I have been lapse in my attention to this idea of blogging my thoughts... well new years resolve pits me firmly into keeping a closer eye on observing my surroundings and thinking a lot more about things.
I will eventually add my Japan thoughts, I did write a diary of kinds on my travelling companions computer but have yet to chase them about sending it back to me... I shall look to that soon though.
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Fireworks, this year a trek back to Observatory Hill to settle picnic rugs amongst the heaving throngs already thick in the early afternoon with people already half drunk.
Despite the mess and chaos of a lot of sydneysiders getting drunk on a hill I did relish the atmosphere it created, all together sharing something, stepping out of our daily lives. It is entertaining too watching others such as the guys building their totem poles out of beer cans or the girl in a tight cornflower blue dress dancing with wild abandon whilst sipping passion pop straight from the bottle.
Lying down with the sun on my back listening to the sounds of heat, that distinctive thrum of cicada legs that conjures up heat just as much as the suns rays stroking my legs do. The sound of it is vivid in my eardrums memory, the contentment of that moment where heat and sound matched in perfect harmony of a perfect summer moment.
I love the beauty of the crackers... the trails of smoke creating patterns in the sky or the smudge of gold from a delicate spray. Others dripping like silver lights slowly drifting down to the ocean. The usual big sparkling bangs including blue cornflowers stabbing out into the sky, apparently a first this year in pyro technology (the blue as opposed to the pattern)
I love the way the city is transformed by a night of fireworks. How the skyline shifts and changes, the way the city is all gathered round together on itself all admiring its own beauty together...
Then transformations of a different kind. The way the firecrackers on the bridge were lost amongst the smoke, sparks just ducking out of the cloud before vanishing again. By the end of the display there wasn't even a bridge any more, just an ashy hazey cloud as though it had been smudged out, erased and the city no longer had a bridge.
There is the movements together... the flotilla of boats with their lights all heading back into the harbour in a fleet of all shapes and sizes, all shuffling back to their ports together... the human flotilla walking through the streets, past the lines of cars waiting to be let loose across a reopened bridge, how the little line of buses were the first across at 1 am shuffling over in a long zooming line, the cars still penned in behind the parked cop cars. Down along George street where the usual parade of cars is replaced by a parade of people all moving along together in the same direction but not in the bad way that disaster movies speak of (yet visually not so disparate an image). Past the ivy the sounds thumped out, on the street below it felt like you had your ear pressed against a heaving sound systems stereo of their after party for the glitterati party set. The sound was a wonder, a small thrill on the journey home.
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New Years day - accompany a friend to Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Nice drive down along coast road and offer a few prayers and make resolutions for the new year.
More cicada symphonys, the sound heavy and strong through the tall trunks of the steep winding road down through the National Park, the air humid but not quite unpleasant yet.
Moments to settle into yourself and make a vow more to yourself than to a god or a buddha... Standard prayers suggested include, peace, prosperity, serenity and fulfilled wishes.
Which leads me to think that:
I prefer the concept of Serenity over Peace.
To my mind peace is too tightly bound up with notions of warfare. It is about ceasing to struggle, to just sit and breathe instead, it is not fighting anything but just accepting.
Serenity captures something beyond that point, a beauty and deep understanding of your surroundings, it is more about opening your arms up to a love of things rather than retreating away from it. Serenity is not necessarily sitting back on your haunches but it flowers outwards to embrace life and be part of it. It is not the opposite of war but is its own concept. A deep flowing river rather than a turned off tap.
... a final thought then.... admiring the serenity of the ducks on the pond pushing their way amongst the lilypads and lotus leaves, gently making their way through the dense greenery to forage for insects and cool off amongst the shade of the pools tranquility.
