Stone Box (Final Destination)

by Ebb Then Flood

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In the previous post Boxed In ,I touched on the boxes that we end up in.

In my recent travels in Scotland, I came across this ancient stone version in a cemetery at St. Andrews. Pretty impressive; nicely ergonomically tapered and contoured to fit the deceased’s head. Top design marks.

I suspect it was for someone of some importance. You wouldn’t go to all that bother for a regular dude or dudess.

Important person or not, as the pop-punk bard Wreckless Eric once said,” there’s only one destination in the final taxi”.

And on that cheery note, I too shall depart…

Boxed In

by Ebb Then Flood

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My fourteen year old daughter took this photo of her old man in one of London’s iconic red telephone boxes.

I do look just a little trapped!

We do it to others; we do it to ourselves mostly.

Put them, us, into boxes of our design.

Labels are for jars, and boxes, well,  boxes are the caskets that we will go out in.

Pigeonholing and stereotyping behaviours kill the hope of the different and the unique.

In venturing into blogging , I am trying to think outside of a box I have spent years carefully constructing.

In expressing my creative side, I bury the negative self-thought (and perhaps the thought of others), that tells me that is not what I am, or do.

That final box can wait for now; I have a few more I need to tick…

 

 

 

Tangled Up In Black

by Ebb Then Flood

20200102_144642.jpg                                                            Twisted Vine in Black

With apologies to Bob Dylan, whose tangled tune was blue, not black.

Blue, black; it doesn’t matter really.

Tangled up-ness comes in any hue you like, as long as it is saturnine.

Any shape or form too, as long as it seems impossible to get through.

It mixes and matches to every sort of person quite nicely.

Think of it as Ikea for the dark night of the soul…

 

Gently, Gently

by Ebb Then Flood

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Flowers do not need to persuade you of their beauty.

They just sit there being their own damn sweet selves, and we are inspired.

We are taught to be assertive in order to persuade someone, commence or change something. Assertiveness is seen as a modern day virtue.

However, the individuals who have had the greatest effect on me were the gentle sort. Those who didn’t try to convince me of the right way to do something, or how I should be. They were good listeners as much as anything, and carried themselves by soft action.

Being gentle is hard(excuse the pun).

I have had to go through a bit of a re-wiring process this last year or two. Rough circumstances have knocked a few sharp edges off, but if the school of hard knocks is your only teacher, you just get worn down and eroded away at some point.

You can’t be gentle without first being easier and softer on yourself.

Berating yourself for every f**k up you make, or have made, does not make you better or treat others more kindly. The opposite in fact.

So, just go a bit easier on yourself, petal….you’re alright really.

 

Flax & Islet

by Ebb Then Flood

IMG_2948 (2)                                                                      Muriwai, NZ

View though flax stalks to a rocky islet at Muriwai, on the west coast out from Auckland.

We were there three days ago to visit friends who live at this beautiful spot.

Before catching up, we took in the spectacular coastal views, on a day which was distinctly un-summery.

The Tasman Sea was at its moody, relentless best, surf pounding the lonely islet; the flax stalks waving and bending in the wind.

It felt like a Christmas cleanser!

 

Begin Again

by Ebb Then Flood

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Pohutukawa Flowers, December 2019

 

“Every beginning is a consequence – every beginning ends something”

– Paul Valery

So, new year, new decade.

We will celebrate the New Year, as humans are wont to do with anything new.

Some ponderings:

Sometimes we start something new, without realising it has drawn a line with the past.

And vice versa – we can be so obsessed with ending something, that we fail to grasp that we have moved into a new phase.

Also, sometimes there is an end without an apparent “new” thing. That’s alright. A time of transition, awkward as it can be, may be infinitely valuable and is in fact essential. Not that the world will necessarily understand if you find yourself in a place of apparent nothingness.

Remember, in nature there has to be a fallow time before verdant growth.

Anyway, Happy New Year, wherever you find yourself !

 

What We Left Behind In Our Wake

by Ebb Then Flood

 

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31 December, and 2019 totters on its last legs.

A wilted flower that is about to be chucked out of the vase.

Seriously, another year gone? ( another decade if you want to take the macro view ).

