Colours

whether it is red, or green, or blue, or purple, each colour has its unique way to touch our retina, and each of us feel more attracted to some of them. Sometimes, because a certain colour reminds us of the first flowers we got, or of the first ball our parents bought for us.

For others, it is the sky their eyes open towards every morning, or the garden they have been working on for the past weeks... for others is the fall that paves the path for winter every year, and the poppies gently swaying in the golden wheat...






The eyes I mirrored myself into are colours- bearing warm promises, and the hair I sometimes like to play with, is colour... the skin bathed in the hot burning sand of beaches and the salty, tumultuous sea is colour. Colours are...life, life as everybody feels it and lives it, life in its beauty and misery, in all its greatness and uniqueness.

the last signs of summer

Circus in town

Not long ago a circus troupe came into Sibiu, and like every time such "events" happen, I missed it. After all, going to the circus has never been on my must-do list. Yet seeing clowns, all kinds of circus staff and all sorts of animals cannot be but interesting, even if you are not into circus shows. So I also tried to catch a glimpse of some of the animals that were camped in Strand. And...well, the result is just an elephant and a camel in its shadow. The result, unfortunately, is not entirely a real safari picture, as I was in a hurry, and as my camera doesn't do zooming well. Anyway without much more introduction here's the pic.

dry flowers and a bit more

Happy Birthday to you, Freddie!

There are artists nowadays that work for money, there are others that do it for the pleasure of it, out of passion. Freddie was one of the latter. What I remember about him is his warm and kind eyes, as well as smile, his gorgeous voice and impressive songs.



In spite of a unique shyness and an apparent hesitation in certain moments of his life (especially interviews), Freddie was a totally different person on stage, while doing music. If during the ordinary, usual days of his life he was burning on the inside- deep, hidden yet very profound feelings and experiences, while on stage he was burning on the outside- a flame of feelings- love, exuberance, intensity.

His songs, as well as his voice are full of the passion and the energy of a person living today like there is no tomorrow.








His love for drama and theatre went beyond the stage of his concerts and the sets of his videos. He was an artist in more than one way during his life- a singer, a composer, a player. His great personality, love of life recorded on tape, gave him life beyond his death. He is still now 19 years after his death, more alive than ever in my heart and in the heart of those who have loved him, on the screen or on the radio waves.

So, here is a big Happy Birthday to you, Freddie! You have embellished life and your songs and voice has brought an entire world into my life...

sky upon the city- medieval times

Timisoara 2- the cathedral

timisoara

eyes wide open

many times we pass through life into growing, into becoming grown-ups as they say and in spite of the "incredible" advantages, there are always some downsides that are often overlooked and undervalued.

Have you ever seen the wonder in a child's eyes? It's incomparable to anything...it is just there. You see a child's eyes full of wonder at the world around them- their eyes wide open and mirroring the reality a lot better than we "grown- ups" do. It is a rather empty mirror where the world sends its reflection, or rather the smooth and calm surface of a lake. Everything is so pure and clear and so true to reality. Later in life our eyes are invaded with the impurities of the world around, and the more we think we know of the world the dirtier and altered our image of it gets. We stop seeing the beauty of the world, the simplicity and wonder surrounding us becomes but an obstacle in our achieving our goals.

And we aspire to become gods- creators of all things around, we see the beauty in the metallic coulours of things around, in the lifeless that surrounds us, after all it is our creation, we couldn't really be ashamed of it...

Yet, in spite of this turmoil I should be happy my eyes can still see the real beauty, they can still go beyond piles of human debris and pettiness in search of the natural beauty that has managed to remain unspoiled. I can still be as amazed as a child, and use this as a shield against unfortunately, the evil, the ugliness and the superficial that we humans so often promote as true values worthwhile admiring and appreciating.

me, you and ....them

This city, like many of our cities is amazing in many ways- it has a beautiful centre with ancient but well preserved and restored buildings, a lot of parks here and there, just to bring more green into our lives, its people are quite friendly and open and its transportation is almost like a Swiss watch. Probably the best example of high standard of living and urban beauty is its Mall which practically dazzles you.

