The Rising of the Phoenix

 

Like Lazarus rising from the dead, or a phoenix rising from the ashes, here is another resurrection post.

I’m still here, still enjoy all things Lego, but as is the way of the world, real life has a horrible habit of getting in the way of the fun stuff. When life is so busy it is hard to be creative, or at least it is for me. It seems that my brain needs to have the time and space to be restless in order to let the creative thought process begin and when it is constantly full of real life stuff to juggle, it doesn’t get that downtime in order for the thought processes to wander.

However every once in a while there is a rare moment where that creative clarity appears from seemingly nowhere.

Many months ago, and thinking back, we are talking about last year, chatting with an old friend about minifigs and a recent one off acquisition of new one, the banter between us created that space my brain needed to bounce around off. Whilst putting the new purchase away in my Lego store box, I had a quick look through some of my other stuff stored in there and discovered another minifig I had bought at the time, put together and put in there for safe keeping until such a time when I could ‘play’. In doing so the synapses started firing, and a photo of another good friend sprang to mind.

This friend has a thing for tractors, and at a fancy dress sports event a few years ago took the opportunity to jump onto the groundsman’s tractor and get a photo taken. The team’s choice of fancy dress for that year was just as randomly, crayons!

As it so happens, Lego had produced a crayon minifig, and it was this that I had rediscovered in my box. Not only that but as the stars etc aligned, the colour of the minifig crayon, was also almost identical to the colour costume my friend had worn for the fancy dress sports event.

As soon as I spied it in the box, I knew at some point I just had to recreate that photo for them, so here it is!

 

Ooh a tractor…

No doubt it will be another goodness knows how many years again before I post anything, however when life permits I will.

A Cosy Winter’s Night…

After a long evening relaxing by the fire Adrian decided it was time to call it a night.

 

There is something about the long drawn out winter nights that make you wish to hunker down and cosy up for the night, be it with a good book, the television, friends and family or just a pet for company. In the northern hemisphere today marks the winter solstice, with the shortest number of daylight hours and the longest night. In some countries that means pretty much perpetual darkness at this time of year. Whether you wish to call it a solstice, midwinter, Yule or any of the other ancient names for celebrating this time of year, I hope you can enjoy it in any which way you prefer.

For me I’d be happy with warmth, a good book and family around me, and I never say no to a good game of scrabble  either. As an AFOL I’d not say no to a nice evening spent building or creating a lego set or scene either, but that really is a rare event!

Reflections

Lewis always found Christmas to be a time for reflections.

 

Inspiration has finally struck. Amazing how creativity can only really come when you have time to stop and think and not be rushing around constantly engaged in activities, or all your time taken up with work and doing things for other people. Boredom inspires creativity. Or at least a mind free to wander. Maybe we should let kids be bored more often rather than providing them with, or the means for constant immediate stimulation? They after all are the future, the future writers, engineers, entrepreneurs, artist, inventors, discoverers.

I’ve been able to reflect a lot on life recently. Sometimes it takes a fairly major life event to make you evaluate everything so far, where you’ve been, what you’ve done and where you may end up. Some reflections are good, others cause us slightly more pain, but I feel in the modern world we are all missing out on time to reflect, think and just be. It is important to be able to. And out of part of that time reflecting, and having the time and opportunity to let ones mind wander in order to find creativity, I finally find I can express myself via my Lego minifgure photography once again. Life is balanced again, even if just for a short while.

 

Book 39 ~ The Fishermen

The Fishermen ~ Chigozie Obioma

This book was first published in 2015. As it was published I knew it would make a great minifig book cover. It is now 2018, 3 years later and my fourth attempt at getting a semi decent image.

Attempt one was in Febuary 2016 – yes I am mad enough to stand in freezing cold natural water in the middle of a wood, in February to get a lego photo. Of course they were rubbish, as suspect due to camera shake due to being half submerged in icy water.

Attempt 2 was a few weeks later, when it was a little warmer and once again I found myself in a wood with a suitable patch of water. Once again for various reasons it wasn’t meant to be.

Attempt 3 did at least take place in summer. August is better for standing ankle or knee deep in random ponds and the like, once again in a wood, except this time I didn’t have to actually get in the water to get the right angle. However the location wasn’t really the best, and the light, or lack of it was seriously hindering my progress.

So we then fast forward a couple of years and finally I have a nice warm day for paddling, a suitable place with enough light, and a photo I’m kind of happy with. It could be improved, but I can assure you kneeling in the shallows of a river is quite painful, especially when it’s pebbly. I had the imprints in my knees for hours afterwards!

 

The Return

Yes I have seemingly abandoned everything over a time period I’d rather not mention as it has been far too long. Life stuff has just got in the way of the fun stuff. After a tough 6 months, it has made me realise that despite the life stuff that has to be done, you have to seriously balance that up with some fun stuff, now I do do some fun stuff in between the life stuff, but not the really fun stuff, the fun stuff that lets me truly be me.

I’m hoping that this will change. One thing that has helped is the new release of minifigs. This release is celebrating 40 years of minifigs. That makes them as old as me, or me as old as them, take your pick. So with some renewed inspiration – hopefully, and a concerted effort to create time for the fun stuff, I aim to be posting more regularly again. Maybe not weekly, but certainly more than I have been.

So to welcome you all back, I have not one, but two images for you to hopefully enjoy. Here’s hoping the creative juices can begin to flow again.

