Vibe Monitor

The Vibes wins The Kreativ Blogger Award!

kreativ blogger award

Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel fabulous and I have Elliot to thank for my nomination. He’s a writer and poet and has a great blog, Brainsplats so check the link. Of course I graciously accept – although I did run round whooping like a lunatic when I received it a week or two ago… but nobody saw me. So, dignified deep breath.

The seven facts about me are;

 

  • I lived in Amsterdam for two years but I didn’t inhale
  • I occasionally paint oil paintings, more of that in the near future.
  • I love cats, the way they arrive in our lives with no luggage or tenancy agreement and turn us into their slaves while being unconditionally adored.
  • I used to be a DJ in Manchester during the Madchester and Rave eras, but I still have incredibly sensitive hearing.
  • I love gardening. Have no idea how that happened.
  • All mathematical components in my brain are missing, presumed stifled by more interesting talents. I actually count on my fingers.
  • There is a very strange symmetrical, geometric symbol on the back of my neck. It’s a birthmark, but it looks like a crop circle…

You weren’t expecting that last one, were you?

I’m passing this award on to the following nominees, and if you’ve already won it, then think of this as a second opinion…

The Creative Cat– Bernadette E Kazmarski – Wonderful paintings of animals and people complete with witty commentary.
Sheila Hurst – Reading, writing, dreaming – Photographer, writer and poet – transports me to the kind of places I’d like to be.
Bali-Style-Life – Tanya Paton, New Zealander living and painting in Bali, joyful, expressive and colourful.
On The Way – Bonnie Hull – Artist, photographer and writer – a great art journal.
Kiwsparks – Kathryn Sparks – Artist, designer and writer from Dallas – A lively spirited view of life in paint, prose and poetry.
Hands on Bowie – Herman and his cat Bowie. The cutest (and biggest) British Shorthair you will ever see!
Karma Sleeps on Top – Lina A Corrillo, engaging, passionate Creative Writing and Journalism student from Bogota studying in London.

Categories: Random, Vibe Monitor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Happy Birthday! The Vibes is One Year Old

The Vibes is One Year Old animated gif

Break out the bubbly, because The Vibes has been vibrating for a whole twelve months.

The best thing about blogging has been connecting with artists, photographers, poets and other creative types. I love the Nature, Photography and Art pages: that’s where I find the wow factor. The worst thing is the hate speech on the ‘religious’ topic pages. There’s a lot of people out there with issues and it ain’t pretty.

The hardest thing was customizing my theme until I’d wrestled the Adventure Journal into something that reflected my personality. I’ve managed to build myself a bit of a profile on WordPress, shown off my artwork and photography and upset some Cross People.

It all began with a modest post about sprinkling the ashes of my beloved cat around Merlin’s Well in Alderley Edge. I think the Wizard and King Arthur would be proud of the travel/photography scrapbook which has emerged since then. And it has to be said: when I press Like, it means I really like something and I’m not just being a shameless blogtrollop. So, hi to all my followers, thanks for sticking with me and here’s to another year!

Now. Is there an electrician in the house?

For the best of The Vibes in pictures, click here.

Categories: Art, Design, Random, Vibe Monitor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Happy Eostre

Spring time at stonehenge

Eostre was originally a Pagan festival, with it’s roots in the Norse and Germanic ritual of the Vernal Equinox, or Spring. It’s heartening to know that ancient man had an instinctive respect for Mother Nature, thousands of years before the spread of Christianity. It’s only comparatively recently in our history that the traditions of Eostre were adapted by modern religions.

The Rites of Spring and also Harvest show an understanding of the planet which sustains us, and the Sun and the Earth were worshipped as the givers of life.  As we pollute and over-populate our world and regard our own planet with cynicism, I wonder if a return to a more spiritual innocence might be the salvation our ecology needs. Organised religions become increasingly redundant as they fail to embrace the human condition. True spirituality means a respect for the planet, and for each other, and yet distracted religious figureheads still make astonishingly ill-judged comments about contraception. If that energy could be focused on our future on Earth rather than the obsessive, hand-wringing preoccupation with the sex lives of others, then we might actually be able to sustain the planet we live on.

Stephen Hawking says that if we continue to expand at our current rate, then our future lies only in the stars and our window for the colonisation of other planets is less than two hundred years. Is our tenancy on Earth due to end? Is it impossible to reverse the damage that we’re doing? In the spirit of Eostre, fertility and rebirth, we need to consider renewable clean energy, such as Solar Power, stop poisoning the bees with chemicals and seriously consider the size of our population.

I don’t want to be one of the last of the Earth-dwellers: Easter should be about the celebration of nature and awareness of our position in the ecology of Earth. Not zombies in diapers.

Categories: Random, Vibe Monitor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Postcard From Bishop’s Stortford

Airmail letter bishop's stortford

It’s funny going back to your place of birth, secretly hoping that it still looks like the place you left behind, and your house hasn’t been replaced by a Tesco or Starbucks. I was relieved to see that nothing much had changed when I returned to Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire after more than thirty years. Give or take the odd PVC window frame, and a rash of Ground Forced gardens, it was exactly how I remembered it. I have a lot of happy, hazy memories of growing up here, and we moved away ‘up north’ when I was eight. Relocating to Cheshire was like a cold shower compared to this sleepy, sunny market town in the Home Counties. We went from Cider With Rosie to Wuthering Heights on a one-way ticket. This short film is a tour of my childhood…

Press Quality for HD and watch in fullscreen.

The video features the track Since I left You by The Avalanches, my all time favourite song, which samples old soul band The Main Attraction and Rose Royce, amongst others. It’s a burst of sunshine, and makes me happy every time I hear it.

Categories: Random, Travel, Vibe Monitor, Video | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Earth Hour

Living by candlelight

Turn off your lights at 20.30 wherever you are in the world, and spare a thought for the environment.

Since 2007, a wave of darkness has swept round the world on the March 31st as people focus on the impact of our power-guzzling on Mother Earth. Incredibly, some snippy refuseniks are claiming that lighting candles will have a greater detriment to the atmosphere than the electricity saved! Even if that were true, Earth Hour is a growing movement which focuses on a vital issue, promoting awareness in a world with a mean appetite for consumption.

It looks like the Pagans had the right idea. They worshipped the Sun and the Earth, and after all – what else is there to worship? When the temperature really starts to rise, no amount of mouldy old pages are going to save anyone. Think about it. Turn everything off. Twitter can wait. Light a candle for Mother Earth.

http://earthhour.org/

Earth Hour Candle Images The Vibes

Update: my images from Earth Hour. You can tell I’m a total hippy, can’t you?

Categories: Random, Vibe Monitor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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