Saturday, November 16, 2024

20 Beautiful Things

 It's another night for another card draw. I'm due to go to the airport in about an hour and a half and I want to get my blog out of the way before this. I'm showered and mostly packed, so it's blog time. 

Well, that and I have to drop off my recycling and then I'll go to the airport. 

Tonight, it's another one of Catherine Deveny's writing prompt cards. Tonight the prompt reads "20 things you find beautiful, and why.

So here I go. 

1. Kerbside roses

I love any rose that I find in people's front yards where I can stop, smell the rose, take it's photo and enjoy the whole experience of slowing down, admiring the beauty, and smelling something wonderful. I love the scent of rose. Even better when they are overblown and a bit neglected. They're the ones the smell the best. 

2. Darwin Sunsets

I had to put this in. They are some of the best sunsets in the world. Some times they're dramatic, other times understated. You never know what you're going to get, and that's what makes them so good. Melbourne has some of the best sunsets in Winter. 

3. The feel of satin.

I find satin has a very calming effect on me. It's something so everyday, yet so perfect. I think it runs from when I had a security blanket which was lined in satin. 

4. My cat. 

My bog-standard black cat, Lucifer, is magnificent. He's really a small house panther, majestic and powerful, but he's tucked into a six kilogram body. He's just a beautiful boy, and I tell him this every day. 



5. My work suitcase

It may be a bit strange to say that you find your black, plastic, $80 Kmart suitcase that you bought for work trips beautiful, but it's covered with stickers from the Northern Territory and it reminds me of fun times and good friends and great trips, which makes it beautiful to me. 

6. The Poetry of Rumi

Rumi gets you all over. As a poet who has been dead for many centuries, that is a feat.

Love Rumi.


7. Open fires

This is from my childhood. I could stare into an open fire for hours. I love being in charge of the fire at home. There is something comforting about them. 

8. Deserted beaches, particularly in winter

I don't get to the beach often enough, but I love the pure energy you feel from being near the ocean. Sure, some beaches are lovelier than others, but there is nothing better than walking along a long stretch of beach, taking in the sounds and smells. 

9. English Cathedrals

I find their sheer size incredible. The work, the carving, how they ever go stone to do such things with rudimentary tools... Leaving aside the damage the Catholic Church has done to the world over the last 2000 years, I like English Cathedrals because they've weathered a lot of change. I find going into a space which contains the prayers of millions incredibly moving. 

10. My eyes. 

I have pretty eyes. I find their deep green colour incredibly beautiful. Is that vain of me? 

11. The Stained Glass Roof at the Art Gallery in Melbourne. 

It is art. Lying on the floor, looking at the ceiling is transformative experience, and it's different every time you go, and depending on the time and the weather outside. I try to go there regularly. 


12. Autumn

The cooler weather. The changing leaves. The mellow evening. Autumn is my favourite season by far. 

13. Juliette Binoche

Possibly the only woman I would turn for. Even in her sixties, she is an incredibly beautiful woman.

14. The Great Ocean Road

Australian Landscape at its very best. It twists and turns it way along the South Coast of Victoria and it is just magic. 

15. The turn of a well-crafted sentence

As a writer, there is nothing better than the feeling of a piece of prose that takes your breath away. 

16. My grandmother's yoyo biscuits.

My grandmother died twenty years ago, but her legendary yoyo biscuit recipe lives on. They are the absolute bomb. 

17. A certain friend's chest hair

I can't tell you who owns this chest hair, but it's just perfect. Not to much, not too little, and sure it's peppered with grey hairs now, but it's still great. I love the feel of it. It's comforting. He's neither here nor there about it, but I find it beautiful. 

18. My red wrap

I bought this wrap to wear at my 40th birthday party. It's crepey red wool in that wonderful fire engine red and I feel a million dollars when I wear it. 

19. The hands of old women. 

I remember watchimg my grandmother's hands. You can only ask where they have been, what they have done, what they have touched. They hold such beauty and strength. 

20. Unmade beds in hotel rooms.

They wreak of unseen potential and untold stories. There is something very beautiful about crumpled crisp white sheets. 

Today's song:



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