a gentleman at one of the "old camera" forums i frequent yesterday referred to my photographs as "syrupy", and my anxious alarm ("syrupy"? moi?)- along with my intuitive reluctance to succumb to despair - sent me searching the thesaurus.

i took another look at some of the images from england-last-week (larger here, here,
here, and here), and read, meanwhile:

"bathetic, befuddled, confused, cornball, drippy, emotional, gushing, insipid, lachrymose, mawkish, mushy, romantic, schmaltzy, sentimental, slush, soap, soapy, soppy, syrupy, tear-jerking, tearful, teary, weak, weepy"

i seriously considered hanging up my nikon forever. but i read, undaunted, further:

"adventurous, amorous, bathetic, charming, chimerical, chivalrous, colorful, corny,
created, daring, dreamy, enchanting, erotic, exciting, exotic, extravagant, fairy-tale,
fanciful, fantastic, fascinating, fond, glamorous, idealistic, idyllic, imaginary, imaginative, impractical, invented, lovey-dovey, loving, maudlin, mushy, mysterious, nostalgic, novel, passionate, picturesque, poetic, quixotic, starry-eyed, syrupy, tear-jerking, tender, unrealistic, utopian, visionary, whimsical, wild"

this - "syrupy" as "sweet" - i can live with.
oh yes: i'm a positive, albeit deluded, soul.