Thanks Marieke Hardy for making me question my blog and my need to document this trip in pictures, words, thoughts and stories.
This morning I sat down and loaded some photos onto my blog. I was going to show and tell you the story of the surfing lessons at Bunker Bunker, the 61 meter tree climb in Pemberton and one of the most magnificent beaches I have ever seen at Green's Point.
While the pictures were loading I sat down and read a couple of pages of Marieke's book You'll be sorry when I'm dead . In the bit I was reading she was talking about traveling with her parents and then later partners and how she documented all her trips in scrap books. On page 99 I found this '...Amanda Palmer once bemoaned, "It's a tragedy that my reaction to seeing something interesting is turning away to grab my camera. The first thought is that it will be meaningless if I don't share it. Those are frightening moments."'
Touche!
I'm not sure if I am as desperate to share the moments as I am to capture them though. I have a great and powerful need to have a record of everything on this trip. Every detail great and small. The places, the landmarks, the friends, caravan life, what we've eaten, what I've read and made, how we've felt and how it's changed and changing...
I have thousands and thousands of photos from this trip sitting in iphoto. I guess my blog and instagram help me organise and categorise and put them in a context. Words with pictures. Order.
Would I still blog if no one were reading? I don't know.
Would you?
While I'm in the middle of this thought process and wondering about the living in the moment versus the capturing of the living in the moment I think I'll leave this morning's half written blog in drafts. We surfed and climbed and swam. It happened and I took photos of it happening. It exists.
Right now, this moment in time is different though. It's an ordinary moment not necessarily worthy of photos or documenting but a moment of our trip.
Yesterday we left Albany and were on our way to Esperance when we had caravan tyre issues and had to turn back.
Yesterday at the caravan park institution that is the jumping pillow, (an enormous piece of rubber filled with air - kind of like a cross between a trampoline and a jumping castle), there was an incident that ended in a dislocated elbow and a trip to Albany accident and emergency. There were lots of tears, there were x-rays, there was a great doctor and a quick readjust and a sling.
Today we are nursing Miss Pepper, our patient and taking it very easy. Today we are hoping that when the mechanic arrives he will laugh at the simplicity of our caravan tyre problem and fix it and we'll be on our way tomorrow.
The girls are watching Beauty and the Beast in the caravan.
We are drinking lots of tea.
Enjoying the serenity.
And I'm crocheting circles in squares.
Hooking around and around, adding to the pile and enjoying this pattern that I now know so well and can let my fingers do the work while my mind drifts and tries to answer questions and in the process comes up with more.
I'm being a good girl and darning in some ends as I go.
And I'm thinking about the smells and sounds and stories of the south west captured in their loops and knots.
That's what's going on right now. Our moment. It is not a spectacular moment but a moment none the less. And you know what? I'm kinda glad I have this blog to capture it in its unspectacularness.
So how about you? Do you always have your camera on hand just in case? Do you live to capture the moments? Does something mean more to you if its shared? What have you been making?
I wonder.
I'm going to check back on my little patient and then get back to my squares.
Happy travels my friends. xx
Oh your poor little baby! I hope she's running around really soon. Loving your aboriginal circles in squares. That's how they look to me anyway. Very neat.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about capturing the moment, but I think sometimes, does it really matter if we don't? Your girls will still remember the good times they had travelling around and talk about it forever.
I am very much enjoying your trip, but don't let that mean you feel pressured to blog either. We just love knowing that you are having such a great adventure. Keep having fun!
Loving your circles in squares and loving your travelling blog at the moment! Hope your small person is on the mend soon.
ReplyDeleteOuchie, poor Miss Pepper. We came across those trampolining things for the first time when we travelled last January. Kids loved it. So did I. But the mummy voice in the back of my head was thinking, I was admit, "and we haven't had to sign a waiver or anything before we let our kids go on this?"
ReplyDeleteI am often out and about without a camera but I will admit that I am always wanting to get photos of "events". Hubby and I decided when our first was a baby that we weren't going to VIDEO every moment but no-one decided that we weren't going to photograph every single moment. My thinking is that, especially with young kids, these are their memories. And now that I am getting older and more forgetful, they are my memories held intact.
Basically I end up being all or nothing.
Sorry to hear about your little girl and your mechanical problems. Enjoy your tea and your crocheting, in spite of those never-ending ends that need darning.
I like the way your brain works Kate. I think your blog posts are like those circles in squares: it's just what you're made to do. It's the way your thoughts and hands move in synchronicity, and I think it's a great way to be.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about writing, but if I didn't share on my blog I would probably tie myself in knots. I like another set of eyes on what I'm doing to affirm that I'm not just chasing my tail.
