Staring at the sun.

Sunday was clear and cold, and in the late afternoon, the kids and I took a walk. The sky was scattered with translucent sheets of sheer grey, rippled cloud cover, and a warm glow lit up the horizon.

The white disc in the photo is the sun, not the moon. A tame (and fleeting) version of what’s usually a blinding ball of fire. In that moment, it was unarmed and unarmoured, letting itself be seen. It felt like I could hold my fingers out and just pluck it from the fabric of the clouds.

It was one of those brief and extraordinary small wonders that I’m grateful to have noticed.

(I also think the fragmented sky and shadowy branches make for nice textures to include in Narami’s Tuesdays of Texture this week).

Thank you, as always, for visiting.

Round-trip ticket.

And so one loop around the sun ends, and another begins.

Don’t worry. We’ve done this before – a few billion times. Rarely do we veer off course, crash into things, or run out of gas. This trip’s pretty predictable, actually.

Our personal journeys…not so much.

May you and your loved ones have a smooth ride this time around. A safe one, a courageous one, a joyful one. One of gratitude, and patience, and wisdom.

I wish you a comfortable bed, cold water to drink and hot water to shower, a room of your own, a circle of your favourite people, the warmth of the sun on your face, and every opportunity you deserve.

And chocolate. (Unless you don’t like chocolate. Then I wish you whatever you do like.)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Let it shine.

Glass watering bulbs are hollow orbs that can be filled with water and inserted into plant containers to help keep the soil moist.

Mine is rather plain and dull-looking, at least while doing its duty, lodged in a pot. Inconspicuously, it doles out single drops of water to extend the flamboyant but brief lives of my impatiens, which end up overrunning the container in all their showy glory and obscuring the bulb entirely.

It really sparkles, though, when it’s pulled free and held up to the light.

 

*BTW: A stained-glass ball held between your readied camera and the burning centre of our solar system may not provide adequate retinal protection against the sun’s harmful rays.