Sunday Selections #469

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.
  
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle.
 
The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen. 
 
I usually run with a theme.  This week I have spent in a snot festival (a combination of a summer cold and allergies) battling digestive issues so I haven't gone far at all from home.  This week's Sunday Selections are largely experimental photos taken over a number of days in one of my favourite parts of the day from first light to just after dawn.

Starting with the sky.

And then to photos I took in the garden, mostly using the Aperture Priority setting, when there really wasn't enough light.  Some were failures, and some were interesting.  No doubt I will continue to play.  

These two quite different photos are of the same subject.  The second was taken about ten minutes later than the first...
Sadly the first is strongly reminiscent of the flashes that retinal tears produce in my right eye.  I assume the flashes are there all the time but I am only aware of them in reduced light.  They can be quite disconcerting.

 

I am fascinated by the differences that changing light makes.  No doubt my family would put this into the small things amusing small minds category but my very adult self pokes her tongue out at them.

I hope your week is filled with fascination and light.

WEP/ISWG February 2020 Challenge - Cafe Terrace

The WEP/IWSG Challenge is back.  Huge thanks to the organisers and participants.  A visit HERE will give access to a range of talented (so very talented) and different takes on the theme.  I do hope you will visit others and applaud them.  Names will be added over the next couple of days and a revisit is always worthwhile. 

Despite loving Van Gogh's work I struggled with this prompt.  Really struggled.  So I went back to first principles, reading about the man and his work.  And yes, the cafe depicted in this stunning painting has indeed been restored and is now the Cafe Van Gogh.

***

Cafe Van Gogh

You didn't sign Cafe Terrace at Night.

You didn't need to.

It is unmistakably, undeniably yours.

'The night is more alive and more richly colored than the day' you wrote to your sister,

and emphatically proved it.

I can smell the tobacco, the wine, the coffee.

I hear the clink of glasses,  the murmur of voices.

I feel the crisp bite to the air and those cobbled stones underfoot.

And I revel in the light of that glorious starry sky,

the very first of your now famous starry skies.

Your painting was ignored  or dismissed by your contemporaries,

as you were.

It was painted two short years before you died,

died in poverty and despair.

That cafe has now been recreated, restored,

and reincarnated as the Cafe Van Gogh.

More than a hundred years later

I grieve.

I grieve for you, and

I grieve for the artists who have died and those who will die,

will die like you, unappreciated,

drowned by their poverty and despair.

And I wonder just what it will take before their names join yours,

and are blazoned across starry skies.

  

188 words.
Full critique acceptable.

Sunday Selections #468

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.
  
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle.
 
The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen. 
 
I usually run with a theme.  Not so much this week.  I have been feeling a bit ground down and haven't done much.  However at the end of this month and early next there are some treats in store - Enlighten AND the balloon festival.  In my usual far from minimalist way there will be oodles of photos.  This week is going to be a bit same old, same old (and I apologise).

We have had some rain.  Not a lot of rain, but very welcome.  Some areas have had buckets and floods.  We have had much less.  The fires nearest to us are not out, but are finally under control.  I suspect that control is precarious because the water-bombing planes are still out in force.

However, there have been clear dawns.  Blissfully clear, smoke free dawns.

  
It has been a long and hot summer (which is not over yet) and the garden has suffered.

The dandelions haven't though.

Other things are also hanging in.

 I really like this hoya, as do the ants.  It tried hard to bloom when we had a string of 40C plus days but the petals fell off and the blooms died.  It was lovely to see it trying again.

The tuberous begonias are putting in a valiant effort too.

Some of you may want to skip over the next photo.  I was fascinated by the intricate web this very small spider created.

Finishing with some birdie joy.

I hope the week ahead treats you all kindly.

Postscript:  After predicting rain all week long, the predictions finally came true late yesterday and we had some absolutely blissful rain.  And a goodly amount.  We had just over 56.6 mm (2.2 inches).

Sunday Selections #467

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.
  
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle.
 
The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen. 
 
I usually run with a theme.  I am again focussing on snippets from the preceding week.  
The fire nearest to us continues to burn out of control.  It has spawned other fires which are also out of control.  We can still often see fires from our veranda.  Shots of the sun are beautiful and horrific.

Some parts of Australia have had buckets of rain.  We have had insignificant dribbles.  We had 2.8 mm yesterday (0.10 of an inch).  More is predicted and my fingers and toes are tightly crossed in the hopes that the forecast is truthful.  I am also aware that some parts of New South Wales are expecting dangerous amounts of rain and wind.  This really hasn't been a gentle season for anyone.

We have however had less smoke (most days) and some lovely hopeful dawns.

I continue to revel in the birds at home.  Corellas this time (for Susan Kane).

Of course we have been down the lake again.  

 

That curved fence above shows just how dry we have been, and for how long.  Ordinarily that curve is the outside edge of children's swimming area!!!   While the firefighter's have probably been loading the water bombers from the lake I can never remember seeing the level diminished so far.  Our Captain Cook Memorial jet has had to be turned off because the lake cannot sustain it.

That is one big bird's nest.

I do love our galahs.

This old man roo could do with rather more feed too.

Lifeline had a bookfair this weekend.  And of course I felt 'obligated' to go and spend up big to support it.

Mostly non-fiction but with some lighter reads thrown in.  

And speaking of books, this one landed in my letter box with no attribution this week.

If any of you sent it to me, many, many thanks.  Wizards (some decidedly second rate) exploding artificial green dragons and carnivorous giant slugs are a welcome distraction from reality at the moment.