Fog Over Belfast...

Saturday, 5th November 2011

I want to use this blog to think about things that fascinate me... things that inspire me...  Today on our walk I photographed winter trees, DH, a horse that had broken out of its field where someone had cut the wire fence and was standing nervously on the path near a gate, the hedgerows...

It was a beautiful sunny morning on the top of the Cavehill as we walked along the lane and stopped to look at the city...  The fog lay like a fluffy blanket over the dark grey city...

I have noticed before that when the fog lies over the city... it changes how distance looks... the mountain range on the skyline is the Mourne mountains...

The Mourne mountains are nearly 40 miles south of Belfast...  yet with the fog lying over the city, they look so much closer...

I loved the contrast of the skeletal winter trees against the city...  So ethereal...

For us, today, the fog was magical...  mystical...  the world felt like a different place...  spiritual...

What do these images conjure for me...  heaven on earth...  they remind me of a story I once read about how the Tuatha de Danaan arrived in Ireland secretly by bringing using their magic to bring down a thick fog over the land...  by the time the fog had lifted they had taken over...

It is a little like looking down on the cloud of fog from an airplane but it is more beautiful because there is a hint of the world below with the damp roofs glinting in the odd ray of sunshine that is able to penetrate the blanket of fog...

As I looked towards the Craigantlet hills, the fog was starting to thin and the city was beginning to gain colour in the sunshine...

Belfast is so extraordinary and so incredibly beautiful...

Sunny November Morning...

Saturday, 5th November 2011

There is just something about waking up on Saturday morning, drawing the curtains back, and the sun pouring through the windows...  Beautiful blue skies...  laundry washed and hanging on the line...  Freshly pressed apple juice...  Cheese rolls...  

I have been listening to a wonderful audio book...  It isn't so much an audio book as a taped Focus Workshop...  but there are so many suggestions and ideas for learning to take more control over how I use my time...  I am an appalling procrastinator so I thought...  perhaps a little more organisation...

"You are the creative force of your own life."

Oh my...  Last week, I walked into my little office/studio gasped and turned tail and walked out... there were bits of paper all over the floor... the desks were so messy I couldn't find space to put my cup of tea down let alone think about opening my art journal...  so I had to go away... this morning I returned with the hoover and the duster to sort it out...  I have realised that when I get into the "zone" and am creating I am also making everywhere untidy around me way... but afterwards...  I cannot think if the small space surrounding me is piled high with magazines, torn scraps and there is no space on the desk...  I need a certain level of tidiness to be able to think... and contemplate...

It is such a beautiful morning here... the sun is shining...  there is a chill to the air...  a perfect Autumn morning for a walk on Cavehill... after everyone (birds, cats and people) have had breakfast...