easter

A dear old uni friend died last weekend after a shortish shock illness. She and her family are in my thoughts many times a day. Even at this distance, it fair took the wind out of my sails, and suddenly my body feels a lot older. 

But it'll pass, and at least I managed a great swim, by starting slowly and only shifting gear after the first 10 lengths. Ordinarily I tend to go at it like a bull at a gate, breathless and resentful the whole time. 

At work, I stumbled wearily to the Easter finishing line, unfocused and mumbling. Now for four days of reading, sleeping, and the traditional Matthew Passion. Oh the profundity!

falling down and building up

The former pension fund is in hospital with a broken leg after a nose-dive down icy steps. But she's a dogged old thing, and is already forcing herself through the rehabilitation process, painful though it is. In contrast, when the old dear fell and broke something, she took to her bed and waited to die. I'm not sure what I would do at that age.

I've been going to the (home) gym regularly for a whole month, and without even injuring myself (so far). I'm turning from a puny weakling into a puny strongling. Not a single extra ounce of muscle, but the existing muscles are noticeably stronger. I should content myself with looking weak but being strong, but part of me would prefer the other way round. It all balances up.

proportions

I've been trying out a new app called Momentsia, which builds collages from the photos you feed into it. This is what resulted after I ran the app twenty times.

Most of the constituent photos were taken by me (a couple were by a friend, and one was stolen from a website). Unfortunately I have no eye for what constitutes a "good" composition, but maybe you have? If the top left collage is number 1, and the bottom right is number 20, I like the proportions of number 3 and number 16, but I don't know why. Also the last three, which are a wee bit suggestive of stained glass, like what Hotters' dotter creates in her studio.