everything is pretty…

The blogosphere is a awash with the idea of “simpler times”. It comes wrapped in a perfectly muted color palette–a kind of mirage of idealism. Were times ever simple? No. Times have never, ever been simple for the people living in them. The best you can hope for is to be able to be present and retain your happiest feelings of each moment, then reflect on them later.

I am clearly a hoarder of captured, happy moments. I spend a lot of time gazing at images of moments and objects–my own as well as those of others–that I find to be beautiful and inspiring. While I drift in the sea of online beauty, I am acutely aware that the way people present themselves online rarely shows those, ummm… far from simple moments that all of us have–the private ones filled with rife or fret. There are occasional exceptions where I do get sucked into the visuals and think, “perhaps they are really living inside the mirage with no fret in sight”. The biggest one is probably The Cherry Blossom Girl, but I’m also always lulled by lovely Swede, Clara Lidström’s beautiful blog, Underbara Clara.

My favorite part about reading Clara’s blog is turning on the English translation. It is always hilarious! The translation for her sweet image of kitchen towels on a clothesline (below): “I found lots of karamel kitchen towels at a flea market. They went in and then wash up on the migration. Oppressive heat is perfect for hanging laundry in.”

all images courtesy of Clara Lidström from Underbara Clara on www.folkbladet.nu