Operation Cripple Crutches - Buy the Prints!

UPDATE - Thanks to two secret squirrels, I will soon have shiny crutches!

Prints are still on sale; profits will be going into my general medical expenses pool. See this evening's post for details.

Most of you know that I use crutches. In fact, from the amount of time I spend complaining about them, I expect you're all aware of the fact. And given the complaining, you're probably also aware of just how difficult/painful/damaging it is to be using them long-term.


But, my physio called yesterday to tell me about some new ones she'd seen an ad for, which she thought I might be interested in. Take a look at the smartCRUTCH.



smartCRUTCH - they even come in pink!

Exciting, aren't they! Other than the horrible name, that is. I keep wanting to yell about intelligent crotches - but that may be just me.

I want a pair. Unfortunately, it looks like they'll cost me around $200 Australian, once I figure in shipping and so on. And while I have room on the credit card for them, with uni fees due and other incidentals, paying them back will be problematic.


So, enter Operation Cripple Crutches.


I've put together three images from my Chinese Gardens images. One of them y'all have seen before; it's the most popular image from the free desktop wallpapers I made last year, and a favourite of mine as well. The other two are new. I'm selling 8 x 10 inch prints, unframed, of each of these images for $30 (plus $5 postage if you need it sent to you, either in Australia or internationally).


If you can't afford a print (and have a thing for strangely disturbing art), stick around - I'll be posting a booklet from my latest finished project in the next few days.


In the meantime, if you're looking for some art for a wall or a workdesk, or maybe a present for someone, you know what to do!



Waterfall, Chinese Gardens

Buy Print

Buy Print $30.00 Buy Print with postage $35.00

Bamboo over water

Buy Print

Buy Print $30.00 Buy Print with postage $35.00

Quiet Pool and Sunlight

Buy Print

Buy Print $30.00 Buy Print with postage $35.00

And thanks, y'all!

I'm back... with wallpaper!

Hello... hello?

Anyone still out there?

I'd like to say it's been an eventful few months, but really, it's just been tiring. My work moved offices, and added an extra hour onto my travel time - on bad days, I spend up to 4 hours a day on public transport. Add in the disability issues, and I've been too exhausted by the end of the day to do much other than complain.

At least I spared y'all that!

But I've pretty much got the travel down now, and the creative fires have started licking at my fingers again, so here we are.

And to sweeten the deal, here are two images from my weekend's work. Clicking on the images will take you to their gallery page, where you can download them as wallpapers. Enjoy!

Curves 8

Evening hose reel, Petersham.

Curves 5

Bubbler, Camperdown park.

Extra 2

Tree and surf, Manly beach.

This, obviously enough, was originally taken for Water week. I didn't feel it said 'water' clearly enough, so it didn't make it in. I was happy with the picture, though, so I'm glad to be able to show it to you know.

And MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Stone 3

Rockpools, Manly beach.

Too tired for commentary, me, except to say that this was the view from my work Christmas lunch. I really like my company!

Stone 1

Riverstones in black and brown.

Water 7

Fountain at sunset, Hyde Park, Sydney.

Water 6

Sunlight on water, bubbler, Newtown park.

I like this shot - water turning into light!

I'm also really starting to enjoy blogging. I keep finding more ideas for pictures, and I'll reach the end of a theme, and still be saying to myself 'Oh! I should do [x idea]!' Especially this week, since I love water so much. It's been very useful breaking down some of the imaginary barriers that have stopped me doing much work with it before - expect to see more water shots in my regular work to come.

Maybe sometime I'll go back and do a 'Shots that should have been' week... if I can think of a one-word title for it, of course.

Water 5

Condensed water vapour.

These days, I have a great deal of sympathy for the slowness of the elderly. I wince getting up, and have to balance carefully, and stumble easily. I watch their patterns of careful movement, and see them mirrored in myself.

Since I've had to start putting my weight solely on my left foot, the arthritis in it has gone from annoying but ignorable to intensely painful, and I've had to face the fact that it's not likely to improve too much. We've started looking around for lighter wheelchairs than my current monstrosity, and I've developed a 2-a-day opiate habit to make life bearable.

I'm mourning a lot of things - no more long, rambling walks through my suburb, or random diversions to explore cool things I see around the place. No more bushwalks, or ambling shopping trips. Even sitting at my desk is turning into an endurance exercise - I'll need to work out an alternative very soon. I count the cost of every step I take, and many things I used to enjoy just aren't worth the pain.

Still, on my hop home today, I sat in the park on the still-wet grass, and took pictures of the clouds and the raindrops on the roses. In the end, we make our worlds inside us, and I'll do my best to meet mine with serenity.

Water 4

Bottled Water

Yes, the bottle really does say 'another bloody water'. I can't help wondering how successful that will be as a long term marketing strategy; I don't know if the makers are even thinking that far. The water itself doesn't seem to taste that special.
Many thanks to Ruth for letting me photograph her beverage!

Water 3

Babbling Brook, Newtown.

In reality, it's a water pipe that's been broken for months now. I keep meaning to call the Water Board every time I go past it.

Water 2

Manly beach at midday.

It was amazing going to the beach. I've been working on the Northern Beaches for a year and a half now, and this was the first time I'd made the lunchtime trip down to the water. I didn't have a swimming cossie, even if I could have managed to get the crutches close enough to the water to get me in, without getting them all coated in salt water. Instead, I lurked around on the sand taking pictures and smelling the sea. I came away hot, sticky, and tasting like salt... and very happy.

Water 1

No Fishing.

Taken from the Spit Bridge on the way home. I'm finding days that I'm actually in the office a challenge; the travel and issues getting around the building mean that I'm pretty tired and sore by the end of it. Which explains why we see so many traffic signs and road shots on those days, I suppose! At least this shot proves I actually leave the Inner West occasionally.

Theme for the week starting Monday, October 29th...

... is WATER