Spirit of the Flame

I heard a loud bang, and then saw tiny vibrant sparkles flickering behind the dense branches of the trees in the woods beyond the fields. They were there for an instant, and then they were gone. As Kristian, of Tales From the Mind of Kristian, mentioned in his Word of the Day Challenge: Bonfire... It's...

When There Is No One To Call

At this time of year, you may hear, a question asked of you... but if you don't have an answer, you may be tempted to use your phone... who you gonna call? What if there is no one to call, because you are a ghost, an exhausted ghost in the exhaust, cast out of the...

Off Kilter in the Middle of Things

I'm in the middle of drinking a cup of tepid tea while I write this. It's tepid because in between making it and drinking it there was a flurry of activity of me finishing off some things I'd left unfinished in the middle of doing them, and of me starting new things then taking a...

Shock me, Amadeus!

. “I am not thoughtless but am prepared for anything and as a result can wait patiently for whatever the future holds in store, and I'll be able to endure it.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . What do you consider to be a disaster... a personal and ordinary disaster of the kind we encounter daily...

The Sneezing Doorbell

. "I hurt myself today To see if I still feel I focus on the pain The only thing that's real" ― Johnny Cash . Imagine a door. Behind this door is the home of your dreams. Every room is exactly as you've imagined it could be, furnished just for you. But... The door is...

Was this the way of insecurity or in security?

. “I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice.” ― Roald Dahl . Have you ever regretted taking someone's advice? Have you ever regretted ignoring someone's advice? Damned if you do and damned if you don't... But what is it that is damning you? Most often it...

The Secret Life of Feelings

. “It always shocked me when I realized that I wasn’t the only person in the world who thought and felt such strange and awful things.” ― John Green . What does enveloped mean to you? . Enveloped... means to me exploring the layers which shroud us, inside and out. Thought. Feeling. And more. And...

Splashed by Murky Waters

. “Life starts out with everyone clapping when you take a poo and goes downhill from there. ” ― Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake . Have you ever had one of those days when you wondered if you were a part of some cosmic joke, but you're not sure which side of...

When a Tree Crashes into to You…

“The world spins. We stumble on. It is enough.” ― Colum McCann . With the sort of winds which we sometimes get around this part of the world... they could uproot a tree and blow that projectile onto you, like a hammer hitting a nail on the head, missing the thumb. However... That's not exactly...

Diamonds on Water

. . Do you ever observe all the permutations which your mind makes of that which your eyes see? In a split second it can see... The sun after a rainstorm playing with a puddle, a sea of stars, diamonds on water, reflections of light chasing away the dark, the cold absorbing warmth. Or the...

How to be a Human Bean

. “For your information, I'm staying like this, and everyone else can just get used to it! If people don't like me the way I am, well TOUGH BEANS!” ― Bill Watterson . Hello, Human Bean! And welcome to life on earth! You're new here, freshly born, a little green, and probably wondering what the...

It’s All the Rage!

Letting it slide is in many ways my go-to coping mechanism for life, and when dealing with those complex beings known as other people. It's one of those ways of approaching life and relationships which grows out of a natural trait rather than something unnatural which you force upon yourself. If you're irascible naturally... trying...

The Problem with Orange is Blue…

. “When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?” ― Shel Silverstein . They say that nothing rhymes with orange. They say... a lot of things. They never stop talking, opining and making their...

Every weirdo in the world is on my wavelength

“Every weirdo in the world is on my wavelength.” ― Thomas Pynchon . . It's a rather lovely experience to connect with someone else on a subtle level. It's a communion of being, no need to say or do anything, the communication is there, effortless and easy. You feel at home with them and they...

…the scale of disaster you’ve left yourself open to.

“It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to.” ― Kazuo Ishiguro . . . . The other day I...

The Dangerous Assumption

. . “When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind. Now I am advised by others to try on my release to forget that I...

