Sunday Selections #535

 

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. We had not only a 'super moon' but a lunar eclipse this week.  For a change it wasn't cloudy on the night.  So naturally I was out there with my camera.  I struggle taking photographs of the moon and most of my shots were abject failures.  I don't know whether light pollution or a screw loose in the operator was at fault (I am leaning towards the latter reason).  So I came inside again.  Some of the 'better failure' photographs follow.

 My father told me that I was more stubborn than stains.  He may have been right.  The next morning (eclipse over) I headed out again a little before and a little after dawn.  And was much happier with the shots I took.

Wasn't that a lucky shot?

 

It was cool outside.  We definitely had a frost.

It isn't cold enough to freeze bubbles though.  Yet.

I hope your week is filled with beauty and success.

 

Sunday Selections #534

 

 

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 taking you on another outing this week.  Our National Gallery is free - unless you want to go to a special exhibition.  Last week we went back to the gallery for the first time in far too long.

We went to see an exhibition brought to us from the National Gallery in London - Botticelli to Van Gogh.  Covid 19 meant that it was a ticketed, time and numbers limited event.  So we booked in and headed off.

Mary Magdalene by Giovanni Girolamo Savoidi.  How I admire the skill with which he depicted that flowing robe...

The Annunciation with Saint Emidus by Carlo Crivelli.  My ignorant self had not heard of the painter, and knows nothing about the Annunciation or Saint Emidus.

 

Portrait of a woman with a fan - by Frans Hals.  She looks very comfortably off doesn't she?

 

 Still life with lobster by Willem Claesz Heda.  Another artist I didn't know - and that is one BIG lobster.

Venice:  A regatta on the Grand Canal by Canaletto

 

The Infant Saint John with the lamb by Bartolome Esteban Murillo.  You can just about feel the softness of the lamb's wool can't you?

A peasant boy leaning on a sill by Bartolome Esteban Murillo.  My picky self thought that he was perhaps cleaner (though picturesquely ragged) than reality.

Ballet dancers by Edgar Degas.  This is not one of his works I can remember seeing before, but I didn't need the plaque to tell me whose work it was.

La Premiere sortie (At the theatre) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Hillside in Provence by Paul Cezanne.  Another which was new to me.

 

And this was the ONLY Vincent Van Gogh in the exhibition.  He apparently painted four versions of this now famous work - and this was the only one that he liked enough to sign. 

A vase of flowers by Paul Gaugin.  Yet another I cannot remember seeing before.  I am so grateful for the generosity of the London National Gallery in sharing these works.

 

The water lily pond by Claude Monet.  One of my sisters in law has visited his garden - which fills me with envy.

Some of the paintings I loved and others were not to my taste.  It isn't the best exhibition I have seen at the National Gallery but I am very, very glad we went.

I was tired and brain dead by the time we had gone through this small area of the gallery but I am also going to show you some of the works we caught sight of on our way in.

 

These were part of a display which focused on Remembering.  Kathy Temin's memories might be soft, cuddly and comforting but some of mine are not.

I found this one really interesting - and have shown you the wall plaque as well.  Next visit, when I am hopefully less tired I will pay it more attention.

Finishing with a charming advertisement for the exhibition we went to see.

As always I picked up some bookmarks and a couple of cards in the gift shop as we went through it.  If you would like any of them let me know (and which one you would like).  First in, best dressed, and please send me your address if I don't already have it.

The Other Side.

Wisewebwoman has guilted me into this post.

 

I am a beauty addict.  I look for it (and I find it) each and every day.  Almost all of my posts relate to that search.

 

However there is another side.  The sunshine and roses are there but they are not the complete picture.  I also live with chronic illnesses (multiple sclerosis, thyroid issues and a current mystery).  They bring with them disability, bone-aching fatigue and pain.  Medication issues mean that I also deal with ongoing nausea (which I have whinged about from time to time). 

 

Some time ago my feet and legs blew up in spectacular fashion.  They blew up to the point where shoes were an issue and I simply couldn't wear straight legged trousers.  My general practioner of the time said definitively 'heart failure' and packed me off for a test.  Which came back negative.  He then lost interest.

 

My neurologist said that it was the wrong test - and didn't discount liver or kidney failure.  I acquired (not before time) a new GP.  More tests.  Expensive tests.  And they all came back negative.  Which was good.  And bad.  Walking (which is already an issue) became more challenging.

 

The current GP didn't give up and started investigating my medication.  One of them has been associated with oedema.  So we scaled it back and then out.  It is (naturally) the medication which was found through trial and error helped most with my pain.  The swelling decreased.  It hasn't gone away, but it is markedly less.  Perhaps it was the medication at fault, and it certainly wasn't helped by warm weather.  Further tests continue.  The GP told me that I may have to make a hard decision about what I am prepared to live with - and left it to me (which is part of the reason I am happy with her).  Pain is up.  Swelling is down.  Fatigue is up.  The nausea is still there.  Pain/fatigue/nausea feed off each other.  

 

These are not things of beauty but they are undeniably a part of my life.  A part of my life which frequently bores me and which I do my best to adjust to and ignore.  I will continue to beat myself up for my inability to do what 'normal people (mythical beasts) manage. 

 

And I will continue to search for and focus on beauty. 

 

I admire Wisewebwoman and other bloggers who tell it as it is.   I will occasionally follow suit.

 

In the interim I leave you with something which was sent to me recently.  It makes a great deal of sense to me - and I need to remember it.