Shades of coral

 Shades of coral...

... are sometimes darker in hue...

 ... an explosion of warmth and perfection...

... often too good to be true...

... whether in flight...

 

... or simply looking at you!

Found first thing in the morning...

... or sometime around sundowner...

 

... often in the oddest of places...

 

... and always welcome at my table...

 

Shades of coral gently colour my days...

 

... and quieten my nights.

Frannie xx     

© 2014 Francesca Muir

Colour my world - The Capture the Colour Photo Contest 2013

The super talented photographer, designer and blogger 

Marg at Destination Here and Now 

has nominated Postcard Pictures to take part in

this year's Capture The Colour Photo Contest run by The Travel Supermarket

Thank you Marg!

I have to show five photos capturing RED, BLUE, YELLOW, WHITE and GREEN. 

 Much easier said than done, but after much deliberation here they are:

RED

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" 
Hugh Rhodes

BLUE

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange" 
Vincent Van Gogh

YELLOW

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, 
others transform a yellow spot into the sun" 
Pablo Picasso

WHITE

"The real ornament of a woman is her character, her purity" 
Mahatma Gandhi

GREEN

"I do not like green eggs and ham I do not like them sam I am" 
Dr Seuss

That's my lot!

 Now I hand it over you to capture the colour...

Virginia at Paris through my Lens

Lisa at Renovating Italy

Jeanne at Collage of Life

Jackie at TravelnWrite
Malyss at Benches on my way 

Entry simple! Write a post with your five best photos from these colour categories:  
RED, BLUE, YELLOW, WHITE and GREEN. 
Nominate five other bloggers and tweet it with the hashtag #CTC13
A winner from each color category will get: an 128GB iPad, a Fuji camera or £750 worth of Arc’teryx clothing and equipment
Then from the five winners, an overall winner will be chosen to win a £3,000 travel fund 

(approx US $4633)
You'll find the contest rules here 
See entries at  Pinterest boards 
And follow the Facebook page

Change and progress and the red pithos

In a little village in Crete an old red pithos stands sentinel-like 

at the foot of blue wooden shutters

Vainly trying to grow a rose bush.

Five years later,

in the little village in Crete the old red pithos still stands sentinel-like 

at the foot of blue wooden shutters

Still vainly trying to grow the rose bush!

Change and progress are not always everything!

We're having a heatwave ...

Sun, sea and sand ...

the sibilance of a sweltering Sydney summer

Spades and shovels build sandcastles

Sarongs, sunhats and sunglasses are seldom abandoned

Sensational shade under a saturated sky

Silently summing up the strength to sail the seven seas

Stripes, stripes and more stripes are synonymous with this season

Sensational summer colours sit silently on a sizzling sand

Slip on a shirt

Slop on sunscreen

Slap on a sunhat

Seek shade

And slide on sunnies ...

So says the Aussie sun-smart slogan!

© 2013 Francesca Muir

The art of the painted olive oil tin!

Take and empty tin of olive oil

Give it a coat of paint

Fill it with soil

Add some Geranium cuttings

Water, feed and then wait for the sun to do its magic!

You will be richly rewarded.

So simple!

The joy of winter flowers

I can't live without flowers in the house in winter.  
I love their colour and
the touch of warmth they bring to a cold corner.

There's always a sweet scented hyacinth on my bedside table

Pots of colourful polyanthus adorn the kitchen windowsill

 

A jug of jonquils sits on the kitchen table

A cyclamen thrives against the frosted bathroom window

A white Camellia Japonica from the garden (so perfect it looks like a fake!) sits on the corner of the desk

Graceful Madonna lillies adorn the sideboard

And delicate daisies (also from the garden), 

sit and watch the rain on the bedroom window

Thank goodness for simple pleasures!

The Art of the Geranium

dear sweet geranium
too often abandoned, unloved and underfed
you are the unsung hero of the Mediterranean
as you flourish and thrive on a breath of sunshine 

and hint of rain

your tenacity is admirable
as your colours flare outrageously, and 

your scent of lemon with a hint of pepper 
intoxicates as it reflects off a hot summer wall you grow in awkward spaces

co-ordinate with all you see
and you're designed to always look your best,

even as your petals fall

and if I were to say anything to you,
dear sweet geranium,  
it would be 
to always 
stand tall ....

for you are art
 .... pure art!

Vivid Sydney after dark

The facades of some of Sydney's more iconic buildings have been dressed up and transformed into a spectacular canvas of light, music and ideas, as Vivid Sydney comes to town

Now in its third year, this amazing festival boasts extraordinary light installations and projections 

The sandstone roof and walls of the Argyle Cut become fields of flowers as roses, poppies and sunflowers burst forth ....

Come to your Census, funded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics lights up the sandstone walls of 

Cadman's Cottage and poses some interesting questions

Electric Canvas' animated 3D projection sequences on Customs House are absolutely awe-inspiring ....

 Motion Collaboration by very talented local artists light up the walls of the MCA - Sydney's premier contemporary art museum

 The intrepid Sea Shepherd looms mysteriously in the dark waters off the Overseas Passenger Terminal

Colouring the city with creativity and inspiration, Vivid Sydney was recently ranked in the Top Ten global ideas festivals by the Guardian Newspaper in the UK 

I must add that I was seriously underwhelmed by the first Vivid Sydney just a few years ago.
It is now not to be missed, and is the biggest ideas festival in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney is always beautiful after dark.  

Now she really shines brightly for 18 days in winter,

 when she dons her extraordinary vivid mask.

Copyright Francesca Muir and Instagram