In Honour of #WorldPhotoDay

It is World Photo Day and to celebrate the pleasure and purpose of photography (which is varied), I am sharing some of the photos I have taken over the years. I enjoy the process of taking photos – staring at things through the filter of a camera and the possibility of capturing something special. It can be a profoundly pleasurable and therapeutic process.

Scenes at home……or abroad……black and white……or splendid colour!I take photos of birds……bees……flowers……trees……the moon up above…

…and a thing called love!

(And I acknowledge my trusted little camera, which I have had for about seven years.)

 

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Sometimes You Just Need To Wander…

Those unscheduled hours are so important. When you have no real plan and wander around letting the path attract you, rather than the destination. It’s debatable whether this is the best approach to one’s entire life journey, but certainly it should fit in somewhere. Undoubtedly while on vacation.

The other evening I wandered around for a while, after a wonderful visit to the Tate Modern to see the very special Georgia O’Keefe exhibition going on there.

I took a few photos of the statue of the Duke of Wellington outside the Royal Exchange…

…and of the War Memorial.

The City of London has plenty churches! And while passing one, I heard the organist and (small) choir practicing for a service at 6 and decided to attend.

The church was built by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The central altar by Henry Moore was installed in 1987 and was the subject of much controversy at the time.

Such a beautiful ceiling!

I enjoyed the organ music, particularly the postlude, which was Sortie in B flat by Louis Lefébure-Wély. A lively piece! The organist was Joe Sentance. (Here is a link to a YouTube selection of pieces played by André Isoir which has the Sortie in B flat as its first piece, if you are interested.)

I didn’t stay for the reception in the church garden afterwards, but in chatting for a bit with the woman who sat next to me during the service, I discovered that she had known my mother’s godfather & that her family had been friends with his. Small world indeed!

I left, focusing on my destination again, and headed home (my temporary home, that is). And it was still light out, something I am still getting used to…

 

Ministry of Health Jamaica: 6 weeks of #zika numbers

On July 5, the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Jamaica began posting updates on its website regarding the number of zika cases. The first update was for data as of June 25, 2016 and since then the MOH has posted a further 6 updates, the most recent of which was posted on August 8 and contained the numbers up to August 5, 2016. All 7 updates are currently available on the MOH website, but for easy review I have included the chart below:

One of the questions which remains for me is why there have been so few confirmed cases, given the steadily increasing numbers of reported and suspected cases. It would be useful for the MOH to publish data regarding the number of samples submitted for testing, the number of tests completed and the outcomes of these tests.

It would also be useful for the MOH to make public any reports on any problems being experienced with the testing that has been and is being done. I had asked some time ago, for example, about a doctor’s comment on having heard from two sources that a lack of a reagent had been hampering the testing of samples.

Dr Tufton had said via Twitter that he would check on that report. I haven’t heard an update from Dr Tufton on that reported lack of reagent, but it is entirely possible that I missed his update.

I heard CMO Dr De La Haye saying on a radio programme this morning (Nationwide News Network) that routine testing of all pregnant women could cost as much as J$100 million. If such an expenditure is being contemplated, it would be good to have an assurance that the process would be reliable.

The zika outbreak and its impacts continue to unfold, and the provision of information continues to be an important aspect of the government response.

 

From An Airplane Window…

I don’t normally take a window seat on an airplane, much preferring the freedom of movement promised by an aisle seat. On this flight I was at the window, and nature provided a spectacular show.

It was raining when we took off, but was a relatively smooth flight once we got above the clouds.

For much of the journey, the view from the window was within the range of normal spectacular…clouds of various types…Then, about two-thirds of the way, the setting sun took over the sky and the view became truly spectacular!I gazed out of the window for most of the rest of the flight…Eventually things returned to “normal”…And we landed.When they said there was no in-flight entertainment on this trip, they were wrong.