Hope the patient makes a quick recovery and she lives to bounce on another jumping pillow. Happy Sunday. :)
I've been making little Christmas hearts..stuffed..for hanging, to give my friends instead of Christmas cards. Would I blog if noone was commenting? Well I did for about three months when I started and enjoyed it, a bit like writing a diary to myself. I think I have changed the tone a little actually, since people started commenting. I don't mind either way I think and will keep on going for as long as I enjoy it. I like reading about people's unspectacular days probably even more than the spectacular ones!
ReplyDeleteooooh i just love this rug, I've been searching for a pattern to make one. Are you happy to share a link?
ReplyDeleteHoping miss pepper is recovering xx
I am so inspired by your blanket, which I found through Ravelry. I am going to do it too! Though I haven't a lovely caravan to wear it! I am glad you decided it was worthy of documenting.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting question how the desire to blog about or photograph for later a special moment(s) may affect the experience.
Like "illegally" filming one's daughter's dance at a concert and hence not being entirely 100% watching!! or as I once witnessed, driving along the Great Ocean Road with fellow backpackers, and skidding to a halt , motor running, in order to race to the lookout, camera glued to the face, for a panoramic shot, before sprinting back, leaping in the car and tearing off around the bend. I witnessed this while I was on a scenic break during a bike ride.
There must be a balance I guess.
Good luck with the motoring, and I look forward to more stolen moments!
Interesting questions.
ReplyDeleteOnly a handful of people follow my newish blog.
I'm kind of happy just to put everything down on the blog regardless of it's audience (or lack of). But having said that, I also get a little (lot) excited every time I get a comment.
When I was recently travelling around southern WA I had my camera every second of every day.
Back at home, not so much.
But I don't mind sharing the sometimes mundaneness of my home life either.
Thanks for making me think...
Elbows are nasty things to dislocate. Poor wee Miss Pepper. I do hope she isn't too sore after having it popped.
ReplyDeleteI've kind of stopped taking photographs. I was lamenting it, feeling guilty. But then I thought about how few photographs there are of me as a child and yet my memory of childhood is as rich as I could wish. I realised that remembrance is what I hold with me. That most memories don't need photographic accompaniment. That is not to say I don't treasure photos, I do. But I am learning that less really is more.
And yes, I absolutely would 'blog' if no one listened. So much so that I bought a scrap book a few months ago and it is full and my blog - empty.
For a blogger, I am absolutely bloody terrible at "capturing moments". I have to stop & remind myself to take photos most of the time, not just to blog but to have as a family. Usually, if I'm doing something fun or am hanging out the camera is the furtherest thing from my mind.
ReplyDeleteAs for blogging if nobody was reading... no, I probably wouldn't. The main thing I like about blogging is the sense of community. If I was just talking to myself & not interacting with all the awesome people blogging have sent my way then I really wouldn't bother.
oh gosh that jumping pillow sounds like a lot of fun...but I hope miss pepper is on the mend.
ReplyDeleteI've been up that tree climb in Pemberton...it freaked me out there was no harness or anything! I think I have heard that quote before and it is so true...last year I had my camera with me all the time because I was doing a 365 project...it was good and bad I became the girl who took photos of EVERYTHING!!! it was fun but it's sort of nice not to have that pressure any more :) have I answered your question probably not, but it will be fun to look back in a few years time and see what you blogged about and remember the tiny details! x
A lovely post, ful of honest feelings and food for meditation.
ReplyDeleteI am a journal writer, especially when I travel. I need to put on paper my experiences, my intimate thoughts, but just for myself.
The blog is different, it is a reaching out and I wouldn't write if nobody read me, but at the same time I wouldn' t be reading other bloggers' posts.
It is the exchange of pieces of life that interests me.