Ezrah had always been a brick.

This was one of the first minifigs I managed to get from the new series. Quite a cool idea for a minifig. There is quite a bit of potential with most of this series of minifigs.

 

And now for something completely different……. The return of Bob. My travelling, adventuring, exploring minifig.

 

 

Bob and his Dad along with Max the dog had enjoyed exploring the island and its old buildings

 

I managed to get out for a couple of days over the recent Easter break. We had a little trip out to a nearby island to wander round looking at the old abbey as well as the more modern buildings left over from fortification during both the World Wars. Bob came along too of course. It was certainly about time that he managed to get out and do some exploring again.

So not only a return from Bob and the rest of the minifig crew, but also a return from me being creative and getting out there and having fun once again.

 

Launching Louie

 

 

Liberty had heard there was a new unicorn in town………

 

Who expected after a random conversation two years ago, that I’d once again be collaborating with the author Rachel Hamilton again for the launch of her next children’s book, and all because of a chance comment about LEGO loo’s!

This time she steps away from exploding objects (well I don’t think there are many exploding objects in her newest book) and enters into the world of unicorns. Not just any unicorn, but Louie the unicorn. A unicorn in New York.

So of course when she asked if I could come up with another LEGO based photo to coincide with the release of her book, I couldn’t resist. The thinking cap was on, and despite a slight technical hitch along the way ( a vital piece of my plan, that hasn’t turned up as yet) we have at least something LEGO minifigure based to do the job. Well I hope it does. I’m always a little nervous when I’ve done something specifically for someone else, as you never know if they are going to like it or not. Generally they do, which is great, and is the icing on the cake (something Rachel likes I believe, but who doesn’t like cake?) when they love your work as much as you do.

So Louie may make an appearance as part of the ‘booklego’ series I’m doing as well, or at least once Louie arrives here at World of Minifigs that is. So far it looks like he’s on an extended vacation to New York, however in the meantime, if you wish to find out what happens to Louie, you can find out by reading his adventures in ‘Louie Lets Loose’!

 

Book 37 ~ Robots of Dawn

The Robots of Dawn ~ Isaac Asimov

Not my usual genre of choice when it comes to reading material, however my cousin introduced to Asimov a few years ago when he bought me a couple of books as a gift. The Robots of Dawn was one of them, and I have to say I really enjoyed it, and the others in the ‘robot’ series. The Robots of Dawn is the third book in the series, the first two being The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun.

The Robots of Dawn ~ Isaac Asimov: Plainclothesman Baley must travel from Earth to another planet to investigate the murder of Robot Jander. Jander who was designed after Baley’s robot friend and partner, Daneel Olivaw, has been put in ‘roblock’ and his mind has been erased. The robot’s creator is suspected as the murderer because he has political motives, as well as admitting that he is the only person with the skill to have done it.

Book 36 ~ Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins ~ P L Travers

Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way. The Disney film, was shown on tv pretty much every Christmas when I was little, and it wasn’t until several years later that I first read the actual book. Like most books they differ slightly from the film adaptations, with some things omitted and other situations included that didn’t necessarily appear in any of the books. P L Travers wrote eight books based on and around the magical nanny, Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins ~ P L Travers:  The magical English nanny, Mary Poppins is blown by the East wind to Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane, London, and into the Banks’s household to care for their children after their old Nanny, Katie Nana, storms out in a huff. Although Mary Poppins seems stern, vain, and usually cross, but the children soon discover that she has a magical touch that makes her wonderful, leading them to all kinds of  encounters with chimney sweeps, shopkeepers and  other various adventures. That is until Mary Poppins abruptly leaves when the West wind blows.

Book 35 ~ The Hobbit

The Hobbit ~ JRR Tolkien

The Hobbit ~ JRR Tolkien: Bilbo is a hobbit who lives in Hobbiton and refuses to have anything to do with adventures.  Gandalf, a wizard proposes an adventure to Bilbo after inviting himself to tea. When he arrives, he comes with a company of dwarves armed with a treasure map. The map piques Bilbo’s curiosity, and he is soon off on an adventure in search of the evil dragon Smaug who has stolen the Dwarves treasure.

At the moment I wish I had my own hobbit hole. Life is just far too busy and taking time away from the things I want to do, like photos, hence the gaps in posting the next installments here. Hopefully soon, like Bilbo I can retreat back to my hobbit hole for a quiet life, but there are a few more adventures I need to take part in first. Sadly none of them seem to involve treasure.

Book 34 ~ The Horse And His Boy

The Horse and His Boy ~ CS Lewis

The Horse and His Boy was the fifth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, although it appears as the 3rd book in the series, in order of chronology of Narnian history.  I had read the Magician’s Nephew as part of a class topic in Primary School. I still have my work book from the time. Later on I read the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe. Despite having the complete set of Narnia stories, I never got into reading the rest of the books until much later on in life. However once I did, I was drawn back into the magical world, and couldn’t put them down until I had finished them all. I just wish that I had discovered them all sooner.

The Horse and His Boy ~ CS Lewis: On a desperate journey, Shasta and his horse Bree, meet fellow escapee Aravis and her horse Hwin and join forces. Though they are only looking to escape their harsh and narrow lives, they soon find themselves at the center of a terrible battle. It is a battle that will decide their fate and the fate of Narnia itself.