Out of place

Let me tell you right at the beginning that this post was inspired by a comment my friend Linda made on the previous post. She mentioned that the flowers in the photo seemed out of place in that setting and that they provided such a bright spot of colour in an otherwise dreary setting. When I was reading that comment, the words “out of place” stood out from the text in my mind and I had to think about them. I saw them in capitals.

I answered Linda that the flowers do seem out of place but at the same time, they belong there. They are placed at the side of our old barn and they bring brightness and colours to that shabby looking place. I put them there intentionally. They seem out of place but it’s their destiny to grow there and enhance the place.

I quite often feel out of place, especially among other people. I don’t fit in easily. And that comment made me think about the fact that if anyone seems or feels out of place, it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t belong there. It might be important for them just to put up with the situation and the other people or adapt to them or be a mirror for them or a challenge, there are so many answers to that unasked question.

Yesterday afternoon I took a few photos with hydrangea I had cut in my mother-in-law’s garden (with her permission, of course) and with a new laced piece of cloth I bought for my still-life photography. When I finished the shooting, I took that hydrangea, put it into an old vase and placed it onto a window in the yard to let it go dry.

When I got back home, I “heard” those words “out of place” again and realised that the hydrangea would seem out of place on that ugly window as well. I took my camera and went to take that photo I saw in my mind.

It’s a different photo than the previous one but to me they feel connected. I love how all this clicked into place though it wasn’t either planned or expected.