Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

"Knowledge, surprising as it sounds, begins with the unknown. With accepting how little you know. A few drops of humility, I've learned, can save me from an ocean of arrogance! Then, with a touch of curiosity... a person can learn and grow endlessly." Excerpted from: The Wisdom of Merlin by T.A. Barron (Philomel Books) Source: " The Secret To A Meaningful Life In Just 7 Words " Article by Alena Halll | The Huffington Post

As they say, "Smile and the world will smile back at you." Sunshine, spring weather, colours all around - I'm certainly smiling! Pretty in Pink

Some days I need to force myself to leave my camera at home...  Seeing the world through a lens is a great experience However seeing the world with my own eyes is even better! Still... Being able to share the beauty with others is amazing too! Blossoming Spring Colours | Nimavenl

I like posting quotes. There's something very satisfying about posting a small(ish) bit of text in a large font, emphasising it and not having to write much else. No paragraphs of information, no need to explain why I think or feel something. Just a quote. Here's one from Game of Thrones: “ It is a big and beautiful world. Most of us live and die in the same corner where we were born and never get to see any of it. I don’t want to be most of us. ” -- Oberyn Martell | Game of Thrones

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day - Yom Ha Shoah in Hebrew. May we never forget. May we never be silent. May we remember those who died and those who lived, scarred and beaten but not defeated. May we always remember the words "Never Again" and work, year in and year out, to understand their meaning and to honour the memory of those who died, those who suffered, those who fought and those who lost so much.  Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah ( יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה ; "Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day"), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah ( יום השואה ) and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews and five million others who perished in the Holocaust as a result of the actions carried out by Nazi Germany and its accessories, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. In Israel, it is a national memorial day and public h...

Spring is here! All seasons are beautiful, however there is something extraordinary about seeing the world come to life again after winter, seeing colours erupt all around us. Humans may fight and argue, kill and make war - Nature is constant, beautiful, amazing and always changing. I wonder, how different might our world be if we spent as much time loving & enjoying nature and caring for our planet as we do fighting, arguing and hurting others? Nature vs Humanity - Beauty and the Beast | Nimavenl

Nature... Once Asleep Dark and Cold Waiting Only Dreaming Now Awake Light and Warm Colourful  Newly Alive Spring Has Arrived! | Nimavenl

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.  ~ Khalil Gibran

I've been spending a lot of time writing, lately. For my blog, not so much. For my story - a ridiculous amount. It's not a story I want to publish, however it is a story I want to write. Because I like the story and because I want to get to know this world I'm developing in my imagination. For years, different story-related ideas have been going through my head - the look of a dress or garment, the view from a certain location, the interior of a room, the way words sound in a to-be-discovered language. They're all snapshots from a world I'm trying to create and 'seeing' them (in my imagination) can sometimes feel as if Real Life is a dream and Storyworld is reality, leaking through into Dream Country. What I want is to create an entire world with its own countries, continents, weather patterns, customs, habits, religions, languages, building styles... I want to create a detailed world where everything is different from our world yet still familiar and hu...

I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.   ~ Joyce Kilmer, 'Trees' (1914) Beautiful Branch | Nimavenl

When I arrived in Auckland (New Zealand) as a fresh-faced and innocent 18-year old over a decade ago, I was determined to do everything my way, which means I checked into a backpacker hostel. There was a woman at the desk who welcomed me to the hostel and to the country. I don't remember her exact words, however as people do, we talked briefly. About New Zealand, about my flight, about the facilities at the hostel, about the weather... Yes, I'm very happy to be here...   My flight was fine, thanks...   Yes, I've been here before...   No, I don't need a map, I know the city... What I do remember is that she mentioned that Auckland weather was like four seasons in one day. Seeing I'd lived in Auckland before (and was raised by a Kiwi!), I readily agreed and thought she'd come up with a very clever way to describe Auckland's weather. The words sounded familiar too... What I found out later was that the woman at the hostel didn't come up with those words on...

Love this! Happy First Contact Day indeed! In the Star Trek universe, first contact between humans and aliens (Vulcans, who look like Leonard Nimoy's Spock) happens after said aliens realise that humans have managed to achieve faster than light travel. Or rather - it will happen, forty-eight years from now. The story of humanity's first warp-speed journey is told in the movie Star Trek: First Contact (1996). Happy First Contact Day! http://t.co/dUUOoeMfKA #StarTrek #FirstContact pic.twitter.com/YhDrVZutnT — Star Trek (@StarTrek) April 5, 2015 On a related note, today's Star Trek.com poll asks: If YOU could make First Contact with a Star Trek alien species, which of the following would it be? Andorian Bajoran Borg Ferengi Klingon Romulan Vulcan Personally, I would love to meet a joined Trill. How amazing and fascinating would it be to actually meet someone who can remember multiple lifetimes as different people?! As for the aliens from the above list - ...

Jerusalem is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most fascinating cities on the planet and has, for a long time, been very near the top of my list of Cities To Visit. Thousands of years of history, religion, culture, devotion, prayer, longing and joy make Jerusalem a complex and inspirational location. How can one resist the beauty of this amazing city?! Jerusalem's Archeological Park – excavations site at the foot of the Temple Mount, revealing thousands of years of the... Posted by ‎ Noam Chen - Photographer | נועם חן - צלם ‎ on Wednesday, 1 April 2015