Lost: on a Painted Sky

When photographing clouds, it's inevitable that birds will sometimes fly into the shot - or be there, unnoticed, until closer inspection of the images during the editing process.


Upon seeing my cloud images containing birds, I instantly thought of Neil Diamond's song "Be" which starts with:

Lost
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poet's eye
You may find him
If
You may find him....

Of course, that led me to missing my vinyl recording of Neil Diamond's beautiful soundtrack for the movie Jonathan Livingstone Seagull which is somewhere in my parents' basement in New Zealand!

That got me thinking even further back to when I bought my little copy of Richard Bach's book - Jonathan Livingstone Seagull - and, at the tender age of 12, read it at least 3 times in a row, and once a month after that for the next year. I couldn't get enough of it.

The search for perfection of flight by a little seagull, who knew that he was destined for things other than being part of a flock constantly squabbling for food, appealed to my Virgo mindset! An outcast who didn't give up; whose constant efforts were recognised and rewarded by further lessons from seagulls who had already achieved nirvana; who returned to his flock in a state of forgiveness to teach other seagulls what he had learned.

It's a story about: never giving up to reach that perfect goal; earned respect; unequivocal forgiveness and abundant love.

Everyone has to read this book at least once in their lives. It's still in print today, after first being published 39 years ago in 1970. Let it become part of every school's reading curriculum for kids in the 13-15 age bracket, and give every kid their own personal copy to keep.

Here's my pictorial homage to Jonathan, and his determination to never give up in the search for perfection, while still enjoying the ride:

Also, here's a Youtube version of Neil's beautiful song, Be.



May we all find some perfection in a less than perfect world.