Celebrate Illuminate the midwinter lights, ward off the fears, the demons hidden in shadow, threatening beyond the door. Festoon the house with evergreen, an undying promise of the sun’s rebirth, of life’s return, with the turning of the wheel. Sing out with festive melodies, rejoice in jubilant refrains that spread joy amidst hearts chilled by long … More Celebrate
Tumbling Your pen is poised, mind teetering, balancing precariously upon the edge. You release your hold and tumble, like water over the fall, words burbling in random dissarray from your mind, through your pen, to your page. For many years I have suffered from writer’s block. This blog and the poems and children’s stories that I … More Tumbling
Christmas Market Excitement frissons upon the air, heightened by mingled scents of seasonal fare, aromatic spices and savoury smells infusing an anticipatory atmosphere as winter revelries commence. Joyous laughter from young and old echoes through hearts numbed by the chill of dark days, connecting self with society, with life and future hope as the past … More Christmas Market
Dash Racing through childhood’s wild garden, free of cares, free of worries, impatient to reach a time when the wilderness of the adult world can be explored. Don’t run too fast. Don’t run too far. The brave new world you seek to inhabit is populated by dangers uncounted. Plot the path with care to find … More Dash
Shine Gather up the fallen, all those discarded in the wake of passage. Judged unworthy of pride of place, they are the unwanted, the unloved. Grant them their moment to shine. When I was looking through the photography 101 pictures for my favourites for the Weekend 4 gallery I realised I had quite a few photos … More Photography 101 Gallery 2
Show Parade in happy fulfilment the fruits of labour, cherry-picked from a host of entries as your own best in show. I’ve had such an enjoyable time over the month of Photography 101 that I couldn’t resist putting up a post for weekend 4, even though its no longer actually the weekend. Unfortunately I’ve been … More Photography 101 Gallery
Triumph Focus on the positives, the small triumphs permeating everyday life. Turn attention away from negative thoughts, from the failures, from all the things you cannot do, all the things you have not done, that bind in tangled knots dragging ever deeper into defeat. Celebrate instead each success, striving to achieve only the greatest goal … More Triumph
Consciousness Viewing life through the glassy sheen of material reality, its gaze remains consumed by a sweeping vista beyond mortal eyes. It is your double, existing upon a wider plain, reflecting infinitely onward. It is the owner of the voice that whispers behind your thoughts. It is pure energy, encompassing self It is you, to … More Double
Divisions We draw lines, create walls and fences, borders, to divide the ground into mine and yours, claiming ownership of a landscape, of an Earth, that will persist long after our demise. Does it belong to me? To you? Can it belong to anyone? We are but a fleeting presence in an existence that … More Edge
Rays As light reflects from surface to surface, a smile passes from face to face, a laugh echoes from voice to voice, love reaches from heart to heart and joy spreads from soul to soul. I had great fun playing around with candles and cut glass bowls. I hope you like the effect I … More Glass
Bee Awaken in shades of amber to a life of fertile creativity, performing the timeless dance for the queen, Mother of the hive. Defiant of earthbound laws, find harmony and take flight on diaphanous wings, following the entrancing essence in search of precious gold. I adore bees – I’ve always said that someday I will … More Treasure
Ageless Splendour See the beauty in the detail: each elegant curve, each fragile carving, all remnants of ages past. See how the smallest wonders are concealed in nooks and corners, every recess holding its secrets. See how nature seeks to reclaim: moss inching over stonework, birds making home anyplace they desire. See the efforts of … More Photography 101 – Weekend 3 – Detail in Architecture
Window Watch as the day progresses, sunlight’s caress stroking slowly across your view whilst you sit in peaceful solitude, bathing in the tranquillity as you renew your sense of self. Well, it’s nearly a week late, I know, but I couldn’t just ignore last weekend’s challenge. I loved the whole idea of it. Unfortunately … More Photography 101 – Weekend 2: Play With Light
Dandelion Wandering with blissful disregard for boundaries, watch as they are carried wherever the wind will take them. Floating, they fill the air, a swarm of wingless creatures in search of a site for future proliferation. Drifting, they begin their journeys into the unknown. I hadn’t originally planned on putting up a second post for … More Photography 101 -Swarm 2
Reaching A writhing, coiling mass, a swarm slithering in serpentine formations out of the darkness of concealing earth, into sunlight, in search of nourishment, tendrils stretching in longing for richer soils. I have to confess that today’s pictures were actually taken a few months ago. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really happy with anything I took … More Photography 101 – Swarm
Owl Lady of battle, unearthly predator on soft wings, stealthily passing by. Silent. Deadly. A momentary presence, there and gone. What wisdom lies behind wide eyes? What secrets do you spy? Claws extend; judgement is passed. The barn owl is often spotted flying over the field behind our house. Each time this happens I grab … More Photography 101 – Moment
