OVER THE CHAPEL ROOF.

It is early and I sit out for a while on the small balcony gazing dreamily over the red-roof of the chapel.It is quiet , morning activity is not yet in full swing.

Down in the bay a few fishermen are returning with their early catch, others are idly chatting, their boats colourful in the morning light.

Peace reigns.----A blue sky, -a blue sea, and  that beautiful feeling that all is as it should be.

A white sailing boat drifts lazily by,taking it with me in dreams.------

Church bells ring and I am awake now.- Maybe another cappuccino, and then it is time to move into the day.

  Maureen

JUST A GLIMPSE OF THE REAL THING?

ST PAUL'S BAY

Sunsets always fill me with awe.There is somethng here that takes one into a realm of wonder, beauty and magnificence that I find breathtaking and humbling.

 Nothing that we can create can compare with the raw  yet perfect grandeur that nature places before us in never ending variety.

Perhaps it is a glimpse of a realm that we will one day experience in full dimension.

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                      A crimson flush soaks the sky.
                      Multi- faceted myriad colours shine,
                     melting into a fusion of brightness.
                         A dazzling moment of purity, transparent, beautiful.
                      Feat of nature,-brilliant,
                      a  drenched spectacle of light.
                                                                     
                                                                 Maureen.

OH YES----THOSE WERE THE DAYS.

Mary Hopkin made this recording in 1968, it was produced by Paul McCartney under the Apple label. English lyrics are by Gene Raskin, but it was originally a Russian song with words written by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii.

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Oh yes-for me those were certainly the days !  The music, the dance ,the carefree feeling of hope and adventure;  the dreams, the sense that wonderful things could and would happen, and the world would find itself in peace.
  As in  the song, I am older now and not much wiser.I suppose though I am still that romantic idealist,dreaming dreams and holding in my heart the most beautiful vision.Perhaps if I hold on tightly enough and believe deeply enough, it will come true.
     Oh,- I hope so.
                              Maureen

ON TOP OF THE ROOF.

 

 Sun sea and simplicity on top of the roof. Our roof terrace is small, but it is all that I need to find peace.

It's early morning and I quietly make my way there. Blue sky, blue sea, space and all that is lovely in this still moment.

Here I can really breathe, feel the freshness, and rejoice in that beautiful feeling of being free.No closed windows or doors, just openness and light.

My mind unravels, slows down; my heart lifts and I seem to hear more clearly,see more deeply.

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Just a short time here before I move into the day, but how I need that simple moment, how I need the refreshment, how I treasure its serenity and peace.

Where Am I Going?

                      
Life they say is a journey, and I am sure that whoever they are are hoping that when we arrive at our destination we will like it. Infact I rather like the idea of everyone meeting in the same place at the end of the journey, and deciding that the trip was so good that after a rest they will be ready to start out again and again with all the excitement of anticipation.

 Somehow though I feel we really are, -and I should speak for myself,- missing this excitement. Maybe it is because I really don't try hard enough to experience a sense of immediacy that lets me enter  a relationship with life that seeks to nurture each moment, and create within myself the capacity to release anxiety and concentrate on my own ability to survive any situation that emerges, be it unpleasant, frightening, or simply uplifting and enthralling.

Fear with me is certainly a prominent issue, and were I  able to let go of this fear I might be able to actually enjoy many moments that seem on the surface unpleasant. This may take a readiness to accept pain and discomfort in a way that stimulates the body,mind and senses into a level of sensitivity that can absorb the pain and transform it into a positive experience.  Think of mystics and spiritual sages, and their ability to move into this sphere.

 Meanwhile I do my best to keep Life as a positive journey,moving each moment hopefully with as much true, simple enjoyment  and appreciation as I can.I don't wish to see everything my way to the exclusion of a tolerant, caring,wise interaction with others.  I hope to develop with them and the world I live in an empathy that is perhaps able to lift us to the turning point of pain. 

 I hope  infact that the journey will grow more positive and more exciting along the way, so that when the journey ends,  the destination will have developed into an inmmediacy in my experience that is simply an extension of the journey, in an infinite moment of timelessness.
                            Maureen.

Are Rules Ruling Us?

 

                                        Dove of Peace.-----Watercolour and oil pastel.

