Colour combinations

It’s been around Easter when we played around with my daughter with painting plates, melting bee’s wax and dropping shadows on different textures. We enjoyed it all and making different arrangements with different colour combinations. It was a playful and joyful time together.

I feel my internal batteries are a bit discharged today as the week days were long and intense but I hope you will find the photographs energizing and inspiring. Can you spot a bunny in the last photo?

Till next time.

Have a nice weekend!

Alicja

Photos and text: Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini

Light and Day

To forgive is to be sharp.

Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini

Breaking something might reveal what’s behind it. Light unobstructed by matter.

-Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini

Photographs and thoughts: Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini, 2025

Gratitude for rest against all odds

Our car of 15 years showed three flashing lights on the dashboard while we travelled to Whitby last Sunday. It displayed them during Summer too when we were driving to Poland from the UK. We got it repaired but the same problem showed. ‘We’ll give it a rest when we get to Whitby. It will cool down and we’ll be able to drive back.’ my husband said. His prediction was right. We returned home safely. One thing to be rather grateful for today.

We travelled to Whitby for air. To feel the sand between our fingers and water on our feet. And to eat fish, of course, an irreplaceable custom of every food lover. We headed towards the beach when we saw a crowd of people returning towards the car park. We seemed to be the only family that walked in the opposite direction. ‘Was everything fine?’ I wondered examining the opened restaurants, stalls, coffee shops and calmly floating boats and yachts. The surrounding was reassuring and the lobsters and crabs painted on restaurant walls seemed to nudge us towards the beach. Who wouldn’t like to see where the crabs live after all?

We rushed to get at least an hour of the golden light at the beach. We passed the crab-fishing family, a man inviting us for a sea trip, new marine centre and just before we reached the beach we had to pause to urgently drop 50p coins into a designated place for overstretched bladders. A relief worth paying for. :)

We collected ourselves and all the 6 bags that we had with us for all the eventualities of the beach life. Just before the stairs we stopped at the viewing platform to see the sea and the beach but the beach was not there to be seen. The frothy waves were licking the sea walls and all the way to the cliff. A spring high tide took over the whole beach. Disappointment was hard to swallow and yet there we were exposed to the sea air, energised by the colours of the sky, caressed by the breeze. Enough to be grateful for. Not to mention the ice-cream and the dinner and a chat with a fisherman… but more on this at a different time.

Take cake. x

Alicja

The purpose of the past/ Cel przeszłości

Photograph: Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini, 2025

Is it possible to improve in life without being grateful for the past and what it taught us? Could we make progress in life without seeing the positives in our personal journeys? Could we be artistic, creative, productive if we do not appreciate what we have or what has passed? If we are angry that the flowers have died, could we appreciate their textures, their patterns, their beauty highlighted by time? They were. They existed. They contributed. If we decide to engage with the past or the passing of time in a creative manner, the effect is usually gratifying. Could it be otherwise?

Czy można poprawić sobie życie bez odczuwania wdzięczności za przeszłość i za to czego nas nauczyła? Czy możemy robić postępy w życiu, nie dostrzegając pozytywów w naszych osobistych podróżach? Czy możemy być artystyczni, kreatywni, produktywni, jeśli nie doceniamy tego, co mamy lub tego, co minęło? Jeśli jesteśmy źli, że kwiaty umarły, czy możemy docenić ich faktury, ich wzory, ich piękno podkreślone przez czas? Były. Istniły. Przyczyniły się do piękna. Jeśli zdecydujemy się na twórcze zajęcie się przeszłością lub wpływem przemijania, efekt będzie zazwyczaj satysfakcjonujący. Czy by mogło być inaczej?

Thankful Time/ Wdzięczny Czas (English/Polish Post)

In smart work there is less joy than in a game of tag
and time is running out
for children and adults alike
into the hustle and bustle of memories.

Who caught whom?
No one asks about the tag
But everyone writes a report
On the questions they asked
And answers they received
Only relevant to self
It seems

But to receive an answer
Is to make a promise of gratitude.

No one knows
Few understand

Has the person who asked got lost earlier?
Or did they ask in time?
To be grateful?
Or to be done?
Choose.

– Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini

Additional good read for this week:

This article has caught my attention this week. Very interesting read. This is the Key to Achieving ‘Time Affluence’ (click to read).

Poem and photography by Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini, 2025. Copying without an explicit and written permission from the author is not allowed.

Po Polsku

W mądrej pracy jest mniej radości niż w grze w berka,
a dzieciom i dorosłym czas ucieka tak samo
w zgiełk wspomnień.

Kto kogo złapał? Nikt nie pyta,
Ale każdy pisze raport
Z pytań, które zadał
I odpowiedzi, które otrzymał.
Dotyczących tylko siebie
Wydawać by się mogło.
Ale otrzymać odpowiedź
To złożyć obietnicę wdzięczności.

Nikt nie wie.
Niewielu rozumie.

Czy osoba, która zapytała, zgubiła się wcześniej?
Czy zapytała w porę?

Być wdzięcznym?
Czy po prostu mieć wszystko zrobione?
Wybierz.

Wiersz Alicji Pyszki-Franceschini, 2025.

Ten artykuł przykuł moją uwagę w tym tygodniu. Bardzo interesujący!

Artykuł w magazynie Forbes zatytułowany “To jest klucz do osiągnięcia ‘Bogactwa Czasu'” (kliknij w link tutaj)

Do następnego razu. x

Material Copyrighted by Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini, 2025. Copying without an explicit and written permission from the author is not allowed.