there's still time

there's still time to be cosy and warm. cool again on this side, as winter holds on while spring is slipping in. it's inevitable, spring blossoms are own their way, but first, winter has juuuust a few more doings to do... in the meantime cosy and warm are on the agenda...

maybe you remember i wrote recently about a walk with friends along the mediterranean in the small town of Sitges, near barcelona. it was there that i witnessed a most beautiful sunset.

Hans is a fine friend of mine.



we were lucky enough to share the same time in barcelona. there meetings for coffee turned into long walks through that beautiful city, which turned into a feeling for sipping wine or beer in an outdoor cafe, 'but first let's check out this book store, or maybe that music store...' hours escaped us and still it seemed we could keep going discovering such a lovely city, unbeknown to us, quietly a friendship was forming. sweet surprises...

when i first met Hans and i asked what he did, he shared that he was a musician. i said 'oh,' and left it at that. then one night i went to hear him perform, to play and sing, and to my surprise he really is a fine artist. i realised then, as a new yorker i find everyone is a musician, a writer, an actor and on and on. i don't always believe them. so i was surprised to see and hear, for me, the melodic sounds of my friend.

the group debonair's desert song (Hans on voice... guitar too?), have a listen here http://debonair.posterous.com/new-track-desert-song let me know how you experience it...

the blog is here... have a little peak into his doings in denmark... http://debonair.posterous.com/

be warm, be sweet you, and get ready to blossom as spring finds her way in!

spring cleaning

a-hem... i realise i can't wait any more, i have to organise my closests for spring. can you imagine a dressing room like this one... i like the spaciousness of it, and i especially like the light that streams in. pretty.

another spring~luv it!

i walked into a shop today, just browsing, and the sales lady greeted me with a cheerful and sincere happy spring! i love it. the wedding yesterday was quite lovely. i enjoyed myself, and while drifting off to sleep last night i played over in my mind the entire day, the church, the reverend, conversations throughout the day, dancing and food... and of course the lovely bride and groom...

i finally talked to my sister, and after she let me have it for not being in touch, we slipped into giggling again. she thinks i'm weird, she always have. and i absolutely love why she thinks i'm weird cause i'm a dreamy, wanna thinking up stories, night owl, listening to music in my room all hours of the night, kind of girl. she's much more grounded and down to earth. i think we admire one another's qualities.

the picture posted here gets me... i love the flowers and the look from another time... perhaps the seventies. i absolutely adore the look and colours of sixties and seventies fashion. i know the two eras are remarkably different, still i love them both.

spring is here darlings... i do hope you are well and feeling quite spring~like, all inspired, hopeful and bright...

sending you spring kisses!!

early morning strolls... you never know who you'll meet

an actor said in an interview how he liked strolling around new york... how there seems to be something to discover around every corner. i so often feel that way. like today, sitting outside down by the river having lunch. there was a lady there dressed in hot pink, jumping around, dancing and spinning a hoola hoop around her waist when the feeling moved her. ahhh, you never know what you might see.

one early sunday morning, before the masses were out, i walked by javier bardem and penelope cruz from vicky, cristina, barcelona (among other stuff). it's quite evident now that they are a couple, but it was still a week or so before the oscars, folks were still speculating. well i knew because i saw them walking up fifth avenue in greenwich village, holding hands and laughing that deep warm laughter of new love. it was sweet to see.

us old folks don't really bother the celebrities. we're used to seeing them. and if it's mid-day and they're shooting a film, or a television show with all their camaras and trailers and catering junk all in the way and blocking the flow of the natural rhythm of the city then it's a pain in the butt.

the Pres Obama even apologised once for coming to town and causing so much traffic hassle with his private cars and security and all. i thought he gets it, comin' in here messing up our rhythm.

well when i saw javier and penelope i was a bit surprised. it was so early and i was kind of sleep-walking, i thought maybe i was in a film or something. it was only me and them on the street at that particular moment. javier remembered the manners his momma taught him as when our eyes met, he smiled and said 'hola.' i was still so surprised, so uncool of me! i forget my english and my spanish and could only smile and nod my head. hope it was polite enough...

after the rain...

we've had rain since friday....

aujourd'hui le ciel est bleu!

just a feeling from a picture

the photo above i saw in a magazine. for some reason it has stayed with me. i think it may have something to do with these two persons, annie leibovitz and mikhail baryshnikov being so good at what they do, to put it mildly. i guess in the face of such talent i am speechless with admiration. the first photo is the adorable nicole kidman, this photo was taken by annie leibovitz. i saw the original at an exhibit, it is stunning.

