Parisian Cafe Fabulousness

 I seem to be constantly imagining myself in Paris, more so than usual lately... just dreaming the day away in some fantastic bohemian cafe, like these fabulous French flappers...

If you find yourself wandering the streets of Montmartre, you may may stumble upon this quaint little cafe - Cafe les Deux Moulins...

If you take a peek inside, you may be lucky enough to see one lovely little Amelie... so cute!

Oh look, she is bringing you a coffee...

 This cafe pictured below, Le Pure Cafe, may look familiar to all those romantics out there...not sure if you've been here before? Maybe in your dreams?

Jesse and Celine, there you are! If you haven't seen the film Before Sunset, now is the time... you'll be lost in pure Parisian perfection... but for now,we enjoy the cafe...

 Goodbye Jesse and Celine, and for now, back to Montmartre, to Le Consulat... this picture below is heaven for a dreamer like me...imagine yourself wandering the cobblestone streets, eating a crepe dripping with sugary butter...

After meandering the little alleyways of Montmartre, I think this looks like a nice place to rest our weary little feet... 

Le Poulbot looks like a cute cafe, don't you think? Also in Montmartre, hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the square. I think I'll stay here for now... I could go on forever about Parisian cafes, and cafes in general... but let's sit and ponder on this taste of cafe reverie for now...

What a Fabulous Little Dreamer

I felt compelled to add to Woodland Dreamer's previous post, regarding the passing of painter, Margaret Olley. What a fabulous little dreamer she was! I love this Still Life in Green above, in honour of her favourite colour.

Just look at Margaret Olley in the picture above, busy putting her innermost dreams into visions of colour we could all get lost in...

Thankyou, Margaret Olley, for bringing a little joy and colour into all our lives.

Green is the colour of rebirth...

Margaret Olley dies, aged 88.

Green was Painter Margaret Olley's favourite colour...  'green', she would say 'it's the colour of rebirth'.

I have a thing about paintings of mirrored reflections....and I love this one.  Here, she paints herself as a young artist in 1948, framed by the still objects and collectibles that would inspire her life's work and also by postcards of the works of the great masters whom she admired.  

Vale Margaret Olley and what a life well lived, doing, as she has said "The only thing I've wanted to do all my life."  And that's exactly what she did....  These words inspire me to refocus on my own direction in life and hopefully, gain more clarity as I continue on this winding and ever-changing path we call life.

Earth-Love-Music....

Biophilia....  

This is the title of Björk's new album, which speaks of a "love for nature in all her manifestations"  and "a restless curiosity, an urge to investigate and discover the elusive places where we meet nature"....  All this and an introduction from Sir David Attenborough! I'm in heaven! 

 "The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems'"  ... I am excited by the fact that this idea has been explored in musical form and can't wait to hear the results. 

 I love the idea of the songs being created around a kind of 'Solar System' structure that is housed within the 'Mother'.  I love how Björk is unafraid of exploring new technologies and collaborating with other artists with new ideas.  Some performers can become so insular in their process, and I think sometimes their work can suffer for it.  The new song below Cosmogony, is a retelling of creation myths from around the world.... Stunning!

I look forward to this multi-layered audio-visual extravaganza as Björk breaks new expressive ground and reminds us all of what we're capable of as Humans, but also of how close to the Source we really can be...

 "We are on the brink of a revolution that will unite Humans with Nature.... until we get there, prepare, explore Biophilia."

Stealing Beauty

One of my all time favourite movies has to be Bernado Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty. I just love this picture below of some of the cast, including Jeremy Irons and Liv Tyler... paradise...

This movie portrays such innocence, hope, true joy and love...and all set in the gorgeous Tuscan countryside, what more can I say...

Sheer bliss...the warm Tuscan breeze rolling over your skin, as you float through the flower filled fields...

...and finally, true, pure, innocent love...

Sonic Reverie...

I am whole...

....And I hold the night....

If ever a spell was cast over the Sydney Opera House, it must have been by the mystical creatrix Natasha Khan and her music project Bat for Lashes .... Here she is back in June of this year,  performing in a lantern-lit stage forest.... conjuring new tunes in her concert hall cauldron... Powerful - Vulnerable - Magical! 
Great night, great memories!
Words to live by....

