This is Tanah Lot in Bali, a place I’ve never been.  I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what the attractions of that location are, nor the books I’d read stretched out looking over the tidal race. 

I looked for an image to inspire, an image to pull me in - an unforgettable place.  What’s so facinating is the hugely subjective nature of what is unforgettable.  Some posted bustling cities, cars and buildings and urban sprawl, for others it was the drama and beauty of the countryside.  For me the litmus test is simple: if I feel drawn into the photo, it’s a place for me.  I can see myself with a cool drink on a lounger, writing, reading, chatting without a phone or computer in sight - what about you?  

What do Sigmund Freud, toothache, dreams and serial killers have in common?  Read on and all will be revealed.  Yesterday while I sat waiting in the naturopath’s office, I picked up one of the worthy magazines.  I would prefer something less wholesome and more diverting, and normally bring a book.  I had selected a naturopath’s publication and was drawn by “Maria’s story.”  She’d gone to her practitioner because she had toothache.  She preferred not to visit the dentist as she was a dental phobic.  The next part is what I found facinating.  The naturopath told her that all answers to all potential questions about our health can be accessed, we simply can’t store them in our conscious memory.  She was instructed to repeat the question to herself, “Why do I have toothache,” four of five times before going to sleep.  Finally, she was to keep a pen and paper near the bed and any dreams she had would hold the answer.  

Maria’s toothache was terrible and now she was suffering from persistent nerve pain as well.  She went to bed, repeated the question and fell asleep.  In the morning, she jotted down her dream and some days later, visited her naturopath.  The pain was even worse and she was really suffering.  After asking her how she was feeling, he inquired about her dreams.  She told him she’d had one that night, but it didn’t reveal anything and made no sense.  She went on to describe a dream involving a dog and some other people, a man who she somehow knew to be a serial killer.  She said, “You see, it doesn’t help.”  He thought about it for a moment and then told her, the message was in her dream, in a phonetic interpretation of the key words, “serial killer.”  He said it could also mean “cereal killer,” and that her body was trying to tell her that she was intolerant to cereals.  

Maria left and cut out cereals from her diet for a while and her toothache disappeared.  I really don’t know what to think about this story.  Naturopaths can test for food intolerances and that would seem a simpler solution.  Freud, Jung and other notables in the field of psychology and dream analysis would agree, much meaning is to be derived from dreams.  How valuable are they?  What messages and meaning, if any, do they hold?

For the hillwalkers / climbers, this is an image for you.  The challenge of the climb, the solitude, beauty and grandeur and the feeling of leaving it all behind,  far below.  

(Stuc an Coire Laoigh II., credit to Frank Heumann)

Black faced sheep near Plockton, Lochalsh.  They are hardy souls, thriving on often inadequate grazing.  They make great Mothers, will see off any threat without hesitation.  They are also the backbone of the Scottish sheep industry, their fleece which is springy and coarse can be found in many Axminster and Wilton carpets.  I once had a black faced sheep named after me, for her apparent ‘dignity, bearing and obvious intelligence.’  I don’t know what happened to Stephanie the Sheep, last I heard, she was sold to someone called Catriona the Hen, but that’s another story.  

(Photo credit goes to Frank Heumann, Sheep Whisperer Extraordinaire)

I want to talk about two things; one is images and what they convey and the other is words and what they evoke.  All of these fabulous images have been borrowed from the visually stunning blog of La Peskada (I’m reliably informed this means “little fish”).  A visit to this blog is never dull, it’s like a trip to the world’s best gallery; each image with a story to tell (such as the interesting story behind the photo of the two lovely women).  They’re dramatic, beautiful, sexy, bold, sweet or edgy but whatever they are, they always make me feel things. (click on the link below).  This is what good writing should do too, except with words.  I would like to encourage you to come to my blog and have a scroll through the posts, settle down with a glass of wine or a cup of tea and read.  Take 5 minutes and read and see if it doesn’t make you feel, think, take you somewhere else or compel you to smile.  

Tomorrow I’ll be posting on the subject of changing roles, women and how one influential person thought a life could have meaning.  Come to “A View From Outside the Box,” to find out more, url: adialogue.  It’s only a click away! 

“A last look, some lipstick and then they would be together.  So many arrangements to be made and stories to be told to make this possible. Her stomach kept sending little shots of electricity upward and down.  The black stillettos were perfection, she radiated confidence and sexuality.  Meeting like this out in the country, having left their obligations and roles behind was the reason she came - it was the most intensely exciting thing in her life, their once a month tryst.  Afterwards they would return to their lives, back to their jobs, home, and to their two children. After 17 years together, it was amazing they could still feel like this.”      (© S. Marian 12.3.12, ‘adialogue’)

Thank you for following me “reinfriedmarass”, photographer of the old school who has adapted superbly to the digital age.  You prefer your ‘viewer’ to interact in their own way with each photo, their interpretation and story unique.  The material you provide with your sensitive use of natural light and fine composition fills the viewer with stories.  Your photos are deceptively simple but the longer one looks at them, the more they are drawn in.  In thanks I have given you a little story that was inspired by the lady and the rearview mirror.  This photo graced the cover of Italian Vogue - very impressive and more so knowing that this Vogue is more art than commercialism.