WANDERING INTO A BETTER MOOD

EMBRACING THE GREY

 By Frances Harris

Taking in the sight of these new wattle flowers gave me an immediate boost.

If you’ve ever experienced a grey cloudy day and not been sure how you should handle it, I would like to offer my slant on the situation.  Perhaps you don’t want to sit on the couch and eat chips and dip, which is where I found myself this morning. I decided to get on my bike and ride for a couple of hours to find that something special to uplift my spirits. As I set out I had no idea what I was looking look for, but by the afternoon I found more than I hoped for, and felt wonderful afterwards. Sometimes the best experiences are right in front of our eyes and don’t cost a thing.



I watched the bird, and the bird was intrigued with me. I couldn’t help but notice his beautiful blue colours while the rest of the world was dull.

I always find that when I connect with another living thing, there is some kind of exchange of energies that makes me feel good. I can’t explain it, but maybe my inner cave woman is reaching out to them.

The ducks were just as active as they would be on a bright sunny day. They don’t seem to care about the weather.

When I first saw how bleak the water looked, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stop off there. But as I watched the ducks going about their lives without hesitation, just as they always have, I thought maybe I had conditioned myself to believe this is a grey day, instead of just a cloudy one.

A little straggle of wattle, made me feel I had found a treasure chest in the middle of a fairly ordinary landscape.

I was feeling a little more enthusiastic about what I would find next. There was no need to look far before I found beauty all around me. I couldn’t believe how much I had missed before I learned to appreciate what is here. I was always too busy to see it.

I found this delicate display hanging on a fence. It is the first time I noticed how the beautiful pink colours of the buds contrast with the white flowers on the vine.

My attitude was a lot more positive at this point and I had regained much of my lost energy from staying inside on this bleak day.

The trio of dandelions I found in the midst of a sea of green seemed to be saying, ‘look at me!’
I spent a moment to ask myself, how can the flowers look so bright when they are shorter than all the rest? Perhaps they don’t know.

On these bushes the flowers seem to meld into the leaves. It’s difficult to decide where the bush ends and the flowers start.

I was so focused on the natural world around me I had completely forgotten about the clouds above.

 

Like little balls of cotton, these flowers were very different to the others around them in the bush.

Even though these flowers are not, ‘in your face bright,’ they are an amazing feat of nature. I paid no attention to the low light around me; there was too much going on. On a very bright day I would have passed over these little gems for something brighter.

The intriguing shape of this dandelion is another feature I would ignore on a bright sunny day. I was amazed by its symmetry and felt sorry it had to be labelled a weed.

I had seen enough of the pale colours and decided to go in search of something brighter.

 

This simple display of daisies in a suburban garden is a charming relief from an otherwise green horizon.

After no longer noticing the greyness that had been around me, I also hadn’t noticed the growing tints of blue clearing above me.

 
Who could feel bleak after looking at a cheeky display of daisies like this one, hanging over a brick fence?

As I combed the streets, there were brighter and more stunning colours in front of me as I slowly peddled my bike around the area.

 The tree tulip is too beautiful for words to describe it. There is nothing I could write to live up to the image.

Again I move on. It only gets much better on every turn.



These little darlings made me realise – I am alive! The world is an amazing symphony of light and dark hues.

As the pedals of my bike rotate slowly, there are more treasures to find.

This is one of the more stunning camellias breaking out in bloom at this time of year.

When a lady who was tending her garden saw me admiring her camellias, she asked me to take a few. I decorated my bike to celebrate the day.

Smaller doesn’t always mean less impressive. This bloom was almost too good to be true.

The pink camellia was one of the last photos I took for the day. I felt the journey ended on a high note and would definitely do it again on a future grey day.