Butterfly
just when the caterpillar thought her life was over, she began to fly
This post is inspired by my friend Paula Light and her Thursday prompt; Butterfly. If you’re not familiar with this French song and very cool singer, then why not take the time now. If, like me, your French isn’t quite up to understanding all the nuances, then just enjoy the video and warmth of this guy’s voice.
This song is also for a very close friend of mine.
Please listen with the joy of life in your heart.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
you are too beautiful
for any ending to end you
Monochrome Monday ~ Getty Villa
Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Southern California
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
not quite The Getty Villa
but from exactly the same part of the world
California Wildfires
sometimes all you have left is prayer
Here in England we almost never get wildfires, instead we sometimes have devastating floods, and every few years a hell of a lot of snow. Sadly, my friends out on the USA’s West Coast are in real physical danger from the bush fires burning out of control through California, Oregon, and Washington State.
The fire services are doing the very best they can, and President Trump is due to visit California tomorrow to see for himself the scale of destruction. But when fires even threaten the freeways and interstate highways, things are obviously our of control. Some of the fires may have been caused by arson, or smokers casually discarding their butts, or by electrical faults, or even lightning. But they have spread so far and wide because of a 20 year mega-drought.
The only thing that will end these fires is heavy rain. And all the rest of the world can offer is our thoughts and prayers.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
perhaps now it is time to pray for heavy rain in Southern California
Scenes on Sunday ~ Desert
when you’re in the desert, you look into infinity
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
big wide horizons out there
Scenes on Sunday ~ Blue
all is at peace where the blue sky meets the blue sea
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
all of life’s better emotions are to be found in the send of the sea
What Are You?
accept no one else’s definition of your life, but define yourself
Shakespeare didn’t think much of money-lenders
Who are you? The true answer to that isn’t as easy to give as some may believe. You might tell me your name, and then you might tell me what you do; butcher, baker, candlestick-maker, rich-man, poor-woman, beggar-man, thief….. In fact we are so wound up in ‘what we do’ that in times past a person’s ‘family name’ might well have been the trade or craft they were in. Hence; Baker, Cooper, Thatcher, Smith, Wright.
So, we might know your name and your main occupation, but that’s just what you are. It isn’t who you are. Your name and what you do to earn a crust aren’t who you are. If a name was so important then why do half of the people in the western world change their name? And if what you do is so important, why do so very many people have a career change at some time in their lives, and why are so many dissatisfied with their career, profession, job?
Your name and what you do to make a living are not who you are ~ but perhaps it’s what you are, your role, the part that you play in society. That’s if you accept that what you do is just a role, not who you are at all. We are all but players on life’s stage.
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts….. ~ Shakespeare
My career was in International Banking and Finance. I worked hard at it, and I was well remunerated in return. Was I satisfied with that? Did I think that what I did was important? Not really. I worked to make a living, to have some self-respect, and my own self-respect was why I was good at it. I’ve played some other roles, and I was very good at those too.
But now, I don’t play a role anymore. Today, right now, I am just me. And, like everything I’ve done in the past I am determined to be good at being me, the very ‘best’ man I can possibly be.
Others may have loftier callings; perhaps they want to be a doctor, priest, therapist, teacher ~ but before all of that I would first urge them to be themselves, and to be the very best at being themselves that they can possibly be.
Some say that we should all conform to what society expects of us. And that those in authority have a right to tell us what to do. All I know is that you should always be yourself, no matter what they say.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talk talk.net
be the best you can be
but be yourself
no matter what they say
Sharing Love
love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies
Well, perhaps, but even in the truest of loves between the most compatible of people each of them has their own separate road to walk. They may walk it together, supporting each other always, and the one may carry the other for a time, but each one wants / should / must have their own choices to make. It is a truism that you cannot / should not / must not try to live another person’s life for them.
More than that, almost every adult craves their independence, needs their time alone, and wants to be able to make their own mistakes. The thing about romantic partnerships and love is that the partners should be good friends, perhaps each another’s very best friend. And the thing about very good friends is that you don’t always want to see them, but you always want to know that they’re there.
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main….. ~ John Donne
Sharing everything with your partner might sound ideal, and I guess many young lovers strive for that perfect ideal, but there is nothing worse in life than perfection. Living in your partner’s pocket is claustrophobic, actually living with anyone every minute of every single day, month in and month out, would constitute a cruel and unusual punishment in most legal systems. But solitary confinement is even worse.
How much you share with your partner, and how much of your partner you share with others is, like all of life, a balancing act. But I would strongly suggest that sharing absolutely everything isn’t going to work for most people.
Here I can best speak for myself; a real, honest, honourable, steadfast, and true man. And I need time alone, not fully engaged with anyone or anything other than myself, my innermost thoughts, and the Goddess of my understanding. Men such as I tend to seek out solitary pastimes ~ I take long meditative walks by the sea. But from time to time some company is nice.
Most men have very poor conversational skills in comparison to their female partner, so telling her about ‘everything that happened in my day’ is difficult for men. Similarly, listening to her narrate her day’s events is hard for men. And trust me on this; some of the things she may have done he will not ever want to know. Men have very poor empathy in comparison to women.
And then; a man’s feelings, drives, and needs are very different from a woman’s. He will not ever want to know about your past and the other men in it, and if he does a woman should worry. The same goes for men in your present life, (coworkers and such).
People who want to know everything about you and live with you 24 / 7 are but one step from spying, stalking, and gaslighting. Maybe ~ so give each other some space.
(there is a whole other set of meanings about ‘sharing’ in relationships ~ but I’m not going to go there)
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
most women would not want to be chained
not all the time anyway
Random Jottings ~ Strange Love
love can be an intimate connection and a dreadful bond
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love makes you do strange things
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she hears you before you have spoken
answers you before you’ve formed the question
and she loved you before you ever dreamed of her
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and then, in walked the witch
the electric broomstick was bad
her fuck-me stilettos were a bitch
but the pearl choker was just sadistic
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erotic witches aren’t all bad
they just like to behave that way
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
memories of
sex, secrets, sins
lovers, lies, lusts
desires, demands
resentments, regrets
Tunes on Tuesday ~ Synchronicity
it’s very nice to go wandering, but it’s oh so nice to wander home
Just a few days ago I took myself off to Turkey, to a little seaside town 2,700 miles from the garret. Only to discover among all that sun and blue Aegean sea, that what I was looking for was deep inside my heart. I don’t have to go anywhere to know that synchronicity surrounds me.
Look around you, because you are already right where you need to be.
Please listen thoughtfully.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
mr. blue sky
shine down on me
Songs on Saturday ~ Cat Stevens
oceans apart, day after day, and I’m still in love
Either in lockdown in the garret, or prevented from travelling, or in a beautiful place on vacation….. where ever I can go, and whatever I can do, I still cannot see my friends. Especially I am not allowed to meet those I care for the most.
I may be only a solitary traveller, but love, true love, transcends time and space.
Please listen with your heart.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
purity, innocence, youthfulness
or a new beginning of everlasting love
