a window on my world

Excepting my “wearing red day,”this is my first contribution to Project Spectrum. I took this photo early one morning last week as some wintry sunlight stoked the fires of our orange drapes. The photo is, admittedly, too dark, but I didn’t want any flash to overwhelm the tentative sunshine, and my technical skills aren’t yet ready to take full advantage of my new Nikon D40X. Nonetheless, I’m pleased by this shot, which seems very evocative to me. The archways formed by the draping fabric gives an Alhambra-like richness to the room, opening out onto a distant shore. (Did you know that Alhambra means “the red”? I didn’t, but more grist for the Project Spectrum, fire element, mill.)

From another place on the colour wheel: The Blues. Still lots of fire, though, in the Harry Manxconcert we took in on Friday night at Nanaimo’s Port Theatre. (In fact, he covered Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire,” playing an instrument he had apparently built using a cigar box and a couple of oak broomstick handles!) If you haven’t heard Manx, he’s well worth checking out — his blending of Blues with Indian ragas is seductive, compelling (and really gets the body moving!) Watching him is an additional delight for the puzzle of trying to figure out how he gets such rich sitar-sounding music from the guitar he lays, slide-style, across his knees.

Another musical reference from earlier that evening dining in the best seats in Nanaimo’s Drift, looking out where a great sunset might be someday (should the clouds part!): we asked our lovely and attentive young server which CDs were providing the background music. We recognized Madeleine Peyroux but couldn’t identify another singer. Our server said she couldn’t remember the name, but it was someone who was the mistress of some important politician, maybe in France. While she went off to ask the owner, Ricky, who it was, our Jeopardy guess was Who is Carla Bruni. Indeed, the new Mrs. Sarcoczy it was! So now I can put a voice to a name, and I have to admit I like the taste I got of her music.

Time to head out for a walk. I’ve been so encouraged to note that the Indian plum is getting very close to leafing out, one of the first signs of spring. My neighbour’s hamamelis hasn’t yet bloomed but that fragrance must be just around the corner, and the cyclamens that Phil planted years ago in his beautiful winter garden are singing pink to lift all our hearts! There’s even some sunshine occasionally piercing the clouds today and the temperatures this week are at least all up in the 7s and 8s (Celsius) — I like this much better than the freezing temperatures we had through January.