And Heaven in a Wild Flower

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And Heaven in a Wild Flower

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour…. – William Blake, English poet

Twilight Dreams

I do not often fool around with my camera settings when I am taking photos of the sky – unlike people, clouds cannot be convinced to stay put. But when I took these two photos I did play around with my settings, putting the camera on the dusk/dawn setting, if memory serves. These “purpled” clouds are the result. This is not what the clouds actually looked like, of course, but this is the way the dusk/dawn setting made them appear.

I confess I am rather fond of these pictures. There is something otherworldly, almost magical about the twilight shades on the clouds. The photos make me think of King Arthur, unicorns, and dragons. Why I do not know, but they do.

The photos also bring to mind something I was asked a while ago. After watching Avatar, a friend asked me whether I would want a tail or a set of ears like the Na’vi’s. I hemmed and hawed over the decision, as neither appendage really and truly appealed to me. But today, I know exactly what my answer to my friend would be. “Neither. I want wings!”

Later,

The Mithril Guardian

Sky after a Rainstorm

 

A few days before Christmas there was a rainstorm in my area (in December of all times!).  At a lull in the rain the sun peeked through the clouds and over the trees, showing off this stunning demonstration of light and dark.  There was no way I was going to pass up getting it on film!

One of the amazing things about these photos is that I managed to take them on my iPod – not something I usually do, since my iPod photos tend to come out fuzzy and bleary.  I can never hold the durn thing still enough to get a proper, clear photo.  However, these shots came out wonderfully clear.  They are so clear, in fact, that I just had to share them!

The way the light and the darkness in these shots play across the sky is beautiful.  Despite the iron grey of the clouds, light still finds a way to filter down to earth, laughing and singing with a voice few can hear or understand….  It was wonderful to watch the clouds being blown away and see more light come pouring in.  As the clouds left, however, I hoped they would hang around long enough for me to get the perfect pictures of the light dancing across the stingy darkness.

This is the first of several pictures I took when I turned my iPod sideways.  Honestly, I think these are the more beautiful pictures of the clearing sky.  The pattern the clouds make here reminds me, for some odd reason, of ancient Greek architecture.  I can remember that, when I was very young, I once thought the clouds in the sky looked like paintings on a huge ceiling.  At which point my childish fancy conjured up giants in modern attire wandering around a mall, of which the sky was the floor!

The fantasy died almost as soon as it entered my head, but I have never forgotten it.  It was a truly foolish notion, but it came all the same.  Perhaps that memory is what sparked my idea to calls skies such as these ‘Grecian Skies.’  After all, the Greeks were convinced that their gods lived above the clouds.  Even at such a tender age, I knew enough of Greek myth to know that.

This shot looks almost like a Van Gogh painting – except this picture is much clearer!  Paintings show a great vista from a distance, but close that distance and the strokes of the artist become more visible.  This sometimes – not always, but sometimes – breaks the illusion that the painted image is practically a photograph.

I appreciate a truly exceptional painter who can achieve the illusion of photography.  This would miff impressionists and others; a drawing or painting has to appear real to stay with me for any length of time.  Blobs of colored paints doing a psychedelic dance across the canvas are more likely to make me eyesore than to ‘impress’ anything permanent on me.  The same goes for books, movies, and songs.

This again would miff people.  For me, a story is worthless if it glories in misery and pain.  I do not disagree that these things should not be presented in stories – though I may disagree with the degree to which they are represented.  But in the end, as long as one stands up and continues to go on, one finds that these things are made of the same stuff as rainstorms.  They come and then they go.  One cannot fight the rain.

Yes, one can wear a rain coat to keep off the water and keep out the chill.  And one can carry an umbrella that keeps off the rain.  And one could ride in a car, bus, or subway train to keep from getting wet and soggy.

But does that keep the rain from falling?  No.  Rain falls all the same – on umbrellas, on vehicles, and on people with rain coats.  Pain and misery are like that.

And, just like the rain, they eventually blow away.  Then the sun shines down on all and sundry once again, just as it did before the rain came.  As long as one remembers this, the rain is thought of as less of a pain and more of a temporary occurrence.

And yes, the day cleared right up after I finished taking these photos!! J  How did you guess?

The Mithril Guardian

A Fleet of Quotes

The bravest thing that men do is love women. – Mort Sahl, American comedian

Into each life some rain must fall. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.  – Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. – William Shakespeare

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. – Aristotle

Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change. – Confucius

I’ve seen a heap of trouble in my life, and most of it never came to pass. – Mark Twain

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. – Eric Hoffer, American philosopher

When there is only one possibility, it can’t be wrong. – C. Daly King

As time passes we all get better at blazing a trail through the thicket of advice. – Margot Bennett

Air, Fire, and Water

Air, Water, and Fire…an exquisite dance of the elements is at hand.  While these three are a deadly mix on earth – here, they put the greatest human painters to shame.

What do I see in this picture?  I see a horizon of possibilities.  A horizon where the bold stand, looking toward their next adventure.   A horizon where love is triumphant, where it dresses the sky with its glow and briefly makes a weary world as beautiful as it is itself.  A war between dark and light rages here: a battle for the hearts and souls of every man who lives.  The light is winning….  It cannot lose.

Perhaps I am a babbling romantic.  But if I am, then I shall go on so.  It is preferable to being sane.

Heaven and Earth

“Ooh, baby do you know what that’s worth?  Ooh, heaven is a place on earth!”

Oh, for wings to fly into that other realm!!!!  Oh, to see that never ending sunrise, that land where everything is possible!!  But still gravity has its surly hold on all things.  Still I must wait!

But someday – someday I shall fly!!!!