Beauty.

Wherever you look there is beauty.  In the detail of a flower, in the work of creative hands... colour, shape, design... all we have to do is look!
The only trouble with Eliot is that he seems to be oblivious to the potential beauty of the spring bulbs around which he has begun to dig holes!  Some will survive ... and those I will enjoy.
The glorious things around us in both the natural world and in buildings can easily draw our thoughts heavenwards. That's before we begin to consider the beauty we recognise in family and friends, in the unexpected conversations and acts of kindness that are encountered time without number.
The camera can, at best, record moments and then later bring a reminder of something observed and appreciated ... but the real memory is imprinted in the mind and on the human spirit.

 The interior of Saint John's Parish Church, Malone is an example of a beautiful Anglican place of worship ... the mosaic in the side chapel is particularly striking.  In this liturgical season it picks up the purples of Lent.
Some of the flowers that we enjoy have an exotic magnificence ... this is the second of the Amaryllis ... a single flower this time ... and a second flower stalk has begun to appear from the bulb so there'll be another bloom in a week or two!
 The Kenyan earrings pick up the stronger colours of that country ... if the pale "peaches and cream" is typical of the temperate lands ... the bright beads reflect the equatorial sunshine!

 This sculpture has been on the blog before ... hidden away in a small square in the city centre it is one of Belfast's little gems ... beauty emerging from a chrysalis.  Even from the most dreary and darkest days there can come something very wonderful.

 Who'd have thought that the children planting bulbs one dark autumn evening would bring so much cheer to the front of the church garden ... now the daffodils are opening with their fantastic variety and beauty ... such a simple thing ... and now from the dark and damp earth there emerges stunning heads of whites, yellows and oranges.

 These are enough to cheer the weary traveller who passes by on dark and dismal winter days.

And now a thought or two from "The Little Book of Vicarage Wisdom".

If at first you don't succeed, tell yourself you didn't want to do it anyway.

If you have two loaves, sell one and buy a Danish pastry. 

Why not save a tree by re-using your pew sheet as a paper aeroplane?