Month: July 2019

Triple Pronged Night II

by Ebb Then Flood

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The sequel to the last (slightly creepy) post  Triple Pronged Night.

As close as I am going to get to I am ever going to get to making a horror movie, given that I don’t enjoy them ,or being terrified for that matter.

But, all horror movies worth their gory salt seem to have a sequel, so here you are…

Actually this is more a contextualization than a true sequel: the photo shows the rest of the small pergola, set in a private school grounds, where I had cause to be last night.

A quaint Victorian gothic structure that was probably meant as a resting stop or glorified sun shelter.

Perhaps at night vampires might gather here and swap tales over pints of fresh blood…

 

 

Blue Spring

by Ebb Then Flood

If in the last post Blue Moses, Moses had the blues, I think I have them too today, or at least a nagging sense of disquiet.

But blue is also the colour of the pictured spring, one of the special places I love, where water bubbles up from deep down and there is richness and amazing clarity.

Hope springs eternal, right?

 

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Hanurama Springs, Rotorua  NZ

Blue Moses

by Ebb Then Flood

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A full scale marble replica of Michelangelo’s sculpture Moses sits in an inner city Auckland park ( it came from Italy with a replica David but that statue sorta went missing years ago).

Theologians and historians still debate and surmise about  Moses’s achievements and even his existence.

All I know is that in this representation of the Jewish leader and prophet ,he just looks a little pissed off and, frankly, depressed.

Too long in the wilderness ,maybe…

…or possibly missing his buddy Dave?

Whatever the reason , I have made him up in blue to suit.

Makes me happy, at least…

 

 

When Your Ship Comes In

by Ebb Then Flood

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Shot of a freighter approaching port, laden with containers of anticipated goodies.

Often we are the person on the dock, waiting for our ship to come in.

Some great upturn in our fortunes, the perfect significant other, a better job or perhaps winning the lottery!

Waiting, waiting…

You know what? That ship may be on the horizon, but the beautiful, ever changing sea is right before you, and breaking on your shore.

You don’t even need to wait.

Your future is with you, now.

Stare Of Taikehu

by Ebb Then Flood

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Another fearsome pou ,this time depicting  Taikehu, an ancestral figure of Auckland Maori.

See his companion piece here in my previous post: Gaze Of Hoturoa

It is the constant remembrance of tipuna (ancestors)by Maori that I admire greatly.

Western thinking  is so much in the now, and while that can be a good thing, we should not forget the sacrifice and leadership of those who have gone before. They connect and ground us to our physical and metaphysical place in the world, and they inspire our futures.

Boat Houses On The Ebb Tide

by Ebb Then Flood

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Two emerald green boat houses on the shores of Raglan’s harbour on New Zealand’s west coast.

This is apropos of nothing really ,other than I find this view really calming.

That, and at on an ebb(or low) tide, nothing appears to be happening.

But there is always the promise of the rising tide.

A similarly themed post on this blog here:The Boat House

 

 

Abundance

by Ebb Then Flood

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“The source of all abundance is not outside you. It is part of who you are. However, start by acknowledging and recognising abundance without. See the fullness of life all around you. The warmth of the sun on your skin… or getting soaked in an abundance of water falling from the sky. The fullness of life is there at every step. The acknowledgment of that abundance that is all around you awakens the dormant abundance within. Then let it flow out”

 -Eckhart Tolle, from “A New Earth”

Glittering Cage

by Ebb Then Flood

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Awesome caged chandelier light in the foyer of my workplace.

A design of opposites.

Light, imprisoned.

Chains and their shadows cast by luminescence.

This seems to be some sort of interior design thing at the  moment, but to me it symbolises the great universal struggle.

Truth and freedom versus lies and subjugation .

It probably is just a light , Andy ,I tell myself – but I will climb the stairs to the office and deal with the legal problems besetting our clients and which are small examples of the big struggle.

And it will be time to try to shine a little light on things…

 

 

 

Sea Cave Treasure Seeker

by Ebb Then Flood

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“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

     –  Joseph Campbell

Mighty sea cave on New Zealand’s west coast at Muriwai Beach.

I would be more than a little afraid to explore beyond the cave’s entrance – the power of the sea ,the damp rock walls and general darkness puts me off. Plus, a tiny fear of drowning…

The  uncovering of the mystery of the cave’s depths and discovery of its ‘treasure’ will fall to someone else braver than me…..

Fear holds us back from discovery so often. Even when we know that at the times we have been most brave, we have learned and gained much.

As an aside, sea caves are products of erosive wave action –  it is amazing that the destruction of the softish cliff rock over time actually creates something ‘other’ and new!

Gothic Chandelier And Bars Of Light

by Ebb Then Flood

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Lots of contrasts and signifiers in this image for me.

The vintage gothic stylings of the chandelier against the modern florescent lighting behind it.Complexity and simplicity juxtaposed.

Dark and light – the candle bulbs at the end of the twisting ,intricate arms of the lamp. Light at the end of our labyrinthine paths.

The chain the chandelier is suspended from.The birdlike ornaments dangling from it. Connection of all things.

The bars of the modern light, like an illuminated prison window. Hope provides brightness.

Light. Connection. Hope.

Those are some of the simple things that get us through this complex life…

 

The Real You II

by Ebb Then Flood

Following on from my previous post The Real You, and the quote from Don Miguel Ruiz contained in it, this photo taken yesterday shows the  beauty of the west coast of New Zealand.

The quote likened the wind and ocean as signifiers of our true essence.

Fresh (like the wind you can’t see here ,but believe me, it was, erm, invigorating, to say the least!).

Wild.

Unspoiled.

Not yet tamed.

That is the real you.

Take a trip out to your proverbial coastline and  find, or re-find, it!

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Muriwai, Auckland, NZ      July 2019

The Real You

by Ebb Then Flood

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“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be when you were a child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions  took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.”

      – Don Miguel Ruiz (Mexican author and philosopher)

 –

History Is Not Young

by Ebb Then Flood

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If “youth is wasted on the young”  – as Oscar Wilde’s witticism had it – sometimes I wonder whether history is too.

Not that young people cannot understand history ,when stories of the past are told well (as they must be), it is more that their present is constantly shifting,and becoming the future at light speed.

Leaving little time and energy to reflect on a past which appears increasingly irrelevant to them.

Case in point : The young man in the photograph sits at the foot of the Savage Memorial  in Auckland. It commemorates Michael Joseph Savage,New Zealand’s much respected  first Labour Prime Minister,and he is buried there.

One of Savage’s government’s great achievements was the establishment of comprehensive state social housing in the 1930s.

The young man and his peers face a crushing reality of totally unaffordable rents and house prices ,totally removed from the vision of affordable housing for all ,even the poorest, expoused by Savage.

That dream has faded in recent times, to the point that it appears to the young that is as dead as the late prime minister, and his memorial  is just something to lean your back upon….

 

 

Like Thousands Of Pearls

by Ebb Then Flood

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Today’s mystery object is some sort of disc coral I think (David Attenborough fail moment!), espied in a Malaysian aquarium a few years ago.

Whatever it is, I know what it looks like to me.

A platter of pearls.

Thousands of ’em.

In rows.

Like soldiers.

Glistening repetition.

Mind bending submerged treasure.

Sunken stars.

And I’m away, dreaming …

But you didn’t come here for a marine biology lecture,did you ?