My beautiful Exeter

I've been thinking recently that I really should share a little more of the beauty of the place I live with the world. Exeter is a lovely city; small enough to still be friendly and fairly safe and dating back to pre-Roman times.  Extensively bombed in the second world war it was lucky enough to escape significant damage to the cathedral and some of the old buildings in the city centre remain there to this day.
Anyway - to start (not being that well planned) I have a couple of images of the river.  I walk along and then cross this river every day on my way to and from work so I see it in all moods; swollen and brown with the mud-laden run off from the moors after heavy storms, shallow and burbling gently in the summer sun when you can spot a little fish through it's lucid ripples, partly iced over in the harshest part of winter or just reflecting serenely the sky above on a still and calm evening.
This first image then (and I am well aware that you will have seen numerous images of the river before this if you are a regular visitor here) was from a couple of mornings ago when we had one of the (so far) very few frosty starts to the day this winter.  Although the frost laid heavy on every grass stalk the sun shone down and glinted such sparkles off the river it made me want to run to the hills for the day rather than go to work.  Or at least get down the allotment for some digging!

This second image is from my journey home last night when the river was in one of it's languid moods and showed me such a perfect reflection of the trees' bare branches above I had to capture the image; although these dimpsey lighting conditions aren't the best for photography.  I hope however, that the image manages to convey some of the serenity the river regularly gives me, and some of the beauty it is capable of.

Reality tree

I was walking back from the doctors earlier (gastroenteritis if you were wondering - not fun) and I was feeling a little sorry for myself.  Then I happened upon this tree and the colours and the perfect carpet of yellow the leaves had made, made me stop and stare and forget the rest of the world just for a moment. 

It started me thinking why was I feeling sorry for myself?  It's not a life threatening illness, here at least.  I have a roof over my head, clothes, a job, I don't live in a famine zone or the arctic ice where conditions make life infinitely harder than I've ever had to deal with.  We take so much for granted - easy access to the doctors being one when really; I'm very definitely not that badly off.  This therefore is my tree of wisdom today - stop and look at something beautiful and get a sense of perspective every once in a while.

Felicitations for the new year

Happy 2011! It's been a few days since my last post - days that have incorporated the whole festive season so as you can imagine I've a few bits lined up to post on. Firstly though I wished to share this with you all:
"Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself." Aisha Elderwyn
This quote struck a resonance with me and is one I am going to try and remember through the coming year. We should be ourselves rather than what others or society want us to or think we should be. Continuing pressure to conform to social 'norms' can lead many to lose sight of the fact that it's your life and nobody elses and it scores no points living it for others. Hold onto yourselves my friends and take the time for a 'Tiny Pony' moment every once in a while. Enjoy 2011.

On pet-ownership

One breakage so far. Not too bad I suppose.
The pet owning public are however, I have come to the recent conclusion, well and truly off their rocker. Given that Zeke is a recent acquisition I have been visiting pet shops somewhat more regularly than previous - hence the kitchen is now a trip hazard zone of vibrating toy mice, balls with bells in and other such miscellaneous kitten related frippery. I have yet to turn Zeke into a little stoner though but if I wanted to this company seems to have it covered for all your cats 'nip needs. Lol - look what I spied in a local (very good) pet shop - cat nip bubbles!! What a brilliantly useless item with which to extract cash from the pockets of deluded pet lovers. Another highlight (that I earnt myself strange looks for as I snorted out loud in the shop) were puppy nappies. I kid you not. Yes - the world has truly lost it's head and descended into full on consumerist madness.
Added later - not really the same thing but this post sums up some of todays world's failings for me. And has a nifty picture of a tiny pony. Enjoy.