Monkeys And Mangoes

· by · in Blogging. ·

Blogging used to be simple, quick, and easy for me. Lately, I’ve been struggling…

First, my 2010 MacBook Pro started showing signs of old age. I got a new one because I have 10 000 baby photos I want to archive and back up. (Yes, I know I can do it online too.)

Then, my iPad stopped working. So I’ve been blogging without editing any of my photos for a couple of months now. It’s not as inspiring and fun as it was when I could edit properly. Adding an iPhone filter isn’t exactly the same thing.

And now, my mirrorless Olympus DSLR won’t let me adjust its lens. *Sigh!*

It looks like my “photography blog” will be photoless for a while still. Maybe I’ll buy a macro clip for my iPhone.

Which brings me to other forms of creativity I could be engaging in. A couple of years ago, I was thrilled to receive a Wacom Intuos pen tablet as a birthday gift.

You can draw with it, though it takes a lot of practice to get in sync with the pen’s movements (I watched some videos of pros drawing amazing artwork with it). And you can also use it in the likes of PhotoShop.

I’ve always loved drawing… the results are still more wobbly with the Wacom pen than they would be with an old-fashioned pencil! But it’s fun to have the pictures available digitally.

I have some ideas I’d like to draw… cute prints for children’s clothes (just for fun)… comic strips about life… an icon or logo for my blog…

As for the picture of a monkey holding a mango… it’s an image I have had in my mind ever since I can remember. The middle part of an untold story perhaps. Doodles don’t have to make sense, do they? Maybe the story will come to me one day.

Speaking of stories, there’s a delightful blog I’d like to introduce you to, if you aren’t yet familiar with it: Uprooted Wanderers. The blogger, Véronique, lives in rural France (Parisian by origin) and she currently works on a ferry, sailing the seas amidst whales and sunsets. I’ve enjoyed some lovely chats with her – her positive and adventurous spirit is contagious! Do have a look!

What’s been going on in your life? Have you ever used a digital pen?

My blogging companions
Often recurring thoughts

41 responses to “Monkeys And Mangoes”

  1. Ahh, lovely, you’re so creative in many directions. 🙂 (Not lovely that stuff keeps malfunctioning.) This is one happy balloon, happy monkey and happy chocolate. (Oh, btw, I’ve just begun reading In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan and feel goooood even after only Foreword.)

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I like the monkey and the mango. It could be the title of a novel or a movie. Or a poem! Ripe the mango hung/brave the monkey swung/the forest held its breath/could this be the monkeys death?/but no, there was a roaring sigh/the monkey smiled and held the mango high. I used to draw a lot in earlier days but always with analog tools. I kind of forgot to draw but your monkey makes me want to look for my crayons again.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Peter, that poem is awesome and it fills my imagination with jungle scenes!!! Did you just make that up on the spot? Wow, I’m in awe. I would love to write children’s stories actually, and illustrate them too. One day, one day… Hope you do get out your crayons! I used to love crayons…

      Liked by 1 person

  4. You are such a sweetie!!!!

    Monsoon has got a Wacon but quickly left it to go back to paper and pens. I’ve tried to play with it but I cannot draw (generally!…) so the result was insignificant!
    I love your balloon very much and I’m looking forward to see what’s coming next!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, Véro!! 🙂 Drawing with a normal pencil the look and style are quite different, but I think there are a lot of things you can do better with Wacom, or maybe easier, eventually when you get the hang of it. But I still need to practice… a lot…!
      Also looking forward to reading about your next adventure 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Oh no, I feel your pain. It’s so stressful,when technology goes wrong. I think I would literally die if my iPad stopped working. I have 15,000 photos in the iCloud somewhere, although I’m not totally sure how these cloud thingies work, and I am petrified of losing everything. And I know the uprooted wanderers, a great blog to follow, I agree.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks for your empathy! 🙂 🙂 I had a nice system going, very streamlined, but now it’s just fallen apart and I don’t have time to try out new things as much as I’d like to. So, yes, a bit stressful. But it’s all good at the end of the day, this is just a hobby and if I don’t blog as much as I used to, then I’ll do something else instead… it might be healthy!

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Woman, you can draw! 😉 creativity comes in many forms! Pretty sure you’ll do great things that way too.
    On my side: last 2 weeks in Paris; getting ready for summer adventures! Lots of fun to be had! Can’t wait!
    Enjoy it all too! xoxoxo

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I hope your technology troubles are over. I find it disconcerting when something I use constantly suddenly dies, although it does bring a bit more in-the-moment consciousness to my activities, so I guess that’s good. You could make The Monkey and the Mango into an 80’s crime story!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Not sure how you’ll take it. Your photos are fabulous, especially those with a nostalgic touch, but your words even so. An insightful post stimulates and encourages the thinking and helps to generate new ideas. Your posts are in this category I think.

    I agree with you, The Monsoonfamily’s Mum is an amazing site packed with adventures. Already followed. Have a lovely day! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  10. The monkey with the mango – quite a common sight in India during the summer season :-). May be you were in India and it made an impression (lifetimes don’t matter ;-))…
    On the note of mangoes – whole India goes crazy in mango season – we have to eat as much as we can – man and monkey alike 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • That’s funny – I was wondering if monkeys and mangoes actually grow in the same area and I was too lazy to research it. Anyway, in my vision they did coexist. So India, eh…? I guess I must’ve been there in a previous life!!! Actually, I almost went there to work some 20 years ago: I was offered a job at a large travel agent’s contact center, flat included, New Delhi I think it was. But I ended up choosing some other job. In a parallel universe though, I probably went and saw monkeys and went crazy in mango season 😉

      Liked by 1 person

  11. I love your creativity.. I have the impression that you’re very good with story-telling through writing. Your drawings look good! Monkey holding a mango while on a beach evokes tropical daydreaming for me. I haven’t been very active with blogging either as I’ve just been so busy with my life.. there’s always so many things to do, and especially with good weather, I always have something planned which seem to be higher in priority than blogging. I have to change that hehe.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thanks Pooja for the lovely compliments! 💕 I’m pretty sure real life is more important than blogging so it’s good that you’re busy enjoying it! Especially with the sunny weather!! Over here, it’s been sunny but cold and windy. They say it’ll get warmer for Mudsummer though, which would be nice for a change! 😄

      Liked by 2 people

  14. Technology is so frustrating at times! Especially when you have to change to a new device. It seems to be so time consuming and the designers always seem to change the way it is presented so our minds have to re-learn a new system.. It sounds like you have more than just the Monkey and the Mango image in your mind. Perhaps the hand drawn pics will feature in your posts in the future?

    Liked by 2 people

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