Janmaree and Suzanne

Grey

2010-03-15T12:32:00.010+11:00

Come away with me,
come to the other side...
leave this world behind
with all its misery and pain
...fly with me.

The world went grey after
that day
and a part of me did die.

But the sunshine still I seek
and the hope it brings I still dream.
.

Words (made famous by Sex and The City The Movie)

2010-03-13T17:19:00.004+11:00

Here these beautiful words are in all their glory...
I wonder if they were ever sent, considering they were
found in Beethoven's belongings after his death?

Good morning, on July 7th

Even when I am in bed my thoughts rush to you, my eternally beloved, now and then joyfully, then again sadly, waiting to know whether Fate will hear our prayer--To face life I must live altogether with you or never see you. Yes, I am resolved to be a wanderer abroad until I can fly to your arms and say that I have found my true home with you and enfolded in your arms can let my soul be wafted to the realm on blessed spirits--alas, unfortunately it must be so--You will become composed, the more so as you know that I am faithful to you; no other woman can ever possess my heart--never--never--Oh God, why must one be separated from her who is so dear. Yet my life in V[ienna] at present is a miserable life--Your love has made me both the happiest and the unhappiest of mortals--At my age I now need stability and regularity in my life--can this coexist with our relationship?--Angel, I have just heard that the post goes every day--and therefore I must close, so that you may receive the letter immediately--Be calm; for only by calmly considering our lives can we achieve our purpose to live together--Be calm--love me--Today--yesterday--what tearful longing for you--for you--you--my life--my all--all good wishes to you--Oh, do continue to love me--never misjudge your lover's most faithful heart.

ever yours
ever mine
ever ours

L.

2010-03-13T17:09:00.002+11:00

"Act as you speak, speak as you feel; do not play false to your own conscience; do not cover your thoughts in a cloak of falsehood; do not suppress your conscience by forcibly enslaving it and embarking on actions not approved by it."

Sai Baba

Remember Me

2010-03-11T09:06:00.006+11:00

Do you ever feel like one of a kind?

Just got home from a pre-screening of REMEMBER ME at the Regent...beautiful movie, so incredibly stirring and terribly sad. I was left paralysed with emotion at the end, tears streaming down my face. I was hoping the lights wouldn't go on so quickly...that I would be given a little more time to collect myself but alas on they flicked! As all the chatty people streamed past me heading for the exit, I looked away hoping noone would notice me crying in the soft lighting. I thought, 'what is wrong with these people - why can they just jump up so quickly and be so verbal??'. I guess I identified strongly with this one and perhaps all the chatter was a good sign...that it got people thinking??

I adored Robert Pattinson's otherworldly presence, sensitivity and 'James Dean-ness' - there is this scene where he's in the bathtub with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth - strongly reminiscent of the late actor.

Loved the honesty in this film - it probably won't make it into my favourite top ten movies ever but I will remember, Remember Me.

Bright Star

2009-12-01T18:11:00.011+11:00

On the weekend I took myself off to see an advanced screening of the new Jane Campion film "Bright Star", a tale penned by Campion about the love affair between John Keats & Fanny Brawne. I have to say that this is the best film I have seen in quite some time, finally a period piece that doesn't try too hard, one that you can believe in. Oh, how I can see myself in Fanny Brawne - the shameless romantic, oh how I'm sick of the Jane Austin affair of love only being relinquished once a girls "situation" is assured of - Fanny loved Mr Keats unabashedly. And Abbie Cornish was delightful, I don't care whose husband she stole or any of that tabloid chatter, she is a GREAT actor. The scene in which she takes a key from around her neck to unlock a case for her beloved is perhaps one of the most erotic moments captured on film - I shuddered in my seat.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.

- KEATS

Love Letters - John Keats

2009-11-13T14:55:00.007+11:00

To Fanny Brawne, 1820

Sweetest Fanny,

- You fear sometimes I do not love you so much as you wish? My dear Girl, I love you ever and ever and without reserve. The more I have known, the more I have loved. In every way, - even my jealousies have been agonies of Love; in the hottest fit I ever had I would have died for you. I have vexed you too much. But for Love! Can I help it? You are always new. The last of your kisses was ever the sweetest, the last smile the brightest, the last movement the gracefullest. When you passed by my window home yesterday, I was filled with as much admiration as if I had seen you for the first time. You uttered half a complaint once that I only loved your beauty. Have I nothing else then to love in you but that? Do I not see a heart naturally furnished with wings imprison itself with me? No ill prospect has been able to turn your thoughts a moment from me. This perhaps should be as much a subject of sorrow as of joy - but I will not talk of that. Even if you did not love me I could not help an entire devotion to you: how much more deeply then must I feel for knowing you love me. My Mind has been the most discontented and restless one that was ever put into a body too small for it. I never felt my mind repose upon anything with complete and undistracted enjoyment - upon no person but you. When you are in the room my thoughts never fly out the window; you always concentrate my whole senses. The anxiety shown about our Loves in your last note is an immense pleasure to me; however, you must not suffer such speculations to molest you any more; nor will I any more believe you can have the least pique against me. Brown is gone out - but here is Mrs Wylie - when she is gone I shall be awake for you. Remembrances to your mother.

Your affectoinate,

J. Keats

Nude by Nature

2009-10-15T14:04:00.003+11:00

I just had to express how wonderful this product is - I have tried a variety of mineral based powders & this one is definitely the best. And it's made by an Australian company too!

THE LOVERS

2009-09-07T19:28:00.006+10:00

The grey sea and the long black land;

And the yellow half moon large & low;

And the startled little waves that leap

In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

As I gain the cove with pushing prow,

And quench it's speed I' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;

A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch

And blue spurt of a lighted match,

And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears

Than the two hearts beating each to each!

- Robert Browning

Inspirational women - Lily Cole 1988

2009-09-01T14:04:00.015+10:00

About time we paid tribute to a younger woman - Lily Cole the young English model with the flaming red hair and baby doll face who can look like a pre-raphaelite godess. In a sea of beautiful women gracing high fashion magazines she stands out - her face being emblazoned upon the mind long after the magazine is closed. You can sense there is "something more" - that Lily is not just a pretty face. She has remained committed to her ongoing education and is a student of Cambridge University, she is also a fierce defender of environmental causes. And then there is the budding film career - next to be seen in the much anticipated Terry Gilliam film "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus." Currently enjoying seeing her in the new Rimmel adds (nice change from Kate Moss).

Observations of Love...