A Woman’s Fear A frisson, darting through nerve endings. A sharp claw, stealing your breath. A slow spreading, gelatinous mass clogging your veins, stealing away all sense of safety. Soon all that remains is a nagging thought, persistent, refusing banishment: you’re not safe alone, helpless. What monsters of humanity lie in wait in the … More Photography 101 – Pop of Colour 2
Waiting A flare of colour on the periphery catching the eye, drawing your attention, incongruous amongst nature’s autumnal mantle. Poised, a wild bird frozen in time awaiting youthful exuberance to return it, momentarily to life. Well, I’m a few days late with this theme so I thought I’d make up for it by giving you … More Photography 101 – Pop of Colour 1
Boathouse It stands upon the water’s edge, a remnant of a lost age haunted by a melancholic air, a longing for days past. Listen: can you hear the echoes, drifting down through the years – the carefree laughter, the happy voices? Look: can you see the figures, coalescing in the shadows – the ladies … More Photography 101 – Architecture
Mysterious Path Where do you lead me, wandering path? Over a stile, through a gate. down a dapple lit track. What do you hide with your twists and turns? How might you hinder my journey? It’s a journey of a minute, or an hour, or a day. It’s a journey of a lifetime… and the … More Photography 101 – Mystery
A Picture of Her Draw in lines of pure golden light, highlighting each smooth contour in swathes of gentle illumination, bringing warmth and emotion to an otherwise remote reflection of reality. Today’s challenge was to capture warmth using sunlight – not really possible here as we’ve had the most overcast day we’ve had in a … More Photography 101-Warmth
From Autumn Embrace the season’s hues, an array of mellow golds and browns, with flame like hints of brighter shades, beguiling hearts and minds with memories of summer’s lost radiance Observe the contours of nature, sweeping, stark and elegant, with myriad detail to entice and enthral, curling reminders of the spiralling year as autumn eases … More Photography 101 – The Natural World
Fortress, Once Mighty Weathered masonry, moss coated, mottled with tendrils of creeping ivy, standing immovable despite the passage of years; enduring regardless of the ravages of wars, form altered but undestroyed. A landmark for generations, Gateway to the North, standing sentinel beside ever flowing waters. A witness to lifetimes yet to pass. I took quite … More Photography 101 – Landmark
Vintage Connections View through rose tints a time of vintage splendour, the long haul to connect, disregarding the dirt, the grime, the hardship, the narrow views of reality permeating society. A time before superfast, before the immediate, ephemeral brushing of personalities. A time before the tap of a finger could unlock wonders unimaginable to scholars … More Photography 101 – Connect
Black and White Leach the world of colour till naught remains but stark splendour, rain drenched earth beneath lowering skies, divergent extremes sketched in a monochrome palette of humanity’s devising, disregarding the wild energy of nature’s spectrum. I wasn’t sure whether I’d manage to get a post up this weekend as I work rather long hours … More Photography 101 – Weekend Gallery
In Solitude In solitude, away from negative voices, find peace, find strength, regain your self, cast away hesitance. In solitude, away from positive voices, find doubt, find fear, lose your self, cast away harmony. Find balance in solitude.
Woodland Walk I walk… the woodland paths as autumn casts its golden charm. Releasing all negativity, Senses spread wide. I see… the trunks of mighty trees, branches stretching skyward, sifting morning sunlight as if through finest lace. I hear… cascading notes of birdsong, an air-borne symphony, complementing the rustling foliage of creatures passing by. I … More Photography 101 – Bliss
November Rose With raindrops clinging to tips of petals withering with age, still you are enduring when others have faded, a splash of sunlight on shortening days, resisting the call of the earth. I wasn’t sure which of the two pictures I preferred here, landscape or portrait, so I decided to do as was suggested … More Photography 101 – Water
Harvest View Streets quiet, peaceful, reflecting the sedate pace of country life, suddenly fill with concentrated energy, tractors trundling on repetitive journeys, trailers overflowing, as harvests are gathered in.
Wide Sky A sweeping canvas painted in untamed elation, ever-changing swathes of colour flaunting nature’s unforced splendour. A beauty that says ‘home’. When I first moved back to Lincolnshire after several years of living in the rugged hills of central Wales, I found it hard to appreciate the incredibly flat landscape surrounding me. Slowly the beauty of the … More Photography 101 – Home
A life: carved in stone, crumbling to dust, reclaimed by the earth. A memory: fading with each passing year. Soon until all that linger are stories, tales once told. Do any now know the truth?
The place where you can find out what Lillie thinks
Looking at life through blue eyes
: around the world :
Looking into why we do the things we do (and some crochet) each Monday
Amanda Tuke - nature writer and urban nature champion
A photographic journey.
Here and now, with all of it.
An Enchanted Place 