Weekly Photo Challenge – Color

Colour. Color. No matter where you live or how you spell it, colour is what gives our surroundings oomph, sparkle, and delight.

I’m so glad I can see colour. I’m so thankful there is color in this world for us to see.

In February I was fortunate to be able to visit Malta for a Creative’s Retreat. We spent time together creating and sharing our art. It was really great to have artist’s from different mediums together. It enhanced and challenged my thinking and perspective.

Malta is an island in the Mediterranean Sea south west of Italy. It’s an independent country and part of the EU. It feels like no where else I’ve been in the Europe. With multiple European and North African influences, the palette of Malta reflects all these cultures with beautiful mixes of boldness and subtlety. Sandstone, the most common stone, and used in many buildings, is a beautiful BLOND, TAN colour. It’s very different from the damp GREY stone so commonly seen in Ireland. There are also bright bursts of color in doorways, windows, walls and a miscellany of other things.  The Sea was so BLUE and the fields were already blooming GREEN.When we arrived these colours struck me. It felt bright (and warm!). It’s the sunniest place in the European Union and you could feel it. A welcome change from the freezing temps we’d been experiencing in Ireland

We soaked up the sun and the change of scenery.

Each day we had contrasting word themes to inspire us as we went around and experienced the islands (Malta and Gozo). There was writing, photography, painting and inspiration. There are more things to share about this experience than I will be able to here. But here’s a few more:

Eventually the week ended and we flew home to Ireland. I found it striking how several of us, at different moments, individually commented as we looked out the window at our own very, GREY, yet very, GREEN country, and said “What would we do without the green?!” and “At least we have all this green.”

Sometimes it only takes a few days to make you appreciate something you forget to see.

Beautiful Home

Beautiful Home

The Writing Room (continued…)- The Drafts

Well, after 4 (yes! FOUR!) coats of paint, the job is done! The walls are now white and I’ve spent part of yesterday and today making the space functional. It’s taking shape as I imagined it. There’s still organising and adjusting to do but the hardest part of the project is behind me.

The Writing Room

The Writing Room

There are a few more things I am excited to share about this space but that will have to wait for now…

I’ll be seeing you in The Writing Room from now on.

I Need A Name – The Drafts

The DraftsI’ll be honest. I’ve been having a hard time lately. It seems when there are certain challenges going on in my life I find other things that normally are very enjoyable to me, overwhelming. This is where I’ve been at with posting lately.

But by no means are things here, or YOU, forgotten!

So, back to The Drafts.

On a very happy note, I’ve submitted a short story to two journals. Now I will wait the 11-12 weeks to hear a reply. Since it’s the first I’ve done this I’m holding things very loosely. Mostly I needed to do it to have the experience of submitting a creation of mine for unknown eyes to read (and evaluate). That’s worth a lot to me no matter what the outcome!

Today I’m going to share the opening of a short story I’m working on. It’s very new and it’s already been causing me a lot of tension. I’m hoping that’s because it’s going to be important. Again, time and putting in the effort will tell. 

It still needs a name. Leave a comment giving your suggestions! It will be a challenge with just this little peek but that will make it all the more fun!

Also, tell me what you see when you read it. What do you imagine the main character to be like? What does the apartment look like? Where do you think the story is headed?

______________________________________________________________

He didn’t need anyone to lay next to him most nights. His heart was full. It didn’t matter if she was near or far. It didn’t even matter that she didn’t know this. He loved her. And each day of doing that was enough to fill him for the next. Sarah was the most beautiful creature. She was strong and virulent. She felt things greatly and inside out she was wonderful. There was nothing about her Luck didn’t love. Each day with her made him a better person; more whole, more complete. He would never forget the day he met her. She’s been walking down the road. He’d been walking down the road at the same time and came upon her since he’d been walking faster than her. They both turned to go into the coffee shop to their left. She’d gotten to the door first and was attempting to open it. He’d been able to reach out and hold the door for her.

“Well, aren’t you the Renaissance man. It’s not like I need you to do that for me or anything,” she’d said. He had smiled and she walked right through the open door.

That day had changed everything for him. Was it love at first sight? He wasn’t sure. But he was sure he was now different now. It was at that moment that he’d felt himself start to become more himself. His true self, there all along, but had lain stagnant since the times he’d had to set it aside to survive. Sarah was fire. Or better put, she was the heat source.

Stretching Luck got out of bed, pushed the curtains open and opened every window in the apartment. He loved morning air. It was the first air, the freshest air. Humming along as he went, he showered, dressed.

“What the hell Luck!”, His roommate said coming into the kitchen, “It’s freezing in here! Close some of those damn windows!”

“Don’t you just love the first air in the morning?”

Ooooh No!” We are NOT having this conversation again! Close the damn windows before we all freeze to death!” James said as the door to the bathroom closed behind him.

Making some toast for himself he took in the sun streaming in the windows. It wasn’t sunny everyday but when it was the apartment lit up inside. It was sunny the day he’d viewed the apartment and was probably the main reason he’d bought it. He finished his toast and then for James’ sake, he closed the windows. All but the one right outside the bathroom door.