2009-04-27T18:23:00.005+10:00

roses by Ngoc minh Ngo

"That deepest thing, that recognition, that knowledge, that sense of kinship began the first time I saw you, and it is the same now - only a thousand times deeper and tenderer. I shall love you to eternity. I loved you long before we met in this flesh. I knew that when I first saw you. It was destiny. We are together like this and nothing can shake us apart"

~Kahlil Gibran from Mary Haskell’s Journal
March 12, 1922

Tending the Garden

2009-04-17T01:12:00.009+10:00

photograph by Yvette Inufio

I will tend to this garden, I made a promise to you. Sorry it has been so long since I visited. Will you not bloom in the spring because I was not here? I think not. But perhaps there will not be the same strength in your boughs and the abundance of blossoms as there was, perhaps the weeds will have grown up a little too much across the passage and the vines stretched so far that the sun cannot reach you as it did, perhaps you will look a little wild and because of this have turned your face away from me?

I am here now and I will do what I can to make up for lost time. First, let me clear the passage so that I can reach you, let me gently pull down the vines that are blocking the sun to your gates, let me find that little garden chair of mine and let me sit with you, ponder your beauty and find your face again.

Oh dear garden, I hope I have not left you alone too long, please send your flowers - please let me know you will be alright. I have a feeling you will be, nature has a funny way of working things out.

~

PERCEPTION

2009-03-11T19:06:00.003+11:00

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are"

- Anais Nin -

Inspirational women - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis 1929-1994

2009-02-09T16:38:00.029+11:00

If anyone was ever born with style, elegance & taste it was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. It is said that Jackie was incapable of looking messy, whether she was wearing a designer ball gown or was dressed in jeans & a sweater - she always looked "infuriatingly perfect." She was famous for her simplicity which was & is unbelievably difficult to duplicate despite desperate efforts to do so. Her eye for style told her what most of us know but find it so hard to demonstrate: that "less is more."

In the 50's it was said that women either wanted to be Jackie Onassis or Marilyn Monroe - two women who were worlds apart. Jackie with her priveliged upbringing & elite education which included study at the Sorbonne & a Bachelor of Arts in French Literature, & Marilyn with a checkered past that she tried so hard to forget. Personally I can identify with them both & lie somewhere between the two.

Who could forget though the bravery & strength that Jackie showed after her husband was assasinated right by her side - how poised she remained in her pink Chanel suit splattered with her husbands blood. Anyone else, especially Marilyn, would have crumbled to pieces.

MAKING SENSE OF SUFFERING

2009-02-09T15:13:00.007+11:00

Good people everywhere are working hard to build a better world & to free it of suffering. Link arms with them & share their goals. Embrace suffering as a natural part of life. Just as shadow & light define each other and one cannot exist without the other, so it is with suffering & joy.

You can't know real joy if you've never known real suffering.

- Jack Wintz (Franciscan priest) -

Love Letters

2009-01-31T17:06:00.008+11:00

Dearest Anne,

I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instance hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating in - Wentworth.

- From "Persuasion" by Jane Austin

Things my mother taught me

2009-01-31T16:42:00.008+11:00

Common Courtesies - Even among the members of your own family, don't make the mistake of assuming that you can be late without phoning ahead, or that you can borrow something without asking. Also, Never arrive home with a treat unless you have more spare to share around.

Love Letters - John Keats

2009-01-25T17:23:00.007+11:00

"I cannot exist without you - I am forgetful of every thing but seeing you again - my life seems to stop there - I see no further. You have absorb'd me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I were dissolving ....I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion - I have shudder'd at it - I shudder no more - I could be martyr'd for my religion - love is my religion - I could die for that - I could die for you. My creed is love and you are its only tenet - you have ravish'd me away by a power I cannot resist"

- From John Keats to Fanny Brawne -

John Keats died from tuberculosis at an early age (25 years) and subsequently was not able to marry his great love (and fiancee) - one can only pray their hearts are entwined for all of eternity. What a terrible loss this must have been for Fanny, a loss she carried her whole life long no doubt (despite having from all accounts a promiscuous reputation).

This story prompts me to be grateful for the many advances in medical research that have enabled us to be less afflicted by such vexations so that we are free to live and marry as we wish. Of course in saying that, there are many more advances we hope for.

~

from The Brown Book

2009-01-25T17:17:00.001+11:00

A life which is unexamined is not worth living
- Plato -

10 gentle reminders

2009-01-23T16:41:00.005+11:00

1. Making others feel at ease is the essence of etiquette, yesterday & today.

2. There are few words more elementary or more welcomed than please & thank you

3. Good moods are contagious. Hopefully yours will be pleasantly catching.

4. Be aware & considerate of personal space- physical, visual & aural.

5. Showing respect is a gift, one that costs nothing & is endlessly appreciated.

6. Think of your tone of voice as a telegraph. To the listener it speaks volumes.

7. A short fuse does nothing but burn. Should you find yourself with one, steer clear of others.

8. Never underestimate the message that's sent by your poise and your posture.

9. Clothes count. Appropriate attire is not only respectful, it's refreshing.

10. Let common sense be your guide & graciousness your goal.

- Kate Spade-

Things My Mother Taught Me

2009-01-22T07:55:00.008+11:00

To do things to the best of my ability -
"If you are going to do a job, do it properly"!

Inspirational Women - Mother Teresa

2009-01-22T07:07:00.016+11:00

I remember as a teenager cherishing a picture of Mother Teresa that I had plucked from a Reader's Digest magazine and placed in a photo frame.

I was christened in the Catholic church but attended a Baptist church growing up, the message Mother Teresa imparted, however, negated - and is still able to negate, religious differences and views, her face and words transcend religion and appeal to our humanity.

Her mission to make the world a better place stirred me deeply, it was as if she had placed a light in my heart that made me believe that I too could impart beauty and love into this world and by doing so, impart social change.

Mother Teresa devoted (in every sense of the word) her life to the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India and cared for those that nobody wanted.

Mother Teresa received a number of awards and distinctions throughout her life including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972), the Balzan Prize (1979), the Templeton and Magsaysay awards and the Nobel Peace Prize (1979) but it is not for these awards that she will be remembered but instead for her tireless efforts to do "small things with great love" (Mother Teresa).

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbour... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting."
- Mother Teresa

A Love Letter Beethoven wrote...

2009-01-21T23:29:00.008+11:00

"Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours"

...a love letter found unaddressed in Beethoven's desk after he died. I wonder for whom it was that he formed such affections for? Such powerful words he wrote...a heart surely tangled up in love. Was it a married woman as some historians have suggested?

I Adore...

2009-01-21T23:12:00.005+11:00

Summer Afternoon

2009-01-21T23:06:00.004+11:00

" Summer afternoon - summer afternoon...
the two most beautiful words
in the English language"

- Henry James -

{photo is from my wedding day}

All of it, unknown to us, exists within us - The Brown Book

2009-01-19T19:19:00.002+11:00

"I am led to believe that everything we have seen, known, perceived, heard- even the trees of a deep forest- nay, even the disposition of the branches, the form of the leaves and the variety of the colours, the green tints and the light; the look of grains of sand at the edge of the sea, the unevenness of the crests of waves, whether agitated by a light breeze, or churned to foam by a storm, the multitude of human voices, of animal cries, and physical sounds, the melody and harmony of all songs, of all pieces of music, of all the concerts we have listened to, all of it, unknown to us, exists within us."
~Diderot

Things my mother taught me

2009-01-19T19:11:00.007+11:00

I usually share things that have been passed on to me from my own mother but as my husbands mother passed away just 4 days ago I thought I'd ask him to what he believed was the most important thing she had taught him. He didn't hesitate in saying - that

"people are different"

- my husband lives by this moto of tollerance & I try to ascribe to it when I can. Thank you Vilai for instilling this virtue in my husband, you will be dearly missed.

