I love walking out of the house through the deserted streets in the hour just before dawn. Everything seems so strange and yet familiar. Most people are still asleep and the silence is almost deafening. I love discovering dark corners lit only by the stars and a street lamp light. Lost in thought, life suspended for a little while, walking through the empty streets like in a dream. Until an occasional window light reminds me that the day is just about to begin.
When I walked into the park, the blue hour was just about to end. I could almost taste the fresh, crisp air. It looked like an artist dipped a brush into their colour palette and painted the landscape around with the shades of pale blue and white.
The mist in the distance looked very promising, and I had to stop myself from running towards it. I just wanted to enjoy the moment of hope and excitement from something so magical and elusive at the same time. It didn't last long, and there wasn't very much of it, but even those few moments were worth the wait.
There is something very poignant about empty playgrounds. They are lost spaces where you can almost hear the distant laughter and echo of children playing. They bring back happy memories from the days of innocence, simple joys of swings and slides, and playing cowboys and Indians. The times of great discoveries and constant wonderment, when everything had a pinch of magic in it.
These few moments I spent on the frozen playground prompted me to put together a little project that has been on my mind for a while now. If you would like to see more, follow the link and get lost in childhood memories.
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside —
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown —
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
Robert Louis Stevenson
The sense of wonder brings freedom to enjoy small things and appreciate the present moment. These are the moments I enjoy most. The early morning sun sparkling on the water surface like thousands of little diamonds, a graceful swan basking in the sun, greeting a new day. Who needs more than this?
The last day of the week was a little treat for me. The cold snap that most of the UK was recently experiencing, came down to London. The heavy snowfall turned our streets into a white wonderland. Only for a few hours, but it felt magical to walk through the veil of large snowflakes covering all the familiar places with a blanket of pure white, quieting down the world around. Everything looked so peaceful and incredibly beautiful.
Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow,
At a tranquil pace,
Under veils of white lace.
I shall go shod in silk,
And you in wool,
White as a white cow's milk,
More beautiful
Than the breast of a gull.
We shall walk through the still town
In a windless peace;
We shall step upon white down,
Upon silver fleece,
Upon softer than these.
We shall walk in velvet shoes:
Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
On white silence below.
We shall walk in the snow.
Elinor Wylie
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Robert Frost
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
"We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,”
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
Oliver Herford
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