Jun

Travel Inspiration: Beauty in the Details

by Meredith Mullins on June 8, 2020

The Île Saint-Louis: So many treasures lie within
© Meredith Mullins

Circumnavigating the Île Saint-Louis

How did a tiny island in the middle of the Seine river in Paris meet the challenges of pandemic wanderlust?

Defying Einstein, the less-than-one-square-kilometer area of the Île Saint-Louis seemed to expand during “confinement” to become an undiscovered universe.

My daily wanderings became a profound adventure during this time of sheltering, with a newfound appreciation of beauty in the details.

Meredith Mullins 8 Comments

Art of Travel/France (Paris)/Travels to the Past

May

Cultural Sayings or Quarantine Quotes?

by Joyce McGreevy on May 26, 2020

A gate in Istanbul evokes the Turkish proverb, "Kind words can unlock an iron door,” a reminder that in the context of the pandemic, cultural sayings have take on a new relevance as quarantine quotes. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Kind words can unlock an iron door.”—Turkish proverb
By doing our best for one another, we’ll get through this.
© Joyce McGreevy

Old Proverbs Help Us Cope with the Pandemic

Anonymous, that endless font of wisdom, once said, “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” This contemporary proverb appears in busy workplaces and hectic households, wherever humans gamely endeavor to keep life on track—even in crisis.

Anyone experienced a crisis lately? A calamity that’s disrupted your schedule for months? Raise your hand. Oh my, 7.8 billion of you? I thought it was just me.

A global health crisis calls for worldwide wisdom, so this week OIC Moments presents the best cultural sayings and quarantine quotes for the occasion. Oh, I see: In the context of the pandemic’s social distancing, old proverbs from around the world have taken on a whole new relevance .

A public mural evokes the Greek proverb, “What is a city but its people?”, a cultural saying that has new poignancy as a quarantine quote during the pandemic lockdown. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“What is a city but its people?” —Greek saying. The virus turned our world inside out.
© Joyce McGreevy

What, We Worry?

We humans are wired for worry. As the Swedish say, “Worry often gives a small thing a great shadow.” This actually underscores our amazing ability to adapt. Think about it. Here we all are, undergoing a pandemic, yet we still find time to worry that we’re never going to lose those ten pounds or that Costco will run out of toilet paper.

Why? Because our brains are designed to give us a break by shifting our focus now and then from major to minor matters. As the Lebanese say, “Sometimes forgetting trouble is the best way of curing it.”

Perhaps our smaller, sillier moments help us cope with life’s more sobering challenges. Even as coronavirus casts a giant shadow, we humans somehow manage the day-to-day. As the Maori say, “Turn your face toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind.”

An old saying from Kazakhstan translates into, “I see the sun on your back.” This means, “Thank you for being you—I’m alive because of your help.” In the context of the pandemic, it beautifully encapsulates our gratitude for doctors, nurses, and other essential workers.

A man in PPE evokes the Australian proverb, "Heavy givers are light complainers,” a cultural saying turned quarantine quote because it now applies to brave medical responders and other essential workers during the pandemic. Image by Pixabay/Fernando Zhiminaicela

“Heavy givers are light complainers.”—Australian saying
Image by Pixabay/Fernando Zhiminaicela

Comfort Across Cultures

A recurring phrase in different languages, cultures, and eras is These are challenging times. Spoiler alert: Humans have always lived in challenging times. No history book declares, “And for the next 100 years, folks just went about their business, occasionally pausing for cups of tea.”

Thus all cultures speak of comfort in sayings that are as timely as ever. In Uganda, “Even the mightiest eagle comes down to the treetops to rest.” In Morocco, “Reading books removes sorrow from the heart.” In Scotland, “Whisky may not cure the common cold, but it fails more agreeably than most other things.”

