November Postcards: The Ways Light Finds Me

The Aurelian Wall in Rome splashed with late autumn light with three motorcycles perfectly lined up in row, adding some order to a chaotic corner

This week I’ve been noticing all the ways light finds me. Or is it that I look for the light?

I am seeing the light at the end of a terribly trying few months, just in time for the fast approaching darkest and longest night of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere). This could be frustrating but instead I am taking it as an invitation to track the light everywhere and anywhere my eyes – and lens – lands.

Week two of my November postcards, a practice of noticing what I notice

This week’s November noticing list included:

• the flattening arc of light

• my shoulders scrunched up to my ears till I remember to release

• a crow sipping water at the Piazza Barberini fountain

• the shadow of a simple potted plant

• beauty and kindness folded into the every day
  

Seeing triple – close-up of three of four dolphins at the base of the Bernini Fountain at Piazza Barberini here in Rome

Just like in last week’s postcard, I continue to enjoy this practice of noticing the beautiful small things. Even as I stood in front of the baroque Fontana del Tritone I focused on the little things, on the details that make such a grand monument even more alive: stone scales, crystalline water droplets, a crow dipping its ebony beak into the cool water. For a moment I didn’t hear roaring Rome with it’s sirens and tourist-packed buses only the splashing water, eyes trained on dancing droplets.

shadow play with light and linen, a room with a view to a terrace potted plant

But mostly, I noticed how much I enjoyed watching the light move across my terrace, a struggling geranium the protagonist projected onto my linen curtains. I spent hours watching this silent movie of light and shadow.

the beauty in a simple potted plant playing with the light

It’s the simple things. Even in this beautiful and ancient city, it’s the simple things that capture my heart, and remind me of what I need the most: the light.

What have you been noticing lately? Are you looking for the light?