Horrid Henry is trying to blow the roof off today, so even for Rambling Cathy, I’m not inclined to go searching for the shredded primroses which are stubbornly flowering in a corner of the cottage garden. I very rarely pick a bunch, although they grow in abundance, as they lighten up a few dark nooks and crannies in the garden and remind me to be optimistic. So instead, as one of my rare offering to “in a Vase Monday”, I am featuring the best our wind torn island can offer at present.
The glowing amber of the kelp is intense even on the gloomiest days, with the long, smooth ribbons of the fronds intricately woven through the tangle of thick furry stems. Torn from the off-shore kelp forests, it is thrown up onto the beach and contorted into sculptures by the waves and the wind.
It needs no man-made installation to display its attributes, the contrasting textures of the smooth grainy sand, silver ripples of water and a framing of dark outcrops of rock could not be surpassed. The lighting is subdued, but from time to time, between the squalls, the sun throws a shaft of light through the clouds to burnish the edges with gold.
Nature’s sea sculptures are ephemeral and remind us of our own mortality in the face of the power of the wind and the waves.
Brilliant interpretation of this theme! You can’t beat nature can you?
I think nature wins every time. Alas my flower arranging skills are limited to the posy in a jam jar style.
Hang on there! We just suffered a behemoth snowstorm here in VA! See latest post…
Oh how thoughtless, I’d not realsied that you were in the snow belt! I’m pleased that you managed to dig yourself out, a pity you’ve not got some nice Hebridean neighbours to drop by with a tractor.
I’m not sure if we could cope with all that snow, a couple of inches is enough to bring us to a stand still, so you obviously have plenty of colonial pioneer genes to cope so well.
French genes mostly, Chris. Not sure if they would simply sit back with a barrel of wine and wait for the stuff to melt by itself! I think I will try that next time, as these big storms only strike here randomly…the last monster was in 2009.
I think the idea of drinking wine and waiting for the thaw is a better idea than heroic snow shovelling. A good supply of wine is definitely an essential part of our emergency supplies.
I usually keep Irish whiskey on hand and often add a dash of vanilla and dark maple syrup…a soothing tonic. Wines give me a grand headache. Now I am battling pneumonia…
Well a drop of the Irish is as good as anything. I do hope you get better soon, pneumonia is far too serious for granny’s remedies.
Chris, it turns out I have a super virus with no name. Nearly met my maker. Better today with the aid of TWO antibiotics!!
Keep well and thanks for your kind words of healing. Diane
Oh dear that does sound nasty. I hope that you are feeling better now.
Christine
I like this very much, more than the daphne or snowdrops I could offer you.
I think I might swap a couple of tons of smelly kelp for a bunch of fragrant daphne.
beautiful post…
Thank you
Glowing amber is a perfect description of the appearance of this natural art installation – a thoughtful alternative to the usual vase on Monday. In the same vein you might want to like at the beach mandala Wild Daffodil created on Skye some years ago – she linked back to it in a recent post which you can see here https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/2016/01/31/photo-challenge-winter-review/
Thank you for the link. I’m quite taken with the idea of beach sculptures.
Antony Gormley came to the islands a few years ago and created some wonderful, ephemeral beach art.
Sounds wonderful – and we trawled round whichever Uist it was looking for a sculpture trail that is no longer there, not AG though…!
The climate ensures that anything man made has a short shelf life here. You can watch even the best non-corrosive voatings rust before your very eyes! It seems that the signs for the xulpture trail have lasted longer than the sculptures!
Horrible Henry has even been making a nuisance of himself down here, but obviously it is far worse for you. A lovely photo, I bet it’ s bracing out there.
I think everyone has had their fair share of Hebridean weather this year and I don’t think we’ve had the worse of it, even though Horrid Henry was pretty horrid last night. I do hope that your wonderful garden has not been damaged by the weather.
Love the kelp sculpture & how it arrives on the beach. Your photos are so evocative.
Hopefull we will be able to have another bracing beach walk soon.