From The Brown Book

2009-01-18T17:59:00.005+11:00

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are
tiny matters compared to what lies within
US"

- Emerson -

Great women from art, literature & myth

2009-01-18T16:01:00.009+11:00

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery is one of my all time favourite tales as I'm sure it is for many other girls. Who could forget the misadventures & calamities of Anne Shirley (Anne spelt with an 'E'), the red haired orphan girl who comes to live with Marilla Cuthbert & her brother Matthew on Prince Edward Island. They had asked for a boy from the orphanage but a mix up led to them getting Anne instead & what a handful she turned out to be. Who could forget the time she dyed her hair green after the peddler on the road assured her it would turn her tresses into "a beautiful raven black" or when she nearly drowned after the boat sank when she was acting out the Lady of Shallot. One of my favourites would have to be the mouse getting in the sauce after she forgot to put the cover on it and how she described it as "a romantic way to perish.....for a mouse." Intelligent, imaginative & an incurable romantic, Anne worms her way into everyones affections, including one Gilbert Blythe - a fellow class mate whose second encounter with Anne ends up with him having a slate cracked over his head. One of my most beloved scenes is the following where Marilla & Matthew are seeing Anne off at the train station when she is heading off to college:

Marilla: I'm afraid for her, Matthew. She'll be gone so long. She'll get terrible lonesome.

Matthew: You mean, we'll get terrible lonesome.

Marilla: I can't help wishing that she'd stayed a little girl.

Matthew: Mrs. Spencer made a lucky mistake, I guess.

Marilla: It wasn't luck; it was Providence. God knew we needed her.

Matthew: Even with her queer little ways.

Marilla: I loved her for them.

Inspirational women - Juliette Binoche 1964 -

2009-01-17T17:59:00.007+11:00

French film actress Juliette Binoche is quite possibly the most beautiful woman I have ever seen & is my favourite actress. I still recall the first time I saw her, which was in The Unbearable Lightness of Being as Tereza - I fell in love with that character, as I also did with Julie (three colours: Blue); Hana (the English Patient) & Vianne (Chocolat). To me Juliette epitomises beauty of a timeless nature and has aged so gracefully, unlike many of her contemporaries.

Great women from art, literature & myth

2009-01-11T21:36:00.016+11:00

Take me out on the waves where
The mermaids swim & play
Where they sing songs of enchantment

& comb their tresses by day

But when darkness falls upon the sea
Don’t leave the helm case you stray
Into wild waters where ships they pass
Like ghosts on murky mists of grey

For they’ll drag you down into their depths
If you should lose your way

They'll take your life or give it back

So spare me please...I pray

Things my mother taught me

2009-01-10T15:43:00.010+11:00

The healing power of the sun - to this day my parents will not allow me to sleep in - even when I am on holidays. When I was living with my parents my mother would enter my bedroom in the morning, throw open the curtains & start singing: "Let the sun shine in, face it with a grin. Smilers never lose & frowners never win"...." so open up your heart & let the sun shine in." Now that I'm an adult l can appreciate the benefit of exposure to sunlight & know of the many healing properties of the sun - of how light therapy can be used to combat depression; how it can also help fight bacteria & fungus & how it is essential for the body to synthesize vitamin D. Almost every living thing needs a little sunshine.

Things my mother taught me

2009-01-04T16:30:00.009+11:00

To be upfront and to not play with peoples emotions. To never scheme or invent drama just to keep your life "exciting" or to "keep a man on his toes"- for he will soon tire of you, as will others. Games are meant for little children.

"Never idealise others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don't over analyse your relationships.
Stop playing games.

A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness"

- Leo F. Buscaglia -

Delectable delight

2009-01-03T19:21:00.015+11:00

I have discovered the best chocolate I have ever & I mean EVER tasted - Lindt excellence chilli. If you have not tried it get your hands on some - you will not be disappointed. My husband is even raving about it & he usually hates dark chocolate. At first bite you wonder where the chilli is & then there it is! - right at the back of your throat.... a strange but delectable sensation. It reminds me of that scene in Chocolat where Vianne puts chilli in the hot chocolate "to awaken the passion" - simply delightful.

Inspirational women - Annie Proulx 1935 -

2009-01-03T12:58:00.007+11:00

Annie Proulx, the great American novelist who received the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for The Shipping News. A champion for mature age students everywhere, Annie completed her Bachelor of Arts in History in 1969 at the age of 34. After a period of writing as a journalist and having short works of fiction published in newspapers & magazines, Annie had her fist novel published in 1992. Annie Proulx has written some of my all time favourite tales, which along with The Shipping News includes: Postcards; The Old Ace in the Hole & her short story Brokeback Mountain. Each and every one of her books that I've read have reduced me to tears, and not in a silly sentimental way but as in they have stirred up something deep inside my guts - her storytelling takes you right there, to the source of it all. Thank you for what you do Annie, you're my inspiration.

-Happy New Year-

2009-01-01T10:30:00.009+11:00

Happy New Year,
may you be blessed,
blessed abundantly in 2009.

What a wondrous and exciting day it is,

I wonder what lays beyond
these newly opened doors
for you?

Things my mother taught me

2008-12-30T19:00:00.005+11:00

To give of my time & my money to causes that I believe in & am passionate about. For my mother this has included working with young mothers - teaching them to sew & looking after their children at "playtime" and also the sponsoring of overseas missionaries. I still remember how excited my mum became when she & her friends had raised enough money to purchase a motorcycle for a young minister from the Phillipines. Thank you mum for fostering a spirit of Charity within me.

Things My Mother Taught Me

2008-12-27T04:27:00.013+11:00

To take care of my belongings;
to not be wasteful.

As a little girl I remember bathing my dolls
and grooming them carefully,
I would dust down my ornaments
and wipe them gently clean.

I have been able to pass on
a few of my old toys to my daughter
(she finds much pleasure in them,
they are like a museum of my
childhood to her- little connections

to her Mother's world)
and I have kept a few for myself.

My Mother was also
able to pass down to me
the only doll she ever owned.
As a child I felt sad that my Mother

only ever owned one doll; for I
lived in a world of plenty and
could not imagine how I would
feel owning only one doll.
I named the doll after my Mother,

Desley Josephine.

