Photography

Living Up To My Name

Image PeepSideshow Darkward7 Comments

1 UnseenC

Have you ever sat gazing out at the world, oblivious to anything else going on around you, never realising someone might be looking back at you? That your very private life might be of interest to the person across the street or just passing by? I’m not talking stalkers here (although that is a very real and frightening prospect for too many people). I mean the casual observer who is only curious about something – or someone – that catches their eye.

I admit to keeping an eye on the lady who lives across from me. She does laundry. A LOT of laundry. And she hangs it on clothes horses on her balcony to dry. I admit it has become something of an obsession with me; is it towels today? Pajamas? The myriad of house dresses she wears in summer or the pant suits she wears in winter? And I am perplexed by the plastic grocery bags she washes and hangs out about once a week. (In case you’re wondering, they seem to take much longer than clothes to dry and it’s best to double-peg them so the crows and magpies don’t steal them from the line!)

This is not a prurient interest. Nor is it meddlesome or intrusive. I don’t sit on my balcony staring and taking an inventory of her wardrobe. I just take a peek out the kitchen window as I’m washing dishes or filling the tea kettle to see what she has washed today. And I’ve come to the realisation that she either doesn’t wear underwear or she dries it inside.

Too much information? Well, I come by my name honestly. Peep just sounded better than Nosy 😉

Fighting Against The Tide

Image PeepSideshow Darkward3 Comments

1 Sittin on the dock_019

Sometimes when you try your hardest to protect someone you love, you end up feeling like you’re holding back the ocean, all by yourself. Just a single soul fighting against the tide.

I think this time I’m just going to let the waves wash over me.

Quieter And Yet More Quiet

Image PeepSideshow Darkward4 Comments

1 Sunrise side_010

“The moon went slowly down in loveliness; she departed into the depth of the horizon, and long veil-like shadows crept up the sky through which the stars appeared. Soon, however, they too began to pale before a splendour in the east, and the advent of the dawn declared itself in the newborn blue of heaven. Quieter and yet more quiet grew the sea, quiet as the soft mist that brooded on her bosom, and covered up her troubling, as in our tempestuous life the transitory wreaths of sleep brook upon a pain-racked soul, causing it to forget its sorrow. From the east to the west sped those angels of the Dawn, from sea to sea, from mountain-top to mountain-top, scattering light from breast and wing. On they sped out of the darkness, perfect, glorious; on, over the quiet sea, over the low coast-line, and the swamps beyond, and the mountains above them; over those who slept in peace and those who woke in sorrow; over the evil and the good; over the living and the dead; over the wide world and all that breathes or has breathed thereon.”

― H. Rider Haggard, She

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about these photos. Something about the moonlight, the coming dawn, the night into morning. Of waiting and patience. Of observation and possibly inspiration. But I am not a storyteller. I am, at best, a chronicler of life in a virtual world. So, as I often do, I looked for a song or a quote to inspire my tale.

I stumbled upon this passage from Haggard’s book, She, a story I read several years ago when I was on a Classics binge. While the plot is intriguing, exploring a realm of adventure, fantasy and feminine mystique, what spoke to me was Haggard’s lyrical prose: the way each phrase is lovingly crafted, each word building upon the previous to create a literary masterpiece. It evokes feelings of suffering, uncertainty and finally, hope. The story of Horace, Leo and Ayesha was ground-breaking when written, but the emotion I felt when I read these lines is timeless.

1 Sunrise side_013

To sit on a deserted beach, the moon giving way to stars and finally to the promise of dawn, whether in the real or virtual world, allows the soul a chance to reflect and heal. When the crashing of the waves, the wind in the trees, the beating of one’s own heart becomes quieter and yet more quiet, peace comes at last.