The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one:
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.
– Francis William Bourdillon
——
Glow
The best way from Vienna to Salzburg is by train; it’s convenient and you see a bit of the Austrian countryside.
Though photography through the window of a moving train can be a challenge, I managed to snap a few.
As the trip progressed and the city faded in the distance, I was reminded of the song “Vienna” by Billy Joel.
“Slow down, you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
It’s all right, you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you.”
And the alps.
Billy Joel continues.
“And you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you can just get old
You’re gonna kick off before you even get half through
Why don’t you realize, Vienna waits for you
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?”
Not that weed. 🙂
A friend once told me not to bring this orchid home because “it’s a weed among orchids.”
I decided to take it home anyway because I’ve tried other varieties and none of them survived. This fellow, for all it’s humble pedigree, kept blooming. I think it’s because it doesn’t listen to what others are saying.
If plants overthink their reason for being, I guess many of them won’t be around.
Just think of the cactus, it never listened to the wisdom that plants can’t grow in the desert.
A plant doesn’t think it deserves less of the sun because it is not a rose.
Who is to judge anyway?
The jasmine doesn’t care. If it has to crawl so be it; it still spreads its tiny flowers and their scent.
Growth is life and life is growth.
If we can be more like plants, maybe we would hesitate less.
Now, for that other kind of weed… 🙂
An ancient Roman sculpture garden is recreated at the Courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
At this time of year, chimney bellflowers (Campanula pyramidalis) appear in the courtyard. The flowers are grown from seed and take two years to reach their six-foot height!
Quite an impressive work of horticulture.
“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
– Douglas Adams
