Kefalonia World: September 2013

Megali Petra - Avythos Beach, Kefalonia

Signs of seasonal transition

Some are subtle, others stare you in the face.
Some are more colorful than others.

Regardless of their discretion, or lack thereof, the signs of transition from Summer to Fall are everywhere.

⛅ Sunlight adopts a diffused, slightly orange cast; the sea assumes the deeper shades of the blue palette.
⛅ The sky becomes increasingly decisive in color as the temperatures dip and eliminate the summer haze.
⛅ The beach is reclaimed by its natural inhabitants—pebbles, seaweed, and the white froth of bolder waves.
⛅ The sun-scorched rocks finally quench their thirst when the first Fall springs timidly begin to release their waters that flow to meet the sea, forming tiny cascades over green plants on the way.

Agios Thomas, Karavados

It's a natural slowdown, a change of gears ,not a reversal. This replenishing and welcome repose for nature signals the beginning of the season that, while introvert in character, has a stunning palette of its own. A bit more muted, perhaps, but certainly more varied.

Avythos Beach

'Tis the time to recompose and bask in the tenacious, still warm—though less aggressive—sunlight.

Antisamos Beach, Kefalonia

Xenopoulo, Kefalonia
And if the calm sea and deceivingly blue skies lull you into thinking that it's still Summer,
the chrysanthemums everywhere will certainly remind you that it is not.

Let's have some fun!

Take a quick look at the images and answer the question!
(no cheating, please - just say the very first thing that comes to mind)

Gestalt shapes and ink blots in Kefalonia

Somewhere along the southern shores of Kefalonia. Look for it!

What do you see in the first image? Is it a seal, a dog, a dolphin, an eagle, or something else?
What about the second image? Is it a dog's paw, an elephant's foot, or something else?
Do you see a wimpy cloud or an eagle taking off in the third image?

From Myrtos to Assos, or vice versa!

I'm sure that most of us have had these "eureka" kind of flashes. You know, that cry of joy or satisfaction when one finds or discovers something unexpected.

Who remembers Behavioral Psy 101?

I have vivid memories of those "splats" of the Rorschach evaluation method that seemed so ridiculous at first, back in college. A person's reaction or response to these ambiguous forms was supposed to reveal significant information for the evaluation of his/her personality and perceptions.

On the other hand, Gestalt theory—and all its sub theories of grouping, similarity, proximity, emergence, symmetry, closure, e.t.c.,—was the hottest topic in management, marketing and behavioral psychology lecture halls. After all, it did make a difference—or so the instructors claimed—whether a person "saw" an old woman rather than a young girl depicted in the drawing being passed around. Or, seeing a circle in an incomplete arc, or a square in four incomplete perpendicular lines!

Of course, as diligent students, we memorized all the pertinent facts: the human eye "sees and perceives objects in their entirety before perceiving their individual parts," and our senses do have the "form-generating capability" to fill the gaps in information presented.

When applied to stimuli in the environment, this simply means that we understand them as a whole rather than the sums of their parts. And this "whole" is greater than the sum of its parts. Sounds very scientific, doesn't it? I'm pretty sure that most of us, at that tender age, wondered how in the name of heavens would all this ever be applicable to anything in the real world.

Well, I finally do see the light!

Storms and birds of prey over Sissia Monastery
Sometimes, though, all this science comes down to seeing with the eyes of the heart.
And, speaking of hearts...