"With each sunrise, we start anew." (Anon.) I love to see the first signs of light in the sky and to watch the sky change colour, sometimes with vivid colours that push away the receding darkness, as the sun rises and the day arrives..

“Vehement silhouettes of Manhattan - that vertical city with unimaginable diamonds" (Le Corbusier). This month, I visit New York City for the first time. A city snapshot, traffic, skyscrapers, city at night-time. A great place. 

In this month of the anniversary of the terrible Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami which devastated huge areas of the north eastern coastal area of Japan, I say another prayer for Japan. Those who are familiar with my Prayer for Japan (as pdf and mp3 below), which I composed some 24 hours after the news about the disaster broke, will see my prayer re-worked and renewed for hope and strength to the Japanese people and all those affected by the disaster.  

“April is a promise that May is bound to keep” (H Borland). April’s piece “In Spring” welcomes the abundance and beauty of Spring and the sense of uplift which encourages us to rejoice in the beauty of all that surrounds us in nature as the season moves from early to full burgeoning Spring.

“Caminante, son tus huellas | el camino y nada más; | Caminante, no hay camino, | se hace camino al andar. | Al andar se hace el camino, | y al volver la vista atrás | se ve la senda que nunca | se ha de volver a pisar. | Caminante no hay camino | sino estelas en la mar.” Antonio Machado - “Caminante no hay camino” Extracto de Proverbios y cantares (XXIX)

“My sea of dreams, a vast expanse of glittering dreams and wishes rocking back and forth to form the waves | This sea the only sea I know that changes its color even from a deep majestic purple to a light azure...” (Bianca P.B)

"It was hot, yet with a sweet languor about it" (Theodore Dreiser). There is a special feeling which the heat of the Summer lends, a dreamy, relaxed mood, when the temperature stills the air and the quietness soothes the mind, inducing serenity and calm and pleasant lethargy. What better way to spend a little time in this state than sitting comfortably in a favourite place, reading a favourite book, contemplating at moments and at others not contemplating at all, indulging in the gentle luxury of random sweet thoughts, happy to drift and just be.

“Perhaps not to be is to be without your being, without your going that cuts the noon light | like a blue flower, without your passing, later through the fog and cobbles, ... | .. and since then I am because you are, since then you are, I am, we are, | and through love I will be, you will be, we will be. “ (Pablo Neruda)

.... a train journey, watching the visual effects of the tracks, the passing scenery and accepting and enjoying the train’s travel rhythm. 

 “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower” (Albert Camus) ... the beautiful and very precious changing colours in the foliage around, the dryness of summer being replaced by the relief of rain, the early morning moisture enhancing the vestiges of nature’s green, all soon to befall change as the Autumn pushes past and beckons Winter.

“Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.” Francis Bacon With some sense of nature beginning to hide away for the winter... the tones and perceptions of an environment closing and sheltering to survive the harshness of the final season of the year.    

In December, we approach Christmas and the end of another year. Nights are at their longest, the cold of winter may bring snow. A time to reflect on another year of life, to take stock of precious moments, to learn from misjudgments and difficulties experienced and to place resolve at the mind’s forefront for another year’s beginning. A simple carol can perhaps show the way forward.