_________________________________________________________________________

Talk to me in the comments!

See you there!

Weekly Photo Challenge – Lost In The Details

I love The Weekly Photo Challenge theme this week. Concepts and room for interpretation of meaning are things I get excited about. We are being challenged to get low with this week’s theme. At the same time I have found myself again and again looking up. The macro and the micro of getting lost in the details have great effect from totally different vantage points. Both so powerful, so beautiful.

Lost in the Details: Macro

Lost in the Details: Macro

While each branch and leaf tell a story themselves, looked at in the whole, this scene dances with detail and delight (and alliteration) ;-)

Getting low tells a whole new kind of story. The minute speaking quiet volume.

The Burren Flower - Micro

The Burren Flower – Micro

The Flowery Burren - Micro

The Flowery Burren – Micro

I like how these the focus of these two photos emphasise different elements of the same story.

In looking through my photos this week I have realised that I:

1. Like to look up. This doesn’t surprise me as I am a big picture sort of person. It’s pretty obvious all the way down to my preference for macro economics over micro if I had to pick one. (Although economics is not what I want to pick at all really!)

2. Even when I do get low in taking photographs I could still go lower. I wonder what this photo could have been like had a gotten even closer…

If I had gotten below the flowers to look up, or even gotten within them instead of looking at them, I wonder how it’s perspective would’ve changed and what we would have heard and seen differently from it.

I’m taking this as a challenge to get lower down in my photographs and see just how big things can become. I want to appreciate more of the “micro” things in life.

Did any of you find a similar challenge with The Weekly Photo Challenge? I’m so interested to hear if you did!

On a side note: if you have a chance today head over to The Improvised Life and have a look at the Irish surfing video. It’s pretty spectacular. So is The Improvised Life.

Dublin Time Lapsed Beauty

Sometimes after you’ve lived in a city for a while you can forget what makes it beautiful. You get caught up in the things that are frustrating about it. Then something happens. The wind shifts, a new song plays, and you are reminded again why it’s beautiful in its own way. You remember why you love it.

Matthieu Chardon’s video just did that for me. It’s made up of time-lapse sequences but truly it’s made up of so much more. It really captures the history and a heartbeat of Dublin.

It was striking. The stillness in the movement and the changes in the constant.

All at once. Separate. Together.

Watch it and think about it. (I promise. It’s short. And lovely.) Tell me about it. Do you know Dublin? Have you been there? If you haven’t been yet, what did you see? Or if film and media are your thing, tell me what you saw in the film. What was your one beautiful thing?

(yes, the clouds really move that fast. and yes, they are there most of the time)

Illumination – Weekly Photo Challenge

I’m so happy to be back on the Weekly Photo Challenge this week.

Illumination is the focus this week. I really like how Cheri mentioned their interest in abstract and creative interpretations. That basically sums up what I aim to communicate on these challenges, and on this blog as well.

These were taken on the train recently. It was a very foggy, wet day outside and the windows of the train were fogged up inside. It made for some stunning views.

Tree Echoes Through Rain

Tree Echoes Through Rain

Light Echoes Through Trees

Light Echoes Through Trees

And one more from an opposite kind of day…

IMG_0846

Peace out.

Strange Night Sounds

We were sitting in our holiday house watching TV. I started to hear strange sounds outside. My ears perked up, I looked around. Nothing. I sat back in my chair. A moment later, more rustling, more sounds. Do I hear the doorknob rattling? “Mute the TV!” I say, whispering.

All my night time fears at this moment seem to be coming true. My heart is beating hard. My husband mutes the TV. Silence, we sit listening. We peek warily out the window (that has no blinds and is ominously exposing us to the darkness.) Nothing. We hear a few kids laughing in the distance. “Ah, it’s just kids hanging out down the road. It’s nothing.” He tries to reassure me. After a moment, it seems this is the case. Ok…I guess it was nothing…We go back to watching TV.

Hours pass. We turn off the lights, check the kids sleeping in their beds, go upstairs, and get ready for bed. It’s nearly midnight. And then….the doorbell rings! Who would ring the bell at this time of night at a holiday house? My husband doesn’t hear it. I go peek out the window from a dark room. I see a shadow of a man walking across the road, through the grass towards our house. The doorbell rings again. Ding-dong!

My husband hears it and goes downstairs. “Who is it?” he asks through the door. (I’m so glad he has a deep voice right now.) I grab my sons ninja sword, ready to protect my children and family in the darkness of the strange night sounds.

But there’s nothing. My husband cracks open the door. My fight reflex is in full swing, both of us preparing for anything to happen on the other side of that door. And then we see it. Our nice little pumpkin sitting on the porch, waiting to be carved is now sitting there, smiling at us. And he left a note…

Hi dear friends,
I’m Patrick and I was sent from Larient (France) to celebrate Halloween with you.
I hope showing up will give you a little fun. Here’s wishing you a horrible Halloween, and remember, it doesn’t take much to make you happy.
PS If this isn’t lit up on the 31st of October, it will light itself up!
Patrick

If you hear strange night sounds tonight maybe it’s just Patrick.

Happy Halloween!! From Patrick!

20121031-155628.jpg