Desley Josephine was an example
to me of my Mother's success
in taking good care of her belongings -
this made me want to look after my many dolls.
I still own this precious old doll,
which My Aunt Norma Jean
bought for Mother in the 1950's.
~

2008-12-24T16:51:00.001+11:00

Merry Christmas

peace on earth & goodwill to all

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-12-23T16:01:00.005+11:00

Titania, Queen of all the Fairies.

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in'

- Oberon from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"-

2008-12-23T14:58:00.014+11:00

I believe I discovered a bottled piece of heaven today - I tested L'eau D'Issey by Issey Miyake for the first time & now I just have to have it!

"It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival & prolongs your departure"

- Coco Chanel (on Perfume)-

2008-12-20T20:18:00.003+11:00

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

-LEONARDO DA VINCI-

A Few of My Favourite Things - Lace

2008-12-20T13:23:00.005+11:00

Lace has been coveted for many a generation.
Such a beautiful thing is a piece of lace.
~

Things My Mother Taught Me

2008-12-20T13:00:00.005+11:00

To Love
To Laugh
To Dream
To Cook
To Sew
To Knit
To Tinker
To Garden
~

2008-12-19T10:47:00.004+11:00

'Stressed' spelled backwards is 'Desserts'

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-12-18T13:16:00.018+11:00

Frida Kahlo 1907-1954 was born in Mexico City. Frida began to paint while she was an inpatient in hospital after a bus accident left her with a crushed back, pelvis & leg, leaving her in chronic pain the remainder of her life. A metal bar had impaled Frida's abdomen & uterus during the accident which subsequently affected her reproductive capabilities. As a child Frida had also contracted Polio which had left her lower limbs disfigured - it is estimated that she endured up to 35 operations during her lifetime. Frida had a special easel made so she could paint from her hospital bed, the majority of her paintings were self portraits expressing her pain & suffering as well as her sexual experimentation.

The first of the two paintings, "The broken column," depicts her body as being split apart like a cavernous fissure in a landscape left ravaged by an earthquake. Like the barren earth behind her, her body is empty - unable to nurture life, the only thing that exists is a column that is shattered to pieces and is being held precariously together by a corset & Frida's own rigid stance. Nails pierce her skin & tears drive down her checks yet her stoic expression denies the presence of any pain.

The second painting, "Self-portriat with thorn necklace and hummingbird", shows Frida with a thorny collar that is peircing her neck - leaving her once again rigid & unable to move freely. A dead hummingbird sits like a pendant on her chest - a token of her ressurection. On her shoulder sits a black monkey, symbolic of lust & sexuality - is it helping Frida get out of the thorny garland or is it helping construct the torturous necklace? And the black cat - is it steeped in superstition & bad luck or is it associated with anarchism of which Frida was increasingly an active participant? Or is Frida trying to tell us something altogether different?

Things my mother taught me

2008-12-17T10:40:00.015+11:00

Creamy potato mash - the best mashed potatoes you'll ever have - guaranteed!

1kg of pink eye potatoes
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 large knob of butter
& extra salt (for boiling)

Peel the potatoes, cut into pieces & place in pan of salted boiling water. Boil for about 10-15 minutes (until tender & cooked through). Drain off all the water and then add remaining ingredients & mash together until creamy & smooth with no lumps.

serves 4 - Enjoy!

Inspirational women - Dorothy Porter 1954 - 2008

2008-12-15T15:41:00.014+11:00

Dorothy Porter one of Australia's greatest poets died last week aged 54 after a four year battle with breast cancer.

Roses

a dark rose

floats

in a bowl

of light water

its scent creeps

like a slow spider

up my face

and it stings

in the eyes

so I cry

for pleasure

for no reason

in Nefrititi's rose room.

-from "Akhenaten" -

Things my mother taught me

2008-12-14T10:25:00.003+11:00

To never hate, it takes so much energy to hate someone or something. When we chose to hate we become angry, bitter & hostile.

From The Brown Book

2008-12-09T18:48:00.004+11:00

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry from Le Pétit Prince

Things My Mother Taught Me

2008-12-09T18:30:00.003+11:00

To Always...
Be honest;
Embrace the feelings of my heart completely;
Be brave when it comes to the matters of the heart;
Stand up for my beliefs;
Not cave in to peer pressure and passing fades;
Listen to my inner voice.

Things my mother taught me

2008-12-08T09:25:00.009+11:00

Those old world manners, which have served me well in life but have also been the cause of bitter disappointment with fellow mankind.

BEAUTY

2008-12-08T08:04:00.006+11:00

The perception of beauty is a moral test

-Henry David Thoreau-

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-12-06T09:42:00.009+11:00

You may find them swimming in the seas -

off Shetland and off Orkney
In the cover of darkness you may see them shed their pelt
And come ashore as beautiful maidens
To wander the earth for a time

If by chance you can capture a skin
A human existence she must endure
And become lover, wife and mother

But if she should ever find her pelt
She will once again slip into her Selkie skin
And to the sea return
Without hesitation
Without regret

CONNECTION

2008-12-05T17:37:00.009+11:00

Once a woman came to the Buddha holding the corpse of her dead child, wailing in her anguish and pleading with the Buddha to bring the child back to life. The Buddha said that to do this he would need a rare ingredient: a mustard seed from the household of a family that had never known death. He sent the woman out to find such a mustard seed. But her desperate search yielded no such seed - only many stories of grief as great as and greater than her own. In the end these stories connected her deeply to her own suffering and so she was healed from her anguish.

excerpt from: 'Taking our places' by Norman Fischer

Inspirational women - Nigella Lawson 1960 -

2008-12-05T07:08:00.009+11:00

I absolutely adore Nigella Lawson, not only did she teach me how to cook but she has helped me embrace being a "curvaceous" woman. I love how she formats her cooking books - it's as though she is right there in the kitchen with you, I love how unabashedly excited she gets over food. Nigella makes me want to be a "domestic goddess", she makes me want to be a better wife, step-mother and aunt. I like her recipes even better for the fact that she is not a chef, but that her formal education is in medieval & modern languages. I love that she went to Oxford University - that she uses elaborate adjectives to describe her cooking, making her recipies into delightful tales for the reader to enjoy.

Nigella is also an avid supporter of the Lavender Trust which gives support to young women with breast cancer, she lost her own sister to breast cancer in 1993.

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-12-05T05:59:00.008+11:00

Jeanne Hébuterne in red shawl by Modigliani is perhaps one of the saddest paitings ever put to canvas. Who would have guessed that in less than a year the artist, his muse, and their unborn child would all be dead. Modigliani, aged 35, from ill health, Jeanne at 21, throwing herself from their apartment window 2 days after his death. They had met just 2 years earlier when she was an idealistic young art student and he was the struggling but brilliant artist.

The tilt of her head, the vacant stare – eyes like frozen lakes in winter. Is she looking at you, through you, or past you into another dimension?

