There’s been a single sock sitting on the chest of drawers for months. I check each load of washing carefully for its partner, but no luck. The sock has stayed single.
Another lone sock joined it for a while, and for a brief moment it looked like they’d make an unlikely pair. I mean, who says socks need to match? But soon enough, that second sock’s partner showed up, leaving the first sock on its own again.
And then yesterday, while putting other socks away, there it was, the missing partner. It had been in the drawer all along. Two single socks became a pair again.
I thought about that sock. How it wasn’t doing any harm, sitting there. How it was never really lost. And how, when I wasn’t actively looking for its partner, it just turned up. Almost like magic.
This week’s word for our photography challenge is flower, so I opened my photo album to see if I had any decent flower photos. Scrolling through, I came across images from years ago I’d forgotten. Photos I’d dismissed because I couldn’t see anything of value in them. This time, looking again, I noticed a similarity running through them – dare I say, a style. It had been there all along apparently.
Like the sock in the drawer, these photos weren’t lost. They just needed me to realise that sometimes what we’re looking for isn’t found by looking, but by recognising.
I finished my radio therapy treatment on Thursday last week. The final four treatments were ‘booster’ treatments, which I found quite terrifying. No goggles, no holding my breath, just a really big machine zapping a very targeted part of me at close quarters. I almost asked for the goggles back, then realised I could just shut my eyes to avoid being confronted by the bigness, closeness and scariness of the machine.
Each treatment was over quickly though and Emma would drive me home while I felt a little more shell shocked each time. I have no idea what I would’ve done without her.
It was fabulous to have Emma stay with us (Photo by Tim)
I’d somehow forgotten about, or perhaps thought I was immune to, the side-effects though. Apart, of course, from fatigue.
I can’t say I wasn’t warned. Karen, my radio oncologist, told me about the potential for them, as did the breast care nurses, and others I’ve spoken with who have gone through similar treatment. I even wrote about them on this very blog a few weeks ago, yet I was still caught off-guard.
A sunburn type response.
Redness.
Swelling.
Peeling.
Pain.
I wrote in that earlier post: ‘I might get all of these, some of them, or none.’
I got the jackpot – all of them.
The good news is that they probably won’t last more than a week or two (or maybe three or four).
And the other good news is that I’ve had company since halfway through my treatment – others to share my daily annoyances with. Probably not good news for them, but I’ve appreciated having Emma (who stayed an extra week with me) and now Deb to whinge to.
I also had the foresight to take some sick leave and I’m very pleased I did. I couldn’t have coped with going to work on top of everything.
But this is getting boring now. And if I’m bored by it all, I’m sure you are too. So I’m not going to write anymore about it.
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On Sunday, Alison (aka Number 6) decided to spend the day with us, celebrating ‘me’ – my birthday earlier in the month and the end of my treatment.
Alison knows that I love to photograph flowers and so we went to the Queen Vic Market and bought loads: carnations, daisies, bluegum leaves, wheat that had been spray painted, and others I have no names for.
The outside table was strewn with flowers and leaves and twine and special scissors for cutting the stems and ribbon; palings from a fallen-down fence were put to good use as a backdrop and a surface; a tabletop was perched on the backs of kitchen chairs so we could shoot against the white wall under the clothes line; a shiny black tile and a sheet of black cardboard was set up in the kitchen as a different kind of photographic space … in amongst this chaotic space Alison managed to create a beautiful bouquet, and a delicious dinner.
It was a fabulous way to spend an afternoon!
Yellow daisies
These are beautiful even though I don’t know what they’re called
Gorgeous lilac roses
Spray painted wheat
Alison’s bouquet
These are just some of the shots I took – and if the wind stops I might take even more.
One more colour image of the calla lily Tim found in a laneway last week. I could take endless photos of these flowers – I love their delicacy and seeming-simplicity, yet there’s a robustness and complexity to them too.
What do you think? Are you as captivated by these flowers as I am?
I’d been looking for calla lilies for a few days when Tim spotted some in a laneway on his way to the station.
I had in mind a black and white shot, reminiscent of the beautifully classical work of Robert Mapplethorpe (a very ambitious aim) but when it came time to process the images I found many of the colour ones just as appealing. I’ll get to some of the black and white ones in coming days, but for now, here’s one in colour.
The lines of these flowers are delicate and beautiful, and there’s a sense of movement captured within the image that I particularly like.
Musings from the cold 