Green Grass Books

07/03/2021

7.3.21 There is poignancy now, in what I dare not speak of - in of that which should not be. That which cannot be spoken of From here a view of the whole bay, with a sense of being somewhere, at an elevation - I really want to draw now - as I'm set marvelling at the brightness over the sea to the west....

https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2021/03/07/at-the-viewpoint-el-hierro/

7.3.21There is poignancy now, in what I dare not speak of – in of that which should not be. That which cannot be spoken ofFrom here a view of the whole bay, with a sense of being somewhere, a…

20/10/2020

ScotlandTrain Glasgow to Crewe, 5.10.20 Suddenly excitement. Travelling through England Steely sunlight upon brilliant green grass - enervating all ycolours, pinpointing each sheep, artistically distinct, - grey steely clouds massive above, which call to be hailed and resounded by colossal choirs. Here is magnificence, which I move through with smoothness and speed on the train, travelling southwards through to England.. [ 1,209 more word ]

https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/10/20/winter-journey/

ScotlandTrain Glasgow to Crewe, 5.10.20Suddenly excitement. Travelling through EnglandSteely sunlight upon brilliant green grass – enervating all ycolours, pinpointing each sheep, artistical…

10/09/2020

13.8.20 11.45am, Malin HeadHere I sit at the northernmost edge, at the termination of the land, a destination in the journey, the soft sound of the waves rendering a sense of sublimity about being here just now.The sea appears black below, rolling deep between the cliffs whilst contrasted with pure white of foam where the waves swirl and break about the base of the rocks. [ 483 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/ireland-2020/

13.8.20 11.45am, Malin HeadHere I sit at the northernmost edge, at the termination of the land, a destination in the journey, the soft sound of the waves rendering a sense of sublimity about being …

10/09/2020

3/9/20 Greenhill, 11am Remembering yesterday the rainbow following behind me as I cycled into the wind, back to here from Gleneagles train station. Even through the sweeping rain I could see the shapes of the hills to my left, familiar, smooth, pale green - the sun is here now as I write, calling me to report, evident in glimmers, serving to remind of places which exist beyond the ever fomenting blanket of cloud which relentlessly sweeps across these islands. [ 289 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/scotland-return/

3/9/20 Greenhill, 11amRemembering yesterday the rainbow following behind me as I cycled into the wind, back to here from Gleneagles train station. Even through the sweeping rain I could see the sha…

10/09/2020

Auchterhouse Hill 6pm 25.7.20 Here I sit, not exactly on the summit, as it is windy there. I recline with my back to a larch tree, sitting on the tufts of wiry deer grass which surround its bole. It is green here, of that we can't complain. There is water for free in multitudinous rivers, steams and burns - there must be other names for rivers here, especially if you knew some Gaelic. [ 816 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/serenity-in-sunshine/

Auchterhouse Hill 6pm 25.7.20Here I sit, not exactly on the summit, as it is windy there. I recline with my back to a larch tree, sitting on the tufts of wiry deer grass which surround its bole. It…

10/09/2020

Well my friend, here we are. I am very happy to tell you about my trip, the legitimacy of which is necessarily dubious, but then this is nothing new....

Well my friend, here we are. I am very happy to tell you about my trip, the legitimacy of which is necessarily dubious, but then this is nothing new, merely a new context for it.SoAnd that is all I…

10/09/2020

August 2020 9.8.20 Sunday 3pm Summit of Knocklayd 514 m Here I am upon a rounded hill in the sunshine, sat upon a grassy knoll which has been made, so I read on a notice in the town, at some ancient time. Here we are in the territory of the O'Doherty's, according to a map I passed in a shop window, and I can look west over to the territory of the McSweeneys, out towards Inishowen in Donegal. [ 418 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/north-antrim-coast-observations/

August 2020 9.8.20 Sunday 3pm Summit of Knocklayd 514 m Here I am upon a rounded hill in the sunshine, sat upon a grassy knoll which has been made, so I read on a notice in the town, at some ancien…

25/08/2020

15.1.20, TilcaraNow, let us say I cheated a little. Because I took the bus from Tupiza (Bolivia), down to the border with Argentina, then another to Humacuaca, which is still in the higher dry mountains, with green valleys and dry rocky slopes above and cacti. \n Coming down from the border I was sitting at the very front of the bus, on the top deck, so had an excellent view. [ 373 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/amongst-the-quebradas-fissures-northern-argentina/

15.1.20, TilcaraNow, let us say I cheated a little. Because I took the bus from Tupiza (Bolivia), down to the border with Argentina, then another to Humacuaca, which is still in the higher dry moun…

10/03/2020

TUNISIA (1) I went by shared taxi into Tunisia. When we reached *I was the first to be dropped off. I was still carrying my stuff in the three small bags which the lady had given me in Lithuania. Bit by some mistake when I got out I only got two of them. So I was now missing my sleeping bag and mat, which wasn't an inconvenience at that point, but I missed them badly later in the journey. [ 1,708 more word ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/2014-p2/