Things my mother taught me

2008-12-04T13:59:00.005+11:00

To treat others as you yourself wish to be treated. If you want respect, be respectful. If you want kindness, be kind.

I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.

-SPINOZA-

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-12-03T09:41:00.004+11:00

In the dead of night
I hear her cries
Reach deep and dark
Into my being
Into my bones
At the waters edge she wails
Her unearthly song
She calls me by name
Like a knell from Hell
My angel of death
My Banshee bride

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-12-02T08:36:00.013+11:00

Celie from Alice Walker’s “The Colour Purple”

From an early age, Celie is subjected to a life of abuse and is told she is ugly. Because of this she shies away in silence, and learns to hide her smile. When alone Celie's talks to God - to Celie God is a remote figure whom she fears doesn’t much care for her.

Celie does little to fight back against her stepfather, Alphonso – and soon finds herself pregnant with his children – both of whom die. She is then married off to an equally abusive man, who separates her from her beloved sister Nettie. Then along comes Shug Avery, a strong beautiful woman, who slowly over time becomes closer & closer to Celie. Shug helps Celie restore pride in herself by showing her love and tenderness. Celie once again learns to smile and develops the courage to fight back.

Celie’s new found self worth transforms her into a creative, successful, independent woman whom life has seen fit to shower with happiness. This comes through being reunited with her long lost sister & her own children whom she believed were dead.

The colour purple won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1983 and was later developed into an acclaimed film.

“Listen, God love everything you love—and a mess of stuff you don’t. But more than anything else, God love admiration….Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

From The Brown Book

2008-12-02T07:51:00.005+11:00

Encouragement is the light suspended in my soul that says,
"take the curtains down and shine".

From The Brown Book

2008-12-02T07:47:00.005+11:00

A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.

- Lao Tzu

The Wives Book

2008-12-01T11:06:00.013+11:00

I found the following joke in 'The wives book: for the wife who's best at everything:'

three women, one a girlfriend, one a mistress and one a wife decided to surprise their men by dressing up in sexy leather outfits, high heels and leather masks. A few days later they compared notes:

'My boyfriend came home and found me in the leather bodice, steletto's and mask,' said the girlfriend. 'He was so thrilled he said, "You are the woman for me. Will you marry me?" Then we made love all night long.'
'I met my man at our little love-nest,' said the mistress. 'I was in the leather bodice, stilettos and mask and he was speechless, but we had great sex all night.'

'I sent the kids to my mother's for the night,' said the wife. 'Then I put on the leather bodice, stilettos and mask. My husband came home from work, opened the door and said, "All right, Batman, what's for dinner?"'

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-30T12:43:00.012+11:00

With Christmas time approaching what better excuse do you need to get in the kitchen & do some baking. Rum balls are one of my favourite treats at Christmas and they are so easy to make - you simply can't go wrong & they taste GREAT!

Ingredients:

400g condensed milk
225g crushed sweet biscuits
1 cup coconut
1 ½ cups cocoa
60 mls of rum (or to taste)
1 cup chopped raisins

& extra coconut to roll

Mix all ingredients together, roll into balls & then roll in coconut - leave in fridge to harden. Package them up in noodle boxes & give them to a neighbour or a friend, but don't forget to tell them about the rum!

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-29T14:40:00.006+11:00

Never go to bed with anger in your heart. If you have quarelled with someone say sorry even if you believe you are in the right - winning an argument may bring you short term satisfaction but will not lead to any lasting happiness or reward.

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-29T06:40:00.014+11:00

Spain by Surrealist painter Salvador Dali - a painting making use of double imagery in the form of a female figure, reminiscent of a Renaissance painting, to symbolise the Spanish Civil War. The female form is made up of groups of men, women & horses in the mist of battle, she is seen to be leaning on a chest of drawers symbolising the opening of the subconscious - the unveiling of the hidden. Dali himself viewed the War as a "phenomenon of natural history," he saw it as being something that was essential to reveal the core of Spain's heritage. And the scarf or banner that sits half in half out of the drawer, with its meaty texture & colour, could be equally interpreted as a "pound of flesh".

"that this earth of Spain held hidden in the depths of it's entrails."

-DALI-

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-28T07:05:00.006+11:00

Psyche:

"Oh box of beauty,
Can I not have a little of you for myself
After all I have been through the gates of hell
& back again just to capture you
To deliver you unto my queen
Can’t I take just a little?
To make my hair more golden
To make my eyes more blue
For I’m tired from my journey
My face, my body ravaged by the task
If I just take a little peep at you
I doubt that Venus would mind
For I’m so tired, so very tired
So tired that I fear I may just fall
....asleep"

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-27T16:13:00.017+11:00

Catherine Earnshaw, the tragic heroine of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, soon becomes inseparable from Heathcliff, the gypsy-demon child her father brings home from the streets of Liverpool. In their youth they pass the days together, as wild as the windy moors that surround their home. Raised as brother & sister, but not, as time passes, fate has it that Heathcliff is relegated to mere farm hand whilst Catherine is encouraged to become a lady & is pursued by the eligible Edgar Linton. After receiving a marriage proposal from Edgar, Cathy approaches Nelly for advice, not knowing that Heathcliff stands nearby able to hear every word.

"It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."

On overhearing this Heathcliff leaves the Heights. Many years pass & he returns, after making his fortune, to reclaim Wuthering Heights & Cathy. He does everything in his power to torment & bring ruin to those who have crossed him – including his beloved Catherine.

If only Heathcliff had not overheard that conversation between Cathy & Nelly, would things have turned out any different? Or if he had listened in a little longer he would have heard what Cathy was really saying, what was really in her heart.

"My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees - but my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath - a source of little visible delight, but necessary”

"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

Even when Catherine is dead Heathcliff continues his need to consume her, whether this be through the capture & containment of her daughter, or the ceaseless summoning of her spirit - forever denying it peace. Yet you get the feeling Cathy would have chosen this regardless, anything to be near him, her Heathcliff.... her "Home"

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-27T13:38:00.017+11:00

From an early age my mother taught me of the reality of marriage, that for a relationship to last you have to be willing to do two things - to forgive & to compromise. My parents have been married for 45 years, have had their ups & downs but are closer now than ever.

"Love is an ideal thing. Marriage is a real thing."

-GOETHE-

Inspirational Women - Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce

2008-11-26T12:21:00.014+11:00

Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce was sworn is as Australia's 25th Governor General on 5 September 2008. Upon my first meeting with Ms Bryce, I was in awe of her exuberance, her charisma, her immaculate presentation, her enquiring eyes.

I did not recognise her and started to enquire as to what her vocation in life was, I said assumingly, "You are a leader, a lawyer perhaps?". To which Ms Bryce so politely said, "Yes I was a lawyer, I am the Governor of Queensland" (this was before being appointed Governor General). To which I replied, "oh of course you are" (I then had images of her face flooding back to me from news stories I had seen her in. Needless to say I was terribly embarrassed).

