rainbow wave-ing goodbye to 2015. i spent an afternoon all by myself on a rock looking at the tiny far-off breath of migrating whales… so much cheaper than therapy.
red: false lily-of-the-valley berries still clinging to their stems along the short hike to my whale lookout spot. (i bet you wish you had your own whale lookout spot. nyah-nyah.)
orange: sunset of the same day as the whale hike… after i came home due to my hands being completely unusably numb with cold, and took a scalding hot bath until the feeling returned to my extremities, i inexplicably went back outside in the cold for a walk. i had to, the sun was putting on a show…
orangey light: there’s a cemetery right down the road from the vacation house, and i’ve walked around in it a few times. i guess it’s kind of my version of the buddhist idea of making friends with death to walk around in there. when i say making friends with death, it doesn’t mean i like to dwell on it or even really venture into thoughts-of-death territory. if anything, i spent the whole time finding symbols of ongoing life, of timelessness, of new growth, while i watched the sun reflecting off of the slabs of marble.
orangey-yellowy light: i think it’s more about finding metaphors that make me want to live life as fully as i can… the angle at which some of the stones are settling in means certain ones end up catching the setting sun and glowing. in the same way, i feel like we each settle into life based on our set of circumstances, and given the angle we end up looking at things, the sun can reflect off our surface more or less intensely.
on this walk, i was drawn up next to the giant sequoia tree growing in the center of the cemetery, and the way the sun was bouncing off of each and every branch… it made me think of branches of generations of families reaching into the future.
yellow: sequoia seed cones, containing the trees that will be as large as this one long after we’re all gone, and even this tree has fallen and receded back into the earth.
yellow-green:Â small birds and large trees alike seem to counter the whole death theme, chirping and setting out seed cones defiantly.
green: <3 this tree….not sure if you can see the windchimes hanging from the branches to the right… or if anyone saw the movie cake…
right over here… they had such a peaceful melody in the gentle (freezing cold) breeze…
green: there it is again, the metaphor for life going on, the cracks in our hearts opening space for new growth to occur.
green: not that any of this contemplation makes me able to handle or comprehend the thoughts of any of my loved ones ever dying… so blithely back to denial i skipped, tra-la-la, and picked quinn up for our new years’ eve at home doing just what we pleased.
green/blue: unintentional selfie as i arrived at my whale lookout spot.
green/blue: the forest curtains parting to reveal heart-shaped glittering ocean.
blue: best seat in the house for whale watching, albeit a cold seat.
blue: ocean love lights
blue: my friends hanging out way out beyond the giant breakers.
blue: this group was pleasingly large… probably a gang of teenagers heading to mexico for spring break.
blue: steller’s jay; i love how ruffled up his feathers were in the steady winter breeze.
gray/white: love and light and more glittering and blinding white light and lightness of being and lightheartedness. somewhere in that jumble, i do believe, may be my word for 2016, and i am sure i will say more about that in due time. happy new year, friends!
a splash of color on monday morning
a photo study documenting the colors of the spectrum: the balance points between light reflected and light absorbed
wow. I really thought the sunset photo was a vigorously crackling fire. I even thought, “Oh, she got the captions out of order” when I read the sunset label. Kind of arrogant, I guess. Or confident?
I enjoyed the photos you selected and the thoughts you articulated for this one. Thank you. This is a beautiful share, conveying a real sense of place and of mood. Also of person! I’m feeling a thrill of appreciation for the person you are. And feeling kind of internal.
Happy new year to you and yours from me and mine.
a monday filled with orange, green, and blue. and some deep thinking. here’s to a new year in deed!!!