To this day, I can still recall when I first heard this haunting melody by Louis Armstrong. In all likelihood the reason why I can still recollect this moment so vividly is because it evokes memories of incessant pelting rain. The song, the magazine on WW2 that I was reading, and the dark foreboding sky, are all inextricably linked.
This day was the 1st September 1968, the day of the raging floods in Port Elizabeth.
These pictures evoke the same memories and evince the same response
Main picture: Jet wash in the morning mist
In spite of a person’s hobbled beginnings, it is not the hand that life deals one, but what one does with one’s life. Instead of being the eternal whinger viewing the glass as half empty, from one’s perspective in one’s mind’s eye it should be a wonderful world with a half full glass.
A magical place in Austria – Grer See
Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of one’s family and friends, acknowledge that one is also a flawed person. Adopt a nuanced balanced view of people by conceding their trees of green, red roses too.
A rare and wonderful atmospheric phenomenon – ‘fire rainbow’
Instead of letting one’s imagination fall prey to all sorts of fears, one must view the dark sacred night as a comfort blanket. Our fears are misplaced.
An ice cave, illuminated by a torch
Instead of building a bulwark around one like an island in a sea of faces, say how-do-you-do to a perfect stranger, somebody you will never encounter again. Not expecting any reward, but knowing that you have touched somebody in a positive way in their life.
In rare cases, you can see a rainbow at 360 from a plane
During the momentary lulls in one’s life, listen to the baby’s cry not as an annoying shriek but as the primeval call of a helpless child.
Only by being mindful of the world will it metastasise into Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World.
Ladybug in the morning dew
Lyrics of “What a Wonderful World”
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Lavender fields at dawn
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Morskoi sand under a microscope with a 300-fold increase
The colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
But they’re really saying I love you.
One in a million
I hear baby’s cry, and I watched them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself what a wonderful world
Rain viewed from an airplane
Rainbow refraction of light in water droplets
Rhodochrosite – Beautiful Shii mineral, also known as the Rose of the Inca
Splash – from the stone thrown into the water during sunset
The crystal clear ice of Baikal
The tsunami of clouds
The tsunami of clouds
Unusual cloud. Now we know how to look like angels
Winter Fairy
What a Wonderful World indeed!
Dean is becoming quite sensitive and in touch with nature in his latter years.
Well done!
Hi Malcolm
I feel like I have exposed myself, like a gay person after 30 years of marriage