Contemplation

How wonderful is the gift of eyesight and how we take it for granted.

As a child I was given a book of general knowledge that I poured over for hours. I also spent a lot of time looking at pictures in my mother’s discarded magazines and sometimes cut things out. This, I often did very much later on.

At the start of every year I always got a new calendar and as they were subjects I liked, I was loath to throw them away when the year was done.

So I made cut-outs and turned them in to collages.

At a craft shop I bought papier-mache boxes which I thus decorated, using Mod Podge.

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They were used to contain small gifts, I think.

The above paper hankie holder is still with me, though a bit beat up now.

Such sweet little faces needed to be kept.

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This was a Christmas card sent to me years ago.

No way I could throw that picture out!

Perhaps I’m a picture hoarder?

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Over the years, I’ve spent quite a lot of time looking at maps. I always liked being able to place a country or a town on one. When my dad was widowed I began taking him on road trips and if I say so myself, I was good at plotting itineraries, no doubt because I enjoyed it.

National Geographic road maps got me around faultlessly.

A friend who knows I like maps bought me the above when we were on a road trip in England. We tended to drift into old bookshops and that is where we found it. The subject was of mutual interest and we were amused to read that it had been “Published…

“…by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 59 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. April 1839”

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It’s not just pictures and maps I like looking at.

Nature supplies endless curiosities.

Feathers must be picked up and inspected, though these days I force myself to put them back as I’ve run out of space to keep them.

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The same thing goes for leaves. This one came from beside the Hudson last Fall.

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Many people like rocks but they are an impractical thing to collect.

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Consequently I have very few, but I was fascinated by the above and another I found nearby…

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These two I picked up on a beach in Antarctica. I’m not sure why I was draw to them in particular, but I discovered that although they appeared whole, they were perfectly split.

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Cracked, obviously by freezing and there is nothing unusual about it. I’ve had rocks split in the same way here, but there was something special about finding them there at water’s edge. There were plenty more and at the time very few visitors went there, so it didn’t seem out of order to take them.

Those rocks have been with me now for over 40 years, transported back and forth but still together.

Small pieces of an extraordinary place.

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Of all things one can contemplate, Nature is surely the most inspiring, for every scene is unique, in constant flux. Those two rocks are special because no other two can ever be exactly the same and I have always believed in treasuring differences.

Instead of trying to make others become like me, I would much rather have them tell me about themselves so I can learn what is important to them and why.

It’s how we expand our minds.

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