Saturday, October 08, 2011

game bhaji show


Posted by Picasa When we are in Sitges there is usually someone playing this game.The sound of bat and ball heard from afar creates a pleasing harmony with the breaking waves.

At the Farmers' Market today a stall from which the spicy smells of the sub-continent issue forth,  offers samples of cobnut bhaji. Cobnuts are a variety of hazel nut local to Kent and Sussex. Bhaji is  an Indian street food, a sort of fritter. "Kentish bhajis" says the young man at the stall.

One of the things that drives this daily blog is a strange compulsion on my part, the origin of which I can't entirely explain.  It is  to have something to show of my own creation if not every day, most days. It is not something I am necessarily proud of. Neither do I wish to apologise for it.  It is just an affliction that I have to live with, and others who live with me, have to live with it too. Hence the need to keep a notebook in one pocket and camera in the other.   So I cook, I write,  I snap  and cultivate something or other the whole day through. Though  I am not compelled to do any of these things, I  would feel only half alive if I didn't do them.   Perhaps I am not alone in this. Perhaps there is a medical name for it. It is not something that concerns me greatly, but sometimes as to day when I walk though The Grove on my way to the Farmers' Marker, it is topic I like to meditate upon.  For some reason, I think of animals who do not suffer from such urges. Then I think of Walt Whitman who thought:
... he could turn and live with animals, they're so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long."
Could a cure lie there - looking at animals - a pastime, which like Whitman, I find infinitely calming.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I for one am glad you feel such compulsion to create. Every morning while I have my oatmeal I log on and read your latest post with interest.

I am fairly certain watching you look at animals would not be nearly as satisfying so I hope you will keep the camera and notebook handy.

A Fan from British Columbia, Canada

Lucy said...

If you watched the animals you'd end up writing about them. And me too, I'm glad you do.

Cobnut bhaji. Can't quite get my head round that idea. Did you taste it?

Mind you I was wondering the other day about beech nut pesto...