Home. A weighty concept in some ways, but also tending toward the sentimental. It can connote fortification, shelter….and yet, homey can be quaint and trivial. We invent and reinvent our relationship to home throughout our lives. A place to go to, a place to run from, a place without, a place within. Maybe the truth about ‘home’ is that it is changing and fluid. That’s what I want to illustrate.
This photo was taken out of my bedroom window, from within the warm nest where I find safety, comfort, and respite. And yet, the window is transparent. It doesn’t completely shield me from the cold visually, nor does it keep me from feeling it (it’s an old drafty house, not well insulated at all!). It lets me come face to face with the physical realities of frost and even pulls me beyond the immediate perimeter of my house, across the street, up into the trees, and all the way out of the Earth’s atmosphere to the Moon. And still, this is all my home, too. The Universe is where I live. Home is near as well as far. And why should I not feel safety and belonging in all of the world’s manifestations? Cold and death and distance and infinity do not annihilate me, nor do they exalt me. They are familiar and comforting, too. I do not control my home as I do not control the weather…I live in it. And life is bigger than most of us imagine.
For another picture of home, mundane and temporal but nevertheless real and interesting, my last post was about our home business, Scholar and Poet Books. Please click here and take a look!
scillagrace 
I love this photo! The color and textures are so serene and really beautiful.
Thank you so much! It was a magical sunrise; this was taken out the west window as the moon was chased away…
________________________________
There’s no place like home.
Exactly…which makes this very challenge a koan!
________________________________
The monochrome makes a bold statement–nicely done.
I didn’t actually shoot in monochrome. The sun was just rising as I looked out this west window. There’s a reflected tinge of pink at the center, and the waning dark was just icy blue. I did bump contrast and saturation and hue to try to bring this out.
________________________________
What I meant was the image has mostly blue hues,and that gives it character. Probably, your editing help to push that quality.
Ah, yes.
________________________________
Great photo!
Thank you! I love your black & white portraits. You manage to make the eyes so penetrating and alive, immediately drawing attention. Very well done!
Thanks!!!!
I’m playing catch up now and this is an absolutely beautiful photograph Scilla with equally beautiful words..
Welcome back…Home! Glad you like it.
________________________________
I love the photo. Since it was 77 degrees here today, your photo gave me a little touch of winter. I’m not a huge fan of cold weather, but I have missed the lack of winter this year.
Wow. Welcome to global warming, huh?
________________________________
Yep. I just don’t get people who think our actions are not affecting our Earth. Ugh!
Ostriches…with their heads in the sand, IMO.
________________________________
Lovely Scillabuddy….
I’ve just blown up the bottom right hand corner…..This is the pattern on the scarf I want for christmas….get knitting!
That might be a job for my daughter; she’s crafty with the needles, I’m not. Thanks for the request!
I like a woman who knows how to delegate…
Enjoyed. There’s more than a little poetry embedded in the prose.
It’ll probably show up less veiled during NaPoWriMo. Thanks, Jamie!
________________________________
One thing about the cold – we get a chance to wear those lovely thick woolly jumpers that people buy us (or make for us).
And in my home, we call those ‘sweaters’, but they still feel wonderful and warm!
________________________________
🙂
This is really beautiful. I love the tones, and how the frost sort of looks like tiny stars.
Frost is such a special grace, as you know!
________________________________