Midweek Moment #53: moments of reflection

“Live as intensely as possible, burn your candle of life from both ends.”
― Osho, And The Flowers Showered Discourses On Zen

Often I feel like I’m burning the candle more than I can handle. There’s so much going on – author talks, planning for Book Week workshops at schools, my paid job, Serenity Press work, my novel … and of course, my loved ones need my attention, too. Finding the balance is hard and on those occasions you fail, there’s the guilt.

While there are times I fall in a heap and need a bit of time out, I’m usually able to pick myself up pretty fast, and get back on track. Why? I want to live an intense life. I want to feel – to laugh, cry, imagine, talk, read, write … I want to DO. And sometimes I want to BE. But, since I’m someone who 99% of the time has to be doing something, that is how I be. Can you relate?

While Blue Eyes rinsed the dishes after a candlelit dinner (rare in a house of six), I took a few moments to take photos of the candles. We have a rule in our house that whoever cooks dinner doesn’t have to wash up, but since I can’t sit around doing nothing while Blue Eyes is busy, I played with the camera settings.

This one was my favourite. It’s almost as if the candle is floating on water, with blurred reflections echoing moonlight on a dark night.

Louise sent me about six photos to choose from and this one just popped out – I love the composition and the reflection of the sky and a tree in the windscreen of a rusted-out truck.

Louise took this photo while visiting Araluen Botanical Gardens in the Perth Hills. Her family has recently hosted a French exchange student, Guillaume, which forced them to get out and about like tourists. She’d never been to the gardens and she was surprised by how pretty they were. The truck, with its tray full of potted flowers, was a centrepiece.

“It was cold and a bit wet, but we had a lovely day wandering the paths, catching the first tulips and blossoms, eating lunch in the tea rooms, and, of course, taking photos. When we climbed back into the car at the end of the afternoon, my husband turned to me and said, ‘We should do this more often’.”

He was right. We need to make time to live, to enjoy, to chill out, as well as do. You can see a photo of the truck and its colourful cargo on Louise’s website.

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About Midweek Moment:
Louise Allan and I are writers who share a passion for photography. As a creative digression from the written word, we share our favourite photos each week in ‘Midweek Moment’. Please click over to Louise’s website to view more of her photography and to read her writing. We hope you enjoy!