out of the blue

"Out of the blue" is an informal English language idiom that describes an event that occurs unexpectedly, without any warning or preparation. It is used as an adverb. The "blue" in the phrase refers to the sky, one from which a sudden plane falling is unexpected, thus it comes 'out of the blue'.

Longer and more explicit variations include out of the clear blue sky and out of a clear blue sky.

lady in waiting

The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shadows

“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.”
― William Shakespeare

spiral

“The growth of understanding follows an ascending spiral rather than a straight line” Joanna Field

wedding flowers

 We're all a little weird.  And life is a little weird.  And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness - and call it love - true love.  ~Robert Fulghum,  

 

And so I was married on April 4th, 2012  to my true love....a man just weird enough to love me...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

real smiles

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.    Albert Einstein

waiting...

 

...always

Moon in her hand

“The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand.” -Frederic Lawrence Knowles

591 Spring Exhibition - The Four Elements

A Glimpse of the Sun © Rhonda Prince

Water © Wallace Rollins

Musket-fire © Paul Boocock

Windy © Mr. Urbano

For our Spring Exhibition 591photography explored the four elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Wind.  Above is just a sample of the many fine photos we received.

Click here for a slideshow of all the selected photographs.

Click here for individual posts.

chasing shadows

She chases shadows knowing it is all just a fleeting gasp
and a dark silhouette with no substance or form.
He told her she should write it but that too
escapes her and leaves her chasing the ephemeral and the
tangible at once until she can grasp each
and make them into one.
Even though she knows when she seizes one the other
will be lost.
Yet she persists with hope against hope that for one
brief moment she will capture the shadowy dusk and know
how it feels to embrace the impossible.

until

“Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.”

harmony

“Harmony is pure love, for love is a concerto.” Lope de Vega

In a perfect world...

 

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.
Hugh Mackay
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/perfect.html#cErb48OL1pPtqipf.99

Nothing is perfect.

Life is messy.

Relationships are complex.

Outcomes are uncertain.

                         People are irrational.                     

  Hugh Mackay

enlightenment

“After enlightenment, the laundry.”  Zen Proverb

joy

We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, 

even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.     -E.B. White

play on

If music be the food of love, play on.  Twelfth Night Act 1, scene 1, 1–3  -Shakespeare

gathered

The arms of love encompass you with your present, your past, your future. 

The arms of love gather you together. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

the sound of wings

Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.

The soul that knows it not, knows no release

From little things:

Knows not the livid loneliness of fear,

Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear

The sound of wings.

 - Amelia Earhart

A boy...

...and his dog.

question 2

"To be or not to be that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the stings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take up arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing them, end them. [Hamlet]"  -William Shakespeare

a question

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?

                                                                                                                  Albert Einstein

pig-like

Pig-like he whines.

The Two Noble Kinsmen, 5. 4  -William Shakespeare

bright and dark

“Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake- its everything except what it is! (Act 1, scene 1)” -William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

never tremble

“What man I dare, I dare. Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, the armed rhinoceros, or th' Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves shall never tremble.”  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth

looking glass

I your looking glass will be and will modestly discover to you qualities

              which you yourself know not of.                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                     -William Shakespeare

dancing shoes

“You have dancing shoes with nimble soles. I have a soul of lead.”  - William Shakespeare

he is indeed...

He's of the colour of the nutmeg.  And of the heat of the ginger.... he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient stillness while his rider mounts him; he is indeed a horse, and all other jades you may call beasts.  ~William Shakespeare, Henry V

Clamor

"The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots and wonders

At our quaint spirits.”

― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

to have and to hold

Small fragile fear, like the wing of a bird…

gently fluttering overhead. 

then the vast storm that sweeps in

and seals the room in its fury

blowing about until nothing is

left but meaningless words

and timeworn stories.

Sometimes you are drowning

in the darkness

hoping to find something
to hold on to...            

But other times you are waiting 

for the giraffe...the one
you've always wished to have...
a lion comes but you send
him away knowing it is not
what you need.

For a moment you follow

the sweet fragrance 

of freedom and escape.

It is an illusive aroma
that leads you to the edge
of the abyss
and suddenly you are spinning,

your feet planted firmly

yet sensing the turn of the earth

until someone takes

your hand and the twirling stops

The startling silence is broken

by the voice

that will navigate you through

the strong current that threatens

to send you adrift  in the river,

lost forever

under the sky so clear

it holds no clues

to finding your way back.

A Mother's Love

TO WASH A CHILD
by Pablo Neruda

Only the most ancient love on earth
will wash and comb the statue of the children,
straighten the feet and knees.
The water rises, the soap slithers,
and the pure body comes up to breathe
the air of flowers and motherhood.

Oh, the sharp watchfulness,
the sweet deception,
the lukewarm struggle!

Now the hair is a tangled
pelt crisscrossed by charcoal,
by sawdust and oil,
soot, wiring, crabs,
until love, in its patience,
sets up buckets and sponges,
combs and towels,
and, out of scrubbing and combing, amber,
primal scrupulousness, jasmines,
has emerged the child, newer still,
running from the mother's arms
to clamber again on its cyclone,
go looking for mud, oil, urine and ink,
hurt itself, roll about on the stones.
Thus, newly washed, the child springs into life,
for later, it will have time for nothing more
than keeping clean, but with the life lacking.

MoDA Photography Setup by Paul Boocock

 

MoDA: MoDA Photography Setup: Lights in working position The new photography equipment is finally in place and working, it has taken a little longer than expected due to...

Tears by Tiny Dancer

photo©Rhonda Prince

I’ve always wondered
Why tears should only come out of your eyes
And if there’s a secret supply of tears
Hidden away in the back of your head

But if
If tears were stored away in the back of your head
like storage, but with water
A water tower in your head
your brain
And when you cried
the tears would pour out of your
Nose
and your
Mouth
and your ears, too

So I guess it’s a good thing you have tearducts
because if tears came from your
Nose,
and your
Mouth
and your ears, too
you would drown
in your tears

And there would be a whole new meaning to the saying
“Drowning in your sorrow”

text©Sadie Gren 2011

Than Paper and a Pen by Mervyn Peake

Than paper and a pen

What is there, then

Needed besides

To make the cold ink burn?

Only a leaping brain;

Only the heart's hot tides;

Only the frond of a fern.

In the skull for a feeler,

Touching on pain-

(Neither hurter nor healer)

Touching on joy -

(Nor for love nor for gain)

Touching on all

for its singular stain.

Summer Holiday - Day 13 and departure

Day 13: Cambridge-   a university town filled with students and their bicycles, Gothic architecture alongside modern buildings, churches and colleges, wide open parks and public spaces, open markets, street performers and punt boats on the River Cam.  Beautiful and exciting, yet with a peaceful charm that made me want to stay longer...or visit again...

Catholic Church of Our Lady and English Martyrs

Jesus College

 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (aka The Round Church)

                             

Left Cambridge by train to Audley End where Paul's sister, Sue drove us to Saffron Walden for an excellent dinner of Turkish food. Train back to Enfield. And for one last time the familiar walk down Ordnance Road past the shops, restaurants and houses to the flat. 

photo©Paul Boocock

Day 14: packed clothes, souvenirs, tea, oatcakes, ginger nuts and a bag full of memories for the trip home.

Day 15: back to Heathrow airport... farewell to London with heartfelt promises to visit again... thank you for the days...