It's like a different dimension, once you step behind its gates it's like you find yourself in an entirely new world where lights, colours, and the sound of money and cheerful chats surround you from everywhere almost drowning you in such a state of well- being. And people seem to revolve around it like moths towards light- they are attracted in spite of turning out to be quite "dangerous" for them in the end, as they will spend all their money.... And, money or no money in your wallet this glamour gets you and performs and aesthetic surgery on your face preserving an almost annoyingly ever smile on your face. Everything seems so well civilized, so well bred and everything seems to be in its right place...

It is like a strategy to make people feel happy despite not having real reasons to feel like that, all the while making them forget about the truly existing reasons that should make them feel a lot less happy. It's like we plant flowers and make parks, yet we cut entire forests, we install air conditioning to make us forget about global warming, we build up modern, spicy and totally cool shops whose shop windows' only purpose is to lure people into buying their way to happiness, and yet behind all this lies the poor, the forgotten and the abandoned, in a way- the less charming truth.

Maybe it is not wrong to live like that, or maybe I am wrong when I say this, and many might disagree with me, and I wouldn't even blame them. All I say is that after my eyes have wondered in amazement through the lights of the glamorous city, I finally ended up in less popular sites- like the stations. I have noticed this about cities- behind the nice looking parts (which are usually in the centre), there lies a darker, less fortunate part usually placed in stations. And seeing the old, the young all of them abandoned and poor, after having seen all that beauty, it's like almost hurting physically your eyes.



















You see old people, tired after having worked all their life, in most cases for nothing, their pride long gone, you see children already tired of life, you see old buildings barely standing, their sad windows looking out at the world passing by and it ain't pretty at all. It hurts you to see them in your way, after all not earlier than an hour ago, you were trying on and buying your latest cool dress and were drinking your cocktail somewhere in a cool refreshing and comfy place. You feel bad to see others suffering for real reasons, when you get so easily upset because your favourite T-shirt is sold out.

And thus we end up sending away such people, hiding them from our sight, not because we are ashamed with them as we would often say, but because seeing them we are ashamed with ourselves.

a different bon appetit...

Just some plates I have discovered in my countryside holiday...

holidays

Just snapshots from my holiday away from the city and into the heart of....

Carmen

Nothing can sound better in our Big Square than classical music....and these days rehearsals for Carmen by Bizet are taking place here involving a great number of performers (dancers). Most of the dancers seem to be rather in their training period, but together with the music and the passion they devote to dance one could say the show this Saturday is going to be great. Here are some pix, due to my camera performance in the dark, I should probably apologize for their quality.... :)

Modern Man?

There is this very "funny" type of person-cool, many times distant, the prototype of a very reasonable, reliable person. It's a new species that has appeared and evolved under the harsh conditions of the society we live in.

And this perfectly adapted species has a tremendous fear of feelings. Their urge to be accepted, and even more, to impose themselves as very determined and as "I- know- what- to- do- in- any- situation" type of person, has determined them to turn off their feelings. They want to look perfectly adapted and always in control of things, as any sign of vulnerability would damage their image. Thus, feelings would be just a sign of weakness, leading to the impression that person is on loose ground, or somehow out of control of their life.

So occasionally only, this new species would let just for a bit their feelings to take over, but it is so rarely and followed by so much regret afterwords, that the non-feeling state seems a lot more comfortable and at hand to them.

And thus, in time, the subject of feelings and emotions has become taboo for them, they would go on through life boasting about their equilibrated and perfectly balanced nature, about their capacity to think things straight, objectively, without the inherent distractions of the heart. Such things as "I have no feelings" and "What are feelings good at, what is their purpose?" are among the most often used and famous words. Yet, I wonder, why do they feel the need to say this so many times, it almost sounds like a justification, like they were trying really hard to prove their way of life is so much better. If that life devoided of feelings is better why do you feel the need to defend yourself so much?

Besides promoting such verbal "ads" as mentioned above, this new species takes great effort in hiding or stopping any sign of affection- they will always be there for you if you want them to mend your car for you, or paint your house, but they will never be there for you for anything that might require them to show they have feelings. Thy will never wish you a "Happy Anniversary" or "Merry Christmas" because these are just empty words for them, they will never be your shoulder to cry on either. They might want to be your true friend, but they will fail for being incomplete. It will be impossible for them to be there for you 100%, you might overlook this for a while but then in time, you see how emotionally crippled they are, as you start missing the nice feeling of a hug, the warmth and support of some good words told from the heart.