I have had few people influence me in my life as Ms Bryce has - she has this incredible way of making you feel like you can take on the world. I remember after my first encounter with Ms Bryce walking around for days looking for extra ways to make a difference and feeling empowered, feeling like I could do something great, something wonderful on this earth - truly made me feel like she was pulling the best out of me. What an incredible craft!

I have met Ms Bryce only a few times - the last time we spoke I said to her, "You are such an inspiration to me". And she so graciously said, "Janmaree, you are an inspiration to me". I was lost for words, how could I be an inspiration to this wonderful woman - a true tower of strength to so many, the Governor General of Australia?!

It came as no surprise to me when I read a piece about her that contained these words:

"As a mother and grandmother, Quentin is a role model and mentor to women at every stage of their lives. She values and encourages women’s capacity to form strong and enduring bonds of friendship, intellectual and emotional enrichment, and mutual support in their roles within the family, workplace and community." (www.gg.gov.au/governorgeneral/content.php?id=40).

Ms Quentin Bryce you are amazing. I thank you for the wonderful light you are to so many. I am blessed to have met you and am forever changed for it.

The Brown Book

2008-11-26T12:07:00.007+11:00

No one can come close to another, let alone love him, without coming close to his sufferings.

- Houselander -

Carry On

2008-11-26T12:02:00.005+11:00

Carry on, carry on -
as withered as you feel,
carry on.
The winds of life
will breathe air into
your tired lungs.
Trust, trust, trust.

from The Brown Book
- Sunflower -

Inspirational women - Dame Anita Roddick 1942-2007

2008-11-25T12:32:00.009+11:00

Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in 1976 at the age of 34; today it is the 2nd most trusted brand in the UK. During those grassroots days Anita set the foundations for a new way of conducting business, The Body Shop was the first to prohibit the use of ingredients tested on animals & was also one of the first to promote fair trade with third world countries. In 1993 Anita spoke of her early days of building up the business:

“The original Body Shop was a series of brilliant accidents. It had a great smell, it had a funky name. It was positioned between two funeral parlours--that always caused controversy. It was incredibly sensuous. It was 1976, the year of the heat wave, so there was a lot of flesh around. We knew about storytelling then, so all the products had stories. We recycled everything, not because we were environmentally friendly, but because we didn’t have enough bottles. It was a good idea. What was unique about it, with no intent at all, no marketing nous, was that it translated across cultures, across geographical barriers and social structures. It wasn’t a sophisticated plan, it just happened like that”

In her later years she dedicated more and more of her time to charitable work; this included founding COTE (children on the edge) for orphans, and working for the UN and Greenpeace. Towards the end of her life she also grew to be less materialistic and gave away a great deal of her fortune. Upon her death she left her entire estate to charity.

"Get informed. Get inspired. Get outraged. Get Active"

Anita Roddick

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-24T13:31:00.009+11:00

Mariana by John Everett Millais was first shown at the Royal Academy in 1851 where the painting was accompanied by the following lines from the eponymous Tennyson poem:

She only said, ‘My life is dreary-
He cometh not’ she said;
She said, ‘I am aweary, aweary –
I would that I were dead’.

How long has she been sitting there, waiting for her lover to return? The leaves turn brown & fall to the ground about her feet; mice scavenge the floor for remnants from her table. You can almost feel the warmth of the stool where Mariana has sat waiting….wanting – she arches her back now & lengthens out her fatigued frame. Her face, one of a woman past caring with no more tears to shed, tells of her desertion….of her abandonment. The rich tapestries that adorn the room; the lush velvet of her dress; now mere reminders of a tomorrow that may never come.

Things My Mother Taught Me

2008-11-24T08:25:00.009+11:00

To be polite, very polite: listen when I am spoken to, say hello and goodbye to guests, excuse myself from a conversation if needed, wait patiently for others and never cause a fuss.

2008-11-24T08:11:00.006+11:00

Lives of great men remind us,
We can make our lives sublime
And departing leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time

from The Brown Book
- H.W. Longfellow -

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-23T16:34:00.006+11:00

I can see them now
Approaching on their chariots
They ride into war
The Valkyrie,
Ready to administer their mark upon men.
Odin’s charges,
Warrior maidens of light,
Tell me, who will fight alongside the great god?
Who will see the battle at the end of the world?
She beckons me now,
Freyja, the mighty mistress of the slain.
She crowns me victorious,
She takes my armour,
Retains my sword
And guides me onwards to Asgard

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-22T15:17:00.023+11:00

To never be tardy & always be on time, if not a little early - with everything!

"People count the faults of those who keep them waiting"

-French proverb-

Inspirational women - Florence Nightingale 1820-1910

2008-11-21T15:03:00.012+11:00

Florence Nightingale, Nurse, writer and gifted statistician. Florence was born into a wealthy upper class British family in which she was expected to “marry well” & become a “homemaker” & “mother.” In defiance of her parents wishes Florence chose to become a nurse & devote her life to furthering the profession. Florence’s family were devastated, especially her mother, for in those days nursing had a poor reputation, being performed mostly by poorer women, whose duties resembled that of a cook rather than nurse. Florence chose to remain unmarried so she could dedicate herself fully to her work, despite having her share of suitors, including politician and poet Richard Monckton Milnes, the 1st Baron of Houghton. Florence carved out a name for herself in the Crimean war, she made extensive use of statistics and was a pioneer in the area of public health & sanitation. Florence not only had a profound effect upon the education of nurses in Britain but also mentored Linda Richards - America's first trained nurse.

Amongst her many accomplishments, Florence was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria in 1883, and in 1907 she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit. International Nurses Day is celebrated annually on her birthday, May 12th.

Lo! In that hour of misery

A lady with a lamp I see

Pass through the glimmering gloom,

And flit from room to room.
-Longfellow-

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-20T10:37:00.013+11:00

Countess Ellen Olenska from Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, a controversial character, full of passion & brute honesty. Newly arrived from Europe, where she has presumably left her husband, she arrives in New York to face the gossip & brutal criticism of its citizens. Amongst them is her cousin May & her fiancé Newland Archer. Ellen is like no one Newland has ever met; all his convictions (including his love for May) are suddenly thrown into doubt. And the high society of upper class New York which he once found so engaging becomes vacuous & dull. A rapturous love develops between Ellen & Newland, a love quelled by an unforgiving world, a world where rules reign over truth.

The Age of Innocence was the winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize - the first Pulitzer ever awarded to a woman. The following passage is one of my favourites:

When the men joined the ladies after dinner the Duke went straight up to the Countess Olenska, and they sat down in a corner and plunged into animated talk. Neither seemed aware that the Duke should first have paid his respects to Mrs. Lovell Mingott and Mrs. Headley Chivers, and the countess have conversed with that amiable hypochondriac, Mr. Urban Dagonet of Washington Square, who, in order to have the pleasure of meeting her, had broken through his fixed rule of not dinning out between January and April. The two chatted together for nearly twenty minutes; then the Countess rose and, walking alone across the wide drawing-room, sat down at Newland Archer’s side.