According to American folk wisdom, “Trouble knocks at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurries away.” During the pandemic, an outpouring of highly creative humor online has lightened our heavy hearts. Meanwhile, an old saying from India—”A heart at rest sees a feast in everything”—gains new meaning as people find heart’s ease through everything from online meditation to families dining together via Zoom.

Music has also comforted the world during this time, reminding us that “If you can move, you can dance, and if you can speak you can sing.” (Zimbabwean proverb) Creating music “alone together” online has inspired our resourcefulness, proving that “One string is good enough to a good musician.” (Mexican proverb)

A finch in a tree evokes the Chinese proverb, "Make your heart a green tree, and a singing bird may come,” a cultural saying that has a taken on new relevance as a quarantine quote about hope and patience during the pandemic’s lockdown. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Make your heart a green tree, and a singing bird may come.”—Chinese proverb
© Joyce McGreevy

When Lockdown Leads to Locked Horns

We’ve all become close during lockdown. Very.Very. Close. Wherever two or more humans interact, misunderstandings occur. Severe stress makes smart people say and do Stupid Stuff. As Japanese wisdom reminds us, “Even monkeys fall from trees.” Fortunately, we can improve: “By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree.” (Proverb of Cameroon)

When nerves are frayed, we may imagine that Everything Is Another’s Fault. Yet ancient Romans said, “It’s silly to try to escape people’s faults. Just try to escape your own.” To quote a Tagalog proverb, “The rattan basket criticizes the palm leaf basket, yet both are full of holes.”

Chickens sharing a perch in a henhouse evoke the humorous side of cultural sayings like “There’s no place like home” and “The more the merrier,” which now seem like quarantine quotes for families "cooped up" in the pandemic lockdown. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“There’s no place like home” takes on new meaning after months in lockdown.
© Joyce McGreevy

Old Wisdom and New Breakthroughs

What was your favorite subject in school? Regardless, we’re all rapt students of science now. Here, too, old sayings gain new relevance. On the news we see medical experts humbly acknowledging their limits while striving to achieve breakthroughs. They would appreciate the Nez Perce saying, “Every animal knows more than we do.”

Crises also bring out those whose genius is self-proclaimed. But as a South African proverb points out, “No one is great just because he says he is.” Instead, we’re discovering that greatness is rooted in kindness. As an Irish proverb affirms, “A kind word never broke anyone’s mouth.”

A baby chimp clinging to its mother evokes the British proverb, "Two thirds of help is to give courage,” a cultural saying that now seems like a quarantine quote about offering empathy and support during the pandemic. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Two thirds of help is to give courage.”—British saying. We’re learning empathy.
© Joyce McGreevy

Timeless Wisdom for Timely Action

Old wisdom tells us it’s time to “Do good and care not to whom” (Italy). Time to support all who are vulnerable, to remember that “A child is a child of everyone” (Sudan). Time to “Be a mountain or lean on one” (Somalia). It’s time, not to seek credit, but to “Do a good deed and throw it in the sea” (Egypt).

Two people in raincoats crossing a footbridge in a downpour evoke the Brazilian proverb, "Good will makes the road shorter,” a cultural saying that now reads as a quarantine quote about the need to protect and respect each other during the Covid pandemic. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Good will makes the road shorter” (Brazil). We’re learning to respect and protect each other.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Danish have a saying: “He who comforts never has a headache.” In giving selflessly, we gain our humanity. And if you think you’re too small to make a difference, says one African proverb, then you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito. We can each do something.

For example, a Russian proverb advises, “Do not have 100 rubles, rather have 100 friends.” Millions of people have been economically impacted by the pandemic, yet countless social-media friends have pooled small donations into major support, sending it wherever needs are greatest. As a native Hawaiian proverb explains, “No task is too big when done together by all.”

Cultural sayings endure for good reason. When current events overwhelm us, old sayings help us find perspective. And so, at a time when both social distancing and connection are called for, this Tuareg proverb might just be the perfect quarantine quote: “Keep your tents apart and your hearts together.”

