Every Day in Life is Beautiful

A gentle morning sky

taken from my balcony.

Soft petals and curves in pastel colours

which remind me of the colours of my temperature blanket so far.

Under a large oak tree, these bright and charming tiny cyclamen were growing.

There's such beauty in skies at any time of the day.

This was taken today as the tiny moon rose in the pastels of the sky.

With the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.

last Monday on January 27th,

I wanted to re-read the story of Alice Herz-Sommer.

She was a gifted concert pianist and Holocaust survivor.

She said that music kept her and her young son alive.

I have two books about this lady. 

The one above and another entitled: 'A Century of Wisdom'.

I can recommend them both.

Alice was an incredibly positive person her whole life.

She is truly inspirational.

Her quotations are really meaningful.

Here is one of them:

"Life is beautiful. You have to be thankful that we are living.

Wherever you look is beauty.

I know about the bad things, but I look for good things"

Alice Herz-Sommer

The colourful presence of tulips in our homes brings such joy.

I crocheted a reversible heart for my front door with daisies.

The month of February makes us think of hearts!

I like the plain red side, but the three colours is fun too.

That's the one that's on show today.

I may change it for the red side on February 14th.

Here is a link for the heart pattern

I went for a lovely brisk walk in my neighbourhood

and on my way back, around 6 pm,

I stopped to enjoy this beautiful sky.

When I got home,

the sky was deepening.

"Every day in life is beautiful ... every day."

Alice Herz-Sommer.

The beauty is there even when we fail to notice it.

When we look around us with awareness

we can see it or hear it in the songs of the birds at dawn and dusk.

Yesterday, on returning from my walk, I heard a blackbird sing for the first time this year.

Continuing the 2020 Flower Challenge with a new flower to crochet every week of the year.

Here is Flower number 3

A little daisy.

If you would like to join the challenge.

Check out Anabelia craft design

May you find something beautiful every day of your life.

Sunshine and Flowers

Our exceptionally warm temperatures for the season

and daily sunshine have brought us spring flowers

like these Crocus

Snowdrops

and Winter Jasmine

The full moon got me out walking to capture a lovely sunset.

It shone brightly in my neighbourhood

A day's outing by the lake in the town of Morges.

The mountains were misty, but the water reflected the beautiful blue of the sky.

Other people were out enjoying the lovely weather.

Another day I took a boat over the lake to the town of Evian for the day.

I was amazed and thrilled to see the first cherry blossom of the year.

It is very early, but luckily this is ornamental cherry.

The fruit bearing trees need to remain in hibernation a while longer.

Leaving the French town of Evian and surrounding mountains

to return to the Swiss side of the lake where I live.

I have been enjoying spring flowers in pots for a few weeks now.

Like these orange primroses and ivy leaves.

Spring crochet is getting ready to decorate my home with fresh colours

and a new tiny owl scissor fob was made over the weekend.

I found the lovely pattern here:

Anabelia craft design

Longer Days

The days are getting longer by several minutes each day

and that is what allowed me to witness this beautiful sunset when I crossed a bridge

to the other side of town at 5.30 pm.

This is the silhouette of the St. François church steeple in Lausanne.

I shall be looking out for more sunsets!

A mini snowstorm in my street

Winter is still lurking

while the spring flowers sleep.

But the tulips are here 

bringing wonderful colour into our homes!

They didn't want to open and so I put them out into the rain

which seemed to suit them very much.

It was worth the wait.

The garland of hearts is finished and looks fresh and cheerful

above the couch in my living room.

Here it hangs underneath the lithography of one of Magritte's paintings.

The painting is called "La page blanche" (the empty page)

which it isn't!

I like Magritte's surreal quality and his humour!

This reminder and quotation from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne:

"Promise me,

You'll always remember:

You are braver than you believe

 stronger than you seem

and

smarter than you think."

Words spoken by Christopher Robin to his favourite bear.

***

For the beautiful pattern of the heart granny square

HERE

Water Music at Sunset

The beautiful lake is always an attraction, but never more so than at sunrise or sunset.

I loved looking at the early sunset through the illuminated flag at the back of the steamboat.

But I do believe that this lilac sky is my favourite on this particular day.

I had read about a new kind of evening cruise which included a classical music concert!

The fact that it featured a well loved piece of music made the idea even more exciting.

There was a live orchestra on board playing

Water Music by Georg Friederich Haendel.

So appropriate!

You can listen to it 

HERE

It was magnificently interpreted and I especially loved the horns and trumpets

So joyful!

Water Music was originally created in 1717

for King George 1st of England

and it was played on the Royal Barge with 50 musicians

as it floated along the River Thames on July 7th, 1717,

The King loved it so much that he asked the musicians to play it over several times!

G.F. Haendel, gifted musician and composer, born in Germany.

he travelled and lived in several European countries

 and he lived in England for many years till the end of his life.

He even taught music to the King's children.

I have heard that another musical cruise may be organized at some time in the future.

I shall definitely want to go again, especially if the music is as beautiful as this concert!

A last colourful look at the sky right after the sun went down.

Sunset Cruise

Take a beautiful day

and choose one of the lovely vintage steam boats on the lake.

There were three of us on the cruise together

My grandson, a friend and me.

We had chosen to go on a sunset cruise

with a meal in this lovely old-style restaurant.

A photo before everyone streams in

This is our view from the table on the other side.

We took lots of photos and admired the wooden panelling on either side of the window.

We passed vineyards

and familiar mountains as the boat turned in Montreux

The Swiss flag flies in the stern of the boat.

It was still quite light

and I wondered if we would actually see the sunset

 before returning to our port in Ouchy.

It's always fun to see the paddle wheels turning

I love the lines of the mast against the light blue sky on the top deck.

The sun is getting quite low on the horizon

and the colours change with each passing minute and become more golden.

I love catching the scene through a foreground of poles and lines

and seeing the flowing French flag at the prow of the boat.

Just before disappearing behind the mountain range,

the golden sun-flares delight us all.

The gorgeous lighting after the sun has gone down

makes the silhouettes in the port look really magical.

On the other side of the sky,

everything is bathed in shades of blue and pink.

As we leave the boat and walk along the lake,

I take the last photos of the deepening sky

until just the hint of the silhouetted boat remains

with touches of pink behind the trees where the sun went down.

Such a wonderful outing on this beautiful day in August.