Good Spirits

Hello readers, I hope you find yourselves in good spirits. This will be a quickie, as I have been finding it a little difficult to attend to many things of late. What a year it has been so far, in February we encountered bumblebees, ladybirds, mosquitos, and a little sunburn. How things are changing. If the last few years are anything to go by,  July and August will be downright cold. My mother used to say that one day the seasons will swap places, and it seems that she was right.

These photos are proof that in the Northern hemisphere spring has well and truly arrived. It’s saffron season now, and as we March into April, colour is breaking out all over the place. A happy note indeed.

With that I shall take my leave of you once again. With my thanks to all readers for dropping by. If I haven’t caught up with your latest blogs yet, please bear with me, for I will pay you a visit as soon as I can.

Peace and Namaste from Amras.

You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins….you may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewer of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then–to learn! Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you……….”

~T.H. White: “The Once and Future King”

 

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While it Lasts

A Happy New Year to everybody. In these photos you can see how mild, and muddy we are having it for the time of year. It was chillier, in fact, throughout July and August than it is today. You won’t hear any complaints, however, from local folk, who are enjoying it while it lasts.

My brotherly thanks to all readers, and fellow bloggers. If sometimes I can be a bit slow to respond to you, this is due entirely to the ups and downs of living daily with an infirmity.

Meanwhile, a brand new year of opportunity beckons, and, when we look for them, opportunities to do good come to each one of us every day.

With my best wishes to everyone: peace from Amras.

The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity

And the ways our differences combine to create 

meaning, and beauty.

 Gene Roddenberry.

 

 

Photography ©Amanda Moloney.

The Golden Season

Greetings from this writer. These pics are dedicated to those good readers who have sent healing wishes my way. The last five pics were taken one week later than the others, and I think it’s easy to see how fast the golden season encroaches.

Since returning, after experiencing a difficult summer, to a relatively manageable physical state, I am taking every opportunity, while it lasts, to  get out and capture local scenery at its best. If heaven permits, I will continue.

By the way, I hope you liked the alternative picture format, and I hope too to return very soon.

With thanks from me. Peace, and Namaste.

 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
 A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou,
Beside me singing in the Wilderness,
 And oh, Wilderness is Paradise now.

Omar Khayyám

 

 

 

 

 

Photography©Francis Moloney.

Jiggery Pokery

Greetings once again, to one and all. Here are the images that my friend, Chris sent to me from his communications tablet, while staying in New York City. The pics, though small, pack a pleasing visual punch, quite reminiscent of Shorpy photos, I think. I enjoyed too his tales from the streets, and from the bars that he visited. He clearly had a great time; especially considering he was there to work.

Chris and I have been friends since 1969. We have played in the same bands, achieved Black Belts, camped in the wilds, and climbed mountains together. We have also helped each other to get through tricky times. So I am delighted to feature his photography. And I am also a little bit surprised, because once long ago, he declared that photography was a branch of ‘jiggery pokery’. “A Black Art” he opined, though to be fair, he wasn’t being in the least bit serious.

As for me, I have just endured my final visit to hospital for this year, and I need a few days more to recover from the aftermath of all that has just passed. But for now, I am grateful to be back with my friends on WP. I sincerely hope you have enjoyed Chris’s pics; and, thanks to the prayers and good wishes which I have received, I hope to be back again very soon.

 

Peace, and Namaste, from Amras.

 

In order to be sane and adjusted as a human being, 

an individual must realise that he cannot know all there is to know.

It is not enough to understand this limitation intellectually;

the understanding must be an orderly and conditioned process, ‘unconscious’ as well as ‘conscious’.

Such a conditioning is essential to the balanced pursuit of

knowledge of the nature of matter and life.

A.E. van Vogt.

 

 

Photography ©Christopher Hammond.

 

 

As it Stands

 

Greetings, and salutations to you, dear readers, and friends. The observant amongst you will have noticed that we have been absent from the blogosphere for a while. This was caused by the advent of a number of extreme difficulties, experienced on top of a number of already existing extreme difficulties; by me.

As it stands, my days are spent addressing these new and developing conditions, and this has, of course, impacted my blogging, as well as all other activities.

However, when we choose to rise to our challenges, no matter how much they would overwhelm, then surely we honour the purpose of our creation. After all, each and every one of us, was born, tailor-made to live our own unique and very personal lives.

A few months ago, it looked, once again, as though I were done for. But I wasn’t. Now I am due only one more hospital visit for this year. If there should be any further untoward developments, I will let you know, if I can.

So, while I cannot guarantee a regular return to the fold, I’ll do what I may. Today is the International Day of Peace, and as this blog has declared universal peace on more than one occasion, I felt it fitting that I should make every effort to add our voices once again, into this great chorus rising from the hearts of humanity.

In the near future I hope to introduce you to the photography of my globe-trotting friend, Chris. He has offered, very kindly, to let me to post some of his travel pics here.

In the meantime, the pics above were taken by me near where we live. I hope you enjoy them. It was my first day out that wasn’t spent in hospital since May, and my eyes simply devoured the scenery. Amanda took many pics too, and I hope to get some of those posted soon. Unfortunately, we arrived a day late for the farmers show, but we did meet a friendly straggler in the field. He had forgotten to bring home his wife’s prize potted plant from the day before, poor man.

Before signing off, I will spend a few minutes in silence. If you are a keen reader, why not join me, before moving on, and share in a prayer for peace. 

Until next time, Namaste from Amras.

A normal human nervous system is potentially superior to that of an animal’s. For the sake of sanity, and balanced development, each individual must learn to orient himself to the real world around him. There are methods of training by which this can be done.

From “The Pawns of Null-A” by A.E. van Vogt.