A mural of a heart on a city wall carries the proverb, “Love thy neighbor,” a cultural saying that is also an apt quarantine quote in the context of the Covid pandemic’s social distancing. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

What new or old saying helps you “keep calm and carry on”?

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 2 Comments

Cultural Diversity/Proverbs & Sayings/Secrets to Life/Worldwide Sites

May

A Celebration of Spring

by Meredith Mullins on May 18, 2020

In search of paradise (A Bird of Paradise, that is)
© iStock/Waltkopp

Flowers Around the World—the Scary, the Exotic, and the Reassuring

Spring came . . . just as promised through the ages. Not even a global pandemic could stop the natural rhythms of the earth. (This story begins like an ancient myth, doesn’t it?)

The clenched tree buds exploded into gentle leaves of green almost overnight. Flowers bloomed everywhere around the world making the words “riot of color” less of a cliché because the description was so true.

A celebration of spring—poppies in the Paris Jardin des Plantes
© Mavis Negroni

We welcomed the renewal/rebirth metaphor of spring, especially in this time of corona. The change in seasons was one small way to gauge the strange time warp that had enveloped the world during sheltering-in-place/confinement/lockdown.

But we all knew the truth. The celebration of spring would have to be different this year. Many of us could not leave our houses. Many could travel only within a small radius of home. And, in most cases, our favorite public gardens were locked up tight. What’s a lover of spring to do?

The elegant White Egret Flower (Habenaria radiata) seems to take flight.
(From Japan and East Asia)
© iStock/Magicflute002

A Journey for a Virtual Traveler

To put myself in the mood, I started a virtual tour of spring by searching for exotic flowers around the world.

Why not search for flowers that stretch the imagination? Yikes!
(The Monkey Orchid, Dracula saulii)
© iStock/Beatrice Sirinuntananon

The Ballerina Orchid (caladenia melanema from Australia) is an elegant addition to the world
of exotic flora (and a little less “Little Shop of Horrors” than the Monkey Orchid.)
© iStock/Beatrice Sirinuntananon

From Central and South America to the Mediterranean to the Far East, these unique flowers are works of art, although some were clearly transforming themselves into creatures from a Star Wars bar scene, heroines from fairytales, or dancers from vivid lockdown dreams.

Wildflowers (Calceolaria uniflora) from South America. Do they belong
in a Star Wars bar or on stage, starring in a modern version of MacBeth?
© iStock/Gerhard Saueracker

Had I been in “confinement” for too many days? Were exotic flowers mutating into alien beings before my Netflix-weary eyes?

An alien or a flower—you be the judge.
(The Darth Vadar flower from Central and South America.)
© iStock/Gyro

The good news: I wasn’t alone in imagining the anthropomorphic qualities of these blooms. Others had seen the same qualities (and not even during lockdown).

Does everyone see a naked man here (or is it just me)?
(Orchis italica, otherwise known as The Naked Man Orchid)
© iStock/Carlos Pérez Romero

The names were clues and something to cling to on the edge of sheltering insanity. Still, these images had the potential of continuing to enter my dreams, so it was time to experience whatever part of spring I could bring to my limited world.

Is this a costumed bee on an orchid or the strange totality of the Laughing Bumble Bee Orchid?
(Ophrys bombyliflora from the Mediterranean.)
© iStock/Andi Edwards

The Real Flowers in Our Lives

As loyal OIC Moments’ readers might know, the past two blog stories have celebrated a connection to nature, no matter the circumstances. (See Recovering Our Awe of Nature and We’ll Always Have Paris.)

Following suit, we now move past scary lockdown dreams of monkey orchids and happy aliens to this spring’s reassuring flowers and gardens.

Discovering a private world of nature during lockdown
© vjonesphoto

People around the world rose to the challenge of seeking refuge in their own gardens or discovering nature wherever they happened to be sheltering. For some, like Virginia Jones in Alabama, going out to photograph the emergence of spring was “a welcome and safe way” to raise her spirits.