It was not the custom in New York drawing-rooms for a lady to get up and walk away from one gentleman in order to seek the company of another. Etiquette required that she should wait, immovable as an idol, while the men who wished to converse with her succeeded each other at her side. But the Countess was apparently unaware of having broken any rule; she sat at perfect ease in a corner of the sofa beside Archer, and looked at him with the kindest eyes.

“I want you to talk to me about May,” she said
Instead of answering her he asked: “You knew the Duke before?”
“Oh, yes – we used to see him every winter at Nice. He’s very fond of gambling – he used to come to the house a great deal.” She said it in the simplest manner, as if she had said: “He’s fond of wild-flowers”; and after a moment she added candidly: “I think he’s the dullest man I ever met.”

**********

“May is a darling; I’ve seen no young girl in New York so handsome and so intelligent. Are you very much in love with her?”
Newland Archer reddened and laughed. “As much as a man can be”
She continued to consider him thoughtfully, as if not to miss any shade of meaning in what he said, “Do you think, then, there is a limit?”

2008-11-20T08:11:00.010+11:00

Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows;
for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be we shall touch the happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho 'much is taken, much abides; & tho'
We are not now that strength which in old
days moved earth & heaven; that which we
are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time & fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson -
An English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry, 1809-1892
from The Brown Book

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-19T08:12:00.015+11:00

Natural skin exfoliation is part of any good skin care regime. Regular use of an Exfoliant helps to keep your skin looking and feeling younger, smoother and healthier. Here is an exfoliant that you can whip up in seconds using ingredients from your kitchen cupboard.

my mother's recipe:
2 tablespoons of baking soda
2 tablesppons of oatmeal

& honey to form a paste - add a little water & you have your first application. If you don't fancy getting sticky you can always use
sorboline cream/lotion to form the paste (I use Cetaphil cleanser)

massage gently over face & neck & it's great for your hands as well!

I always make just enough for one application because it is so easy to do & that way it is always fresh too!

ENJOY!

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-19T07:56:00.008+11:00

Who is this, who has startled the deer?
Who has filled the woods with fear.... with fear
A young man, a hunter on the chase
Oh how beautiful, how lovely is his face….his face

I will follow him till I know what I must say
For with me words just get in the way….the way
He sees me now & harks “let us two meet”
And folish me all I can do is repeat.....repeat

Does he not share my new found love?
He flees and cries “enough”….enough
Ashamed I fall down in the grass
Until my time has passed….has passed

I see him now down by the spring
Gazing into its depths & wondering….wondering
At just how beautiful, how perfect he is
Until the earth below is his….is his

You can hear me call from cave, from hall
To you I am Echo, that is all…..is all
& by the spring daffodils grow tall
In remembrance of Narcissus, my love…my all

2008-11-18T22:34:00.008+11:00

This world is full
of opportunities
which so few ever
do find;
They search the earth
near and far
but thet never
search their minds

- Laudividni -
from The Brown Book

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-18T20:52:00.016+11:00

To match my lipstick with my outfit -

I remember being about five when my Mother first put lipstick on me for a special party - a very soft pink, close to my natural lip colour. I remember feeling the creamy texture and my Mother saying, "Now rub your lips together to make the colour sit just right".

When I was 15 my Mother took me to the cosmetics floor of a major department store and introduced me to the many collections of beautiful lipsticks - I was allowed to pick one to take home. My selection was Rasberry Glace by Clinique. My Mother continued to indulge me in all things cosmetic and taught me how to mix the lipstick palette to get just the right shade to match my outfits!

The way to do this:

1. Paint your lips with one coat of lipstick, the closest in colour to your frock as you can find!

2. Choose the next colour from your collection that will add just the right shade of colour to tint the first coat of lipstick to match your outfit perfectly - add a second coat using this shade. Sometimes a third colour is needed to achieve the desired shade - simply add a third coat!

3. To look extra dashing, finish with a top coat of clear gloss.

4. Remember to rub your lips together to mix the colour and smooth your lipstick across your lips to make it sit just right!

These days I can pop on my lipstick without looking, own far too many shades and consider this my favourite cosmetic of all time.

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-17T09:53:00.011+11:00

The birth of Venus, the grand Renaissance painting by Sandro Botticelli, was quite controversial in its day, going against the trend of Roman Catholic influence by showcasing a secular & mythological theme. Venus (Greek-Aphrodite), the goddess of love, beauty, laughter & marriage – arises from out of the sea. Roman & Greek Legend has it that when the god Uranus was castrated & his genitals thrown into the sea, the foam gave rise to Venus. At that very moment the rose flower also came into being – the rose, a universal symbol of love with its thorns reminding us that love can be both cruel & dangerous. Venus is greeted on her right by the west wind Zephyr, the gentle breeze of spring - he ushers her to shore. With him is his bride Flora the goddess that holds “perpetual sway over flowers” – she showers Venus with pink roses. To her left stands the hour spirit Horae – the nymph of spring, waiting to clothe a naked Venus & guide her to dry land.

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-17T08:31:00.019+11:00

To do a little exercise each day - whether you feel like it or not. I remember going for long walks with my mother when I was as young as six. On the odd ocassion my eldest brother Peter would run up ahead, unbeknownst to mum & I, climb up a tree & jump down on us - he loved terrifying the life out of people....& still does

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

-Thoreau-

Fragile Things

2008-11-16T10:52:00.006+11:00

How fragile is a flower!
It may not last an hour!
Even more fragile are imaginings.

Yet thoughts and flowers both
possess the gift of growth.
I wonder at the strength of fragile things:

On a harsh peak, where rock
is shattered by the shock
of wind & frost, a fragile flower survives.

Oh, and one Christ-centred thought,
too tenuous to be caught
alters the whole direction of our lives.

James Dillet Freeman
from The Brown Book

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-16T10:29:00.010+11:00

Circe, great apothecary of Aeaea
What strange alchemy have you cast?
Your enemies, they prowl about your throne,
Awaiting the day you restore them back to life.

Circe, great sorceress of the sea
Who can resist your many charms?
Ten years of battle has seen the fall of Troy,
How long must it be till I reach my home?

Circe, this past year you have held me captive
As your lover, as your slave.
Be true to your word – your promise
And guide me home to Ithaca once again....