Are we becoming so enslaved by rules that we are sacrificing the freedom that they should be preserving? Having worked in Education for many years I am well aware of the need for an ordered, disciplined approach, but I am aware too that each human being  has an individual right to his freedom within limits that consider the  respect  for, and dignity of others.

 Perhaps the root problem is the fact that the mass consciousness has become attuned to a degraded acceptance of human dignity, and the need to work together with an altruism that rises way above an egoistic motivation to a true desire to discover wth genuine love what is best for everyone, has been lost.

 I feel that this motivational force for goodness would allow humanity to raise itself to a level of living where rules as such would become obsolete, to be replaced by an absolutely sychronised peaceful movement into life and living,  harmonising totally with a cosmic order,  inherently bound to an integration and balance that is perfectly attuned.

 I also believe  that humanity will achieve this level of living, with the expansion of consciousnaess and the depth of spiritual insight that this requires. I long for this with hope,  and because it is a vision that has persisted with me and inspired me over the years with what I consider  pure Truth, I am convinced that it will indeed actualise.

                                                               Maureen.

Elation

'VISION'---ACRYLIC AND OIL PASTEL ON STRETCHED CANVAS

            It has been a terrible week! A week when everything negative has been hurled at us with some force. I won't go into detail,- I want this blog to stay as positive as possible, let me just say that the experience has left us drained both emotionally and physically.

  I was sitting this morning, feeling 'hard done to' and so sorry for myself.  I try to live Life in a positive way. I believe in the power of Love and its ability to heal. I believe in the need for this love to be a reciprocal movement of interaction with each other. I believe in a beautiful Creation that has been given so that we treasure and nurture it.I believe that we should treasure and nurture each other. 
Suddenly- in a flash I found myself writing:- ------
                        --------------    
                               
So I think that I can ride the waves,
 stand in the centre of the world and dance and dance. 
So I think that all around me speaks music and song,
 and the whole of Life  is bound to brightness and colour and magic. 
So this is my moment of madness when I think I can fly.-----

Or is it that the dream is real and I no longer fear?
 I simply root myself in all things wonderful and claim them as my being.
 I live to love, and love in full glorious freedom;

 I live my own self at last, and see I am everyone in perfect peace.

The Old Man and his Boat

                           
A beautiful morning in May, quite early, and we stroll down to the little quayside.
 The old man is there as usual with his  old boat.
 A lttle unsteady now, he unties the rope with some  awkwardness and turns to greet us.
 He is self-conscious I feel as he guides the boat to shore. Yes,- that's why,- he has some difficulty  stepping onto land, his feet unsure ,a little clumsy, but taking his time, he makes it with just a little  gentle help        
This is Cikko, a dear friend of over twenty years.

Cikko is now eighty eight years old. Wen we first met him ,over twenty years ago, he was a swarthy man, fit and muscular with the wise, sunburned face of a man of the sea. He has lived in St Paul's Bay all his life, in a tiny house that is spartan but enough. Enough for him to live simply, peacefully, with his own pattern. Out early each morning to see what fish are about, guiding his boat with the long bamboo pole, and delighting if he finds an octopus; out walking along the sea path each afternoon, pausing to greet friends, and Cikko has many.

 Today he has seen many changes, not all of them happy ones, as he sadly tells us. The simple scene of the village has been spoiled with many high flats, mainly for Summer visitors; The rocks below are now packed tight with holiday makers in  the high season, and the lovely oleander trees that Cikko loved   and surrounded with his little flower garden have been uprooted, leaving the scene drab and bare.

   Cikko still finds early morning peace in his little boat,  as the sun rises and the sky turns to blue. But that simple, long ago peace  has vanished, and his life is sadder.
 We love Cikko, he is so much bound to our life here. I will miss him sadly if he leaves us, St Paul's Bay will never be the same.
                                 Maureen

REFLECTION OF A REFLECTION.

No,-that's not the sunset through the window reflecting on the water; --it's a reflection on the glass of our partly open window.

 Every evening we can watch the sun setting in this way, as we sit on the sofa. So it isn't simply the sun's reflection on the water that we see,it's a reflection of the sun's reflection on the water.

There is something a little mystical here, especially since we face North; I think I need to reflect on it for a while.
                           Maureen.