A place for inspiration

First things first......a huge congratulations to T.S. Welti for her guest blog.  It was a fantastic contribution, and very well received.

Today is the first day back in the office, back to reality and work with a bump after a wonderful holiday.  I have spent the last five days in Santorini, an amazing Greek island that defies even the most well travelled soul to not find something magical and poetic about it.  Staying in a small village called Oia, it is a haven for artists and writers, surrounded by the majestic beauty of the sunset where all visitors make the daily pilgrimage to the northern tip of the island to watch the sun dip slowly behind a perfectly crisp horizon.  The caldera, the huge basin of water created thousands of years ago around which the islands sit is bathed by day in a rich summer glow, the sharpest cliffs rising up from the water's edge, topped with a sprinkling of chocolate box houses scattered like a light fall of snow.  As the sun sets, the water's surface transforms into a silken blue powder, the only disturbance the white drifts left behind by the boats.  Days are filled with simple strolls that take in the narrow streets and higgledy-piggledy steps that intersect the cave houses, carved into the looming cliffs, or passing time in a cafe soaking in the view.  There is a peace about Oia that I have never before felt in another place. 

For the creative people of the world, it is easy to take inspiration from natural beauty like this.  It is impossible to sit in such a place and not feel the earth underneath you, it's changing shape and power so evident in the suroundings.  It is no surprise that every other shop is a gallery, a craft shop, and cafe full of rich foods and scents.  The writer in me wanted to scribble down words, the painter wanted to grab a brush, the sculpter a lump of clay.  I became totally absorbed into the life there, and could have happily stayed longer.  I will take the memories and store them up, and when my words become dark I will remember them, and scatter them into my writing.  For there is no place yet for me more beautifully inspiring than the island of Santorini.