Silent Sunday
Tag: Weekly Photo Challenge
Silent Sunday
What’s Inside?
Every block of stone
has a statue inside it
and it is the task of the sculptor
to discover it.
— Michelangelo
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside.
Silent Sunday
Silent Sunday
Promise
Beauty
is the promise
of happiness.
— Edmund Burke
Another one for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Nolstalgic.
Silent Sunday
A Bridge to Cross
The hardest thing to learn
is which bridge to cross
and which to burn.
— David Russell
Slightly belated entry for the Sunday Post Challenge: Bridge. The Ponte Octávio Frias de Oliveira in São Paulo.
A Shadow Fleeting
Beauty is ever to the lonely mind
a shadow fleeting;
she is never plain.
She is a visitor who leaves behind
the gift of grief,
the souvenir of pain.
— Christopher Morley
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting
No Dogs Dancing?
Life is one big road with lots of signs.
So when you’re riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind.
Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy.
Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality.
Wake Up and Live!
– Bob Marley
The Weekly Photo Challenge: The Sign Says. Well, I’ve always wondered about this one…
In the Background
Just an untidy picture, right?
Do you the “nana”?
Or the haughty man with the sharp nose?
The chinwag?
And the shadow?
What do you see here?
Let a man get up and say,
Behold, this is the truth,
and instantly I perceive a sandy cat
filching a piece of fish in the background.
Look, you have forgotten the cat, I say.
– Virginia Woolf
Looking at a rather untidy photo I was suddenly struck by the shapes made by the space around the flowers and the shadows.
The Weekly Photo Challenge: In the Background.
Doors to Freedom
Elegant…
…charming…
…ostentatious…
…artsy…
…decorative…
…whimsical…
… or stylish.
Look on every exit
as being an entrance
somewhere else.
― Tom Stoppard
All big cities have their special features, and in Paris it’s the ironwork. Art déco, art nouveau, classical or modern: every taste is catered for. Which door would you choose?
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape.
Art Is Pattern
Seen from Above
Falia was resigned to her mission. The thankless task of checking out possible new worlds traditionally fell to the most junior member of the Interplanetary Relationship Bureau. It was probably a false alarm anyway, and even if it wasn’t there was nothing she could do beyond data gathering, worse luck. To remove temptation, scout vessels simply weren’t equipped for landing.
After the autopilot had maneuvered her ship into orbit, Falia set to work. Satellites made tapping into data sources seem like child’s play. She was excited to get her first glimpse of a new species, have the ship’s computer navigate through the jumble of languages, and dip into it’s strange culture. But her excitement soon turned to dismay at what she found.
Morality. The planet was infested with it. Preachers of morality raped children; others murdered in the name of family values. Those whose very existence offended the reigning moral code were despised and persecuted; those unwilling to accept it reviled. Where two moralities clashed, hatred and violence inevitably followed: the slaughter of innocents on the way was defended by moral leaders.
On the way back Falia tried to shake off her feeling of revulsion. How could anyone value rules over sentient beings’ feelings and needs? Her report would go through the usual channels, though the outcome was clear. After the Bureau had slipped up with Silema-β, only narrowly avoiding the first interplanetary war, the ruling on a morality-ridden planet was inevitable.
Quarantine.
***
T.Mastgrave’s weekly Philosophical Story Challenge: how do conflicting moralities come to terms with one another?
And the Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above, another look at last week’s flower.
Silent Sunday
A Myriad Blossoms
Break open a cherry tree
and there are no flowers,
but the spring breeze
brings forth myriad blossoms.
– Ikkyu Sojun
Some kind of Rosaceae, but what kind? Cherry? If any one knows, do leave a comment. Else I’ll have to wait for the fruit.
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Up. Once I started snapping it was hard to stop…
Silent Sunday
Colours
There are no lines in nature,
only areas of colour,
one against another.
– Edouard Manet
The CBBH Photo Challenge: Multicoloured.
Update: Sorry, I missed the “blog-love”. A lovely dog-blog, and whimsical nature photography.
Silent Sunday
Details
The true secret of happiness
lies in taking a genuine interest
in all the details of daily life.
– William Morris
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details
Embrace the Future
The future
belongs to those who believe
in the beauty of their dreams.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward.
Home
Home is where the heart is.
– Proverb
Outside my window in my parents’ house. The Weekly Photo Challenge: Home.
Unique
Human beings,
who are almost unique
in having the ability to learn from the experience of others,
are also remarkable
for their apparent disinclination to do so.
– Douglas Adams
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique.
Silent Sunday
Finding Beauty
Life is simply a collection of little lives,
each lived one day at a time.
Each day should be spent
finding beauty in flowers and poetry
and talking to animals.
– Nicholas Sparks
The Sunday Post Challenge: Simplicity.
Stray Thoughts 