February Musings

These winter months are perfect for handiwork of any kind.

Since crochet is my passion, besides photography,

I need no excuses for playing with my colourful yarns and hook.

This little heart turned out so prettily and fit the heart-shaped dish so well.

When we do any kind of handiwork, we need good, sharp scissors.

I have several. These are perfect for cutting off loose ends once they have been sewn in.

The big surprise of this first half of the month was an unexpected

and exciting snow storm.

This house is in my street just opposite from where I live.

I took the photo from my balcony.

The snow was mostly all melted by late afternoon when the sun came out again!

Flowering plants are so welcome in the home at this time of the year.

These hyacinth flowers are beautifully long lasting on the small round table in front of the window.

It's just next to where I sit surrounded by yarns and patterns!

A detail on the beautiful fully opened flowers.

One early evening, I went to see the latest film version of Little Women

adapted from the book by Louisa May Alcott which was written in 1868.

Life was certainly much different back then.

I was disappointed by this new version of the story. The story didn't flow

and some of the actors were sadly miscast.

The settings were beautiful.

As I walked back home from the bus stop at the top of my street,

I saw this beautiful shimmering moon  framed by the branches of a pretty birch tree.

Now something different!

I do love capturing abstract images with my camera 

and I'm not going to tell you what they are!

Abstracts pull us into a new way of looking at colour, shape and texture 

without wanting to label what we see.

This was taken on a structured, shiny surface and has not been post edited.

A different colour scheme on a similar sort of surface.

I love the feel of swirling energy.

This one is made by a special technique called Intentional Camera Movement!

I used a slow shutter speed to help the process and then the camera

is intentionally moved to create a soft blur.

This is the same subject but with different movements.

I love the feeling of the energy we feel and this shimmering vortex

which seems to lift me upwards.

It feels like painting with my camera!

Back to reality with some pretty flowering Viburnam blossom

looking so bright and cheerful in the soft neutral tones we see in February.

I even picked some adorable pink-tipped daisies growing in the grassy verges in my neighbourhood.

I thought they were perfect for Valentine's Day.

This is the day when florist's charge extra for their extravagant flower arrangements

that many ladies seem to expect.

All this brings us to think about the meaning of love.

It certainly isn't necessarily in the form of some grand gesture

like a dozen red roses, diamonds or the keys to a new car.

Love, in its broadest sense, englobes (or includes) all.

Not just one person.

It's about giving of oneself to everything worthwhile.

Everything is worthwhile.

It can be something as simple as offering a smile to someone that crosses our path,

or who sits next to us on the bus.

Love is choosing to protect and nurture our environment

for ourselves,

but especially for the children of today.

Love is not conditional, nor exclusive.

Universal love is the one we need to practice the most.

The whole planet, and all those who inhabit it, need our love.

Author and spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle, says it so beautifully:

"Love is a state of being. Your love is not outside. It is deep within you.

You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you.

It is not dependent on some other body."

Continuing the year-long project of crocheting a flower a week.

Here are the latest ones for weeks 4, 5 and 6.

See more details here:

Crochet Flowers 2020