The perfect holiday
Is getting far away
Discovering the new
With locals, a few
A nature experience
Food and wine appearance
Give my mind a chance to roam
While I leave myself at home
[ Isle of Skye, UK ]
.
[ my response to Pooky’s Poetry Prompt 61 ]
Today we drove a lot
To see the sights
And they were worth seeing!
So many landscape changes
Light changes
A great lunch experience
At an isolated Inn
Cars, campers, bicyclists, motorbikes
And on the way home
We paused at Lochcarron
Ready to leave
And I remembered
To pause
To sit on the grass edge
look down over the rocks to the water
and listen
admire the flowers
just to see the world around me
To breathe
eat some nuts
and watch my sister at the water’s edge
Life is – these moments!
Not driving past scenery
no matter how often you stop to take photos
Moments of life
that are special because
you chose to experience them fully
Shabby sheep trim the grass-lands
And soaring sea-birds float
Below the misty mountain-tops
looming over green tussocked valleys
bisected by icy white streams
scattered trickling waterfalls
and rolling roads.
Pass with care
Stop and listen for the cuckoos
And mind that chill wind on the ears
[ one of today’s many picturesque moments, although the knuckles and ears tingle and ache from the chill wind while photographing ]
Part 1.
Ten forty AM
The plane starts to move
and taxi along the runway
It’s a quiet day
Sunny, peaceful, calm.
Rolling up to the edge of the airport
I see the cars driving by
along that road I know so well
A few patient watchers*
look on from the car park.
Turbines roar
Now we are moving
Pushed back in the seat
as we lift
or does the ground drop away?
Senses confused.
I spot landmarks from the air
To feel at home while I leave my home
Shopping centres made of cardboard
Houses just tiny coloured blocks
Suburban grids
Coloured roofs and trees
Trees, the lifeblood of the city.
The city towers are just more boxes
Colourful and patterned
Everything below is a toy
A flash from a shiny roof
and we bank to the left.
Part 2.
The hills flatten out
from this height
Mere mounds in the landscape
As we rise to cloud level
Wing tips brushing
the fluffy cottoness
of dense water vapour
Only looking white
Because it reflects the light.
Now even the clouds pass below
Suspended in nothingness
Casting shadows their only action.
Jigsaw pattern landscape
Greens and purple browns
Streaks of sand-dunes
Lining up to face the wind
Fence-lines and unsealed roads
Divide up the land
In between dams and creek-beds.
Part 3.
A plant unfurling
Hilltop tracks stretch out
To reach mechanical flowers
Which bloom
and twirl in the breeze.
Part 4.
Whiteout
Flat barren landscape
above the clouds
A few kilometres away
another plane
flying the same direction
Is there a horizon?
[ I wondered, is there a horizon when you are 10km up, looking down over a continuous white blanket of cloud? The other plane is just visible below and to the right of the wingtip ]
Part 5.
Cellophane wrapping
Cutlery scrapes plastic plates
Elbows bump, mealtime.
[ I sketched the cake from lunch, rather than eat it. Sweetened with agave syrup, which is relatively unprocessed, but almost pure fructose. My stomach would not have appreciated it ]
42 Days Younger than Kylie 