Sunlight and Open Eyes

Masarykovo Náměstí--the main square in Ostrava

As I write this, birds happily chirp out their encrypted messages as the sun sighs its colourful sigh before finishing its shift on this longitude/latitude.  It's 20:20, and its been a day of sunlight.  Most of my light the past five plus months has been from fluorescent bulbs and the back glow of computer screens.  The smog and cloud cover has withheld the sun, leading the sunny days over the last week or so to cause everyone to come outside, rub their eyes, shake off the dust of winter and go to the park, to the square--anywhere where the sun is gracious enough to share her beams.  Last week, after a routine trip to the foreign police, I returned to the city square.  Under the sun's beams I felt as if being healed from the emotional laboriousness of winter.

The school where I work is located in the city centre near the new town hall.  Behind this town hall is where Komenského Sady--Ostrava's Central Park--begins.  In my eagerness for the sun's rays, I've taken to following my work days with a thoughtful meanderings through the park, sometimes interspersed with a rest on one of the benches, where I can reflect and people-watch.  These times have been life-giving.  Over the weekend, rains came, and following them, buds began to open on the trees.  Today, after a day under fluorescent light, I went to the park deliberately seeking beauty, honing my eyes on evidence of fresh life, knowing the buds and blooms are temporal.  Here's a little of what I found.  (Click on any given photo to scroll through in a viewer.)