Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Familiarity breeds ...

... no, not contempt. Just a dulling of the senses: a loss of awe and amazement: a gradual failure of the 'wow' response.

I was thinking about this as I got ready to set off on my walk this morning. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. The birds were singing. There are wildflowers everywhere you look at the moment and the trees are waking into their glorious flush of spring green. And yet I knew it was quite likely that I would walk the entire three miles wrapped up in my thoughts, preoccupied with my inner landscapes, oblivious to all the beauty around me.

People come to the Westcountry for the scenery because it is one of the most beautiful areas of England. Over the long weekend just past, our little corner of Devon was full of visitors, especially hikers. I could see their faces as they walked past our kitchen window. They had that same look of awareness and keen enjoyment as I had myself on our hikes in Spain a few weeks ago. But I am so used to living in these surroundings that quite often I find myself walking in them without really seeing them. After nearly eleven years, I take this beauty for granted. It is only when I go away and come back that I realize how blessed I am to live here.

So I made a point, this morning, of turning my hour of walking into an hour of meditative contemplation, opening my senses as fully as I could to the sights and sounds and smells of this familiar piece of countryside, letting it come into me and fill me with its beauty.

And I took the camera with me so that I could take you with me also as I set off down the lane...



... over the bridge ...



... into the woods...



...and up the path to where the bluebells are blooming...


... in all their quiet glory.

6 comments:

Grandmother Mary said...

What a good reminder to keep aware and present!

Unknown said...

Hi Marian, nice to see you over here. Very lovely blog. I have a couple poetry/photo blogs here that I have had for several years. Stop by sometime...cya here, there and around the campus.....pam

Carla said...

Love this post, Marian, and the images are wonderful.

Gaea Yudron said...

Marian, Thank you for this beautiful post and the lovely images. I found that when I went out after a month homebound, I had a fresh appreciation for the beauty of our local landscape and the town itself. That present appreciation is a great experience.

PEACE said...

So beautiful. One of my favorite lines is from "The Color Purple"

"I think it pisses God off when you walk by the colour purple in a field and don't notice."

We all just need to slow down. Notice. Not just the flowers, but each other.

Ashleigh Burroughs said...

Thanks for the stroll; your bluebells are lovely. As my little piece of the Sonoran Desert begins to bake in the summer heat, it's nice to wander down your lane.
a/b