Weekword: History

A (quick) History of the World - mine. Starting at the top with grandparents on both sides; my mom, a student teacher, meets dad, a dashing fighter pilot in WWII; me in high-chair and as a toddler, the littlest of three sisters. A brother was later added to this ménage. Unfortunately this union (my mom and dad), no doubt a romantic and happy one to start off with, did not last. Such is life. The rest (from toddler to now) is not included - it is not history, it is my life.

For other participants, see:
Linda Sue, Sarah, Leenie , Anne, Valentina, Aris, Aimee, Esti, Alexandra, Veja Cecilia, Nicky, Sarah the jeweller (who is having another amazing giveaway of a beautiful pendant), Line, Cindy and Fruenswerk!

Weekword: Charm

This week's word chosen by Linda Sue (whose brain and talent never fail to amaze and delight) reminded me of a poem:

A Charm invests a face
(Emily Dickinson)
A Charm invests a face
Imperfectly beheld.
The Lady dare not lift her Veil
For fear it be dispelled.

But peers beyond her mesh,
And wishes, and denies,
Lest Interview annul a want
That Image satisfies.

Collage with photocopy, drawing, gift wrap & tulle based on photo by John French of a hat and veil designed by Erik (1950).

Other particpants can be found here.

Have a great weekend everyone! Be charming ...

Geometry

Felice Varini does these amazing paintings in architectural spaces:

Viewed from most angles, they seem like arbitrary fragments.

But from exactly the right angle, you see a a perfect geometric shape.

These blue patches become ...

this.

And a few red stripes in an office building become a

perfect ellipse.

It is all a matter of perspective ...

(found via yatzer)

Svetlana's Stuffy Bear

Today Svetlana sent me some pictures of the beautiful bear that she made over the weekend, and I cannot wait to show it to you! I LOVE this bear!!

To say nothing of the little satchel & its contents ...

Here he is reading with Svetlana.

I am including part of Svetlana's email to explain:

"His name is the Patriot Bear of the Great Revolution and also The Glasnost. This name is not short so I call him Boris. I make him the bag to carry bread and vodka to work. [ ...]

Also for little joke I send you pictuire where I read with Boris. This is the book with the Five Thoughts of the Great Lenin."

Don't you just love it? I think she must open an Etsy shop!

O(h) - live!

I have always found that when I hit a troublesome spot in life (e.g. the Proofreading Fiasco), something good almost always happens to balance it out.

A few weeks ago I won a prize - jointly sponsored by the House & Leisure lifestyle magazine and an olive farm (Buffet Olives) - an al fresco lunch for ten friends, and yesterday was the day! We were picked up by a coach and driven to a beautiful spot outside Paarl, about an hour from Cape Town.

Almost there!

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the coach dropped us off in Greece ... Walking through the olive grove to the lunch spot ... some of the party are lagging behind, getting quite happy on martinis with olives!Arrival at the stunning spot chosen for our lunch - next to a waterfall!Our table set beautifully with sparkling glasses and cutlery, linen and olive branches!Our charming wine waiter, who kindly refilled and refilled (!) our glasses. The four courses were all brought up from the main building by golf carts - I should've taken a picture!

Friends and family, good food (and lots of olives!), wine, a fantastic spot (next to a cascading waterfall) - what more could one want from life?

(2nd picture from top taken by Lana May Davis, the rest by moi)

Flower Couture

The latest VISI magazine has these stunning images of dresses, created with flowers and other natural elements, by Franz Grabe, a South African florist. I really think that he is a floral artist rather than a florist.



(Couture by Franz Grabe Flower Couture, styling by Annemarie Meintjies & Klara van Wyngaarden, photography by Merwelene van der Merwe).
For more images of Grabe's flower couture go to his website (and click on Flower Couture, then on Mannequins).

Interiors

I recently discovered Esprit Champêtre which is a treasure trove of lovely images - with some of my favourite interior elements: weathered wood, glass, old silver, paper, some greenery - just a pity I don't understand French!

Have a look at Esprit Champêtre's different albums for inspiration...

Brassaï

My Castle in Spain posted some wonderful photographs by Peruvian Martín Chambi. I love black and white photography, and I remembered these photographs by Brassaï (Gyula Halász) that I have been hoarding in a folder on my desktop.

(Photos from Masters of Photography and here)

Kimono Dream

I've always wanted to have a kimono. Actually, my dream is to make my own. (Let's forget for the moment that my experience of sewing is limited to sewing paper bunting.) Don't you just love these vintage postcards? (all from paper-pal's flickr stream)

Foam Storm!

We had some pretty freaky & frightening storms this weekend! Gale force winds shaking and battering our little house, horizontal rain, ice pellets, humungous waves on our beach, where there seldom is a wave to be seen! Eek! I felt very privileged to be able to sit cosily inside in front of a fire. Although I used to love storms as a child, it is really difficult to enjoy them now, knowing that so many people facing the same wind and rain are living in dwellings of corrugated iron, plastic and cardboard, not so very far from where I live.

This photograph was taken in Sea Point (on the other side of the peninsula from where we live) yesterday. The swells were so high, and wind so strong, that roads next to the promenade were covered with foam and water!

Photo by Garth Stead.

Dreams ...

I love these silver halide prints by Fran Forman. If I could connect some printer-thingie to my brain when I sleep, this is what my dreams would look like ...
Hovering Child, Fran Forman

Parachutist Descending, Fran Forman

Golden Boy with Bicycle, Fran Forman
Except of course the one where I'm chased by a giant Dobermann through streets of crumbling houses into a huge amphitheatre where I end up having to write a maths exam ...

Interiors

I like these interior shots by Tim Young. They make me want to scrub wooden floors and tidy drawers and bake bread and polish silver and do needlework and stuff like that ...












(Found via Desire to Inspire)

A Poet Discovered ...

I have recently discovered Kay Ryan, the new American poet laureate ...

(Eiger at Twilight, by lilcrazyfuzzy)


(Grand Canyon by zpowderhound)


(Grey glacier in Chile by Tim.Haughton)

BLANDEUR
If it please God,
let less happen.
Even out Earth's
rondure, flatten
Eiger, blanden
the Grand Canyon.
Make valleys
slightly higher,
widen fissures
to arable land,
remand your
terrible glaciers
and silence
their calving,
halving or doubling
all geographical features
toward the mean.
Unlean against our hearts.
Withdraw your grandeur
from these parts.
(from Say Uncle by Kay Ryan, Copyright © 2000 by Kay Ryan.)

Healthy, healthy .... !

I won't bore you with another of my salads today (although I did make a rather yummy one with fried mushrooms, creamy blue cheese, baby spinach and watercress last week). In my quest for healthy eating, I came upon this article in the NYT. Let's go shopping, darlings.
On my list is beetroot, cabbage, cinnamon ....

1. beet it, 2.= my coronary angiography :-) =, 3. *Cinnamon straw

pomegranate juice, swiss chard (is that the same as spinach?), frozen blueberries ...
1. LovelyHeart, 2. Rainbowl, 3.Blueberries

and pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, sardines & turmeric ...
1. Pumpkin Pile, 2. Sardine (mono) , 3. Flavour. Stacked

Yay! I'm already feeling that immune system perking up ...