I never think about it

Photo collage by me.

Yesterday I worked on a collage for 2 hours and forgot the mantra of 'save and save often'. So of course, the program crashed as I was putting on a finishing touch. In an inopportune instant, my work disappeared into the scrambled bit and bytes, 1s and 0s of my computer's memory. I tried to look for it but couldn't find any temp files. So today, I began anew, freshly inspired by images I've seen online and research I've been doing on the interaction between images and words. I'm really pleased with this collage, I like it better than the one I lost. So maybe it's a creative godsend that my previous collage vanished so I could create this one from the wisps.

This month has been a hard patch for goodbyes. In fact, I'm going to yet another farewell party of two good friends tonight. Friends and a lover have moved or are moving on to new adventures and so I fluctuate between staying in the now and being flooded by memories of days gone by. Nostalgia is creeping in from the corners of my mind...

Buen viajes mis amigos... you will be remembered and missed.

Ephemeral

photo collage by me.

been getting some positive feedback on this type of image so i've been playing, creating, tweaking and seeing where it takes me.

this image is perhaps a reflection of the mood i'm in. i've been practicing acceptance that all things are ephemeral, so i should enjoy the moments i have NOW for the only constant in this life is change.

“Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone” Jorge Luis Borges

smile

Lavapies Street Art Collage: photographed, compiled and manipulated by me.

El Señor Juez on the Run

Captured by me on Calle Embajadores.

Also from this batch: Our Lady of the Wooden Door, What's New Pussy Cat, Say, PATATAS! , Stalking Beauty

Stalking Beauty

Taken by me just off Calle Embajadores.

Also from this batch: Our Lady of the Wooden Door, What's New Pussy Cat, Say, PATATAS!

Say, PATATAS!

Taken by me just off Calle Embajadores.

Also from this batch: Our Lady of the Wooden Door, What's New Pussy Cat?

What's New Pussy Cat?

Photo taken by me while wandering along Calle Embajadores.

I'm disconcertingly terrible with directions unless I have a map. In the past, M has been the navigator on our excursions and so in my new life as a 'gata who walks alone', I decided to be brave, wander and get lost. While lost in the labyrinth streets, I didn't reach for my map. I took deep breaths and trusted that I'd eventually get to a sign or a landmark I'd recognize. And I did. And so I found my way back home all on my own. A proud moment for me. Along the way I discovered a cache of street art I'd never seen before and so became inspired once again to shutterbug. For the next few posts, I'm going to share with you the fruits of this walk about.

Also from this walk: Our Lady of the Wooden Door

Our Lady of the Wooden Door

Photo taken by me while wandering along Calle Embajadores.

when you gotta go, you gotta go...

This photo was taken by me at Monte Igueldo amusement park in Donostia. The gnome in the centre is taking care of business while his buddies look the other way. What a bizarre sight. Though the toadstool hasn't got a nose to smell the aroma, from the look on its face (cross eyed and mouth agape ) it's about to swoon from the release of gnome stools.

A closer look...

Keep It Under Wraps

Break ups can sometimes leave you feeling like a fatten slaughtered suckling pig flopped in the butcher's window... but you'd better keep it under wraps for there is truth in Ms Ella Wheeler Wilcox's words:

"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own."

There is sunshine upon her sorrow

This photo was taken by me in the Cemetery of Montjuïc, Barcelona.

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."
Kahlil Gibran

Endings

"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
Kahlil Gibran

M has returned to his hometown and I now journey solo.

Happy Canada Day, Eh!

Dear Canada,

Today while reading these love letters to you, I missed your faces, your curves, your diverse foliage, your canoes, your loons, your multicultural acceptance of everyone who adopts you. I longed for the ease in which I can communicate with the average Joe - so different from the floundering I do here in an attempt to get the average Jose to understand me. I was reminded how much I identify with your cultural values, your inclusive pluralism. I am tremendously proud to be canoe-loving, poutine-eating Canadian and today I am a little homesick for your wide open spaces... with distance, passion grows more sentimental and this love letter is a rosy goggled melody sung by an expat who is far from the place they call home. But my adventures abroad continues so for now I can only send you besos upon besitos and toast to your health.

Yours true, strong and free,

Shehani