For Carol Starr in Maryland, who had a bit more freedom to wander, several gardens were within reach—the annual cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin, the towpath of the C&O Canal, and several open gardens.

A celebration of spring in Maryland
© Carol Starr

She was able to visit week after week to see the progression of blooms. She even brought nature to a blank page for all to see in her subsequent paintings, proving that there are many ways to share the beauty of spring.

For Pamela Spurdon in the center of Paris, there were no woodside paths or formal gardens. Her world was more limited due to the strict confinement rules in France. But she connected to nature every day. She thanks the “awesome azalea that greeted me every single morning of the confinement: irrepressible joy of spring!”

Gardeners Now and Forever

For those who are gardeners at heart, the connection with nature is a given, especially when there is a magical garden in the yard.

Three garden lovers on the Monterey Peninsula of California share a similar reflective theme during their shelter-in-place order.

Lynn Bohnen calls her garden “her savior” and explains that there is nowhere else she’d rather be during the stay-at-home order.

“I can’t feel my fingertips because I’m constantly digging with them; but to me, it’s pure joy,” she says. “It’s a very positive thing when you have time to reflect about what is really wonderful in this world and what really gives you great joy.”

Janelle Gistelli shares that same feeling of peace. “During this time of anxiety and stress, my garden has given me a place to “just be.” I can escape into the smallest details as I do my daily puttering and grooming, while I listen to the birds and wind chimes. My garden has been my solace during this time.”

Elizabeth Murray (author of several garden/creativity books) adds “My garden is a sanctuary of renewal, beauty, and joy. With the gift of slowing down I am also blooming with creativity, especially when I am fully present to draw and paint my garden.

Elizabeth has been making folding books and drawing flowers from her garden during this corona time as a way to be focused during the pandemic. Through Instagram and Facebook, she has introduced the idea to artists and garden lovers around the world.

Generosity of Spirit

Every spring, Robin in Oregon gives away homegrown vegetable plants to her neighbors to get their summer gardens started. This year was no different, except that her friends couldn’t come to her house for pickup and there were no in-person chats.

She had to deliver the plants to the road’s edge at a safe distance from each neighbor’s house. The reward in these challenging times, she says, was “knowing that we all would have a garden to tend to help keep us sane and healthy.”

Beth in Cambridge, Massachusetts inherited a truckload of daffodils as spring was emerging. She decided to brighten the day of all her neighbors by putting the flowers on the street and offering them to anyone who needed a smile of spring.

The Art of Celebrating Spring

Most of us missed our usual spring rituals, but nature prevailed. For many, the change in focus inspired a renewal/rebirth of creativity.

Mavis Negroni was not able to walk through her favorite Paris park this spring—the Jardins des Plantes.However she vividly remembers its beauty and the fact that it is “a frenzy of color and light in three seasons of the year.” We can feel that appreciation in her creative expression during this confinement.

“I love visiting the tiny water features when the frogs mate and the tadpoles and dragonflies arrive,” she says. “I love the banter of crows and parrots, the shreiks of children, the stream of joggers, and the tai chi and fan classes.”

Donna Leiber, from Southern California, also shared a vivid corona tale in the form of a single rose, which she describes as a piece that shows both freedom and constraint.

“She needs no companions to be complete, keeps intruders at a safe distance with her thorns, and weathers many storms no matter how fragile and delicate,” Donna says of her rose. “I painted her during these surreal COVID-19 pandemic times to remind us that there can be beauty in aloneness and strength in self-reliance.”

Yes, spring came . . . just as promised. Not even a global pandemic could stop the natural rhythms of the earth.

Oh, I see. We shared a celebration of spring, inspired by flowers around the world. And, just like the single strong rose, we will weather the corona storm.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 6 Comments

Art of Travel/Nature Discovery/Worldwide Sites

World Views:

Topics

Category Archives: Map Points