bound by one world

below leaves and petals


Today I woke to dancing rain.
I took my time to stretch my limbs. Against the pane of my window, that incessant knocking of drops and devil wind. The hut felt cool at ten o'clock. Tystie the cat shared body warmth on patchwork quilt. On my last Saturday of freedom, I would not rush hands from the clock. 

strange summer

Funny as we need to accept chaos. 

Here, in my world, where life bows to whims of the wind, I take full advantage of light days. Yesterday belonged to the sun. The island looks industrious.  Meadows still dazzle with colours. Scabius, autumn hawkbit and buttercup.... Bog asphodel, eyebright and angelica; the land has proven generous. Swallows still slash our August sky.  I pushed my wander  to Clumlie and found mischievous animals; pirating arctic skuas and their cousins (great skuas, aka "bonxies") on a raid to a common gull... Avian behaviour sometimes matches that of humans. Nothing shocking, you might think there, since we belong to the same kingdom order.

 Last week's social unrest in another part of the world, where I once lived and taught in a previous life, so far away geographically, rekindled mixed flavoured memories. Communities tied to tarmac, and firmly kept inside bubbles by an elite, have to make-do with a code that keeps everyone in line. But when the artificial world (money, greed-led order) pushes some to a precipice, I see bonxies roaming around cliff ledges in search of an easy snack, or orcas playing in the surf with their own preys. I still have sentimental ties with some of those affected areas and my heart goes to all who have crossed my path, as well as the communities so resilient in the face of fear & adversity. 

Here, on the island, I watch filtered news snippets from the distance, as my marked aversion for that wheel of news was already amplified years earlier... Below leaves and petals, nobody's spared from the laws of chaos. We just prepare for leaner days. Soon the autumn equinox will balance night and day... And as my northern hemisphere slides back in to darkness, I need to remember that our world has more than one facet - faces that are regulated by a greater order, that of our universe. To walk outside that artificial bubble is to set ourselves free and walk to the edge of an ocean, at dawn (or dusk)! It is called awakening. 

Nocturn - Movie, courtesy of Burgeois, illustrates my final argument. Enjoy the ride! (And yes, it illustrates Kate's masterpiece, Nocturn.)