Omgoodness I love reading about your travel and thank you for sharing your pictures and thoughts. I would never get to see such great sights if you did not share. Love your crochet - care to share - a mini tutorial would be great:)
ReplyDeleteI blog because it gives me a place to collect my thoughts and focus on the positive. When people read and comment, I am of course gratified and I am a bit obsessed with gaining more followers, but it boils down to loving what I do and enjoying blogging whether it is being read or not. It is my personal craft chronicle and partial family history. Do what brings you joy. If blogging does, then do it. If it doesn't, then take a respite for now and re-examine after a bit. I just found your blog today and am enjoying it immensely ;-)
ReplyDeleteI do carry my camera just in case & I do think that its the ordinary moments that are the most special to look back on! Your circles & squares are great, hope your little patient is ok & makes a speedy recovery..x
ReplyDeleteI have just started blogging, after months of just 'lurking' on other people's blogs, it just felt right. I love to read about people like you who are miles away, geographically and metaphorically, from my life here in the UK. The lady whose book you read, if she hadn't written it for you to read, you wouldn't have been able to think about what she had said, or write about it for another lot of strangers to read... One of the things that makes us rise above the animals is our ability to communicate, share and learn from others' experience. And you do it so well :)
ReplyDeleteYou know i think i would still blog, even if no one was reading. It would be a wonderful way of documenting what we were doing and for us to look back on. The thoughts and feelings you are writing about will be there for you to read later. If it was just the photos, you might not feel the same way. SO glad that Miss P was fixed up quickly and you didnt' have to stay over in the hospital. Much love, XXJ.
ReplyDeleteAh, now you've made me think, and I think I'm going to have to ponder on a few things for awhile...
ReplyDeleteCapturing those moments is important to me, as without them I know I will forget. Sharing them? Sometimes, sometimes no... and would I still do it if nobody read? Pondering here.... yes, no...sometimes. Maybe? I've got another personal birth related blog that I still haven't decided what to do with, for the moment though I'm just really enjoying documenting thoughts and processes without any hint of curbing what I write.
Enough of my waffle and pondering. I'm glad Miss Pepper is ok. Tell her there just might be an extra fairy out there tonight looking out over her and her sore arm, spreading magical fairy dust and making sure it gets better soon.
xx
Kate,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog and look forward to hearing what you and you family have been doing. I equally look forward to those posts where you stand back and pose questions to yourself. Please keep on going. You are encouraging me to take the plunge and head off to the unknown, returning to Australia after 18 years. I hope Miss Pepper is feeling better. KateHK
I have been following your blog for a while - to me, it's absolutely fascinating to read about the lives of people I will never get to know at all, since I am living in the opposite part of the world. But still it seems as if I were to meet you, we would have a few things in common. That, for me, is the best thing about blogging, getting the privilege of sharing some parts of other people's life. Even in exotic Australia! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI started blogging when my children went to live abroad, I liked the idea of them being able to see what goes on at home.
I have been thinking about the necessity of photograhing too; finding a balance. Because I would have loved to see photos of my parents life when they were children, and I never will. At the same time I don't want to miss enjoying what's going on at the moment, just because I'm hooked to a camera.
I do hope you will go on blogging and taking photos (when you feel like it), since I enjoy your blog so much!
After just spending a few days away by the beach (dunsborough) relaxing and taking a break from blogging, and not rushing to photograph every potential blogging moment, I have realized just how much time all of the "online" stuff takes up, and just how exhausting it can be!! And that is without the pressure of readers eagerly awaiting a post. I feel like my husband and i are never without an iPhone...ipad...or laptop...and it is draining!!! Just hook and yarn, the beach and quality family time was a wonderful change and one worth holding onto!! I honestly dont know how all of the crafters out there blogging away find time to keep up with it all! They are all pretty amazing...including you.
ReplyDeleteHope your miss pepper is on the mend xx
Hi Kate
ReplyDeleteThis touched a nerve. As a young mother in Japan I was harangued by the head of the girls' kindy about cameras. They were banned from classrooms as we were encouraged to watch our kids with our own eyes and not through a lense. It made a lot of sense, but does not stop the urge to record for later, moments that cannot be relived.
I love what you are doing with your blog and your family and tune in regularly, to see how you are getting on, but also to read about your occasional angst. That you question so many things certainly gets me thinking too.
I am sure though that your blog will for years to come be a great record of life for your girls.
This morning I was thinking of turning off my blog...it just does not sit right anymore.
Maybe I need to revalue my reasons for blogging. Thank you.
Take care
Liz x
As I was reading this post and all the comments a small spider bungee jumped off my head and onto the key board, it's little body lit up by the glow of the computer. Me and my spider mate say hi! And we like your circles, lovely one xo
ReplyDeleteWould I blog without an audience? Do I spend too much time looking at the world through a camera? Good questions. I think both blogs and cameras allow us to frame and contexualise experiences. To focus on what was most important and decide just how much to include or exclude from our external memory spaces. That's not a bad thing. It's what you did today.
