Arbor on Adobe ©2012 Bo Mackison
Your task is not to seek love,
but merely to seek and find
all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it. ~ Rumi
I love walls, I especially love abode walls. And I love adobe walls that have grape vines creeping all over most of all.There is just something about the combination of a wall with abode and grape vines that makes me grab my camera and check the space on my memory card.
I had an absorbing hour – yes, hour, thank you Sherpa for your patience – taking photographs of this particular adobe wall in Old Town Albuquerque. There were parts of the wall with cracks, parts of the wall with just a bit of the vine, some parts had clusters of blue grapes, some had leaves like this photograph. Together, they combine to tell a lovely story about the wall and the grape-vine.
I chose this as November’s Photo Heart Connection partly because it seemed so fitting for a photograph taken in November – the growing season is over and the vines are leaves are curling, crackling, falling off the vine. And partly because this was Day 3 of a four-day , cross-country trip, and we especially made time to visit Albuquerque instead of zooming through the city while bemoaning the fact that we didn’t have time to stop.
This photograph reminds me that time continues, seasons change, years pass. And if I don’t make time for pauses in a hectic life, make time to enjoy the sights and sounds of life, then I miss out on experiences that make my life meaningful. It pairs well with the above quote from Rumi. I can set up barriers that prevent me from fully partaking in life and love, or I can seek and find those barriers and take them down.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. This is her November Photo-Heart Connection contribution.
About Bo Mackison
Love this image Bo and I loved what you wrote! One of my favorite things about photography is that chance to pause. Thank you for sharing this!
It would be a busy life indeed if I didn’t stop many times a day to look around and pull my camera out. Thanks, Dianne.
Bo, as soon as I saw the pic, I immediately thought of New Mexico and the adobe homes in late fall. thank you for that flash back… ever so pleasent.
You are very welcome, rosemary. New Mexico is quite the place — always happy when I can stop in Albuquerque instead of flying through on my way to Arizona.
Great post. I enjoyed the wall, vines and commentary.
Thanks, Gandalf. Those vines were something!
Whoa boy, do I ever love that photograph, Bo. Rumi’s quote fits where I am in life today, but I reckon it’s true for everyone. We build these walls, and I’ve discovered that the moment I take one down I feel lighter, happier, free. Enjoy your journey.
Something about walls, gates, doors, windows — all those symbolic thresholds. Just HAVE to be photographed…
Bo, your photograph reached out and grabbed my heart before I ever saw your words. The simplicity of color and subject is balanced with the complexity of detail in each vine. Beautiful. And then your words? So wonderful. I love that quote. We build so many barriers within ourselves, don’t we? Barriers to love and joy and happiness. The only work we need to do is take them down, and see what is waiting for us on the other side. Thank you so much for sharing in the Photo-Heart Connection.
You are so welcome, Kat. I am so pleased to find a Photo Heart photo every month — a bit of stretching.
Lovely image and words, Bo. And very good reminders to be mindful, always.
Thanks Robin. Mindful living, which once was an unknown to me, is becoming more and more a way of life.
I love this image! So beautiful…the textures, the tones – I love that the colour of the wall and of the leaves is almost the same..and I love the composition. All of that matched with the quote from Rumi, it just really struck a chord for me. Beautiful. Thank you.
Juli (visiting from Kat’s Photo-heart connection)
Thanks, Juli. These muted colors were a real pleasure to work with. Glad the photo and quote were meaningful for you.
I like this image very much.
Thanks, Anita.