THE GIFT

Many of you don't know that my blog was named by my daughter Eva. We were trying to think of a good name, and she said "I've got it, call it "Breathtaking", I said "don't you think it's a little presumptuous" to which she said "not at all Mummy, you take wonderful photographs"! She is always so supportive of anything I do, even my paintings :=) After several other names were considered, in the end I settled on the name Breathtaking,  It was my daughter Eva who encouraged me to start a blog in the first place. She had been blogging for a few years herself, writing short stories, and poetry, and she had many followers, so she was able to get me started. I love her writing and have several of her books. One year she gave me a poem to add to my birthday gift. Originally it was written in Portuguese, but because I wanted to share it with you, it was  recently translated into English, but even though it loses a little in translation it still manages to convey a message.

Breathtaking

"I land in silence on those who welcome me

but whom I welcome, I choose

my wings in motion.

Art surrounds those who are inspired

and whoever breathes art, meanders

between the valleys and the fields like the wind

tilting the wheat and the chest in one direction

not always that of reason...

Beauty never surprises

It only takes breath away...

Nature is so vast.

At the top of the hill I see and charge

I give up, I give in to the lack of oxygen

Watercolours, pastel or charcoal,

I bow down to genius canvases,

I hold my breath...

I fly over the perfect painting

incalculable value if auctioned

Packed in an unsuspecting way

handled without care, the unthinkable...

An insatiable (ir)rational species

smudges this palette,

destroys our planet

in a butterfly effect...

I'm out of breath...

moths, birds and flowers

I land to enhance my colours.

At the foot of the hill I collect my wings and brushes,

spiders, lizards and praying mantises, you will say,

you, believers in something more

evidence of signs of the Divine,

captured by skilful lenses in patient hands."

Eva Gonçalves 2012-05-03

My birthday is approaching, and a UK friend of mine, who always comes in June to celebrate it with me and my family, arrives this week, ..... so  I will be absent from blogging for two weeks. I know the time will fly, as we catch up with our news, and I'm really looking forward to this yearly fun packed reunion. Leaving you with this little sparrow. Happy blogging everyone!:)

Notice

Hello Fellow Bloggers! Out of sheer frustration, and disappointment I am
making it known to those of you who are my followers, that although I have spent time and energy writing comments to you, I  have been prevented from posting them.


When "Comment As" comes up, and then "Choose A Profile" The space is completely BLANK!! Therefore my comment is useless. I had noticed this last week on a few blogs, but now it's a substantial number of blogs. Yesterday the family were here for lunch, and I mentioned it to my daughter Eva,...she also tried, with the same result, so she said she would copy my comments and try to post them on her computer, which she did successfully, but this is not a solution. I don't know what to do to correct this, ..so...if you don't get a reply or a visit, you will know why. Sending you my warmest good wishes,.

Taking my leave, and leaving a link.

I will be taking a break for a few weeks, as my birthday on the 12th of June is approaching, and every year an old school friend of mine who lives abroad, comes to spend some time with us in June, and is always here for my birthday. He arrives in three days! It will be so such fun!!!:)
I will leave you with the link to Calvin Nicholl's  paper sculptures which if you haven't already seen, I'm sure you will enjoy.
https://www.google.pt/search?q=Paper+birds+and+animals+made+by+Calvin+?&biw=1242&bih=545&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAhpml-_7MAhVLXhoKHdeEDZcQ7AkILQ



Hello everyone!

Hello everyone! Due to an old back injury which no doubt has been aggravated by too much sitting down at the computer, I have not been able to post, or visit you. The change in the weather to rainy and damp conditions has also contributed to the already existing problem. For this reason I will only return to blogging when I feel well enough to do so, I hope it won't be too long, as I truely miss you. I'm actually standing up to write this! See you all as soon as I feel better.

Blogging Break.

Dear Blogger friends, You may have noticed that my visits to you have become infrequent! It's entirely out of character for me to ignore your excellent blogs, but quite simply my life right now has become complicated, necessitating a break from blogging. So sorry to have taken this long to let you know that I will be taking an extended leave, but hope to resume blogging with renewed energy when "things" are better. I will miss you all.:) 

Blog Break

Just to let you know that due to unforseen circumstances I will be taking a break from blogging for a while. See you all as soon as I can.

Putting you in the Picture

Dear fellow bloggers Over the weekend my computer refused to give me an image. The screen went completely blank and I feared the worst. This was'nt new to me as it had been happening on and off for weeks, and I had been considering buying a new one, but even so I sent it to be repaired, hoping for the best. It came back a couple of days ago, and I was pleased that it seemed to be working OK, only now, I can't see any of your posts. Your titles come up, with a blank square underneath where your photos should be, and when I click on your titles nothing happens! Also where the photos of my followers should be, it's an empty space. I don't know what's going on, but I thought I would put you all in the picture, and hope I'll be able to post this. See you as soon as I can:)

BREATHTAKING BLOG AWARD POLICY

Just recently, I was very kindly honoured in being nominated for the LIEBSTER BLOG AWARD, by Jerry, from The Great Outdoors , a great nature blog and the VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD by Fallar from Las Mira, another very interesting nature blog. I am extremely grateful and thank them both for thinking of me, but will not be accepting them or any other future awards.

After much thought, I have decided it will be this blog's policy not to accept any awards seeing as most of them entail passing them on, and not wanting to discriminate between fellow bloggers and all the fantastic blogs I follow, I feel this is, for me, the best option.

Many thanks again to Jerry and Fallar, and for those of you who don't yet know their blogs, I can tell you they are well worth a visit.