ReplyDeleteTo a reader in the UK those circles look very Australian, and quite gorgeous :D
Best wishes to miss Pepper, hope she is not scarred for all giant pillow experiences. Loving your crochet, the colours look great against the grey. And seeing the world through a camera is wonderful, for now and for later, but like everything is about balance. I always try and get a few quick shots then just get stuck into enjoying my children but do think it's hilarious that my 5 year old is keen to help style my blog photos for me! BTW I did just nominate you for a blog award thingy, sure you have had thousands before but had to share how wonderful your blog is. melx
ReplyDeleteI have this thing I do...if we are going somewhere as a family, or with friends, I make every effort to go first, by myself...with my camera. That way, when we travel together, I can focus on friends or family and shared experience, and not hold everyone up while I take a million shots of everything.
ReplyDeletePoor Pepper, hope she recovers fast. I went to my girls assembly last Friday and didn't take the camera, I may have been the only parent who didn't and I loved watching it without taking pictures. I hate watching things through a lens.
ReplyDeleteOh no. Miss Pepper has a war wound! But what a great story to tell when she gets back to school!
ReplyDeleteLOVING the crochet, it reminds me of your post of your spare tyre on the back of your caravan.
AND I did live life thru the lens, used to drive my hubby mad. And then when I had bubba, I was taking too many photos of him that he started to look at the camera and not me. Huh, I thought. I didn't have a baby so I could take millions of photos of him. I had a baby to love, to nurture & to make giggle not turn into a digitial image.
Question.... Did you plan your caravanning adventure thinking this will make a great blog or this will make a great photo album? I bet not. Take photos for sure, but don't miss out on the cool stuff just because you have a camera in your hand!
Those jumping pillows are great until you land of them ackwardly. Sorry to hear that your little one was in such pain, hope all is well now.
ReplyDeleteI am a blogger and love it, I do it for me and if I did it for any other reason it would not exist. It captures three elements of my life, photography, writing and sharing. That is what bloggers do, so thank you for being you.
Sincerely
Rochelle
Im glad you do capture everything Kate- it's inspiring :)
ReplyDeleteYes I would still blog if no one was reading. Not many people read mine anyway! I do it like you to record things, but also as a way to keep my brain functioning while I parent three little people. A little escape. And I'm not that on to it with my camera- I always forget to take it or use it and wish I had later... xx
Hi Kate!
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across your blog a few months ago and got totally sidetracked reading along. My boy and I did almost the same trip 7 years ago and had the time of our lives. We now have a gorgeous 3 year old and everytime I stop in to read your blog I get goosebumps and cant wait to take her to do the whole big trip again.
Keep up the lovely posts & enjoy the rest of your trip!
yea-aahh!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely I'd blog if no one was listening!
I love going back and looking at what I was doing and thinking 3 years ago.
I guess it's like a diary.
But you're right, it's easy to get carried away with the recording, rather than the experiencing.
Fortunately, that didn't last too long for me, coz I'm inherently lazy!
Hope Pepper feels better real soon.
I love your crochet rug. Adore it in fact. I blogged our trip and I am so glad I did. It gave me focus and I loved using some of my trillions of photos. I agree that there are times when one should "step away from the camera". Moderation is the key really.
ReplyDeletePoor little Pepper. I hope she's on the mend!
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question: I'm not sure. I think I blog to share more than to document. I am actually a terrible documenter of my children and our life. It worries me sometimes because documenting lives seems to be a world obsession these days so what if my children with their holey childhood memories are somehow freakish??
Anyway, I blog more for the conversation, I think. x
Oh and this reminds me to share with you a moment in Italy where as we picnicked gazing over a Tuscan view, a car screeched to a halt, the dad got out and started videoing the scene, the kids got out, the dad yelled at them "get back in the car you can see it on the video", the kids went back, the dad taped for a minute longer, got back in the car and drove away. True story. x
ReplyDeleteYour girls will never forget this adventure you are on. They will remember it when they are old. Your photos are magnificent and will be such a help to jog a memory, clarify a point, settle a discussion in the future. I sincerely hope someday you will put this entire experience into a book along with your blogs for your girls. And I thank you every day that I read it for allowing us to come along.
ReplyDeletelove your circle squares, that pattern is so on my to-do list. I recognize that caravan park, it's the one my husband and I went to on our first ever holiday together!
ReplyDeleteNow that my Mum reads my blog, I try and post more regularly to keep her happy.
yes, i always take my camera. and i am so glad that i blogged and documented our trip. i don't care if no one read it, i love having a 'journal' of our adventure and i love reading back and remembering. I have just made my travel posts into a book and made my photos into a 1 1/2 hr imovie complete with music from my ipod that we listened to for 14,300 kms. we had a family movie night yesterday for the premier. it was teary and amazing. i hope that poor pepper is better and that frankie blue is chugging along the road very soon
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