someone once said that they find the work of annie leibovitz superficial. funny how individually we can have varied reactions. i guess that's how it works right? taste is individual...

though she photographs celebrities, for me i like the way she is able to somehow move beyond the surface and capture the person, or a feeling... can't quite put my finger on it.

i saw baryshnikov in an interview once where he talked about his defect from russia, describing himself literally running to get away... incredible. how time passes and history remains...

lastly, i especially like his feet in the photo. at first i thought what funny looking feet! then it dawned on me, he is a dancer, and an exquisite one at that, and dancers got ugly feet i hear. all those hours doing what they do you get ugly feet, yet they make such hard work and sweat look light, easy, beautiful...

think... of the world you carry within you... be it remembrance of your own childhood or longing for your own future. only be attentive to what is arising in you, and prize it above all that you perceive around you. what happens most deeply inside you is worthy of your whole love. work with that and don't waste too much time and courage explaining it to other people.

rome, december 23, 1903
from letters to a young poet
rainer maria rilke

my sister

i went to the hair stylist the other day and she cut my hair in a cute little short style. i like it very much. but my hair never looks the same or even nice the next day or any other day that i don't visit the hairstylist. the reason is because i have no idea how to do my hair, i never have. i remember as a girl when my mom stopped doing my hair (and she did it really nice) and told me that it is time, that i am old enough to begin doing my own hair. i not only had no idea what to do, i had no interest in learning. i've always just wanted my hair to look pretty, but i've had no interest in doing it. i guess i'd have to get in a long line of women who share the same sentiments.

so the other day the stylist did a nice job, and i look at my hair today and i think it would be nice for example, to invent a story, if my sister were a hair dresser. let's say we live together and each morning before going to work she would do a quick and easy 1.2.3. and i've have a cute little hairdo and we'd both be off to begin our days...

i reminded myself that not only have i not talked to my sister in a while, and not only does she totally have her own life, i have never mentioned her to you. i like and love my sister very much. i don't know if two sisters could be more different in character, well i suppose there is lots of room for that possibility. i am the shyer more reserved one, and my sister has enough confidence and outgoingness to share. she's lots of fun and the party really does begin when she arrives (my mom is the same). she married and started a family young and loves being a mom, whereas i'd have to read a manual to learn to put a diaper on properly, and were i to marry, i'd have to marry a man who doesn't mind being second to my love for solitude, reading, and lots of books (though i'd try to convince him he's not second:).

my sister and i don't see one another very often. i think mostly because when we were growing up our lives were so different, she was out on the town with her friends, and i was inside reading. we never really spent a lot of time together and i guess it spilled over into our adult lives.

thing is, we like, admire, respect and love one another a great deal. when we do see one another it is a deep pleasure. my nephew once asked in frustration, why when my sister and i are together we start right away giggling and telling stories about when we were girls. stories of my sister protecting me from the neighborhood bullies, or me having serious conversations with my sister about why she should take time with her school lessons.

when she graduated from high school and had absolutely no interest in going to university, i talked her into going. i told her that university is far more fun than high school. what did i know, just that i loved being in school. her first year there she met her boyfriend who became later her husband and father of her children. he blames me for having fallen in love with such a strong willed woman...

i got to thinking that i should see my sister more often, i simply should.

one afternoon my sister and i were at a little gathering. there were people there we had never met. as my sister and i don't see one another often, we stole away to a corner and just sat and laughed and connected all over again. i over heard someone ask who we were. and then said, 'sisters? wow, they are happy together.' my heart was touched. a stranger appreciated us giggling over in the corner. i do hope that the love that my sister and i have for one another is a beauty in itself, and perhaps that is something that can be seen, this is my hope...

just came to mind while reading...

i went to finland once, and then again a few times after that. there, this city girl counted lakes, and walked in the woods... rowed on the lake in a canoe, and picked berries in the woods. and too waited until the others came back from fishing with the catch of the day. we transformed freshly caught fish into the most delicious kind of fish caserole (though i had nothing to do with it). i did have something to do with the berry pie cause i helped to pick the berries...

entre hiver et printemps

in between winter and springtime we find ourselves, on the cusp. the dry gray days of winter not quite behind us, and the hope and colour of springtime waiting in the wings. another wintertime in our book of life we can check off in a matter of days. what a sweet present. i try to be mindful of my time, what i've done and what i'm doing, and too what you're up to. when you tell me about all the goodies you're up to, me wee heart just loves it.

as springtime is nearly here and we are full of the hope that this change in season brings, i found myself listing all the things i am thankful for. i even surprised myself. it's difficult for me to count my blessings because i feel like they might disappear. i know i'm not alone in this feeling, as i've heard some of you share similar feelings. but i'm so happy that these are just fears, they are not reality. and i suppose there is something, a lot, connected to counting our blessings, naming the stuff that works out alright. i find that there is our reality, what is real, not the bogey man stuff that goes on in our heads.

so lots of goodies to count...

