. Keep safe and stay well.

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  2. Pingback: Today’s Pictures: 8 Apr 21 | In the Net! – Pictures and Stories of Life

    1. They are entirely natural, Brenda. Layered sandstone that can be quite unstable given the right (or wrong) conditions. In fact, a short time after this photo was taken, a large section collapsed onto the beach! There’s a bit more info in my reply to Noelle, below.

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    1. The cliffs, Noelle, lie at the eastern end of the ‘Jurassic Coast’. Charmouth is east of Lyme Regis in Dorset. They are layered sandstone and featured in the TV drama ‘Broadchurch’.

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        1. We didn’t come across any live digs while we were there, Noelle. But I recall there was something happening a little distance away when we did our walk to Golden Cap, which lies between Charmouth and Lyme Regis. My memory is of a site that was mothballed and due to be re-opened. But this was prior to the Covid pandemic, so I’ve no idea whether it’ll continue soon.

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  7. Hi my friend. I remember those words from your lovely book which is certainly worthy of a second read. I hope you have your editing done on your next book and are doing well. Beautiful photograph. Send my love to Valerie. Love ❤️ Joni

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    1. Thanks, Joni. Hope all is going well with the house search.
      I ran out of ‘walking’ quotes, so had to find some from my own books to complete the series!
      I now have a new editor, who better understands my themes and story arc, so I’m now working on his sensible suggestions. Or, at least, I’m working on those when other things allow me the time! Life has a tendency to get in the way sometimes, eh?

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      1. Oh Stuart that is wonderful. I am so delighted to hear you have an editor that gets your story and the message. It should be much easier. I wrote two books it took four years about my life and living with alcoholic parents. I sent them out to countless companies. One of the editors actually wrote back and said she was sorry but she just couldn’t relate to the characters. Usually when passed I always was polite and thanked them for letting me know. With this publishing company and editor, I wrote back and basically said well I can tell you I wouldn’t expect you to and to also consider yourself blessed.

        We spent money to go to a place we would love to live, found and visited ten houses and came very close to dropping the earnest money from our phone into his bank account. Luckily for us, he refused to empty the sewage lines and he refused and acted really weird about it. I did some research and found out that the beautiful place likely had a sewage system that was over 60 years old. Also when we started asking more questions we found out that he had misrepresented himself in so many lies that we told our Realtor we were out.

        We came home to our lovely home and are going to live right here probably until I am gone from this world. Life does get in the way Stuart. I am so behind with WordPress but you can only do so much from a hotel when you are constantly on the go. Wishing you and Valeria an amazing weekend. PS I actually loved the way you took a sweet paragraph out of your book. There are many in the book that I know your female audience would really enjoy. I loved that your female character was such an amazingly self-sufficient and strong woman. I really enjoyed it and I have the book so I like the idea. Love J

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