There Be Dragons . . . (or angels . . . ? )

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I know some of you were simply dying to get a better idea of where the magic lantern pictured in the previous post fit in among the dragons also depicted, hopefully this first photo will make everything perfectly clear. Life is strange sometimes ; I've visited this charming site several times over the years, as it is rather close to home and makes for a pleasant stroll in the woods around the ponds. But not once had I ever noticed the lantern hanging there between the dragons. No doubt because it is a magic lantern and only reveals itself to those whom it wishes to have see it. But now equipped with a blog with a name like this one has, it couldn't very well refuse me any longer.
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Ah, dragons. Those mythical beasts. I confess, I was raised on a diet of Tolkien and Narnia, with a pinch of the Wind in the Willows. Smaug, the dragon in The Hobbit seemed very real indeed to me when I was little. I sometimes wonder whether such a diet at an early age was a good thing or not, for the real world we live in, as opposed to the realm of imagination, can seem a drab and dreary place in comparison, at times. Until one stumbles on a magic lantern flanked by dragons, and remembers that one must create one's own magic in this day and age, and seek one's own beauty, wherever it may be found.
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I admit as well, I commented to la Grenouille as we were walking along the pond after having seen these dragons, that I would like to see them leap from their stone perches and go thundering across the lake breathing fire. But no such show was forthcoming, so we made our way quietly home. But doesn't he look like he is just yearning to take to the skies for some wreaking of havoc, pillaging and plundering, as dragons are wont to do ?
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Yesterday I was out again with the camera, for a second day in a row, and spotted another form of winged creature which only comes to life in dreams and movies. Just as the dragon represents all that is evil, the angel speaks of sweet serenity and peace. I've been paying attention to angel images of late, after visiting a place this summer named the Abbaye des Anges, or Angels Abbey, out in Brittany. The owners of that lovely property had quite a collection of angels of one sort or another. And since then I've started to realize that there are angels hiding in many places, if one cares to see them. This one seemed particularly graceful, poised to take flight with the soul of a departed child here. Forever poised for flight. Some folks believe that angels exist. Literature about near death experiences is replete with angelic references. I'm skeptical about such assertions. For me, seeing is believing. Guess I'll have to wait until my time is up to find out.
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Yes, as I said, seeing is believing. Now, I honestly did not set out take a photo of any living angels when I composed this landscape on the Brittany coast in August. But such is the power of digital photography, and multi-million pixel images, that even very small sections of an original image can become a page filling size without losing any detail or becoming grainy as such a section of a film negative would have done. This is the original full size image, from a beach on a small island off the Brittany coast, which one can walk to at low tide:
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And here are the angels I realized I'd captured when I got home and looked more closely at the photos from that afternoon. Wings of course were folded up and stowed away for sunbathing purposes.
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Wait a second ! One of them turned over when I wasn't looking ! Will wonders never cease ?
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So, isn't life strange and wonderful ? I just noticed before publishing this post that up through the last one, I have done 1,111 blog posts here at the Magic Lantern Show. This is post # 1,112. We are getting into War and Peace length. Full of dragons and angels. And with two more who checked in yesterday, there are now 499 "followers" showing in the Followers gadget. Who is going to be number 500 ? And will that change anything in the greater scheme of things ? This remains about as obscure as a blog can be. No signs of going viral yet. But who knows, we are getting into flu season, so maybe it could get contagious yet, as dragons and angels interact and mutate, who knows what magic may yet be forthcoming.
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