It’s always a treat to be able to share some recent photos, especially if they are sets. Being homebound most of the time and surrounded by nature, my most recent words are mostly nature themes, which is not my forte but an excuse to take the camera for a walk.
Spring is a glorious season to practice mindfulness because the world seems to come alive again with fresh new leaves and flowers that remind us that no matter how long or harsh the winter was, it too shall pass.
The first set is a Bird of Paradise triptych. I bought the potted plant shortly after moving into the Frobbit House in 2022 and the leaves just made me feel more at home, as if I still had one foot in the door of my youth. Birds of paradise have always been a part of my life ever since my childhood in Kenya. No matter what country I moved to, with the exception of Germany, I always found these regal plants in gardens or parks. It was such a thrill to encounter them here in Portugal and I looked forward to having them in my home at some point. Well this particular plant took its sweet time to blossom and quite frankly I had just about given up on it thinking that it wasn’t going to flower as long as it was a potted plant. Then lo and behold, last week I was hanging up some laundry and what do I see when turned around? My very first bird of paradise blossom! I took the first shot when the flower was not quite fully opened and the others were taken two days later.
The next set is obviously not a triptych but a polyptych or quadtych. There is still some debate in photography circles how to refer to sets of four images. The art circles are more definitive about it but for the longest time anything beyond a triptych was simply referred to as a series. Now let’s talk dandelions for a second. Most of us associate these puff balls with summer and I was surprised too find them all over the place now. But this year the weather has been so bizarre that we seem to have gone from winter straight into summer, completely bypassing spring altogether.
Every year I look forward to the return of the elderflowers in the garden. There are tons of recipes out there for the elixirs, syrups and jams you can do with them but I have never attempted to do so on my own. One wrong snip and harvest and the whole thing can be a poisonous brew! So I’ll stick to the camera version in the meantime.
Veering away from the plants I now dish out some clouds. These were taken shortly after sunrise and as I looked out my window, I knew I have to dash down and grab the camera before the blanket of clouds moved on. On mornings like these I can’t help but feel as though I woke up some mysterious land above The Faraway Tree.
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