Winter’s Springtime Wonder

Springtime Snowstorm in Ely, Cambs

One of  Maria Antonia’s Weekly Photo Challenges was to capture the idea of frozen.  The photo attached here is from the 1990s in a freak late springtime snow which fell while we were living in Ely, Cambridgeshire.   The look of surprise on my daughter, Rain’s face is priceless, and it was quite an exciting experience for her as she was on her way to collect the milk bottles from the garden gate.

She seems to draw the stuff to her.  Below is another photo, this time taken by her husband near their home in the Colorado Rockies.

 

Rain in the snow

Frozen wonder – Winter’s last little surprise

Coating spring-tides blossom and bloom

A whitewash of wonder covering the green

One last chilly blast – the the warmth resume

 

Padre

 

 

 

Hidden Childhood

Hidden Childhood

OFMARIAANTONIA’s 2019 Photography Challenge called for one photo to be on the theme of “hidden.”  At the National Holocaust Centre and Museum (Beth Shalom), near Laxton, Nottinghamshire has several thought provoking and/or moving sculpture pieces.  One of these is “Hidden Children.”  While Anne Frank is known by many as a child hidden during the Holocaust, she was by no means alone in this.   Thousands of children were successfully (and sadly unsuccessfully) hidden from the Nazis and their collaborators.   Some were secreted away to attics, false walls, or basements; while others sought refuge in forests or remote farmsteads.  But they were nonetheless “hidden.”

This photo is of the statue, and the artist has done an amazing job in capturing the feels.  Look at the hyper-vigilant gaze on the face of the figure on the left, and the sadness (almost weeping quality) of the one on the right.  This was not simple childhood “hide and seek,” because in this hiding the outcome was a matter of life and death.

Padre

 

Historical

Maria Antonia’s 2019 Photography Challenge included a prompt for a photo which captures the idea of “historical.”   Britain is not short of  “historic” images, but among my photo archives I found this photo I took back in 1987.   The statue captures more than a historical moment, but stands for an entire era of this island’s history:  The Roman Occupation.  Not only did the Latins come here, but in so doing they changed the course of our culture and language forever.

Why have you come here, Oh mighty Caesar of Rome?

Was not the whole Mediterranean enough to call your home? 

But came you did indeed, our shores your sandals tread

Bringing roads straight, and cities large – as you your culture spread

Great villas, safe ports, and mosaics fine  – you brought onto this land –

But in the grand scheme of things  – you were but a trickle of hourglass sand

Oh great Caesar – your legacies great they me be,

But in the end – nonetheless your returned across the sea

Padre

 

 

Travelling Hand in Hand

 

Kebab in Gibraltar

Eating kebabs by the Watergate,

Fond memories of when we dined,

Multiple pleasures held in your hand,

Like tasting honey cake and Madeira wine –

But the best thing shared in travelling

Was your hand in mine

 

Honey Cake and Madeira in Madeira

 

 

Padre

2019 Photography Challenge – In Your Hand

 

 

 

 

Peek-A-Boo

Mosque Marrakesh

Place of faith –

Plain for all to see –

Briefly obscured –

By passing the trees.

 

Heard by all –

The “call to prayer” –

Even from the alleys –

You know it’s there.

 

While peek-a-boo –

May be too trite –

It was grand to see it –

Come back into sight.

 

Padre

 

#2019picoftheweek:  Peek-a-boo

 

Into the Woods (Poem)

 

Into a wood we go –

Not of pine, nor spruce, nor firs –

Not into a dark rain-forest’s crush –

Where lush canopies the sky obscures.

 

Into a wood we go –

From the desert sands so bleak-

Into the oasis’ waiting palms

Their welcoming shade we seek.

 

Padre

 

2019 Photography Challenge – OFMARIAANTONIA:  Into the Woods

 

 

What Have You Seen?

Ancient Olive Tree, Garden of Gethsemane

 

 

Silent witness of passing time –

Tell us what you’ve seen.

Whose feet have trod above your roots –

Or shaded under your boughs green.

 

Tell of Legions, Crusaders, Arab Merchants –

Passing to and fro –

Tell us of the One who at night prayed there –

A long time ago.

 

Padre

 

 

 

2019 Photography Challenge: A Long time Ago

Up A Creek: A Goose Song

copyright Padre’s Ramblings

 

Up a creek without a paddle?

How absurd the very thought –

Two paddles I carry were ‘ere I go –

Propelling me against the flow.

 

Up a creek, ’tis where I dwell-

With ducks and swans my neighbours-

To swim and graze and in the sunlight laze –

Are alas my only labours.

 

Padre

 

#2019picoftheweek: Up a Creek

 

 

Of Moors and More

 

The Moors 1

The day had begun with a quiet sunrise over the bay at Scarborough.  Our long weekend was over and it was soon to be time to begin our journey homewards.

Our route took us through the Yorkshire Moors, and area of unspoiled natural beauty.  We came across falls, rugged landscapes, and field after field of heather, gorse,  and wildflower.  It was spectacular.

So awesome was it, that we made several photo stops.  While there are towns and cities in the area.  Today’s focus on Travel Tuesday is the moors themselves.  They can be bleak, and much literature makes this bleakness almost a character (think Brontë).  But in the spring and summer months the moors are transformed.

Much of the North Moors has been designated a national park, and the park covers an area of 554 square miles (1,430 sq km).

For many it is a place for hiking, and bird watching and the general communion with nature.  Sadly for us, it was just a pit stop on a journey home.  But oh, what a pit stop.

The Moors

Growing brightness the coming of day

Sparkling reflection upon the bay

Journey outward through moor and hill

Awed by beauty and the quiet still

 

Vast tracks open before us

Given to flower and heather

Stop we must

To enjoy the views and fine weather

 

Decorated by nature

Rolling hills and rugged views

Filling my heart with rapture

With its vast purple hues

The Moors 2

 

Sunrise Scarborough

Padre

OFMARIAANTONIA #2019picoftheweek: Natural Beauty

 

Shops: All in a Row

Shops and Molly Malone – Dublin

What is it about retail outlets?  Do they have some sort of identity crisis?  I was reflecting on this when I was last at a shopping mall.

Have you ever noticed that Bakers in Cambridge sells Jewellery, while Joules sells clothing and shoes?   But they are not alone in this misnomer game.  “Boots” sells drugs and “Super Drug” seems to primarily sell cosmetics.

Okay, I have been a little facetious, but the point is there.

 

I wanted a wristwatch,

It was the point of the trip,

I wandered the concourse,

With a “Costa” to sip

 

I tried at the “Joules,”

None there was to be had,

So I tried the “Next” shop,

But its selection was sad.

 

I was confused and deflated,

Out of breath from wandering round,

So I sought “Information,”

Only “Clues” and “Quiz” could be found

 

I went to the car park

And then I drove home,

I ordered from “e bay,”

Never again to roam

 

Padre

2019 Photography Challenge: All in a Row