The Beginning
This day. The first that really felt like the turning of a season. A long walk...lingering conversation, beautiful silence. And these kids in the water. Not even as a kid would I have gone in on this day. Not even on a dare. I don't like freezing cold water in the summer so getting into this in APRIL - never. But I can't deny a deep appreciation for their joyfulness & ability to frolic like it was July.
Swimmers in April | 2018
The Ad
Given our times, I was prepared for just about anything when I saw this from a distance - a political ad, a call to action, a #Metoo moment. The last thing I expected - an advertisement. A well done one as well and apparently one that he does fairly regularly in sand or snow. This realtor with a rake and a message.
Man Raking an Advertisement | April, 2018
the great escape
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. Aristotle Onassis
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. Aristotle Onassis
While many of us in colder climates feel the darkest shadows of winter in counter productive ways, this year has felt barren; the lifelessness of dormant trees sticking out of a flat dull sky, muted color and the absence of a pulse save any kind of vibrant color. While each wave of news crashes in on itself, I've been left feeling rather empty, barren, null and void. And it hasn't helped that this time of year tends to be the slowest. So I was ever so thankful for an escape away to the land of perpetual sunshine and warmth. To see green and growth and to feel the waves wash away the undertow of lackluster hope. Sometimes a change in scenery connects me back to what is real and true and ever lasting and digging into the pockets of hope and inspiration, I'm able to see the jewels of truth.
L'avenir, comme tout le reste, est pas ce qu'il était
The future, like everything else, is not what it used to be. ~ Paul Valery
The future, like everything else, is not what it used to be. ~ Paul Valery
The French Riviera, Nice
And so I watched the television screen replay the video while tears fell from my eyes and my heart cracked into a different kind of grief broken only by pauses of silent shock as it was a little less than one year ago today that I had a chance to spend three weeks in a paradise of blue and white light that bounces and reflects a warm radiance. A mythical city where each impression was a lyrical sensation - the language, the food, the people, the art, the antiquity in the modernity. I was struck by the care given to something as humble as a baguette and coffee, for the simple pleasure of sitting under the awning of a cafe lingering in timelessness - no particular place to be at any particular time sans agenda.
While my time in Nice wasn't particularly an easy one given the task I was there to fulfill, I was warmed by a beautiful group of people who embraced me in a way I hadn't expected. I was surprised by a rise of internal independence and a voice that had long gone silent finding it's way out into the world. On fragile wings I navigated this beautiful city in an ordinary way: walking the streets, sitting in outdoor cafes, strolling on the Promenade de Anglais, afternoon time at the beach to immerse in the sea and delighting in the simple pleasure of a meal. I had no phone to preoccupy me, no book or newspaper nor could I speak the language. I only had my senses to work with and my camera and pen/paper to relay and preserve my impressions.
So what has happened in Nice ripped through me in a way I cannot describe. And after ensuring the safety of those I adore who live in the city, I went to the photographs which I've never shown as a whole. As a way of extending love and my own little flower on an altar of prayer, I felt a need to share images from my time both in color and black and white. For this is the city I had the great fortune to spend time in and a place I will return to again.
This is the city of Nice. A jewel that shines in the heart of the French Riviera.
In color
and black and white
Wells Blog
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