Clouds

Seen last week. A mackerel sky? Or like waves on a beach or ripples in sand. One thing mimics another. There are only a few shapes in the world, so there is repetition. The Greeks had shapes that nested inside each other called platonic solids.

Wikipedia says:

The ancient Greeks studied the Platonic solids extensively. Some sources (such as Proclus) credit Pythagoras with their discovery. Other evidence suggests that he may have only been familiar with the tetrahedron, cube, and dodecahedron and that the discovery of the octahedron and icosahedron belong to Theaetetus, a contemporary of Plato. In any case, Theaetetus gave a mathematical description of all five and may have been responsible for the first known proof that no other convex regular polyhedra exist.

That went off on a bit of a tangent!

Heart felt

Every so often I find a heart, and I smile and remember, I’m not alone.

Memories grip me, I remember clear days, driving through country lanes, visiting old houses, happiness, times spent together.

It doesn’t have to be a leaf, I see hearts in swirls of coffee, puddles, holes in crumpets, flower petals, it’s just some random pattern that leads me to loving feelings, caring, comforting, companionable love.

And I’m glad.

Pattern

Life’s a pattern

Like branches and twigs

Trailing through life

First growing bigger

Like the main trunk and boughs

Then petering to smaller stems.

Life follows this pattern, growing

Then diminishing.

Patterns give me hope

I see connections

An intuition of order

Despite a possible chaos.

Patterns in music

Crystals too,

All sorts of things

Some of them new.

I don’t bother with plain

It’s such a pain

Give me gaudy and complex

And intricate not tame!

Hidden Coots

Blue footed, grey blue bodies, black heads with white blazes above their beaks. Not a good photo but my arm shakes too much so this was the best shot of the bunch!

The other birds which are similar have red blazes above their beaks, darker bodies, those are Moorhens. The photo was taken at Westport lake last weekend. I did think about going back today but I didn’t feel well enough on this grey, foggy, cold and drab day.

Photo from WordPress library.

Chocolate seashorses

What’s your favorite candy?

I can’t find a photo of one, but I really enjoy chocolate seahorses and seashells. I think they are my favourite chocolates. They are moulded shapes with stripey surfaces and have chocolate truffle centres. I can’t remember the name of the company that makes them Guylian? I think. Very sweet and tasty, hence the reason I don’t have them often. They come in flat boxes of twelve or more chocolates. There are seahorses (I tried to draw), seashells, starfish possibly? It’s a while since I had any. X

Snow drawing

Digital drawing of a snowflake

Did you ever make paper snowflakes? Fold a piece of paper in two then fold it twice more so you end up with six pieces. Leave it folded and cut through the resultant triangle to cut off the excess paper sticking out so that each shape is the same (it’s so hard to describe!). From there cut out random shapes into each of the long sides, and a random pattern in the short side. When you unfold the paper you will end up with a snowflake (six sided). You can do other things. If you just fold it in half it could be a snowman or a butterfly if you colour in the paper first. If you quarter it you can make flower shapes. It’s fun to experiment and it’s something I used to do as a child. The snowflakes were stuck on our windows as decorations.

Light through leaves

I noticed how light shines through the leaves of this plant. The leaves are spread out so the light gets to most of them. Looking at trees, I can see the leaves do the same thing. They spread out and don’t overlap much. If you look closely at trees and other plants you can see the leaf pattern fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes when you see a bush the leaves are all on the outside, close fitting, and the centre is just branches and twigs. The internal area has been shaded out by the ball of leaves around it. Maximum photosynthesis and maximum food for the plants. Nature is wonderful, and evolution is amazing.

Walking tree

Turn a tree upside down and it might look like it’s walking. Turn it on its side and it could be a running horse. Shapes can look like anything if you have that kind of mind. Simplify the shape and it becomes more like lots of different things. Stars turn into Gods and mythical beasts. Lines that don’t exist can be drawn on a map to create the Bermuda Triangle. Humans make up stories out of words and voices, but also from pictures and shapes, and I love that we do.