Shadows and Irises....

Sometimes it is the simplest of things that can bring a tad of pleasure..a warm feeling..or even just a smile. Yesterday, while my cousin was here visiting, I smiled as I watched her take pictures around the place. She was able to find pleasure in the smallest of things. The Little Bayou House is far from elegant but it does have its interesting little nooks and crannies. It was these little out-of-the ordinary tidbits that were catching her eye..they piqued her interest and made her smile. I smiled because I saw that some of the same things brought a bit of pleasure to her that did me. She seemed particularly interested in catching the light that streamed through the open windows and doors. The shadows that played upon the floor and the irises or rainbows that were caused by the prisms and crystals hanging in the windows seemed to fascinate her just as they do me. We are two of a kind, I suppose..both enthralled by the fleeting beauty that only a fading day can bring.

I thought about her picture-taking today as I watched the sunset on the Bayou. I thought of how fleeting these sunsets and even the sunrises are. Their beauty is ever-changing but they soon lapse into the inkiness of the night or the glaring light of the day. I thought of how life is so like those moments..fleeting. It is the shadows and irises that make life interesting..the ups and downs of our time on Earth. My ups and downs..my shadows and irises have sort of melded into one..into a sort of serenity. (I tend to see beauty in most everything..a sure sign that I am aging!) Someone once told me that it is because I live on the Bayou that I feel this way but I feel that it the Bayou that lives in me..I have truly become a part of my surroundings and they..a part of me. We are one.

My cousin, Margaret, was here for just a few days and I miss her presence tremendously. Our time together was cut short by her need to return home to her family and her students. It is almost an eerie feeling to have someone so reflect yourself as she does me..we are two alike..almost one. She grew up just a few hundred feet from the Little Bayou House so it was like coming home for her even though her life now is elsewhere. She left the Bayou years ago to become well-traveled, highly educated and a very successful leader. I stayed. Yet, when we are together..back on the Bayou again..we are kindred spirits! We could very easily be running barefoot through the cool, dew-covered grass or climbing the Mimosa Tree in search of the sweet-scented blooms. You see..the Bayou lives within her, too.