back yard nature garden

A wonderful gesture, to allow one's back yard to return to nature; a variety of wild flowers and plants take over. A microcosmos of insects and tiny creatures can flourish in such a place.

weird weather

watercolors from Lohbado's sketchbook

A mini heat wave at the end of September, first time in this northern land it ever happened in Lohbado's experience. Lohbado spent the final hot day in various parks as wind intensified and rain clouds rolled in. A downpour happened, but not so severe as forecasted, thank goodness.Today the temperatures dropped back to seasonal normal in Montreal.

Anxiety and malaise

            Lohbado went to La Bibliothèque nationale du Québec to continue research on the Mornovian Mysteries. He sat outside to eat his lunch and listened to someone’s story of a troubled past and turmoil. The conversation made Lohbado contemplate the connection of poverty, violence, addiction and mental illness. Poverty and misfortune increases one’s desperation. This leads to a state of chronic malaise, anxiety and panic. more story and pictures after the jump

friendly gesture

Lohbado reflected about paranoia on his morning walk. He directed his mind to friendly thoughts as opposed to being pulled into thoughts of destruction and hostile forces.

friendly gesture

Lohbado reflected about paranoia on his morning walk. He directed his mind to friendly thoughts as opposed to being pulled into thoughts of destruction and hostile forces.

vivid colours in the garden

There's something refreshing about being in a garden and enjoying the vivid colours and perfume. more photos after the jump.

natural garden first day of autumn

Some pictures of a beautiful nature preserve in the city. more photos after the jump

luminous

Sun and moon reflected in a mirror, Lohbado took a few photos of red, blue yellow, green, various substances. more photos after the jump

creative evolution

Darwin, amoeba, apes, homo sapiens, world leaders... evolution, origin of species; Henri Bergson wrote creative evolution. Lohbado hasn't finished the book yet; but already, exciting images emerge... more photos after the jump

born with a buttery spoon in the mouth

Lohbado wasn't born with a silver spoon. An old buttery spoon, stainless steel with some engraving on the back, Buttersby Steelson Spoon. What a delight! Lohbado's birth name was Peter Stumps. He loved the buttersby spoon. His father Stonehenge smiled. Appreciate what you have. True wealth lies in resourcefulness, ability to live by one's wits and to cheer up. All the wealth in the world is of no use if you're miserable. You could be poor as a church mouse, but if you're cheerful... that's the trick. Prince Hamlet said "I could be bounded in a walnut shell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams." Shakespeare, Hamlet act 2 scene 2. Too bad for Hamlet. He ended up killing quite a few people by the end of  the play. What a wasted opportunity. He had it all, Ophelia, palace life. He got sucked into some sort of Oedipal thing... death of the father, jealous of his mother's new husband.

Bad dreams were beyond his control. Hamlet, a biological creature with a huge irrational side and a dose of melancholia responded to causes and conditions. He saw his murdered father's ghost.

Ok, it's a sunny end of September in Montreal, cha cha cha. Life, given climate change and all, is far from being a bowl of cherries. Some cherries developed mold. A plate of cookies might do.

primal substance

Over 2,500 years ago philosophers speculated about primal substance, ousia or the nature of being. The preSocratics came up with theories of earth, air, fire and water. Some argued all things were a mode of air. Others said it was fire and so on. Plato's dialogues involve discussion ousia, or the nature of being and non-being. Everything exists. Is it possible for there to be non-being? Non-being exists as a concept, therefore it isn't truly non-being. It's more like absence, or a relative non-being. Absence exists as the concept of lack of being at a certain place at a certain time. Or it could be absence of water in a glass, after one drinks the water, the non-presence of water in a glass.

Being is all that there is. What is the definition of is?  A definition is a sequence of words, within a grammar tradition. One could run around in circles. Any answer is something within experience, if it is to be understood. One would have to go beyond language, beyond human experience to crack the riddle of the universe. Is it possible to go beyond one's body/mind continuum?

inner cosmos

moldy pickles

Inner cosmos, innerverse, to explore inwards, as opposed to outwards into the universe, discover the inner universe; not that they're separate. It's a funny way of describing introspection, contemplation, to look at one's mind. To arrive at a clear and distinct knowledge of things is what reason enjoys, wrote Spinoza in Ethics. The highest joy of reason is knowledge of infinite nature. There's the relative state of affairs in the everyday world, the turmoil of emotions, conflict of opinions, hustle and bustle. It's easy to get lost and confused, sucked into pointless struggle and claustrophobic thought loops.

The pain of confusion caused Lohbado to stop and reflect, to sit down, to have a look at what appeared to be going on in his mind and in the world. It's an exciting exploration, the journey inwards. Journey implies a goal or destination. Reason enjoys knowledge of essence, nature of things, the absolute. There's no destination other than to make the journey, see what's there, to grow like a plant towards the sun of wisdom. As one relaxes and pays attention, gradually the clouds of confusion begin to dissolve. Inner turmoil gives way to calm and serene waves.

mold icons

Each Lohbado session with the camera involves a story, with many chapters or episodes. The above sequence involves a jar of pickles a previous tenant abandoned. It got pushed to the back of a cupboard. The expiry date was over ten years ago. A thick layer of mold had formed on top of the brine. When Lohbado poured the pickles into a bowl, they disintegrated into mush.

The above images struck Lohbado as similar to stained glass windows, or religious icons. They cause the mind to skip a thought, a brief moment of surprise. One stops to have a look, to go beyond emotional response and actually examine what is before the eye. A whole range of rich colours and textures unfolded before Lohbado's camera.

pretty pickles

A beautiful green world of pickles in a jar of brine, Lohbado got close to have a look.

cherry mold landscape

Lohbado walked into the kitchen to admire a plate of moldy cherries. It brought back memories of a desolate landscape, the Plains of Radiation, which he crossed after the Apocalyptic War in the Cha Region of the Poh Valley in the Secret Desert.

wine glass conundrum

A cracked wine glass, too bad, don't use it. Lips could get hurt on the crack or sharp edge. What do do? Use it for cherry juice. Juice spilled all over the plate. Lohbado put down a glass of beer for a closer look.

crystal pudding flower

emerging flower crystal

 Out of the compote pudding biscuit cherry gravy sauce emerged a crystal stem with a flower on top.

big Loba bang

Out of a swirling chaos of moldy cherries, brown pudding and some sort of oil in a crystal glass a bang occurred, a mini cosmos began.

hurricane prayer

A news channel said to go ahead and pray for mercy as the hurricanes sweep across islands and up Florida. Lohbado prayed for a world in which leaders would make facing climate change a priority instead of spending so much on military and nuclear weapons.

uncork the wine

watercolours from Lohbado sketchbook

Friday seems like as good a time as any to uncork the wine. In this case, Lohbado is speaking figuratively, since there's no more wine in Lohbado's cupboard. However he has lots of cups. The idea is to pause a moment, relax. Of course to pause and relax could be like releasing a genii from a bottle, or like opening Pandora's box. A waterfalls of mental chatter comes frothing out the top of the bottle. Pour into a glass. Eventually sediments settle to the bottom.

Once the mind settles, it's a fine time to contemplate the mysteries of being somebody swept along in a world beyond one's control. One is a biological being, body and mind intertwined. Mind can operate in an invisible realm to sort things out, or to try and find meaning. The content of thought can be traceable back to material things. Material things are understood in the realm of thought. 

Lohbado often felt like a fly trapped in a jar. Both fly and jar dissolve under close scrutiny. But without a jar and fly, such scrutiny would not be possible.