Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, photography on March 17, 2010| 2 Comments »
I listened to a Thich Nhat Hanh talk yesterday. He said, without impermanence there is no life. I hadn’t thought about that before. He said, without impermanence the seed will not become a flower.
Without impermanence we wouldn’t get to enjoy these beautiful blossoms every year.
Posted in from the dark room, photography on March 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Posted in from the dark room, photography on March 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Try this.
click on this photo and you’ll be taken to the original I uploaded onto Flickr. Click on it there and choose the “all sizes” option on the top left above the photo. Look at it in the biggest version available.
Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it as if there’s a whole universe in there? In that single flower? Look at the colours. Aren’t they astonishing?
I hope you enjoy this little tulip moment.
Posted in from the dark room, photography on March 14, 2010| 1 Comment »
Every Spring in Japan the Cherry Blossom appearance is a great event. Thousands of people go out with their cameras and photograph the new blossom, the parks are full of strollers wandering around, stopping to look at the blossom-laden trees. The front pages of the national newspapers in Japan carry photos of the first blossom and the nightly TV news tracks the spread of the blossom through the country day by day. We don’t have anything quite like that in the UK, or anywhere else I’m aware of actually, but there’s a little village in the South of France which is named after it’s spectacular annual blossom and this year, after several years of wishing, I’ve managed to make a trip to see it.
Let me show you around.
The village is Bormes les Mimosa. Here’s what the village looks like during the blossoming of the Mimosa trees.
Let me share some photos of the Mimosa with you, then I’ll show you some of the village.
Sadly, I’m not very good at describing scents but the scent of this blossom is really lovely. It’s everywhere in the village making the whole place seem both sweet and fresh.
Here are some overviews of the village
The old village itself is a medieval village with winding, twisting little alleys climbing up the hillside. There are loads of tiny passageways and stairways making it a wonderful place to go exploring.
Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, photography on March 13, 2010| 2 Comments »
Walking along Cabasson Plage yesterday, the sand was so sparkly I couldn’t resist taking off my socks and shoes and making a few footprints.
Actually, the sand was so firm it wasn’t easy to leave a footprint at all. I was happy with final result though……and with the feel of the cold, firm, silver sand beneath my feet.
As Lao Tzu said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I wonder where these three steps will take me now……
Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, photography on March 8, 2010| 3 Comments »
I’ve stumbled across this quotation twice in the last seven days. It struck me as interesting first time. It struck me as important to share the second time.
A human being is a part of a whole, called by us, universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Einstein
Are you ready to break out of this prison by widening your circle of compassion?
Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, from the reading room, photography on March 3, 2010| 8 Comments »
I would love to live
Like a river flows
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding“Fluent”
John O’Donohue
Posted in from the dark room, photography on February 25, 2010| 5 Comments »
Posted in from the dark room, photography on February 16, 2010| 7 Comments »
where is this washing line?
Wow! Suddenly just another washing line, isn’t just another washing line after all!
Posted in from the dark room, photography on February 10, 2010| 6 Comments »
Heroes Not Zombies 