Jellyfish or "Jellies" move and dine at the mercy of the currents and waves. They can't rush towards their dinner nor can they hide from their prey. I love encountering Lion's Mane jellies, larger than dinner plates, or tiny porpita and physalias floating on the current while out on a paddle. To catch a glimpse of one drifting by ( or should I say catching a glimpse of one as I drift by ?) is enough to make me dig my paddle in to stop and fumble with the waterproof camera dangling around my neck so that I can snap a photo. The irony is that the swirling water created from my efforts to get closer to the Jelly always send it farther away from me, or inaccessibly under my boat.

It always makes me a little sad when they get washed up on the beach. Submerged, they appear as soft and fluid as the water they are adrift in, but on the beach they take on a solid form like a gelatinous lump of aspic congealing on a piece of pate at a leftover buffet. Even so, I always approach their transparent forms with caution; when I was young my big brother Chris told me that they still had the ability to sting even when they are high and dry with grains of sand dusting their domes. I should probably take that bit of wisdom with a grain of salt as he also told me that there was a Poop Monster at the bottom of the outhouse.

This week I've been feeling a bit like a Jelly, floating where the current takes me instead of choosing my own route. Decisions have been reactive, not proactive. It could be the winter blahs, it could be the emptiness following the long anticipated visit at the end of Patti's visit. It could just be that I'm due for a downward cycle. But regardless of whether I'm moving with the current or swimming against it, like the Jellies I am still moving.

This weeks painting is on 9" x12" on Arches hot pressed paper using Primary colours: Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson.

Please check out my fellow "52 Over 50" bloggers: www.carolkinnee.com and www.cathypelter.com

See you next week!