TUNISIA (1)I went by shared taxi into Tunisia. When we reached *I was the first to be dropped off. I was still carrying my stuff in the three small bags which the lady had given me in Lithuania. Bi…

10/03/2020

FRANCE (5) This first journey of 2014, setting off in February, I had done quite a lot of planning in advance. I had arranged Couchsurfing hosts all the way down through Germany and France, and also in Algeria. I managed to get my letter of invitation, needed for my Algerian visa through a Couchsurfing host in Algiers. They were two memorable Couchsurfing experiences in France, the first was in Menton - that's where I met my host, who was a young man tremendously tall. [ 1,530 more word ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/2014-p1-mediterranean/

FRANCE (5) This first journey of 2014, setting off in February, I had done quite a lot of planning in advance. I had arranged Couchsurfing hosts all the way down through Germany and France, and als…

10/03/2020

THE NETHERLANDS (1) In June, when it got to summer again I set off from Oxford to Harwich, then caught the ferry to the Hook of Holland. From there I cycled up the coast joining throngs of local cyclists on their high rise Dutch bikes, of which I made several drawings. An amazing feature here was the birds, which I tried to draw, particularly when I reached Texel Island. [ 2,394 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/2013-cycling-in-europe/

THE NETHERLANDS (1) In June, when it got to summer again I set off from Oxford to Harwich, then caught the ferry to the Hook of Holland. From there I cycled up the coast joining throngs of local cy…

10/03/2020

France - cycling. July-August It was already well into my fiftieth year when I set out in July to from Oxford to cycle to Africa. As I hadn't made any long journeys by bicycle for twenty years, the first few days coming down through the south of England I was rather tired. But after a rest day in Salisbury I got my second wind and nothing stopped me. [ 570 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/03/08/2012-cycle-to-africa/

France – cycling. July-August It was already well into my fiftieth year when I set out in July to from Oxford to cycle to Africa. As I hadn’t made any long journeys by bicycle for twent…

28/02/2020

February 29th, 2020 It seems the season now for appreciating snow - Facebook friends are enjoying a little skiing, renewing that sense of wonder when there
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/02/28/canada-rambling-by-the-credit-river/

February 29th, 2020 It seems the season now for appreciating snow – Facebook friends are enjoying a little skiing, renewing that sense of wonder when there

09/01/2020

Tarija 8.1.20 By the Rio Guadalquivir Today I try to make resolutions, becoming aware that a new year is ahead, awaiting for intentions. Yet, I cannot resolve to follow my dream because I have just been doing that. For the past three weeks, beginning on Christmas Day I have been cycling across one of the hottest places on this continent, through the Gran Chaco of Paraguay and thence into Bolivia, to climb up the Eastern Cordilleras, some 2600metres (this is height gained, as maybe four times as much was actually climbed). [ 1,047 more word ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2020/01/09/bolivia/

Tarija 8.1.20 By the Rio Guadalquivir Today I try to make resolutions, becoming aware that a new year is ahead, awaiting for intentions. Yet, I cannot resolve to follow my dream because I have just…

20/12/2019

19.12.18 Aregua, Day 3 11.36am As yesterday evening I paid the kindly old lady, whose name is Lucia, for a whole week for the room, I am now obliged to stay in this town the rest of the days until Christmas. Today I am walking much the same route as I did yesterday, first into the park by the lake, then along a side road which leads through some forest, stopping along the way here and there at shady spots to sit and read some of an Anthony Trollope novel on my phone. [ 207 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/12/20/beneath-the-weeping-tree-aregua/

19.12.18 Aregua, Day 3 11.36am As yesterday evening I paid the kindly old lady, whose name is Lucia, for a whole week for the room, I am now obliged to stay in this town the rest of the days until …

18/12/2019

16.12.19 Hotel Ozli 3pm It rained today, as it also did yesterday, so there was pleasant relief from the sunlight and the heat. It began with a massive storm which loomed ahead til it became so imminently threatening I sought shelter, a big stone bus shelter, where, as I drew up also did a van carrying furniture, and the people set about covering their cargo with a tarpaulin. [ 140 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/12/17/finding-beauty-here-aregua/

16.12.19 Hotel Ozli 3pm It rained today, as it also did yesterday, so there was pleasant relief from the sunlight and the heat. It began with a massive storm which loomed ahead til it became so imm…

18/12/2019

16.12.19 5pm Aregua Outside the cathedral, on the lawn at the viewpoint. Seeing the lake from here and realising how all is beautiful. A man, as I walked to the seat where I am sitting - now with a pattern of sunlight filtering upon me through the trees. Why he followed me I don't know; I supposed it was from a natural sense of companionship, or the need for it. [ 161 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/12/17/tranquillity-aregua/

16.12.19 5pm Aregua Outside the cathedral, on the lawn at the viewpoint. Seeing the lake from here and realising how all is beautiful. A man, as I walked to the seat where I am sitting – now …

