The new novel arrives . . . Out now, available from http://www.parlorpress.com/sales.html

I spent a whole weekend talking to people who research on topics relating to food. There was something raw and crispy about it all, it's true! No photos on hand, but might load one or two up later. I really liked hearing about food in opera - that's fairly nifty; and also food in the tales of Sir Arthur - those knights and ladies could really feast! Hey, couldn't eat a swan though! But the lush feasting sounded like something to share with someone close. Maybe oysters and fish, and a mango . . .

I'm fairly sure I live next to a volcano. . . . I've only just noticed.

I heard the philosopher Thomas Kuhn quoted at a conference today; or, in fact, Francis Bacon being quoted by Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Bacon, the first philosopher of modern science, born in England in January 1561, saying this:

"Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion."

I thought, hearing that, that it's easy enough to stick with confusion and complain the world is a confusing place. But going ahead and potentially making an error is a much tougher call. Go figure!

No picture yet today; let's try some words . . . Wilderness: the condition of wandering the world in a daze; Discovery: the act of opening up, opening out; Touch: a sense held in the heart; Water: a substance that joins and fills where otherwise there would by empty space.

The beach this morning is glorious; I am writing about something unconnected, literally, but very connected, metaphorically . . . . This is just one shot of the beach this morning.

Last year I published a collection of fiction called "Small Maps of the World". But there's a thing I've discovered since, that makes me wonder if the book makes sense at all:

Just when you think the World is small, it seems to determinedly get bigger. Alternatively, when you think it is the biggest place ever, you suddenly feel you might be capable of grasping the entire universe in your two hands.
Ah, it's completely mad, this "size of the World" biz - I suspect there's more to it than I realised.