• deelisshhous lunch today with a dear friend
• weather warm enough where i did not have to wear a scarf
• here writing and waiting for a favorite television program to start
• started reading a new book today, the girl with the dragon tattoo.
• cooked a little delicious dinner as well... and had tea and cookies (for dipping) afterwards
• and i saw the cutest cutest little girl today with her mother. she was going on and on talking and talking. i couldn't get over how cute she was.

that's it for now. good. i once heard a woman who is a survivor of the holocaust say that a boring evening at home is a good day. her words were so simple and profound, they touched me and i still remember them, even 10 years later. i suppose so, considering what she has been through, to be safe at home is one of the sweetest things...

silly

i was visiting a friend of mine once and he told me about the cutest little patisserie right down stairs from his apartment and how we should go there sometimes and have a coffee. it really is the cutest little thing. it's tiny with about six little tables inside. there they have croissants and cakes and pastries. the sweets really are quite yummy. there is a little cosy warm atmosphere about it as well. not a lot of people know about it i imagine, as it is never over crowed. it is always full, all six tables filled, and one might have to wait a few moments for one to open up. it's nice this way, this lovely little space hidden from the manhattan masses.

i've only been there a handful of times and each time i go there is, or shortly arriving, a little old lady with her few grocery bags. she sets them on a chair and orders a coffee and pastry and there she relaxes and enjoys. i think she must go there everyday, as i have only been there a few times, yet every time i go, she is there.

then you know what i thought? well, i thought, if i had a cute little cafe right down stairs from where i lived i would go everyday too. i really did think this and wish this, only a few months ago.

well. one has opened, right down stairs! i walk out my front door and take about seven steps and it is right there. and it is the cutest loveliest little thing. i was coming in one night, and the little windows had candles burning. sweet i tell you. and i really had to smile to myself, life is a funny thing. i feel like the angels like to have fun with me...

thing is, well 2 things. it might 'only' be a bakery. they have sweets and breads and coffee and tea cause i can see and look right in those big ol' pretty display windows with cook books and breads and goodies in the window.

the 2nd thing, which i am quite embarrassed to admit is that i've not been in. maybe they have been open for three or four weeks. i've been shy to go in, silly i know!! but i don't see any little cafe tables in there either, a place for sitting. there is a main area where all the goodies are, and in that space there is no seating. there is a big ol' archway toward the back (and it is a small space) that i see the people who work there disappear through, and i can't tell if there are tables back there.

so here i am thinking overtime about the cutest cafe that i want to visit everyday and i 'm too shy to go in, to cross the threshold. i think i will work up the courage soon, i'll go in for tea 'to go' and see what the deal is.

but i'm glad it's there, all sweet looking and everything, with their little candles burning in the window when i come in at night. and i should stop being so self centered, i imagine as a new business they are simply waiting for people to come on in and order lots...

i'll let you know more when i know more...

signes de printemps

little by little spring is finding it's way to us. love it! the sun is shining kinda big today, and the weekend was incredibly spring-like. oh i know we could get back to the winter greys at any moment, but signs of spring are particularly evident and i do loves it.

i hope you had a sweet weekend. i had some stuff to do and i got it done. when i made my deadline today i was particularly pleased. it felt good, and it makes me want to do more...

i watched the oscars last night, after i said i wouldn't. i've been a bit 'celebrityed out.' i made a little dinner, poured meself a nice glass of rasberry belgium beer (do you know it? it's de-lish), and watched the pretty dresses. that Christoph Waltz who won for inglorious basterds seems to be a true old school artist. one who takes his craft seriously. i hang on his every poetic word...

anywho, it's monday monday, and i do hope you are well. i'm coming 'round to see. thanks so much for your messages, i just love them. we have a little community here and i must admit i enjoy it.

be good you!

back real! soon

hello dear you! I am away from blogland longer than I want to be. i've been a bit tied up this week. but to tell the truth, i miss being here, so i will be back before you know it. just wanted to touch base and share me missing you. hope you are well and i am thinking of ya!

are you well?

love is what i send...

bisou!