Elysian Rock

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

A lookout of which is near one of my favourite places in The Blue Mountains.

This was taken on the way home from mushroom picking. It was a slight detour, but I wanted to get a shot of Mount Solitary. I felt as though it had been far too long since I’d last set my eyes on the mountain, so I was glad I was able to do so.

Despite Mount Solitary being in the shot, I do think that Elysian Rock is the focus of this photo.

I think that this photo has a good sense of depth to it, as well as a strong sense of atmosphere.

It’s a shot that feels inviting. It also feels like the rain will soon arrive.

The lookout also feels like it’s been there for a while. The sign is worn, the fence is rusting and the bench is quite simple compared to some benches you see out there.

I think that the earthy colours of the rock work well for the large swathe of vegetation in the area. It’s a nice contrast that seems in harmony here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Japan, Then Burwood Dream

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

I’d flown into Japan and I was wandering around somewhere. I was talking to either one of my brothers or a former housemate; I’m not sure. We were talking about visiting a mountain that I remember dreaming of a few months ago, but only remembered when it came up in this dream. This mountain doesn’t exist and to describe it would take a while due to how much parts of it shift about due to trying to get through the uncertainty I have surrounding those parts. Suffice to say it’s not quite shaped entirely like a mountain.

Anyway, we didn’t go to the mountain and instead went into a restaurant somewhere else. We went in, then I went out (I’m not sure if anything happened whilst in there. It feels like something should have happened, but nothing did [I think]) and talked to my former housemate (it was clear at this point) even though he was in the restaurant. Possibly.

Then I realised I was no longer in Japan but in Burwood NSW.

Well, I had to go back to Japan so the next thing I know I’m at the airport. My former housemate and I went off in different directions (though it may have happened earlier) and I was wandering through and the place seemed pretty compressed, though still spacious. There weren’t many people around and it all seemed quite quiet. I headed off to the plane that I needed to catch to get back to Japan and (I think) it was going to be a quick flight, which is what I was hoping for. Then I thought about whether I should go back.

On one hand this was a break and I enjoyed being in Japan the last time I was there. On the other, this meant flying back to Japan, then having to fly back home and that could eat up a lot of time and it also would cost a fair bit more than I wanted to spend. I was leaning toward going back home, but then that would be less time spent in Japan. I found myself caught in a small dilemma.

Then I woke up.

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Beam and Plant Dream

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

I was walking along this walkway that was elevated pretty high up somewhere and I was having a conversation on the phone with someone. I don’t know what they were saying and I can’t quite remember as to what I was saying to them.

At some point the conversation ended and I had gone down a ladder (I think) and was in a lower area. I then was on some wooden beams and placing plants on the beams. Then I was sitting on one of the beams.

The next day (at least, it seemed like it was the next day) I was walking along the walkway, having a conversation once more. Then I was back to the beam where I’d been placing plants.

I was sitting down on the beam and watering some of the plants and I may have knocked one over. I’m not sure. It fell quite a distance.

For some reason I picked up some of the plants, held them for a few seconds, then let them fall. Eventually I decided I should probably go down and looked down and saw how far the drop was. My fear of heights then kicked in as it was then I realised there was no way for me to safely drop down.

The only way for me to get back was to get off the beam that I was on. The beam was oriented so its narrower faces were facing up and down respectively. I think it was hanging beam orientation. I’m not sure if that is the correct term as I know nothing about beam orientation, but I digress.

I was lying back against the beam and there was a plant between me and the ladder (I think) that I could use to go to a safer area. I didn’t want to knock the plant over so I had to be careful. I tried to raise myself up but I was struggling to do so. I kept on trying and kept on struggling.

Then I woke up.

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Rolling Hills Under a Windswept Sky

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

On the way home from mushroom picking we stopped along the side of the road so I could get a few shots of the valleys under the clouded sky.

The images of this particular area were mostly turning out quite flat so I pushed a bit harder on what I’d normally alter.

One of the results is this shot which turned out quite dramatic, I think.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week.
I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit.

A lot of what people are submitting will likely end up here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 651: Up the Mountain

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Up the mountain they had to head, for down was where they had already been and the only way to the very top of where they wanted to go was, of course, up. You couldn’t go down any further; at least, not without some sort of heavy machinery, but that would be wasteful and move them further away from their goal. They were indeed trying to go up instead of down. The peak was up (well, technically at the top). The core of the earth was down.