If not now, then when?

If not now, then when? This is the question that runs repeatedly through my mind. Things can only be put off for so long...or else they will never be done at all. I fear I am a procrastinator of the worst kind, and I am not sure why. Is it laziness, fear of failure, perfectionism??? Oh dear...

Sometimes my mind feels like this picture above...and the "to do" pile just keeps expanding, and rising, whilst the "done" pile seemingly diminishes in comparison. I feel overwhelmed by the multitude of uncompleted tasks. Perhaps if I just approach it in a logical fashion, and start one...just do it!!

Wind Songs & Liminal Hymns....

There is a cold and blustery North-Westerly-Wind that blows a mighty gale and rouses us from our winter slumber.... The Windy Weather of Change talks to the trees and knocks at our doors...  it speaks of Freedom and Possibility.  More than once today I felt like (and secretly hoped!) I was Dorothy, about to be whisked away like a feather to the magical Land of Oz! 

My hair a tangled bramble of tumbleweeds and other wind-swept oddities...  Or, perhaps more like a Mariners net... what bedraggled urchins will find anchorage within my hair-net?  Although the sky is full of winter sunshine my fingers are numb from the biting chill in the air ( a lesson on the importance of mittens!)  My cheeks are rosy, and I have a spring in my step - compliments of the strong wind blowing my way, nudging me along the path like a gentle pat on the back.   As Boreas, with a touch of the Zephyrs pay us a visit on this fine winters day!

This is the weather of Wind Songs and Liminal Hymns, heard in nature all around us.... This is the elemental aspect of faery and sylph, now more than ever they dance on the air currents, this wind appealing to their wild nature!   Stories of Gypsies and Bohemians arriving and leaving on the whims of the wind... of journeys and of an uncertain course... where it will take you, nobody knows! 

 Windy weather is a time of great change... of shape-shifting, of static in the air.... you can almost feel yourself taking to the sky as if bird-transformed.... This weather is a Susan Seddon-Boulet painting.....all movement, and liminality, and transfomation.... I almost feel as though I were one of the ever-changing desert dwelling beings of Terri Windlings' (excellent) Sonoran desert imagining, The Wood Wife... able to leap from human, to animal, to bird form as easily as a thought....

The joys of simply watching clouds move at such a pace as to seem almost unreal, casting patterns of dark and light across the ground in an ominous but strangely calming way... changing the way we see things, transfoming the dark places.... reminding me of the multi-facetedness of all things, yet again....  

 The Wind speaks of the appeal of the unknown and of anonymity or invisibility too... of the ability to move through moments in time and the liminal spaces, where self-transformation occurs...  It speaks of the freedom and restlessness that great mystery brings, of that carefree notion of being unrestrained, free for travel and new adventures.... of being happily root-less,  of vagabonding through life, travelling with the breeze, or the Clever North Wind… and I can’t help but feel that I should not leave the house today without wearing a red cape….. 

Always travelling, forever wandering in reverie...

Images 1,3 & 6 from We Heart It, 'Boreas' by John William Waterhouse, 'Playing with the North Wind' by Susan Seddon-Boulet,  Movie stills  from 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Chocolat'.

Euro Travel Dreams

Right now, it is early morning, and still dark. I just couldn't sleep, due to the crazy wind blowing, and trees brushing against the house!

So, here I am having early dawn imaginings of European adventures, and wishing these fabulous bags were mine... Dreaming of Paris, Prague, Vienna, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, and numerous, outrageously cute Euro villages! Why am I always dreaming of great travelling adventures?

Winter Wonders...and Wanders...

Follow the snow covered winter woodland path...

The recent New Moon in Cancer has me reflecting on new beginnings, and the opportunities for fresh starts with family and home...nurturing and protecting ourselves and others.

I love that, every month, the New Moon allows us to return to the source, and begin again. Even in the depths of the winter darkness, we have the chance for renewal...New Moon Beginnings!

Winter Wonders...

...and Winter Wanders...