Timepieces

We all do it. We steal glances at clocks and watches and cell phones.

We search for them in public spaces, or ask strangers at bus stops.

Clocks that used to grace towers or buildings are sometimes silent and unmoving as the public came to have their own private timepieces.

Watches have become more and more like pieces of jewellery in this day of checking our phones for the time.

I love my collection of timepieces

with it's array of clock faces and digital numbers.

Some are silent, some tick resonantly. One chimes.

Some need to be plugged in, some need to be wound up.

All tell a story... once upon a time.

beauty in the mundane

Water.

Something too many of us think is mundane and boring and oh so plentiful.

shades of grey

in a colourless world?

fresh

fresh colour

waking up to find a fresh bloom

spring fling

SPRING
a time to dance yourself to the garden show

(from Canada Blooms)

green

new

green growth

at the moment

only

inside a greenhouse

Hidden

Some days, my view across the lake is hidden.

But, I know it is still there...

flawed

one too many drops after an over zealous photo op.

treasured

Whenever I leave my house, I glance at this clock by the door and get a warm, soft feeling.

Sentimental. Maybe it tries to unlock some fond memories?

Which is odd, as I never particularly liked it when it hung on the kitchen wall of the family home. In fact, I found it silly and even a bit ugly against the heavily patterned kitchen wallpaper. It is not my taste. I wouldn't even say it was my mother's taste.

But when we moved my mother into her apartment, it was the first thing we hung up. And after she died, it was the one thing I told my brother I really wanted. Everything else was negotiable.

self portrait

Just for you

trying to not show

my impatience

at 198

imperfect shots

togetherness

what keeps a couple together
when all is said and done?
why, it is the dance,
of course,
for with two
is so much fun.

what a morning

By morning, I am usually as bleary eyed and ruffled as this robin.
When I stagger home from my nighttime job, the rest of the world is stretching and yawning and feeling fresh to greet the day.
I am craving supper and sleep.

I dream through the dawn.

Looking Up

to see what is looking down

Seeing through the Doors

The front door should be the most welcoming aspect of your home.

And nothing, to me, is less welcoming than a solid door.

The house I grew up in had a front door with a long window down the left third side, behind a storm door that was almost all window, or half window half screen, in the summer. Only during the cold, drafty winter months was that front door closed. Through that open door one could sit in the kitchen and look out onto the street; it was possible to see immediately who was coming up the path to the verandah; it let your friends and neighbours know that you were home.

A windowed door lets the light of the sun into your home.

And allows the warm glow of the light of the house into the evening air.

Note: This door is not mine. Were it mine, those particular curtains would be gone!

simplicity, untouched

Simplicity is...

a welcome relief in an oversaturated world

tea

a lovely cup of tea made in a cast iron teapot

herbs grown and harvested by hand

ingredients: lemon balm, purple basil, field balm, chamomile

a strange brew for a coffee lover, but this is oh, so soothing...

and every cup is a slightly different colour and taste due to the herbs!

Orange Beetle

Orange is a colour that stands out in a crowd.

Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands.

Makes me wonder if the owner of this car that

commands attention is Dutch.

out of focus

Even when you think all is calm and serene and focused

you discover that there is always movement

and that that time of serene focused calm was fleeting.

abandoned

fantasizing about owning a home by a lake,
we came across this abandoned cottage
with a rotting dock and overgrown weeds,
wondering where the love had gone.

where I live

Where I live is an urban oasis.
It is an oversized suit with pockets

of grit and charm, rich and poor,

clattering noise and serene quiet.
Here you can find the mundane and the innovative.
It is one city of neighbourhoods, another of waterfalls.
It is joined by a lake and a highway.
It is somewhat crowded with friends, family, strangers.
It is hated by many.
But it is home, and where I live
between Toronto and Hamilton in Southern Ontario.