Spring is Not Only in the Air

Seen growing wild all over Crete, the Sea Squill, or Sea Onion, is a bulb the Greeks hang over their doorways on New Years Eve for good health and luck. Despite being uprooted it will continue to grow and blossom, which made people think it had magical powers. After new year the bulb is take inside and kept it in the house.

Later in the summer it is easily recognised by its distinctive tall stems covered with small white flowers.

Halcyon Days

Chania harbour on a calm January day. 

The Halcyon Days. 

From halcyon, from Latin Alcyone, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alkuónē), daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. When her husband died in a shipwreck, Alcyone threw herself into the sea whereupon the gods transformed them both into halcyon birds (kingfishers). When Alcyone made her nest on the beach, waves threatened to destroy it. Aeolus restrained his winds and kept them calm during seven days in each year, so she could lay her eggs. These became known as the "halcyon days," when storms do not occur. 
(WIki)

Favourite T-shirt of the week

A few years back I started photographing people wearing Che Guevara T-shirts. I always asked permission first, and was always pleasantly surprised how readily people agreed to have their photo taken. I put the photos into a blog: https://wearingche.blogspot.com/

I encountered this guy on a recent visit to Cambridge, and he was happy to pose for a photo, though I did have to coax a smile out of him. 

Theatre of Stars

Sultry summer evening, 

Voices from a nearby garden 

The clink of glasses 

Muted laughter

Doves co-cooing in the branches of a tree

Squadrons of swifts performing aerial acrobatics, 

Screeching their commands as they change formation. 

A single engine plane passes

Above all this

My heart beats its steady rhythm 

ba-boom, ba-oom, ba-boom 

The clock ticks the seconds by

tick-tok, tick-tok, tick-tok

Pulses of energy from across the void of space

Until the night is formed

I am surprised to see stars

(after several cloudy days)

And they effortlessly draw me out 

into the cool stillness of the night

In search of total darkness

I find myself in the graveyard,

(having lifted the latch of the lychgate, quietly)

The only place the glare of streetlights does not intrude

The dead having no need of light

I sense no ghosts here, 

but nevertheless 

I feel a shiver down my spine

As I look up into the cosmos

And take my seat beneath the theatre of stars

20 July 19

Island of the Dead

Island of the Dead

Went to the cemetery today
The boat dropped me off at the pier

It was very quiet
Except for the birdsong 
And the gentle gusts of wind in the trees

As you might imagine
There was a lot of marble —
Tombs, crosses, angels, portraits in relief
Plastic flowers, inscriptions
Dates from, and until.
Fading photographs of people with dated hair styles
Grief, stillness, absence 

I liked the Cypress trees though
They had a nice fresh pine smell
Looked so fantastically green against a backdrop of the deepest blue,
And another boat would soon arrive—
To take me back to the mainland. 


Isola di San Michele, Venezia, 22/V/19

Cows

Such wonderful creatures, cows
We all like to see them
Chewing grass, in the fields
Looking at us as if to say —
           funny old life isn’t it . . .

They look so natural
In the landscape of grassy fields and hedges
Their black and white camouflage a bit eccentric 
And entirely useless 
Yellow plastic tabs stapled to their ears
Swishing their tails to keep the flies away
Udders swollen up with milk
For our Cornflakes, muesli, and cappuccinos 
Very pastoral
Seeing cows
In fields

Another year of Photos

Another year of photos...
The weird, the wonderful and the mundane — plenty of art, travel and inspiration. The occasional patches of darkness but a healthy smattering of blue skies. 
Still casting a shadow . . .