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Olives…
A grove of olive trees basking in the late evening light. Over the years, the olive has been used to symbolize wisdom, fertility, power, and purity. Indeed the olive branch has often been a symbol of abundance, glory, and peace and ritually offered to deities and powerful figures as emblems of benediction and purification, and were…
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After a storm comes a calm….
It’s been some eighteen months since Renaissance was resurrected, and a new theme beckoned. In appearance it’s vaguely similar to my old one, but behind is some of the latest website technology introduced by WordPress. Apologies for the delay in getting it up and running, it just takes a little longer for us septuagenarians to…
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One Midsummer Morning
A simple still-life with hints of Spain, a straw hat, glass of red wine and an opened illustrated copy of “As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning“, by Laurie Lee, English poet and novelist, and a descriptive, richly lyrical memoir. The book is a sequel to “Cider with Rosie” which detailed life in Gloucestershire after…
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Winter Seas
Waves come crashing to grey sullen shores.Powerful and strong, it breathes and roars.Cascading and caressing each grain of sand,A warm embrace between sea and land. High above, a seagull soars high.Wings of purity it spreads to fly.Battling high against darkened cloud,In a wind that blows fiercely, flying graceful and proud.Poem by Edel T. Copeland
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Beached
The shadowy splendour of an autumn skyWas radiant with the hues of parting day;The glorious sun seemed loth to leave the west,That glowed like molten gold–a saffron seaFretted with crimson billows, whose rich tintsGave to the rugged cliff and barren heath…By Walter De La Mare
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Shade
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago”, said Warren Buffet.
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Seascape
The gull sails softly thro’ the air,For all is calm and still below;Peace, blessed peace is ev’rywhere,And all regret the recent throe. Thomas Frederick Young
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Many A Tale…
can be told be told by old doors. This one, patinated and weathered, the Mediterranean Blue paint revealing its age – and enhanced by a fusion of fresh new growth – in Andalucía’s Torrox Pueblo A thing of beauty is a joy forever;Its loveliness increases; it will neverPass into nothingness; but still will keepA bower…
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Here Today – Gone Tomorrow
The derelict San Joaquin Sugar Mill, located between Nerja and Maro on the old coast road, is a fascinating sight, silhouetted against a Mediterranean sunset.
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Nocturnal Balcón de Europa
On a deserted Balcon illuminated by moonlight there are just four people visible. Three are unknown, the one on the extreme left is a sculpture of the late king Alfonso XII who actually named the balcony during a visit after the big earthquake that hit Nerja in 1884, observing that “this is the Balcón de…
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Quintessential Spanish Country Life
The wind has swept from the wide atmosphereEach vapour that obscured the sunset’s ray;And pallid evening twines its beaming hairIn duskier braids around the languid eyes of Day:…Percy Bysshe Shelley
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A Winter’s Day
In a deep and dark December” … Especially then. The Balcon de Europa in Nerja, where the light is often sublime, is a great place to wait and hope someone will do ‘stuff’. Cycling, walking, sitting, winter calisthenics, or watch the setting sun. All you need is a camera and patience….
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By The Sea
As Jacques Yves Cousteau said, “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” …early morning solitude near Benajarafe on Spain’s Costa Del Sol…
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Fandango
Scaramouch, Scaramouch will you do the Fandango? asked a well known royal and mercuric figure.
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Gateway
One of those locations in the campo, I frequently return to. The silhouetted gateway, solitary olive tree and distant mountains, all enhanced by the evening light just keeps on producing iconic interpretations of the Spanish countryside…
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El Tornillo
Just one of the many geological creations found in El Torcal de Antequera, a nature reserve in the Sierra del Torcal mountain range near the city of Antequera in Spain’s province of Málaga.
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Yellow Road
A twisty yellow farm road in the hinterland of Spain’s Andalusia. A disappearing track, the golden cornfields and slightly ominous skies, elements that reminded me of the painting, ‘Wheatfield with Crows’, by Vincent Van Gogh. According to the Van Gogh Museum, “the painting (left) is often claimed to be his last work. The menacing sky,…
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Wild Swimming
A lone figure on the Embalse de los Bermejelas, near Arenas del Rey, Granada Province in Spain’s Andalucia.
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Stormy Seas
“Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world” …Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Laguna de Fuente de Piedra
Rich with shadows, a walkway on Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, a wetland located in Málaga province of Spain. The shallow lagoon, covering an area of 13 square kilometres is fed by underwater springs that pass through mineral salt deposits, so the lagoon is saline.