A BOWL OF WATER

Most of the big cities in the Eastern Cape have been put again under water restrictions from the side of the municipalities. It has not rained in our region since weeks, the water level in the dams has dropped to a critical point and when you leave the coast to drive inland the grass and vegetation is dry and of a yellowish color. The farmers are nervous and the " raintalk" is in everybody's mouth. 
The rates for water have gone up dramatically and my neighbour has just installed a huge plastic reservoir in his garden under his roof to catch rain water.

It is easy to understand the old desert saying " Water is  life " when you look at the land now. Water is life and costly.

Natures harvests and captures water wherever and whenever it can. Time again to think about the environment. 

Frogs in Love

Oh yes, this as well !!

My home is liked by many and all sort of creatures frequent it.
These are two of the frogs, that enjoy quality time together in my garden, madly in love with each, taking a bath in passionate embrace in the pool.

BLOOD STAINS

A rock lying in crystal clear sea water in a rock pool at low tide covered partially with red algae looking like blood stains.

A RING OF REFLECTION

This is the most mystical and spiritual photo I have taken last year. And it is for many friends the most loved one of 2009. 

It is special and I see this photo as a gift that I was allowed to have to remind me of that moment.

I took this picture while I was on a holiday at the wild-coast on a walk along the beach during low tide when all the rock formations where exposed.

The small rock-pool shaped by the flowing water contained tiny shell pieces. 

What attracted me was the darker ring outside the rock-pool in the stone. This is not moisture. The stone has a darker color and the shape of the circle perfectly complements the nature of the rock-pool.

Only later when I was bending over to take the photo from above did I see the two amazing rings of light reflection in the water that were in perfect symmetry to each other and everything around them.

How can I be talking so much about a hole in a stone?

Cause it was a moment of enchantment.

And staying enchanted is one of the most important things for me in life.

If the elements come together with shape and structure and light it is magic. And then you have art.

IS THERE COLOR IN THE SEA ?

I was asked by my friend who lives in the Sahara and who has never seen the sea: IS THERE COLOR IN THE SEA ?

You can not know how much I loved his question because I had so much to say to him.

There is not only color but there are pink spaghettis in the sea.

There is a beautiful dead pale crab not anymore in the sea.

There is structure and delicacy in the sea.

What is inside the sea reflects it's color to the outside.

The sea is made from a painters palette.

My perfect, green shimmering, shining wave comes from the sea.

There is change and movement in the sea.

There is sculpture in the sea.

There is an indescribable abundance of good things of all colors in the sea.

 Through the sea you can understand the spirit of water and the way it moves.

 There is shape and light and reflection in the sea helping yourself getting a clearer picture of yourself.

In clear water the mermaid's golden hair flows.

And there is art in the sea.

SO MUCH, MY FRIEND SAID. AND WHAT IS A MERMAID?

Floating..... The Relative Lightness Of Being

Floating is a series of photographs that I have taken recently

showing light weight floating on water

Simply beautiful to look at. Each one a small miracle. Created during three hours while sitting next to a pool

                                  Showing the relative lightness of life and death............

in all it's colors and structures and forms

These photos are not only beautiful but also symbolic because there are times when things get easy in life and when one is able to float through moments that would have been difficult before 

simply feeling the flow and the lightness....

Connections are formed in these moments with greater powers and energies

but still not lasting forever.....

and when it's over and the weight can be felt again you wonder how you have done it

and are amazed........

But knowing, reassuringly, that you can do it again......

because you know now how it feels 

RAINDROPS AND GLASSBEADS

I truly believe that we live in an age now where more and more people develop a higher level of consciousness. More and more people awake to a broader, wider and more enlightened way of thinking that is in it's essence positive and more spiritual.

This is beautiful and very powerful. 

The combined power of changed thinking patterns of many are starting to have a great impact on our world and shape the conditions of our lives. It is known since thousands of years that thoughts are the parents of things. It has never been a secret.

It is now that many amongst us start to live and implement actively this knowledge. If I look around me I see it everywhere.

I have mentioned it before that this is not a blog to describe the socio-economic and political conditions that prevail at the moment in South-Africa. Of course I do live in the cradle of reform against oppression and there are many things on the political scene that I could talk about.

It is also not my mission to describe in detail things like the high crime rate or the poverty gap that exists still in this country. Newspapers and television take care of it and they are doing a good job.

There is no denial in this attitude but I am also convinced that we have to look today at what we want to see tomorrow. 

And tomorrow will be good if the things we look at are good and positive.  

I can feel that everything that I have ever looked in my life, no matter when and where and how young I was.... is still stored in my mind. Nothing is lost and nothing is forgotten although I might think it is. 

It is simply not retrievable because of the fact that I make not complete use of the capacity and the potential of my mind at the moment. 

So to me it makes sense that I have to be selective, very selective where I put my eyes - keeping in mind that everything that I see will burn an impression in my soul and will stay with me forever until the end of my life and longer. 

And this is why this blog looks most of the time at things and moments that are already perfect.

It looks at beauty that can be cultivated further in your mind.

It is my belief that if the things that we want are not yet there, are not present in our lives we can speed up the process by thinking intensely and perseverantly of them. By seeing them in the mind. By imaging their color, their smell, the way they look. By being very selective what we allow ourselves to think.

Rain in Africa is very special. If it rains in Africa people feel so good.  You search the sky if it is turning grey with clouds. The wind brings the smell of rain in the distance and you wish it would rain where you live. 

Where are in the raining season at the moment and these pictures were taken  in the early morning after a  night of rain.It was the type of rain that some call " land rain "  here. A gentle, soft but steady rain that allows the soil to soak up all the water.  The water does not flow away or gets lost. It's like a beauty treatment for the country.  

It was an amazing sight to look at the leaves of one bush early in the morning where raindrops were lined up around the edges of the leaves like strings of the most perfect glass pearls that Cinderella would have worn in her hair for her wedding. All the raindrops were aligned in a harmonious pattern and you could say in nearly the same distance to each other.

You can see more of my pictures in my virtual gallery: Chocolat Negro Flashlight

Or you can buy prints in my Etsy- Online Shop:  Chocolat Negro Recycled Design and Art