And so they followed the winding path close to the base. It seemed to go on forever, though in reality it only covered a small portion of one face of the mountain. This was the easy part. It meandered and snaked its way around plants and rocks, taking the duo further against the mountain whilst tall vegetation rendered the sky patchy.

Eventually they hit a point where the path provided two divergences. There was one that seemed to go further up and that was the path that indeed was chosen.

It meandered a little less than hoped. Instead of winding around the path became more straightened. There still were curves, but less room for them at this juncture in time.

And so on they kept on going, further on up until the path dropped all pretenses of distraction and went straight up the side of the mountain. They had no choice but to follow. Their goal was within reach and they had to keep on going to reach it.

So they kept on going up, following the path, doing their best to not let the strain of the angle get to them. It always seemed so close and indeed it was, but every time they thought they were there, it just kept on going.

Still, they knew that if they kept on going they would soon reach the point that they wanted to reach. Through the vegetation, though much more spaced still thick and present they would reach the top and experience a scene they were yet to experience. They just had to keep on going and keep on pushing forward in order to get there. They just had to keep moving.

At the very least the path was gracious enough to maintain its steepness rather than vary it up to make itself more or less challenging. That was very much appreciated. However, it still remained a hard push. They were used to walking long tracks, but not used to high gradients.

They were sweating and panting and getting close to a point where they were no longer able to continue. It was in this instance where maybe they would have to turn around and attempt to surmount the mountain another day.

They stopped to rest against a huge rock face, for rest was sorely needed at this point. In their panting, however, they realised that they had reached the base of where they wanted to be. Their goal was next to them.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:10:72

With this one I had a moment where I stopped to think about whether I was or was not including enough of something. Probably why this ended up taking as long as it did.

Not sure as to how the text works as a bit of fiction.
Might be a bit flat. I was kind of adapting a part of a trek I did a few years ago and might’ve been thinking a little too much.

Written at home.

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Fading Layers

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

More vegetation among more fog.

I think the naming of this photo is pretty appropriate for the scene.

I do like how the fog creates layers through obscuring.

I don’t think the photo is anything special, but I do like how it turned out.

I hope you enjoy.

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One Thousand Word Challenge 39: The Theme is Waiting… Maybe

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Well, my back hurts. That’s what I get for hunching over for most of the day. Still, there is plenty of day left to correct that. We’ll have to see if that is indeed what happens.

Instead what probably will happen is I will hunch more, then complain about my back hurting, then hunch even more to spite my back.

Well, that will happen if the planned walk does not happen, which it will as there is a need to go outside and experience the world and that is indeed whats I will be doing a bit later in the day. Whether I go far or not is yet to be seen, but there still will be the going of the outside and the experiencing of the world that is out there. There may even be the taking of the photos in order to capture the world as it is. We’ll have to see what happens.

Right now  it is a session of hitting the keyboard with my fingers until one of us gives up. So far, of all the attempts that have been made, it’s always ended in a stalemate, but that’s the way I like it if I am to be honest. Far better than having to either replace the keyboards or my hands and my hands are probably already in need of replacement, but I like them the way they are. Sure, it would be nice to have less injury inflicted upon them, but what is done is done and they still operate and still seem to be getting better over time, so who knows what the future for them holds?

Not me, that’s for sure, but I do know that with enough stretching and relaxing and strength exercises the possibility of necessary surgery will diminish and that is certainly something I want to avoid, but if it is to happen then happen it must.

However, I don’t want to worry too much about that now. I mean, I wasn’t worrying about it just then, so I guess I don’t want to start worrying about it all as I’d rather be able to go “Well, if I need it, then I shall get it” in the potential event where surgery is required rather than worry about what could go wrong and what could go right.

With that said it’s now covered enough for me to be able to move onto other things anyway, such as getting to wherever this is leading me. Of course I am assuming that I am indeed being led somewhere. I may not be led anywhere at all and that’s fine. It’s fine to be able to meander and relax sometimes. A good thing to keep in mind, I think. Or maybe it isn’t a good thing to keep in mind. Maybe it is better to keep to the side somewhere, stored for when you may think you need it so that you can pull it out and then attach it to where it needs to be attached and thus you can have th3e thoughts move into your mind as you’re slowly, yet surely brought to a level of comfort that allows you to remember that it is indeed sometimes a good thing to meander.

