Beast

Two - 2, a photo by elefthis1 on Flickr.

Don't need much excuse for a photo of the late, lamented cat. He wasn't posed for this shot, honestly. I just came into the room and there he was sitting calmly alongside his miniature double. I grabbed the camera.

This is my entry for this week's Photo Friday challenge "Beasts".

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Today it feels the world has stopped on its axis. No drama or crisis in this little corner of the planet, just a grey, damp and very still January day with no percepible movement in the immediate surroundings. There is a low-key, understated beauty around if you look and listen for it: the first snowdrops; the silence; the complex silhouettes of the trees with clumps of misletoe dotted at various points through the branches - the latter a sure sign of the cleanliness of the air, or so I'm told.

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I've started chanting again.  Thirty years or so ago I was given a mantra, and it suits me.  I've always loved voicework and singing and the morning and afternoon ritual of sitting down and sending out the sounds has become a necessary part of my day now.  All sorts of benefits are supposed to derive from it and I'm not dismissive of the claims.

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The sorting through and chucking out of stuff continues with DVDs currently in the frame. I'm watching each one again before reaching a decision. Today it's Raising Arizona (charity shop). Yesterday was Hideous Kinky (also charity shop). A few days ago, The Chorus (a definite keeper).

It's all preparation for the new life chapter. In actual fact I'm dubious about this concept of new chapters: barring the major stuff of life - sudden accidents or illness, bereavement, house moves and so on - minutes, hours and days merge and flow into each other without definite endings and beginnings.   I mean when I'm able to be out and about more, to be a social animal again who has much less time to watch DVDs.