Thinking Summer Thoughts

As soon as summer came, frivolous stick battles with my sister were replaced with merciless water fights, and umbrellas were used to shield oneself from the sun rather than the rain. As well as the fact that suddenly everything I think about is summery. While I'm still wishing it was winter, the things I'm pulling from my wardrobe are seventies cotton sundresses, summer shorts, vintage lightweight skirts, translucent silks, boater hats, and long flowing dresses.
I often tend to romanticise the opposite season to the one I'm in. When it’s winter, I only remember the best of summer, and vice versa. In winter I would wish for summer’s longer days, thinking about how the sun comes up at 4:30 AM and goes down at 7:00 PM - though choosing to ignore the fact that the sun is already burning by six in the morning.Instead, I would remember days when my sister, a friend and I would go riding around on our horses bareback, picking mangoes, mistletoe berries and lychees from trees. We would go swimming with the horses, jumping into the water, splashing and picking waterlilies. Then we’d dry off in the sun, watching the horses and laughing as they played and rolled in the grass. Although now, as it’s summer, I’m often thinking of the times in winter when I can wrap myself in shawls and curl up with hot tea or coffee and a book. Or how nice it is to go to sleep because my doona seems to be extra cosy in winter, or the feeling of going to sleep when it’s pouring down with rain outside. I can easily forget about the sluggishness one can often feel in winter, as well as the fact that winter’s weather gives awful grey light (which is not so great when you want to go outside and take photos!)

A couple of posts back, in this post, a few people in the northern hemisphere commented on it about longing for warm weather (while I had been talking about wishing for the cold!) it seems that it's not just me that's craving for the opposite seasons.
But while I don't cope well with the heat, I feel a little anxiety as Summer nears to an end. I want to get some more summery shoots done (and possibly a few more water fights.) And basically just embrace Summer while it's here, because when it's gone I'll be missing it.

So, above is a couple of photos from a very brief shoot last week. My sister's wearing a charity shopped rayon Tree Of Life dress. My dress (which has already been worn over a Christian Dior slip in a shoot here) I got from a local charity shop for $4, it's a Victoria's Secret silk dress that still had it's tags (showing it was $57). It was originally light blue but I dyed it teal (though of course you can't see the colour in the black and white photo.)
And below is some more summery pictures to fit the theme of this post which were taken last year in late spring.

Thoughts Like Flowers

Spring has sprung,
the grass is riz,
I wonder where the flowers is?

I seriously did wonder 'where the flowers is’; after all, it is spring. This morning I wandered down to the garden in pursuit of finding some, the result being a bunch of different and colourful flowers.
As is regularity with me, I started thinking. About everything - the thoughts going through my head were as random as weeds and as variously shaped and coloured as my collection of flowers.
Sometimes I feel as if my mind is a garden. How an idea can be like coming across a fruit on a tree - you might want to leave it for some time to grow and ripen, so it may become richer and sweeter. Thoughts may be scanned like a patch of flowers for one of interest to be picked. Or the way unwanted ones pop up like weeds and even if you get rid of them, they come back.

I guess I was wandering through two gardens, browsing both thoughts and flowers. The real garden is lacking in maintenance, overgrown, and taken over by weeds (which can resemble my mind sometimes.) It's not beautiful, but since I've become a lover of photography, I've been able to admire a place for just a small part of it, because that part - even if it’s only small - can fill the frame of a camera. I could have a subject in front of a patch of flowers, and no one else would see the surrounding weeds outside of the frame. This lead to a few thoughts about appearance and gave me a different perspective on beauty - that nothing has to be completely perfect, because everything has imperfections, and you must admire the features that are beautiful. This is something that has helped me on how I view my own appearance.

It's so easy to find things in ourselves that we don't like. While I'm very insecure that I have permanent scarring under my lip from an accident when I was younger, most people don't notice. I'm constantly looking at how one of my hips is higher than the other, a collarbone more prominent, a slightly twisted ribcage and misshapen back (all of that being a result of slouching all the time, causing my back to curve as I grew), but I'm told it's not as noticeable as I think. What I’m saying is that we often judge ourselves (particularly our abilities and appearance) too harshly, scrutinizing every imperfection until we make ourselves feel terrible, instead of focusing on some of the things we like about ourselves.

Its times like these that I step back and can see how my thoughts can truly affect how I see myself and thus how others see me as well. This makes me realise that I need to endeavour to look at what I like about myself rather than every little imperfection. A goal I will continue to strive towards on a daily basis.

My lovely mum took these photos on an afternoon walk.
The Floral dress was bought second hand at a market stall a long time ago, I bought the orange dress on sale at JayJays (also some time ago), and it's a bit too small for me now. My mum bought me the vintage 60's pin, the memory-wire bracelet is one that I made when I was eleven. Green Colorado leather bag, vintage 70's leather boots, and belt - all from charity shops. The ring was my Grandma's.

Oh, and sorry if this post was little long!