It's been a busy week! And I find myself blogging on my supper break at work, looking through recent photos to see if anything inspires me. I like these shots that I took a week ago - or was it two? I can't remember. Yikes.Anyway, up until a week ago, we'd been having unseasonable warm weather and rain. We usually have big chunks of ice sitting on the deck, from where they've been formed in buckets. (It's a cheap way to have ice sculpture. I think. Actually, I'm not entirely sure why we do this.) This one had "calved" or broken off a piece of itself, like a glacier births icebergs. Then, the rain fell continuously on the "mama" piece, from a drip in the gutter, and the ice surface became smooth. I think it looks like a chair, don't you?
I really love taking close-up photos of things. I like revealing the detail that you can't see unless you get really close. Plus, small and tiny details become extraordinary when you see them large. They can end up looking like abstract art. These are air bubbles in that piece of ice.
Here is the piece that had calved off the bigger piece, also smoothed by warm weather and rain. The boards of the deck form the background. I love the light's quality, the silvers and whites, and the texture of the wood grain and the water frozen as ice.So the weather was warm and wet, but last weekend it turned back around. Snow fell and was shovelled, winds blew it around, and the mercury has dropped back below zero. All is white again. I'm glad - I like enjoying the outdoors, and in winter there is nothing more depressing than snow-less woods and fields.
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This week has been the second "GO/venture" week over at Kal's and Elise's blogs. They pick a different word prompt for each day and challenge each other to create original art every 24 hours. I've used the words as mental lozenges, if you will: something to mentally suck on and turn around and around, slowly releasing the medicinal properties. If the mood struck me I'd write in my two-dollar, drugstore notebook, which is where I do any writing exercises.
The words are:
Monday: WANDER
Tuesday: INVISIBLE
Wednesday: COINCIDENCE
Thursday: PERMANENT
Friday: WHOLE
I'd love to know what these words spark in you. Or what you do, in general, to spark your creativity.
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I just took a short break from writing this, and put on my coat and scarf and went for a short walk. It was snowing and I hadn't been outside since I started work at noon. I like taking little walks around the village; especially at night, you can see snapshots of people's lives in their windows. A mum and daughter at a kitchen table. A cozy hallway lit by a red lamp throwing stained-glass shadows on the wall.
I didn't always like it here. When I was younger, I felt excluded and ashamed, not part of Baddeck. Not part of the "in crowd". I thought, the second I can get out of here, I will. And, for a time, I did leave. I travelled, I went away. But slowly things have shifted. Now I'm considering living right in the village, and I truly feel that this is my town. These are my people. I say hello to so many folks just in a walk down the main street, that I feel a little silly - like I'm playing the role of "stereotypical small town gal" or something. But I'm not playing a role. This is where my life has taken me, this is genuine, this is who I am.
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Also: There are plans afoot, and while I can't reveal all right now, let me just say that it looks likely that I'll soon have an item that I've been wanting for a long time, all to myself, and that it may or may not have four wheels. I'll post more about if and when I can. In the meantime: eeee!!
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