Mehndi, my odd pleasure. This was the last one, a lotus and some abstract florals. I really liked it but didn’t have the time or energy to preserve it. A week later it was gone and I have only this to show for it.
If this bluetit’s behaviour is any indication, Spring is not far. There are no blue tits here to herald the coming of the warmth, no snowdrops nor bluebells in my garden. Instead the squirrels are the advance party, running back and forth along the overhead line.
Eventually, many of the rules don’t make sense anymore, in fact, they oppose sense. For so many years we told ourselves that this is the way to happiness, but the path of happiness isn’t marked on any map. Fulfillment comes from cutting our own path, stumbling and falling yes, but ultimately making our way, creating our own rules. It means removing, sometimes painfully, what we thought we ought to do. Then we are really living and just occasionally, we may be happy. Finally, happiness is less the point because we’re not striving for it any longer. Our search for it was really our search for authenticity, our yearning for self.
© S. Marian, Jan. 23, 2013
(Overall image design credit to S. Marian, Anais Nin for words that accompany image, and for photo source, click here.)
As an addendum to yesterday’s Skye posts, this is a bit of colour for those already in the grips of Autumn-Winter blues. Enjoy the colour on the Isle of Skye and dream of Spring…
(For photo source click here.)
The Colours of Scotland
These lovely girls were my bridesmaids. The wedding was a Scottish - Indian fusion. It was a great day, great because of their participation and excitement. A wedding is just one day and ours was informal and unconventionally ceremonial. I love their jewel colours, the different expressions on their faces, I love the way they’re looking at me as I walk down the stairs to my husband to be.
Once upon a time I lived in a fabby old house, an old post office to be exact. In the garden were some dilapidated sheds, one for coal, one for garden implements and one, I can’t remember what and well, it doesn’t matter. At the back of the sheds there was a small flower bed and then a phone box (red of course) and a post box, also red. What I loved though, was the colour of the old stained wood, darkish brown, very dark brown once but now faded like a lovely watercolour (which is what it was as Scotland is wet). In that bed grew these stalwart soldiers, tall upright stems of vibrant purple foxgloves. Normally I can take or leave the foxglove but up against this dark faded wood of the shed - it was so exquisite, the contrast of colour, the verticals of the wood and flowers. I tried numerous times to capture what I was seeing, with the camera. I never managed to. I stopped people, neighbours and the like and asked them, “don’t you think it’s gorgeous,” and of course they humoured their crazy neighbour but really, it was lovely . This is lovely too.
Hello ‘symptoms of eloquence’ - as we were talking roses, I thought I would try to show you my small, unimpressive specimens. I’m not over keen on roses, well I like them but they don’t move me like little wild flowers that grow in the grass between mowings (a lengthy time in our yard), nor as much as the small purpley blooms a rosemary bush produces but I like them nevertheless. I admire these because they’re stoic and ancient, they’ve been in the garden and withstood at least 6 occupants, have been here for over 40 years, get nothing from me other than the occasional trim and still valiantly bloom each year. They have the most delicate scent and their colour (not quite captured in this photo) is an antique shade of reddy-pink. I like to imagine the first couple in this home, planting these hopefully and nurturing them, sure that they would see them grow. I think they did and have a feeling they left in their older years when the house and garden became unmanageable. If flowers could talk, what stories would they tell? Prince Charles might be able to tell me something about that.
Some things lift us. It’s different for everyone; for you it may be shopping, taking a long hot bath, or killing some zombies on a Playstation game. For me, it’s books, music, light and colour. As soon as I scrolled past this picture I relaxed, my shoulders came down just a bit and I breathed more deeply. Isn’t this a beautiful table? It would be elegant but cold without all the light. With the candles and soft lighting from the branches above, and on the table reflecting off the silver and glass - it’s transformed into an illuminated meditation.
As a point of interest, studies have been done into the effect of lighting on growth, development, behaviour and psychological well being. One report done in five elementary schools analysed all these factors over a two year period, using four different types of lighting. The four types used were full spectrum fluorescent, full spectrum fluorescent with ultraviolet light supplements, cool white fluorescent and high pressure sodium vapour. The students who were exposed to the ultraviolet light supplements had diminished dental decay (of tooth and bone), better attendance, greater gains in height and weight and better overall academic performance. Students under the high pressure sodium vapour lighting had the slowest rates of growth and less positive outcomes in the other named areas.
(click on the link to view the study)
