Autumn in a Bottle, and other tidbits from Metz

I. Yesterday I went gathering autumn. I picked it up, color dripping leaf by leaf, and brought back a bouquet, which I stuffed in a bottle...

...and a  Vase.

Now I sit and stare and wonder at the autumn, in my room, and me.

II. Metz is Stained in Glass: and I wonder why? I wander within this stained light and watch it color me blue, purple, yellow, orange, red and green...and many other shades in between. Is it to illuminate the heart? and bear it ? this blue heart, this red throbbing heart, this soaring yellow heart, a sinking violet heart? to learn that hearts can be stained and it is better this way?

 

III. I go swimming regularly. Swimming happens here in a very disciplined manner with strict rules that guide people swimming in loops within lanes meant for lap swimmers. Every now and then, someone breaks the rules, overtakes, splashes, and plays...and people pause in wonder.

Yesterday I found to my delight that there were three sumo wrestlers in the same narrow lane as me. They were as sombre and majestic in water as when they are on ground. They swam in full control and practiced style and grace. However each time one crossed me, there was an enormous wave, a surge, that hit my face, and I drank gallons of swimming pool water, even as I watched a massive whale glide away next to me.  I watched in amazement and awe. Yesterday I drank a lot of swimming pool water.

IV. I have wasted substantial portions of my last many days trying to figure out travel plans within the country - to the mountains, to the sea shores, to all places wonderous and beautiful. Such planning is challenging here - where communication is little with the french speaking nation. Also, people are not in need for business and hang up on an english speaker, do not respond to email queries etc.; train timetables are horrendous, and non-Paris connectivity poor. Finally I have given up. I have realised that if I were not constantly trying to have a better life, I could actually have a really good life.

V. What is it about Ambers - of tree saps from aeons ago, of the solidified, and transparent molten golds  ,that fascinates us so? Just the beauty? Or is it the perished prehistoric bugs and insects it once embedded inside? Or the imaginary trees whose sap once flowed so freely and golden? I bought some Amber jewelry and hold it to the light, peer within its mottled inside to wean out its secrets, from times when dinosaurs roamed a swampy land, dragons roared fire, fish were learning to fly and earth was still a fantasy land. I wear on my ear to hear its whispered secrets, dangle it close to my heart and wear it on my finger to remind me that fantasy once existed - and maybe it still does.