lockdown | discover | seven | below

Image | | andy townend

below
this

(ancient) bark

below
this

(majestic) trunk

below
these

(spreading) branches
(fluttering) leaves
(clear,blue) sky
(wispy) clouds
(recently refreshed) atmosphere

below
the

(super) moon
(our) sun
(wandering) planets

below
these

(pointed) stars
(spinning) galaxies

below
all this

a
pale
blue
dot

on which

we

all
live

 

and

together,

we

will

rise above this

*image with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens, below a tree, cantonments, accra, ghana*

For the WordPress community’s latest initiative Discover Prompts Day Seven: Below. Thanks to Ben Huberman, Michelle Weber and the WordPress Discover team for stepping up to the plate.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

Rise above it all.

lockdown | discover | six | hands

Image | | andy townend

hands,
for holding
in happy

times

hands for
wringing, when the
bell,

tolls

hold tight,
hands across, the

water

across, the

world

across, the

generations

until
the sun, shines

again

*image with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens, wall mural, cantonments, accra, ghana*

For the WordPress community’s latest initiative Discover Prompts Day Six: Hands. Thanks to Ben Huberman, Michelle Weber and the WordPress Discover team for stepping up to the plate.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

Hold tight.

lockdown | discover | five | dish

Image | | andy townend

chopped
sliced
sprinkled
salted
coriander’d
served up, as
a

dish

(with roast,
chicken)

*image with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens, my studio apartment, cantonments, accra, ghana*

For the newly reconstituted, and sorely missed, WordPress community’s latest initiative Discover Prompts Day Five: Dish. Thanks to Ben Huberman and the WordPress Discover team for stepping up to the plate.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

lockdown | discover | four | street

Image | | andy townend

i’d trade my street for yours
if i thought it would mend
your,
heart

our street(s)
today
winding toward nowhere

all our
streets
yours – mine – theirs
blocked

but, the street(s)
inside
our hearts

yes, even
yours

remain open, to our world

– a poem inspired by further on up the road, bruce springsteen and the sessions band, dublin

*image with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens, wall mural, cantonments, accra, ghana*

For the newly reconstituted, and sorely missed, WordPress community’s latest initiative Discover Prompts Day Four: Street. Thanks to Ben Huberman and the WordPress Discover team for stepping up to the plate.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

one sunny mornin’ we’ll rise I know
and I’ll meet you further on up the road

– lyrics from further on up the road, bruce springsteen and the sessions band, dublin

lockdown | discover | three | song

Image | | andy townend

sing me

a

song,
replete with sun-
shine

shine
your sweet, light
on this world
in,
pain

pain
shared by so,
many

many
the roads, we
must
travel

travel
as,once
we
did

did
we once,
sing
together

a

song?

– a poem inspired by a song for someone, u2

*image handmade with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens, wall mural, cantonments, accra, ghana*

For the newly reconstituted, and sorely missed, WordPress community’s latest initiative Discover Prompts Day Three: Song. Thanks to Ben Huberman and the WordPress Discover team for stepping up to the plate.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

If there is a kiss
I stole from your mouth
And there is a light
Don’t let it go out

– lyrics from a song for someone, u2

lockdown | discover | two | open

Image | | andy townend 
open
open me
     open me and 
     open me and I 
                 will
protect
                 you
always
     any way, up
     or
down

*image handmade with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens, wall mural, cantonments, accra, ghana*

For the newly reconstituted, and sorely missed, WordPress community’s latest initiative Discover Prompts Day Two: Open. Thanks to Ben Huberman and the WordPress Discover team for stepping up to the plate.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

When one door closes, another opens.

lockdown | discover | one | joke

Image | | andy townend

the bear his honey he misses
in lockdown few are there kisses
but here on the wall
a piglet so small
facing tribulations he swiftly dismisses

2020_04_01_0035

For the newly reconstituted, and sorely missed, WordPress community’s latest initiative Discover Prompts Day One: Joke. Thanks to Ben Huberman and the WordPress Discover team for stepping up to the plate.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

It’s no joke.

out in the midday sun (and locked down)

Image | | andy townend

Clear as a bell and an echoing shell
Clear as a pane of glass
I realize, I can’t revise
As clear as a big blue sky
Through and through it all
– Doom or Destiny, Blondie

Locked down in Accra.

Oh, is it doom or destiny?

Watch this space, especially as Ben and the WordPress Discover team are back in town.

Stay safe!

*all images hand crafted with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens*

out in the midday sun

Image | | andy townend

“and from the ends of the earth, across the thousands of miles of land and sea, kindly, well-meaning speakers tried to voice their fellow-feeling, and indeed did so, but at the same time proved the utter incapacity of every man truly to share in suffering that he cannot see…”

– Albert Camus, The Plague

Today, I will let my photos tell my story.

Except, one more thing?

Some words, from a colleague with whom I am fortunate to be working (in a virtual sense), who observed (more or less) “our planet has been suffering a fever for some time, now that we too have a fever, perhaps we will change”.

He nailed it.

Coronavirus is presenting us with not only what is perceived (by some) as an existential threat but perhaps also the reverse. Pollution across the world is down, perhaps because people, people like me, are grounded.

So, are we up for a change? I am, even if only in a small way. Every little helps, no?

And, perhaps as my photos suggest, we may be down, but our planet, nature is surely not.

Stay safe everyone.

…and a p.s. as expected, the hotel has (this morning Friday, 27 March) informed we remaining sixteen guests that they are considering closing next Wednesday. So my nomadic lifestyle continues, another twist and turn, watch this space.

*all images hand crafted with iPhone 11 Pro 4.25mm f/1.8 lens, unedited*