Autumn leaves at The Hermitage, Dunkeld
Late afternoon on a damp overcast day, and although the leaves seemed to be glowing there was no light for photography. In the absence of a tripod I was able to balance the camera on the parapet of the old stone bridge for a 2 second exposure, blurring the flow of the cascade.
We stood for a while watching salmon attempting to leap the cascade – I have no idea how these amazing animals can perform such incredible leaps, seemingly managing to reach only a few feet up the waterfall and landing into a torrent that must surely sweep them down again.
This gives me a tenuous link for a favourite quote from Douglas Adams:
“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
– Douglas Adams, ‘The Salmon of Doubt’
“If you’re not in a position to break out in a belly laugh, consider an inner smile, a Taoist technique for opening to love and the high-grade enegy of joy. The respected Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us how to achieve an inner smile. Sit with your spine straight, but not rigid. Relax your body and breathe in, bringing your focus to a specific part of the body. Now breathe out and smile to that part of the body. You can simply imagine the smile being held inside of you, or you can let your face smile at the same time. French physiologist Israel Waynbaum demonstrated that a deep inner smile triggers specific brain neurotransmitters, such as endorphins and immune-boosting T-cells. It also lowers the styress hormones cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline and produces hormones that stabilise blood pressure, relax muscles, improve respiration, reduce pain, accelerate healing and stabilise mood.”
– Cyndi Dale, ‘Energetic Boundaries’