It is good to be busy where you can. Probably a great thing, to be honest. However, it’s only good if that being busy is not entirely concerned with one particular job (unless of course that job is something you really enjoy doing, but I’m not going to get into that right now as I’m trying to cover something else). That said, you need to be able to relax from time to time, so long as relaxing doesn’t overtake the being busy. You need to strike a fine balance of both. If you don’t you might end up burning out in some fashion.

Burning out can be pretty rough, of course, but so long as you’re able to carefully dance your way around doing so, then you’re pretty good to keep on going, as they say.

But of course this is all conjecture… I think. I could be quire wrong on that. Only one way to find out but that isn’t going to happen right now as there are other paths that need exploring. There are other ways in which I need to head and heading in those ways is exactly what I plan on doing right now, if I am to be honest.

I need to head away from all of this talk in which I am currently engaging as there are other things that I want to tackle, but I don’t think that today is the day that will feature that tackling if I am to be honest. I hoped it would be the case, but alas my mind is taking me elsewhere. That’s fine though. I have to admit that at the very least it is fine to not be covering everything there is out there all the time, but that’s not what I’m writing about right now anyway, so that too will have to wait for another time.

Now that I think about it, there are quite a few things that will have to wait for another time. Perhaps that is the theme of this writing. The the theme is about waiting. Or maybe it may be about writing. There still is plenty of time to work it out, however, but right now instead that too will have to wait as I soon will be heading out and doing the things that involve going on the walk.

It’s a walk that I want to do and it will be one that I hope gives a bit of time to relax. If it isn’t, then there isn’t much that I can do, but at least there was a bit of walking in the day. Need the exercise as it keeps me from sitting down all the time. Rather do the walk than sit all day.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 12:13:49

I think that if I keep this pace up long enough I might have to set up a greater target.

Now, in regards to this piece, I think it turned out alright. A bit silly in places, a bit repetitive, but overall I think the text works.

Written at home.

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Moss-Covered Remains

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

As seen somewhere in Australia.

Whilst out in the forest past the mountains I came across this little bit of biology.

I like how the moss contrasts with the immediate area. It both seems to clash and be in harmony.

I also like that the shape of the tree’s remains remain clear and distinct.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 650: The Target. The Goal.

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

The ocean was as vast and beautiful as it had always been.

A long time since they had traversed this location. Far too long. As always, the rainforest seemed to suddenly pull back to reveal a grand, open expanse full of grass, with one single pathway that made its way over the few remaining hills to the beach. The weather was good for it and, as always, the sign of others was minimal at best. It was a good time of the year for an early walk through the bush and the beach itself was always one of the most rewarding parts of the walk.

But the open field, the expanse; this was always a sight to behold, no matter how much it was seen. It truly was a beautiful scene that felt even more so after traversing through a heavily-shaded area.

But of course it was not time to stop. This was just the revealing and whilst it was always amazing, there still was the beach to reach, for the ocean was inviting. The ocean which would clear all the sweat away and embrace the two as they dove in and swam around for a while. That was the target. That was the goal. It was a refreshing experience.

And so they made their way over the hills and through the field of grass unlike that of the city. The smell of saint faintly lingered on the breeze as the sound of the ocean moving against the great body of Australia let itself be known. This was close. This was motivating.

The pace remained steady and through everything and all they walked, following the path back into shade once it was time to abscond from the field. Opening a little and bringing the sound and scents closer, the path took the two through another small forest-like area. Not quite the same as the vegetation seemed a little different, but familiar enough, for the path was well-trodden with experience, but always seemed to come as a small surprise, even if the expected reaction did not call for such a thing.

It had been far too long since they last were in the area and far too long since they had last walked in the bush together, so this was very much an appreciated time. It was appreciated as it was a release from the everyday life that they had grown tired of. It was only a temporary reprieve, but one still craved far more than they would ever admit. They would hint, but never reveal the full extent.

And soon they reached the right place to turn off and descended onto the sand. Only a few more minutes and they were making their way to the waves, for it was the waves that they wanted to experience, and the dive into the ocean that they needed to feel. It was here where their need to relax and let go took over, and it truly was wonderful being in the ocean.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:02:69

Surprised as to how long this took as it felt like it came quickly.

Some of this I am happy with. I think the sense of imagery comes through really strong, though there is plenty of room for imagination.

However, I do feel as though there is a bit of unnecessary stretching.

Written at home.

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Govett’s Leap

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Apparently it departed for the void.

The signpost almost seems lonely without the view.

I think it’s interesting in that there’s a small amount of an area in this view with a great deal of nothing behind it. The fog did a good job of removing all context for the sign and the lookout in general, I think.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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