15/12/2019

Villaranca, eve. In the park. 14.12.19 Here in another park in a different city to this morning - this it seems is maybe what South America is about - public parks where people are selling things. A great draft of loneliness washes over me, here in the barren plains of silence from friends. I decide the answer to loneliness is discipline. [ 46 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/12/15/the-illegitimate-traveller-in-the-barren-plains-of-silence-from-friends/

Villaranca, eve. In the park. 14.12.19 Here in another park in a different city to this morning – this it seems is maybe what South America is about – public parks where people are sell…

14/12/2019

In the park - Independencia, Paraguay 15.12.19 Birds are singing all about me in the trees (though not so loudly as they were earlier). It was beautiful waking up in the forest, camping near the hills. But where is my purpose? without my friend - there has to be some path into the future. If I were able to write a novel that really explained it, which really got to the heart of the beauty of it all, then it seems I would be living my life - is this what I desire? [ 318 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/12/14/the-heart-of-the-beauty-of-it-all/

In the park – Independencia, Paraguay 15.12.19 Birds are singing all about me in the trees (though not so loudly as they were earlier). It was beautiful waking up in the forest, camping near …

08/12/2019

Encarnacion, Paraguay 4th December, 2019, 10.37 am I am very happy just now - maybe it has something to do with having drunk two cups of coffee this morning, as provided with the 'desayunos' at the hotel, where I am staying (with a little bit more of luxury than I require,) down near the beach of the wide Parana River, which I crossed yesterday with my bicycle in the front compartment of a train, which runs alongside the road over the long bridge, transferring pedestrians from the Argentina side, across the border into Paraguay. [ 584 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/12/04/what-travelling-is-all-about-paraguay/

Encarnacion, Paraguay 4th December, 2019, 10.37 am I am very happy just now – maybe it has something to do with having drunk two cups of coffee this morning, as provided with the ‘desay…

27/11/2019

26.11.19 Alegrete I was very happy to arrive here in this little town. I cannot say it is so beautiful, bounded by the curves of the Rio Ibirapuita, the upper tributaries of which I have been crossing on my way here across country from Livramento where I crossed the border from Uruguay. I walked down to it today, not seeking to be out of the city, but there I was in a little bit of countryside with a horse grazing by some trees. [ 386 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/a-back-route-through-brazil/

26.11.19 Alegrete I was very happy to arrive here in this little town. I cannot say it is so beautiful, bounded by the curves of the Rio Ibirapuita, the upper tributaries of which I have been cross…

21/11/2019

20.11.19 In a wood beyond a small stream, by the Ruta 28, just past a small stream. It is hot today, so that I am appreciating difficulta little shade, here in this wood. I have been very content these last two days, once I turned off the main Ruta 5, which surely was an easy ride, to be shared with empty two trailer logging trucks, and I was passing much forest too, which might be appreciated through a kind of window of noise and forward urging - somehow on these big roads, aware of so many people passing at great speed around you, it is not possible to go against this grain and just mosey, as is my wont. [ 688 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/uruguay-wider-views-and-special-hills/

20.11.19 In a wood beyond a small stream, by the Ruta 28, just past a small stream. It is hot today, so that I am appreciating difficulta little shade, here in this wood. I have been very content t…

15/11/2019

10.11.19 Here I am at the junction of the rivers (Rio Santa Lucia and the Rio Pilatos), looking out to a sandbank, seated on the bole of a giant eucalyptus tree which stands overlooking the Pilatos side. There are also similar, smaller such trees on the promontory above the junction in which I see several large dark masses of nests. There are so many birds - Uruguay, maybe it is a place for birds, for wild nature lurks here, not magnificently as in mountainous scenery, but yet remains in neglected corners, such as around ruins of former homesteads, left with broken thatched rooves - I camped beside one last night, (lucky to find a wild neglected place amongst the otherwise fully-owned landscape) where I was surrounded by beautifully perfumed, freshly green trees. [ 361 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/uruguay-by-the-river/

10.11.19 Here I am at the junction of the rivers (Rio Santa Lucia and the Rio Pilatos), looking out to a sandbank, seated on the bole of a giant eucalyptus tree which stands overlooking the Pilatos…

15/11/2019

Reply to SPP 15.11.19 I think you are a lot more aware of the current work on this subject than me. It was only recently that I discovered the wikipedia article on autotelics, just by chance after I had been corresponding with Professor Alan Fogel, who is writing a book about flow. I had not been thinking in terms of words, but in explaining what I observed in terms of actual physical events as occur in biology. [ 930 more words ]
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/a-little-more-on-originals/

Reply to SPP 15.11.19 I think you are a lot more aware of the current work on this subject than me. It was only recently that I discovered the wikipedia article on autotelics, just by chance after …

15/11/2019

Spain, forest near Guenes, 9.10.19 11pm Here I am in my tent, the smooth thin dome of it illuminated in strips. These glimpses of beauty I especially enjoy
https://uponthatfish.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/the-adventure-has-begun/

Spain, forest near Guenes, 9.10.19 11pm Here I am in my tent, the smooth thin dome of it illuminated in strips. These glimpses of beauty I especially enjoy

29/04/2019

The new and the old covers of 'Random Musings Upon a Fish'