Is it true, that the longer we live, the more appreciative we become of the small things closer to home?
Such as the simplicity of setting off from home spontaneously on early evening walk, after teaching, just as the sun is setting far away, where the exquisite but simple chrysanthemums glow in the pink evening light in an allotment, or how the trees cover me in the woods but do not touch each other, and where I walk in an absolute carpet of leaves for miles while the sound of ever present moving water in the over flowing brook accompanies me. A change in 10 minutes from dusk to dark where I noticed every fleeting detail.
And yet, last week, at this time, I was in Amsterdam in the Oude Kerk (dating back to 1200) looking at, gently touching and enjoying beyond all understanding the hand painted linen walls in the Marriage Banns room dating back to 1760. It is called wallpaper but it is linen painted in the finest aqua, duck egg colour overlayed with exotic tulips, chrysanthemums and nasturtium.
These two moments, a time spent walking close to home through a wood at sunset, in the city and finding the blue lined walls in the oldest Church in Amsterdam, affected me in the very same way. A connection to absolute unexpected beauty.
so many things in Amsterdam affected me through the senses of sight and wonder – here are a few.
miss nothing. find joy in small unexpected things as well as the grander wonders of the world.
tracey doxey 