#onewordsunday

Luck

/ Su Leslie / 33 Comments

Pea, mint and feta fritters with roasted asparagus. Image: Su Leslie

If I seem even more food-obsessed than usual this weekend, it’s partly because I had some sort of gastric bug earlier in the week and couldn’t eat for a couple of days; but mostly because I am feeling incredibly lucky and grateful to actually have food.

The more I read about the climate catastrophe engulfing the planet, the collapse of eco-systems and the horrendous loss of species after species, the more I wonder how much longer I can take for granted the means to produce even simple, vegetarian meals like these fritters and asparagus.

The generation I was born into the tail-end of has often been called “the lucky generation”, but I fear if we don’t all make radical changes very soon, our luck will run out.

One Word Sunday | luck

And yes, it’s not a one-word post, but the prompt for a rant on something about which I feel very strongly.

Volume

/ Su Leslie / 59 Comments

Enjoying the late afternoon sunshine with a cup of tea and a good book.

Perhaps I’m just looking for an excuse, but when I hear the word “volume” I think first of books.

It’s a shame the phrase “a slim volume” so often has negative connotations of insubstantial work by little-known authors, because it’s really perfect for Alan Bennett’s wonderful, short but very substantial, novel in praise of libraries and reading.

Volume is Debbie’s choice for this week’s One Word Sunday. So tear yourself away from whatever you’re reading and visit her post.

All-weather crossing

/ Su Leslie / 33 Comments

Footbridge at Whananaki Inlet, Northland, New Zealand. Image: Su Leslie 2019

The 400 metre bridge across the Whananaki Inlet was built by the local community so that children living on the south side of the river could attend school, which is on the north side.

Prior to the bridge, children were rowed across the inlet by one of the teachers — not much fun in bad weather. The alternative is a 12 kilometre each way road-trip.

One Word Sunday | cross

In profile

/ Su Leslie / 36 Comments
img_5161

Bronze sculpture. Artist: Terry Stringer. Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland. Image: Su Leslie

“Sculpture occupies real space like we do… you walk around it and relate to it almost as another person or another object.” — Chuck Close, artist.

Detail,Bomber Command Memorial, Auckland Museum. Made by Richard Taylor, Weta Workshop. Image: Su Leslie
Detail; Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial, Melbourne. Artist: Peter Corlett. Image: Su Leslie
Detail; Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial, Melbourne. Artist: Peter Corlett. Image: Su Leslie
Frieze detail; ‘The Meeting Place’, St Pancras Station, London. Artist: Paul Day. Image: Su Leslie
Detail; Quotidanity “the brothers”.Artist: Fabio Pietrantonio. Seen at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, 2015. Image: Su Leslie
Seen at Sculpture by the Sea 2018. Visitor engagement with “Slovakia” Artist: Viktor Freso. Image: Su Leslie
Detail, marble statue, Auckland Wintergardens. Image: Su Leslie

One Word Sunday | profile

More complex than a star

/ Su Leslie / 19 Comments

Common green bottle flies. Images: Su Leslie

“Our everyday world presents intellectual challenges just as daunting as those of the cosmos and the quantum, and that is where 99 per cent of scientists focus their efforts. Even the smallest insect, with its intricate structure, is far more complex than either an atom or a star.” — Martin Rees, Cosmologist and Astrophysicist

Posted to One Word Sunday | fly