The first link on one memorable day

“That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”
This is a quotations from Dickens' novel "Great Expectations".  It made me think of the first day I produced a Blip and decided that my Blipname would be Hildasrose.  Then I started looking at the world around me with different eyes and writing a journal I would never have written if it hadn't been for Blipfoto.  I would certainly never have taken a shot with a short DoF of a slightly faded rose sitting in a vase in my hallway.  I would never have been anticipating a Blipmeet in Stratford tomorrow.  And I certainly wouldn't have been on the edge of presenting you all with a February Dickens Challenge in which you can use one of the quotations for the week, produce a shot more or less loosely connected with the quote and explain the connections for us...  If you would like the challenge emailed to you, please contact me via the email address on my profile.

Have fun!

Here is a link to the challenge

 
Blipfoto Dickens’ Challenge 2016
 
This challenge will take place over the 4 weeks of February to celebrate the Anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth on 7 February, 1812.
 
The challenge will look at 1 or 2 novels per week with 5 quotations being offered from the novel(s) which Blippers can select from to interpret as they wish. We would like to see an explanation of your interpretation in the journal.  You might just select one word or phrase which speaks to you.  You might want to consider the whole quotation.  You might want to make it totally relevant to Dickens’ ideas.  You might want to offer your own ideas using Dickens’ words.  We are really excited by the prospect of seeing your ideas!
 
Please tag them with quote number  (eg DOT1) and post your blip(s) by the end of the appropriate week in any order you wish.  You don’t have to do all five, you can do one of them more than once if you wish.  They should be posted by the end of Saturday of the week and Hearts will be awarded on Sundays as far as possible.
 
At the start of March, we are hoping to organize a Blipmeet at the Dickens Museum in London to celebrate the end of the challenge and we hope that some of you will be able to join us.  We love a good Blipmeet!  This will be on Friday 11 March.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions.  Most of all, have fun!
 
Rose and Kathy  (Hildasrose and Chantler63)
 
HERE ARE THE QUOTATIONS
 
Week 1  (Week beginning Monday 1 February)
Oliver Twist
 
Dickens Oliver Twist 1 (DOT1)
 
“Please, sir, I want some more.”
 
Dickens Oliver Twist 2 (DOT2)
 
“The sun,--the bright sun, that brings back, not light alone, but new life, and hope, and freshness to man--burst upon the crowded city in clear and radiant glory. Through costly-coloured glass and paper-mended window, through cathedral dome and rotten crevice, it shed its equal ray.”
 
 
 
Dickens Oliver Twist 3 (DOT3)
 
“There are a good many books, are there not, my boy?” said Mr. Brownlow, observing the curiosity with which Oliver surveyed the shelves that reached from the floor to the ceiling.
 
“A great number, sir,” replied Oliver; “I never saw so many.”
 
“You shall read them if you behave well,” said the old gentleman kindly; “and you will like that, better than looking at the outsides, - that is, in some cases, because there are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.”
 
Dickens Oliver Twist 4 (DOT4)
 
“The law is a ass, Sir!”
 
Dickens Oliver Twist 5 (DOT5)
 
“Meat, ma'am, meat.”
 
Week 2 (Week commencing Monday 8 February)
Hard Times
 
Dickens Hard Times 1 (DHT1)
 
 “She was the most wonderful woman for prowling about the house. How she got from one storey to another was a mystery beyond solution. A lady so decorous in herself, and so highly connected, was not to be suspected of dropping over the banisters or sliding down them, yet her extraordinary facility of locomotion suggested the wild idea.”
 
Dickens Hard Times 2 (DHT2)
 
"It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood, it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage."
 
Dickens Hard Times 3 (DHT3)
 
“You have been so careful of me that I never had a child's heart.
You have trained me so well that I never dreamed a child's dream. You have dealt so wisely with me, Father ,from my cradle to this hour, that I never had a child's belief or a child's fear.
Mr. Gradgrind was quite moved by his success, and by this testimony to it. " My dear Louisa," said he, you abundantly repay my care. Kiss me, my dear girl.”
 
Dickens Hard Times 4 (DHT4)
 
“Stephen Blackpool fall into the loneliest of lives, the life of solitude among a familiar crowd. The stranger in the land who looks into ten thousand faces for some answering look and never finds it, is in cheering society as compared with him who passes ten averted faces daily, that were once the countenances of friends”
 
Dickens Hard Times 5 (DHT5)
 
“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.”
 
Week 3 (Week commencing Monday 15 February)      
Great Expectations
 
Dickens Great Expectations 1 (DGE1)
 
“Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces – and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her!”
 
Dickens Great Expectations 2 (DGE2)
 
“Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”
 
Dickens Great Expectations 3 (DGE3)
 
“Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.”
 
Dickens Great Expectations 4 (DGE4)
 
“There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.”
 
Dickens Great Expectations 5 (DGE5)
 
“I have often thought him since, like the steam hammer, that can crush a man or pat an eggshell, in his combination of strength with gentleness”
 
 
 
 
Week 4 (Week commencing Monday 22 February)
A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield
 
Dickens Tale of Two Cities 1 (DToTC1)
 
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
 
Dickens Tale of Two Cities 2 (DToTC2)
 
"A multitude of people and yet solitude."
 
Dickens Tale of Two Cities 3 (DToTC3)
 
“Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; - the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!”
 
Dickens David Copperfield 1 (DDC1)
 
“Trifles make the sum of life. ”
 
Dickens David Copperfield 2 (DDC2)
 
“The streets looked small, of course. The streets that we have only seen as children always do I believe when we go back to them”
 
 
 
And a bonus one for you to try anytime you wish!
 
 
Dickens Dombey and Son  (DDaS)
 
" If you could see my legs when I take my boots off, you'd form some idea of what unrequited affection is."
 
AND  if you have a favourite quotation you would like to do, please do it and tag it “Dickensownchoice”.