speaking of bears . . . 1/3

A Frank-built bear.

no, not that bear . . .

Beechworth Bakery Bear

. . . yes. A Beechworth Bakery Bear!

Development of A Beechworth Bakery Bears e-Book. A musing, no?

Mick Canning mentioned the Beechworth Bears project in a comment last night, and it coincided with what I hope will be the last change I need to make to the uploaded e-books on Amazon.

The two things combined led to a little musing on my part, and I thought I might as well muse on the blog. They have been quite a journey.

Background to the Bears

The Bakery as site of pre-shift contemplation

Readers may or may not be aware that my professional life is spent working as a psychiatric nurse, here in town. As a nurse, I am a shift worker, encountering numerous occasions of Early shifts starting at 07:00 hours in the morning, and Late shifts starting at 14:00 hours in the afternoon.

My practice, when getting ready to work an Early shift, is set the alarm for 05:45 with a view to spending a half an hour or more in the local Beechworth Bakery with a coffee and, perhaps, a copy of the current Bachelard translation in hand, with a view to attaining serenity and some fresh verse for whatever the current collection that I’m working on is, before I roll up the hill to commence my shift.

I wrote many, many contemplations of time and the way it works, while reading sections of Bachelard’s Intuition of the Instant and sipping a flat white, before dawn.

Bears and other items

While the early morning crowd at the Bakery is generally small and quiet – keeping self to self – there are other inhabitants, and sundry goods that can be purchased.

Bread and buns

Pies and cakes

Bakery Books

Re-usable mugs

Bakery Sun-hats

The list goes on. Beechworth is a tourist town, after all, and the Bakery is one of the best-known attractions.

Often in the mornings, I would find myself sitting in a position facing a trolley filled with soft bears, each wearing a baker’s hat, and a Beechworth Bakery apron. Cute.

I didn’t think much more about them for a long time.

Is that a phone, or . . . a camera!

As I grow older, my resistance to new technology, in particular, also grows.

For years, my version of a mobile phone was just that. A mobile phone on which I could make and receive phone calls.

Came the day for me to acquire a new one, I acquired an Oppo, but didnn’t get it hooked up to telephony immediately. Instead, I discovered digital camera photography.

Suddenly, everything I saw was an image! Every image needed to be illuminated and expanded with a poem.

Some examples include a walk around the township (even after dark), a walk around the lake, clouds, and many more.

I have no background in photography, so the production of a lovely image from a point-and-shoot process was almost overwhelming in its possibilities.

Beechworth Bakery Bears (with Tom)

~

I’ll write some more about the trials and tribulations progressing from cute picture to an actual book next time out. Meanwhile, A Beechworth Bakery Bears e-Book is available for pre-order.

Another installment here, and here.