It’s not the face, but the expressions on it…

“It's not the face, but the expressions on it. It's not the voice, but what you say. It's not how you look in that body, but the thing you do with it. You are beautiful.” ― Stephenie Meyer . . . . When I first saw the focus of this week’s Daily Post Photo challenge:...

All the small things…

. . “True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” ― Leo Tolstoy . You're asking me... as though you think, expect, are more certain than I am that I have an answer. That I have a system, an order, a ritual which guarantees something. And maybe, in a tiny corner of your eye, in...

Of Shadow, Shapes, and Shrouded Apparitions

. . “Then shadows and shapes, shrouded figures, appeared to join him, apparitions, ancient, mythical faces, wise and beautiful, like holy ghosts, shimmering around around him, beside him, beyond him, enveloped by a brume indescribable, shot through with shafts of pink and blue and gold, as though the heavens themselves had opened up and poured...

A Strange Kind of Peace

“What do you think…?” I asked my partner as he walked into my office while I was working on the image in this post. He paused. Looked. Paused. Paused a bit more. I knew he didn’t like it. “You don’t like it,” I stated the obvious in an obvious yet neutral way to remove the...

Experience is a brutal teacher…

. . “Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn fast.” ― William Nicholson . . What is shadow? Is it the contrast of light or is light the contrast of it? And what about the shades of grey which exist between shadow and light? . What is... shadowed? Is it the same as shadow......

Love is a Doing word…

. . Love is a doing word… and the heart loves a new challenge. I would like to thank the beautiful soul who inspired me to do this. They messaged me on tumblr and, as I replied, what they had shared with me swirled within the place where I listen and a spark set light...

What’s Your Melting Point?

. . “I am not an outsider. I am an insider who discovered that everyone else had gone out.” ― Stephen J. Day, Horizontal - The Recumbent Adventures of Philias Switchmoat . . Warmth... Hmmmm... what is your definition of warmth? Is it physical, mental, emotional, soulful, abstract or... a very real kind of thing...

Tuesday Tales, Trends and Travels Online

On Twitter, Tuesdays used to be known as Truthful Tuesday, where you confessed something via tweet. I have no idea if it is still a Twitter trend because I rarely tweet. Nothing to do with Twitter, I still love the format, I just... have been too distracted to participate. Reminds me of what my teachers...

Please help me and/or yourselves with a Creative Project and Share your Twinkling Sparks

. . I know this is cheeky, but it's a fun for all kind of cheekiness (at least I think it is which is why I'm doing it)... The image above is my entry into The Daily Post's Photo Challenge: Twinkle. The prize for entering this kind of challenge is the inspiration to create and...

It Follows Me like a Shadow

It follows me like a shadow… but what is it? Have you ever observed the shadows around you, watching them change with the shifting light over the course of a year? Have you listened to them with your eyes, heard their whispers like shivers breathing in your ears. Felt their touch on your skin, cold...

On the Verge of a Con

. . Is this a photograph of a bicycle? Yes or No. Unless you’re feeling a bit Magritte today, you’d probably go with Yes as an answer. I’m going with Yes, because I took the photograph (and took it this morning, and as far as I am aware not much has changed in my sliver...

The Latitude of Attitude – What’s Your Angle?

. . One of the things which I try to assess about a person when I’m interacting with them is where they are coming from. [Such as are they the sort of person who will read the previous sentence and trip over my incorrect use of grammar. Will they be offended by my error so...

Out damned spot… of the telltale heart!

. . Doct.  What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands. Gen.  It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands. I have known her to continue in this a quarter of an hour. Lady M.  Yet here’s a spot. Doct.  Hark! she speaks. I will set...

The Achievements of Others… Do you envy, admire, are challenged or inspired by them?

. . A friend of a friend recently revealed that a project of theirs, of the team of which they are a part, had been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination in one of those categories which doesn’t always make it to the show which airs on TV, but which is still very important to those...