A note to say thank you to everyone who has commented, 'liked', read or scanned this site over the last few years to catch up with 999 Verandakus.
I'm especially grateful to the commenters and 'likers' who took the trouble to actually send encouraging words or mouse clicks my way.
I started the triple-9 project as a sanity saver - not sure about the outcome there, but I can say, for anyone contemplating a project of some length, or any length, really - suck it and see, as we say here in the colonies, and probably everywhere else.
Why? Well, it might taste really good, and there's a great deal of satisfaction to be derived from seeing a long challenge through to completion. Or even a short one - everything's relative, after all, and completion is the thing.
Worried about failing? Don't be. After all this time and trouble negotiating life and its strangenesses, I see everything as another experiment on the road to - I was going to say enlightenment (or Morocco, for the Lamour, Hope and Crosby fans who are, of course, legion), but that's not it. It's simply the road, on which, if we’re a little bit determined and rather lucky, we take one step at a time and try not to disturb the taipans, the tarantulas, and assorted crazies – not too much disturbance, anyway – just enough, shall we say.
My tip: determine right from the start that you're going to finish. It's amazing what an up-front promise to yourself can accomplish - even moreso, if every time you post you're letting both yourself and any readers instantly see your goal, a la '999 Verandakus: #299,' for example.
Finally, a very big (gigantic, in fact) and heartfelt thank you to Lorrie Lawler (the other half of the VernLaw Group) for her generous contribution of so many of the images on the site (Lorrie's are the truly magical ones).
We determined from day one that the Verandaku photos would be ours - nothing stock or borrowed - and so it came to pass. Plus, it was a great excuse for photographic safaris to the beach, the botanical gardens, the duck pond, the university, churches and cemeteries, rivers and parks, museums and art galleries, among others. Not to mention daily walks around the neighborhood and the perfect reason to stop and snap the roses.
Thank you, Lorrie, you made the journey (and our many safaris) so much more enjoyable and sustaining.
I'm hoping to launch a new project in the next couple of weeks, so I hope you'll stay tuned and keep visiting. Good luck with your own projects, take very good care, and thanks again.
Cheers,
Jay
Her usual pose
Relaxed and softly purring
Claw paw in fur glove
The small cat watching
for today’s dinnertime treat
Watched upon with love
A hollowed out shell
at rest above the tide line
Enough for today
We’re eating ice-cream
behind our sticky lenses
Capturing work flow
The textures of trees
Like volcanic overflows
Sappy lava lines
As though it belongs
A cast pelican sculpture
A duck to water
On weekend day trips
children and ducks together
Mum and Dad retreat
Reaching for the sky
leaving the ground to itself
Tall poppy syndrome
The focussed garden
remains so between snapshots
Its striking poses
Although we lunched there
our table was not as neat
Tomato sauce ruled
Not so far away
a place to rest tired selves
Body, soul and soles
Visiting artist
Finishing his cityscape
Three centuries drawn
Near the river
where sculpture sits with nature
Shadowy stranger
Taps and sinks ready
for every day’s events
The cleanest silence
Across a green sward
the oldest buildings settle
watching the grass grow
Travelling over
for a garden resting truck
The love rusting on
Sideways from the snail
the house number awaiting
and awaiting and …
Seeing only part
of the bigger picture’s view
Misunderstanding
A single porch light
promising the merest light
still shows the way home
Waiting for the tide
to cover rusting pylons
The ocean’s textures
At Christmas Day lunch
my cat in her festive way
joins the big table
Shell and tumble stones
Picture of an open mind
Room for some closure
Pictures of pictures
of my much younger city
The milk shake long drunk
Strung out power lines
and a jumble of sky cloud
The garden grows on
Listen carefully
on the steely city bridge
Working souls sighing
Candle waxing light
Its flame as still as the dark
A slow wind nears
In the next garden
ready grown bridal bouquets
Something old and new
Barky grasshopper
blending in its autumn coat
Done with summer’s green
Growing sunflowers
on their way to taller things
don’t forget their roots
In rustling gardens
small lizards make the most noise
Dinosaur homage
The water dragon
stops beyond the lake’s wet edge
Its grassy playground
A toddler gecko
learning the kitchen’s routines
clocks on for dinner
From the veranda
Watching the watcher snapping
Invitation soon
Mint breathing garden
makes up for decaying friends
Edible perfume
Fishbone fernery
Classified as noxious weeds
My mother loved them
The garden growing
Dramatic cutbacks then rain
Different sameness
The fullness of space
Abundance in an absence
The water’s edge thin
Cactussy bristle
on the softest green padding
Split skin sharpening
High density life
in a town on a mission
Faster, squarer, bland
A spotlit entry
to a closed and darkened church
Don’t come on Monday
A children’s playground
features multi-colored worms
Kids know what to do