I may have figured out a few things in my life, but not where time goes. Probably fallen down the back of the couch or stashed in a shoebox somewhere…

All I know is that is once it’s been used up, you don’t get it back.

The quantity of time we had this year, if you got to the end of it (RIP to those I knew that didn’t) – is exactly the same for each of us.

The quality of it is an entirely different matter.

Good, bad, indifferent.

Productive or wasteful.

Exultant, Calm, Boring, Unhappy, Tragic.

Was love present?

And, did we actually learn anything new in the 365 days allotted to us this year? About ourselves, others, and the world around us?

Did we make any sort of difference ? (man, I hate that question but it does run the ruler of significance over what you do).

What, exactly, once the churn and froth has subsided, got left behind in our wake?

 

Windows On Wake

by Ebb Then Flood

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A view of the wake from a passenger ferry to Waiheke Island from Auckland, through the ship’s windows, appears as if it were three frames in an old school roll of film…

( Ah, I remember rolls of film, but apart from the nostalgia factor, I don’t miss them, partly due to my shot cock-up rate, and also because of the inordinate processing costs.Not to mention exposing film to sunlight accidentally. Actually, the more I remember about the downsides, the less nostalgia I am feeling…..but big ups to you if you still take photos the old way! )

Volcano And Rock Pool

by Ebb Then Flood

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Sometimes you just have to marvel at, and appreciate, what you are so very familiar with.

Being a born and bred Aucklander, it is easy to take to take for granted this gorgeous vista of a rock pool set in ancient lava ,against the backdrop of the volcanic majesty of Rangitoto Island, across the water.

There it was again, for the umpteenth time , on a walk along the Waitemata Harbour earlier today.

Except today, it especially resonated with me and compelled a picture.

I am lucky to see this view any day I want and thought I would share some of that luck with you…enjoy!

Rain Delay

by Ebb Then Flood

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A damp scene at the lawn bowls last season.

It’s a summer game really, not that you would know it from this picture.

The rains have come, and the water is pooling on the green.

Play is delayed while we wait for the sun to re-emerge, and the little lakes that have formed, to dissipate.

Nothing to do in the meantime  – just wait.

Contemplate your navel, the universe, whatever…

Have a cup of tea.

Chat amongst yourselves, people.

For it is a mere hiatus – play will recommence shortly.

 

 – Remember, this too shall pass –

 

 

 

Getting To The Point

by Ebb Then Flood

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Down through the enveloping branches, directly to a sharp point in the sea.

It’s a learnt skill for sure.

To pierce through the surrounding issues, to cut the crap, as it were, and get to the point.

To clearly see what those caught in the middle of a situation cannot.

But you can’t have that ability without having had a few branch scratches and involuntary swallows of sea water along the way yourself !

OK, point made then…I’ll just leave you to enjoy the photo from one of my favourite walking routes along Auckland’s Tamaki River.

Through The Twilight

by Ebb Then Flood

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“You cannot, in human experience, rush into the light. You have to go through the twilight into the broadening day before the noon comes and the full sun is upon the landscape.” – Woodrow Wilson

 

Those words sum up my own experience; my picture recreates its memory and serves as a reminder.

When you know a darkness, it is tempting, when you are leaving it, to want to parade in the fullness of light.

However, in the ‘tween time – the twilight – you get to really know show the shapes and forms of the important things, dimly lit as they are.You feel them deeply, even as you peer though the mystical interplay of shadows and light.

There will be plenty of time for full light to illumine all the details…

 

Summer Sets The Scene

by Ebb Then Flood

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Here be summer.

Coming on, and growing by the shortening day. We’ve just passed the longest day but the weather will get hotter. That’s odd I think.

But maybe it’s all about intensity.

Quality, not quantity and all that.

The qualities of scorching heat and brilliant UV-blitzed light will inhabit our little part of the planet, and suffuse us with those same elements, as if by osmosis.

Languid days will create relaxed, kinder people.Doing just what they fancy, just because they can. Holidays at this time of year certainly help!

And we will be, temporarily at least, the best versions of ourselves, all flowers and blues skies.

So, the scene is set…let play begin!