Last Of The Dying Leaves

‘Last Of The Dying Leaves’

Took this one looking up through the tangled branches of a tree to the clear, pale winter sky, with a few reddish leaves just hanging on.

The tree in question is next to an Auckland hospital.There for a follow-up appointment yesterday with the surgeon who handled my cancer treatment last year and who performed life saving surgery. All going well despite a fair amount of ongoing pain – the surgeon was happy with progress, but confessed that he had no certainty at all that I would make it through.

In this picture I am reminded by nature of the bleak time when I was tangled up and literally just hanging on… but there was always the expanse of a sky above to reach up to. Hope is everything in such a situation, so very powerful…

Only Clinging On (Shell Game)

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‘Only Clinging On (Shell Game)’

Tiny mussels and barnacles, thousands of them, cling to a rock in the sea, which in turn is enveloped in the tide’s swirl.

Fragility plays relentlessness in this particular shell game.

Sometimes I feel like one of those small molluscs or crustaceans, insignificant and only clinging on to life.

Those are the days that you hold on to whatever hope you have, and it doesn’t matter what it is…

Ebbed Out, Not Effed Up

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‘Ebbed Out, Not Effed Up’

So, the tide has ebbed and gone out.

Your flow has flown, so to speak.

Maybe it’s a rock bottom.

Or perhaps you’re just lying on the mud and silt; motionless, hanging onto your ropes and reflecting only yourself dimly.

But, you are not f**ked up, not finished yet – the next tide will come to re-purpose you – just you wait and see!