It is sad to see how because of fear of opening one's heart to the life's treasures, people turn into "robots" voluntarily; behind their "boldness" and coolness, they end up being just cowards, afraid not only of their own feelings but mostly of the others. They will use plenty of reasons to justify their rejection of feelings- betrayal, boredom mostly, indifference, a keen sense of the flaws existing in the people around, coupled with a very high self esteem and pride.

It is sad, once again, as they end up hurting others as well on this path they have chosen...

To Co

The freshly mown grass has waken me this morning
The pink peach flowers delicately
showed me the new day.
Everything looked promising in the warm light of the sun:
Another day in paradise...... without my friend.

ballet in 2 acts

Act 1, Scene 1 and 2























Act 2 and Final, Scene 1 and 2

mostly blue spring

weekend break

Since my hard disk is kinda dead, you'll be probably "happy" to know that posting pictures is out of the question for a while, and since I absolutely can't let this crisis has a too much serious effect on this blog I'll probably write tonight some words I have come across during my virtual and literary wanderings. They are rather quotes, not many so you can hide your little yawning....you won't have time to get too much bored :)

" People who are only in each other's company for amusement never really like each other so well, or esteem each other so highly, as those who work together, and perhaps suffer together. "


"White brilliant flowers
Floating on the warm waters of the river
towards the South country
of the heart of darkness.

Sweating dark bodies
carrying their sins
like a burden on their shoulders
like a moonless night... "


" Bleak thoughts were lingering outside
the window of her soul.
The mist showed their shape even more grotesque.
Like haunting souls returned from beyond
Turning peace into fight,
Love into hatred
And light into death. "

Chance

Her soul has rested, having travelled beyond the valley of the violet lilac and the white daffodils, and having trodden upon the perfumed waters of April nights.

His soul has travelled as well, but in its path, it hasn't encountered the fragile beauty she has seen. No, he has rather dared the dark depths of faraway seas, he has faced the strong and harsh winds of the North.

Yet, they met.

Two grains of sand have met somewhere in the universe, carrying in their essence her and his aspirations and reflections. They met in the least expected place and time- on an ordinary day of April, in an ordinary street of an even more ordinary town. In fact they had been there for a while, yet not knowing that what they were longing for was neither in the blossoming valley, nor in the salty depths of the seas, not knowing that what/who they needed the most was right there at an arm's reach...

But two apparently insignificant grains of sand made it all happen....

flowers invasion

with the risk of annoying some people who might have got tired of seeing flowers over flowers again and again, and with the risk of maybe making some of my friends roll their eyes at the sight of too many flowers invading not only my blog, but also photography, and above all also my friends' retina....Well with that risk in mind, I have to admit I can't help it. I am so glad about spring having come that "selfish" as I am, I really feel like sharing my happiness with the people I care about, and why not, with the people I wanna annoy. :)

Then, even though I know that such topic for photography can be seen as just a sugary interest, quite shallow, maybe, I still think that flowers and nature in general are in the end some of the most beautiful things on earth. The problem with such a photography topic, I think, is that nature makes people's job easier. The beauty is there, quite obvious and tangible, whereas other topics might give the artists more hardships in unveiling their true value, thus making the artist's work more valuable and important. "Chapeau!" I might even say, but still this doesn't deny any value to let's say "the easy photography"...either way many times it depends on the subjects you might have at hand, the opportunities offered by people, or places.

So be patient, my dear friends, for lack of subject matter, for the time being you are still stuck with the same topic-nature and its beauty... :)

a personal treat ...prietenii stiu de ce :)

my very favourite ever - Queen and a couple of their rather rare but equally impressive and harmonious songs. They are, after all, the cherry on top of the cake, as they say. Enjoy!

spring at night

It has snowed tonight- the blizzard of dozens flowers blossoming in spring... They say all cats are black at night. I say all trees in bloom are covered in snow at night. I am looking outside my window in the solitary night and all I see are what appear to be snowflakes gently dancing in the night breeze- and still despite my treacherous eyes, other sense tells me I'm wrong.

They must be petals thickly covering each branch in a very unique bond, as I can smell the daffodils and the fresh cherry flowers. It is definitely spring again, and despite the green gaining more and more ground each day, at night black and white take the power. I wonder which is stronger- the all covering dark, or rather the white- pale and yet capable of making itself seen in spite of the dark?

....and it all started from a pink tree gently dancing on the tune of wind on a spring night....