Thematic Photographic 122: Electric

I have to admit that I found this one quite hard - and I've been amazed and envious at the clever interpretations that all the other TPs have been posting.

With no inspiration, I've gone for some lights:

this is a light that Gaudi made, which is on the ceiling of the main 'salon' in the Casa Batllo in Barcelona.  It was inspired, as was most of his designing, by the natural forms of nature.  The man did NOT like straight lines - and all of this house references the sea, and sea life; this light makes me think of sea urchins:

 

This shot was taken in the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul.  I love the atmosphere these lights helped to create:

And a picture from a silk shop in Bursa, also in Turkey:

Finally, an example of the light fittings in my house.  I can't stand them, but they were here when we bought it, and I can't afford to replace them!!! *sob*

 

Click on the Thematic Photographic button on the right to find out more about this fun activity to participate in!

Early Evening

My favourite time of all.

The sun has just set,

sloped down between the hills' dark shoulders;

sky is still luminous with light.

in the no-wind

the trees are still, stopped - 

leaves and branches motionless.

moths and insects flit and

skitter in the dark, 

small blips against the bright/dark sky.

Even-ing out the day, dusk

spreads quiet to lie about the mounds 

of trees and hills, sculpted into dark.

4th November 2010

Alexia

A Yellow Painting

 

A painting I hope to see in person one day: 'The Yellow House', by Vincent van Gogh.
It was painted in September 1888, and is now kept in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. This was the house he was living in at that time, in Arles in France, and he called it 'The House and its Surrounds' ('La Maison et son entourage'), and later simply 'The Street' ('La Rue'). It is now known as 'The Yellow House', for obvious reasons.
On the left under the tree is the café where he used to eat his meals.


This is one of his lesser-known paintings, but I like the bright sunniness of it - and it fits into the yellow theme!

Thematic Photographic 121: Yellow

Sunshine Yellow - makes me think of summer, makes me smile.

All that glisters is not gold .... 

these are from a visit to New Zealand's only open-cast gold mine:

 

A big hole needs a big yellow truck-

My mother used to warn me about this :

 Back to flowers - a beautiful azalea from my spring garden (a bit orange, maybe)

More Savouring

So. I've been playing around in Photoshop with some of the things I like to savour:

Thematic Photographic 120: Savour

What a very intriguing theme this week.

If I were to post pictures of all or even a small percentage of the the things I savour, I'd be here till Christmas - and everyone would have lost interest and hitched a ride elsewhere.

So: pick one. What is better than music, or beautiful paintings, or the beach, or ciabatta, or a chilled glass of a good New Zealand white wine, or a warm apricot just picked ripe from the tree? What is more to be savoured than the smell of freesias, or the taste of espresso coffee? A good book, a perfect poem, an amazing movie? Can I choose anything which rates above my dog racing to greet me when I open the gate, a rib-crushing hug from my son, or the thrill I get from teaching clever, responsive young people?

Too hard.  But I have managed to finally decide that my post will be about something I really delight in, relish, enjoy to the full: travel. I really do savour the thrill of visiting other countries, finding out how people live, touching the past.

Turkey is one of the most interesting places I have ever been.

Shopping precinct, Bursa

Goreme: this woman was making a silk carpet in the traditional manner.

Cappadocia has some of the most amazing natural land formations you'll ever see:

 

This shot is of the Temple of Zeus at the ancient city of Corinth, in Greece.

 

At the Monastery of St Stephen, actually a convent, high high in the mountains of Meteora in Greece: this was such a beautiful, pleaceful place.

Thanks, Carmi and KBF, for giving me a chance to post some of my travel shots.

Why it's so good to visit other blogs...

Yesterday I was reminded of an old poem which I love but haven't thought about for years.  Someone had asked, in a comment about another poem, if the blogger knew the origin of a line of poetry, which she quoted.  The blogger didn't, but I did!
Off I went on a search to find the complete text, and here it is:

Twilight

I was driving the cows and the frogs were soothsaying,
‘Woe, land and water! All, all is lost!’
It was winter full grown and my bones were black in me.
The tussocks were brittling from dew into frost.

The earth looked at me, ears up in a stillness.
I was nine at the time and a coward by fate:
The willow-trees humped into cringing old swaggers,
And the cows lunged up unicorns, passing the gate.

A sudden wind clouted the nose of our chimney,
It rumbled and bellowsed its sparks in a spray;
I took to my heels in the terrible twilight,
For I thought that the sky was blowing away.

Eileen Duggan

Such clever, lovely phrases and word conjunctions; "tussocks were brittling from dew into frost" - isn't that fantastic?

So then I went looking for a photo which would transmit the coldness of those words. This is the best I could find, but the words are better:

What a verb talent! Clouted, bellowsed, lunged....  Masterful!