The Serendipitous Moment...

A Yellow Moment - Clifton, Ireland

   So much of this blog is about the thoughtfully considered image...the deeply intense dialogue with the landscape.  What I want to talk about in this post is its compliment...the serendipitous moment.

   I love to learn the origins of words and so it was only natural that I went seeking the source of "serendipity", one of my favorite words.  My inspiration came from one of my latest book, A Mapmakers Dream by James Cowan.

   In Medieval times, the island of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) was called Serendip.  The word was coined by a 18th century British writer/politician Horace Walpole in 1754 in his tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip".  Walpole described the princes this way...

" (they) were always making discoveries,

by accident and sagacity, of things that

they were not in quest of."

   When I was walking the streets of Clifton in the Connemara region of Ireland, I was not on a quest of any sort.  Truth be told, I was window shopping!  This moment made me stop in my tracks. As my cousin would have said, "TGTBT!" (To good to be true!)  I had but a moment to frame the photograph and then the boy wandered away but looking at it now, many years later, it still makes me smile.

   It is not a deeply contemplative image by any means.  No great thoughts lurking within its edges...just a wonderful, "serendipitous" convergence of shape and color.  Those moments can be equally rewarding...keep your heart open to them!