Goodbye 2020 – Happy New Year!
Thank you All in the blogosphere for helping us stay reasonably sane this year ♥ We made it so far, and I believe there is a light in the tunnel for 2021. Take good care of yourselves and each other – hope to see you soon again! – Ann-Christine
I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
We all needed a break, so we went to the west coast for a day. To walk by the sea. To sit in the fresh breeze. To wash away November mood.
We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.
― William James
What’s in a word? “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” says Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.
I have never questioned blue or the phrase ”feeling blue” before. The connection just feels …right. But, when I look it up in various dictionaries, the association has got many explanations. Here are some:
In Greek mythology, blue is associated with rain. When Zeus was sad or crying, he would make it rain. Thus, the connection between the colour and the feeling.
Geoffrey Chaucer used ‘blewe’ in his poem ”The Complaint of Mars”. He writes: ”Wyth teres blewe and with a wounded herte.”
Which basically translates to: ”With tears blue and with a wounded heart”.
A naval explanation might be the old custom followed by deepwater sailing ships – If the ship lost the captain or any of the officers during its voyage, she would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her entire hull when returning to home port.
A scientific explanation is the proximity of dark blue to black on the colour scale, and the results of two studies indicating that feeling sadness may actually change how we perceive colour.
But blue is beautiful. It is the colour of our planet Earth. The Blue Planet.
Since last Thursday, life has changed, the world has changed and will never be quite the same again.
Last Wednesday I walked by the sea, contemplating the beautiful sunset.
And the sun went down, for the last time in my quiet and ordinary life.
I want to thank you from the depth of my heart, from every vibrating fibre, for all your warm greetings, your sincere condolences and your concern. I will keep them in my heart – Thank You. This is a truly magical community… In the header is a magical bouquet of flowers sent to me all the way from Australia. I cannot thank you enough – no one mentioned no one forgotten. I Love You All.
This week, Amy is our host, and she wants us to show the importance of negative space in our photography. Negative space is the area around the main subject of your photograph. (Which means that your main subject is the positive space) Check out her post, see brilliant examples and learn more about this!
Positive and negative space are two important tools for us to give an enhanced emotional feel to our images, which is essential in photography. Looking forward to seeing your choices!
Our special thanks to Rusha Sams for hosting last week’s Labor of Love. We had so many positive and uplifting experiences of genuine love and care!
Be sure to check out Tina’s Travels and Trifles post next week as she hosts Challenge #115.
And, as always – may you stay safe and well. Our thoughts these days go especially to all of you out there fighting the wild fires.
Today I have finished my Painted Ladies jigsaw puzzle – loved it. Painted really, so faces and details were very difficult to do. Thought mother’s birthday orchid also looked a bouquet of painted ladies…
This week, Patti is challenging us to capture A Quiet Moment. ” Maybe it’s a walk early in the morning or the time you sit down with a book and a cup of coffee. Include shots captured at home or in your neighborhood, or from a trip to a faraway place months or years ago. It’s totally up to you.”
As my Internet connection has been lost for some days, and I don’t know when it comes back, I am sending from my phone. Hopefully it will work anyway. I apologize for the post being a bit thin because of this situation – and not being able to comment on others’ posts until afterwards, but hope you will enjoy anyway. I am having quiet moments in more than a Midsummer way…
A forest exhibition at Wanås – old, embroidered linen in the silent trees.
My daughter in quiet contemplation over the summer night.
Even flowers have their quiet moments…
And you don’t have to be alone – you can be quiet together.
As always, thank you for your wonderful support of our challenges, and don’t forget to use our Lens-Artists tag to make people find you in the reader!
Stay well and safe – and treasure the quiet moments given to you.
Outside, the sun is shining and the birds are singing – it is a beautiful morning in my garden. For this week, I had already chosen Chaos, not knowing how well this would apply to what many of us are living in right now. Thinking about it this early Spring morning… it all feels unreal. But, the world is still standing, and the sun is still shining.
First, we want to send our heartfelt wishes to blogger friends all over the world, those who are quarantined and those who are not yet there. May we soon see an end to the spreading of the Corona virus. In this fearful situation, we are all grateful for the contact and support made possible via internet and blogging.
If you need further help with handling your thoughts on this pandemic situation, please visit Cindy Knoke . She gives sensible and expert advice.
My life is organized chaos. – Kathleen Kennedy says. And maybe that is what Life really is – so, how do You look upon, and handle, Chaos?
The word Chaos originally refers to the void state preceding the creation of the universe or in the Greek creation myths. Chaos in modern use, in the sense of ”complete disorder or confusion”, first appears in Elizabethan Early Modern English.
Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos. – Mary Shelley
I always think that women are the chaos managers of life. – Teresa Heinz
– Something my own experiences tell me is – true!
Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories. – Walter Benjamin
We will have a total chaos without books, literature, and library. – Anne Waldman
Using chaos as a creative force – might be a challenge. But, yesterday I watched the Swedish ”Culture News” program, where an Italian/Swedish author and an Iranian producer talked about the Corona situation in their countries. And yes, it was a heart warming program where I was really amazed at people’s creativity!
A video clip showed musicians and actors using their quarantine to paint, to learn another instrument or a new foreign language; to read books they otherwise wouldn’t have read. And some said they used this new ”free” time to spend it with their kids. Also interesting, was that Italians were allowed free use of internet on their cellphones.
Anything worth doing good takes a little chaos. – Flea
But I like the chaos. As long as it’s happy chaos. – Ayda Field
Let us focus on the possibilities, staying on the right track. Maybe nothing will be quite the same again – but let’s hope this chaos is the beginning of something new and positive. Maybe these quotes and images will release some more of your creativity for our journey together on this bumpy road…
Feel free to interpret Chaos any way you want – what it looks like, how you cope with it, how you work on it, what you will do when everything calms down, etc. We are looking forward to Your version of Chaos!
Many thanks to our guest host, Miriam of The Showers of Blessings, and her beautiful challenge – which gave us so many reflective reflections!
Have you seen these:
Elizabatz – clever and fun at the museum.
Klara – a very artistic post.
Rupali – amazing quotes too to go with her images.
Sandy – sandyjwhite – Puddle art.
As usual, Tina, Amy, Patti and I value your creative responses and thoughts. Thanks for joining us, and above all, Stay safe! On March 21, your host will be Amy of The World is A Book .
We welcome another guest blogger this week, Miriam of The Showers of Blessings. She suggests we find reflections to share.
Believe it or not, but I found myself in some of mine…even though I never do selfies.
Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
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Today, International Women’s Day, we might just change his quote a bit…and put in woman and women too.
Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?
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Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you’re just a reflection of him?
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Bewilderment increases in the presence of the mirrors.
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When do I see a photograph, when a reflection?
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A lake is a landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.
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These images were made in Iceland, Stettin, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Norway and Switzerland. As usual, click to enlarge.
For the rest of March, we will follow the usual schedule – and stay tuned for next Saturday when the host is me, Leya!
Leya 