The Riddle of Samson

Do you know the riddle Samson set for the Philistines? I mainly know it because it was on the Tate and Lyle Golden Syrup cans I remember as a kid, complete with hokey graphic. The riddle goes something like: Out of strength came forth sweetness, out of the dead came forth life. The idea was that the Philistines were supposed to come up with what was happening in this riddle.

The answer was the body of a lion in the desert, in which bees had made honey.

It's a lovely concept, and I often like to think about it when a highly stressful situation (weather, danger to invalid, you name it, all explained in Field and Fen blog today) results in some art. It sharpens your vision when you have been on high alert and it's now down to just ordinary alert! Out of fear comes relief, out of strength of human spirit, comes the gentle vision of art.

So, after a massive series of storms in just a few hours, involving two major snowfalls, one ice storm, one thunderstorm with lightning, and one dangerous power outage considering the situation in this household, came great images of the snow, and the trees recovering from the onslaught.

So here they are. As often with my art, close to home.