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-15T10:25:00.011+11:00

Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s tale of Russian aristocracy, a story of forbidden love - of a love that cost one woman everything. When a married Anna first meets Vronsky there is an instant attraction, an immediacy & danger forged when they both witness a fatal accident at a train station. The two soon become secret lovers, until a public show of affection forces them to confess to a passion much too strong to hide. A proud husband and a society that prides itself upon certain principles (at the sacrifice of both truth & honesty); make it impossible for Anna to find peace. She is shunned by society, her husband refusing to let her go, despite being indifferent towards her; her lover resenting her for what she has cost him. In an act of final desperation, Anna is driven to do the unthinkable:

A feeling seized her like that she had experienced when preparing to enter the water in bathing, and she crossed herself. The familiar gesture of making the sign of the cross called up a whole series of girlish and childish memories, and suddenly the darkness, that obscured everything for her, broke, and life showed itself to her for an instant with all it’s bright past joys. But she did not take her eyes off the wheels of the approaching second carriage, and at the very moment when the midway point between the wheels drew level, she threw away her red bag, and drawing her head down between her shoulders threw herself forward on her hands under the carriage, and with a light movement as if preparing to rise again, immediately dropped on her knees. And at that same moment she was horror-struck at what she was doing. “Where am I? What am I doing? Why?” She wished to rise, to throw herself back, but something huge and relentless struck her on the head and dragged her down. “God forgive me everything!” she said, feeling the impossibility of struggling…..A little peasant muttering something was working at the rails. The candle, by the light of which she had been reading that book full of anxieties, deceptions, grief, and evil, flared up with a brighter light than before, lit up for her all that had before been dark, flickered, began to grow dim, and went out for ever.

2008-11-15T09:13:00.004+11:00

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

from The Brown Book
Ecc. 9 v 11

Great women from art, literature & myth

2008-11-14T15:13:00.012+11:00

Venus of Willendorf, crafted from limestone some 25,000 years ago – a relic from the Palaeolithic ages. A woman so large & yet so small - standing at all of 4 ½ inches tall, she was discovered on the banks of the Danube. But this Venus could not stand at all as her tiny feet fail to support her frame, suggesting that perhaps she was meant to always be held. Is her face downcast or is she faceless? Her thin arms they drape over bulging breasts; her vulva pulses out - protruding from between her accentuated thighs. Venus of Willendorf, you great symbol of fertility!….who was it that carved you out from stone? Who was the first to hold you within the palm of their hand?

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-14T10:54:00.024+11:00

How to make pikelets

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of castor sugar
a pinch of salt
3 cups of full cream milk

& self raising flour to thicken (aprox 3-4 cups)

steps:

1. You must have the pan hot, but before you heat it up cover base with a thin layer of butter

2. whisk the eggs & castor sugar till it becomes frothy

3. add the pinch of salt & milk

4. Add sifted flour a little at a time till it's smooth & thick (think the consistency of custard)

You are now ready to start making pikelets!

Now make sure the pan is hot over medium heat, pour into the pan the size pikelet you desire & wait till it lightly bubbles all over (approx 1 minute) - then it is time to flip them over to the other side.

If for some reason the first batch don't turn out quite perfect, not to worry as it happens every time but the rest will be divine!

makes 10 large or 20 medium sized pikelets

Eat them hot or wait till they cool.

When hot they are delicious with maple syrup & a scoop of ice cream or my favourite: a dusting of icing sugar & fresh lemon juice!

When cool they are great served with your favourite jam & fresh cream. Batter should be used within 24hrs & kept refrigerated

ENJOY!

Anais Anais

2008-11-14T09:00:00.014+11:00

My favourite scent is Anais Anais by Cacharel, it has been a mainstay for the past decade whilst I dabble in other fragrances. A delicate perfume best worn when the sun is shining & you're dressed in florals or pastels.

Anais (ah-nah-iss), a name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" & "favour". Anais Anais - it conjures up the eroticism that was Anais Nin......so seemingly fragile yet so potent with her writings of raw sexuality. Anais Anais - a spray to each pulse point of the wrist & one to the side of the neck.....left or right, depending on which one you offer up unto another.

2008-11-14T08:11:00.005+11:00

In order to seek
one's own direction,
one must SIMPLIFY the
mechanics of ordinary,
everyday life.

From the Brown Book
- Plato -

Perfume

2008-11-13T22:32:00.014+11:00

Perfume - Such a sweet thing it is to own a bottle of perfume. It is my signature scent I say, oh yes it is all mine (well so I think anyway)! I have my perfumes placed beautifully on one round ceramic dish painted prettily with roses.

There sits:
1 bottle of Rose Absolue by Annick Goutal
1 bottle of Red Roses by Jo Malone &
1 bottle of Rose by L'Erbolario

A lady floated by the other day and I thought, my goodness my Mother must be near - the smell of Yves Saint Laurent's Opium is upon us! "What is that perfume you are wearing?", the lady replied, "Opium". I nodded and said, "Ahh my Mother's perfume".

Perfume is such a lovely invention, truly one of the most beautiful luxuries made for women. Able to evoke feeling as it awakens memories long forgotten - before such knowledge of the brain and the connections to smell, this must have appeared quite magical in days gone by!

I met a lady today that purchased a bottle of Diorissimo perfume to feel close to the memories of her Mother. As we spoke, she sprayed her wrist with the perfume and there it was, this beautiful joy that swept across her face! I felt the warmth of her connection and I was in awe of the power of scent, of perfume!

What is your favourite perfume - is it completely different to your Mother's?

"We all know persons who are affected for better or for worse by certain odors...Over and over again I have experienced the quieting influence of Rose scent upon a disturbed state of mind, feeling the troubled condition smoothing out before I realised that Roses were in the room, or near at hand"
- Louise Beebe Wilder -

Things my mother taught me

2008-11-13T07:20:00.005+11:00

To never enter a person's private room unless you are invited & accompanied by the person to whom that space belongs.

Inspirational women - Audrey Hepburn 1929-1993

2008-11-12T19:04:00.007+11:00

It is our intention to do a feature blog each week on a woman who has inspired us. The first of these ladies would have to be the timeless Audrey Hepburn.

I clearly remember the first time I ever saw Audrey Hepburn, it was in Roman Holiday, I must have been about 8 years old, and it took me all of about 5 minutes to fall in love with her. I loved her face, her great doe-like eyes; the way she held herself, so poised & elegant; I even loved the way she spoke with no trace of her heritage….a true child of the world. Audrey Hepburn was beautiful until the day she died, a true beauty inside & out and was known in her later years for her tireless work as a Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.

We love you Audrey.

Favourite Audrey moments:

5. Singing “Moon River” (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
4. Hiding from Linus Larabee in the Garage (Sabrina)
3. The “mouth of truth” scene with Gregory Peck (Roman Holiday)
2. Selling flowers in the street (My Fair Lady)
1. Looking for Cat in the rain (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)

Live Deliberately, Live Deep

2008-11-12T18:16:00.003+11:00

I went into the woods

Because I wanted to live deliberately

I wanted to live deep

And suck out all the marrow of life

To put to rout all that was not life

And not when I had come to die

Discover that I had not lived

- Thoreau -
from the Brown Book

If thou must love me

2008-11-12T16:21:00.002+11:00

If thou must love me, let it be for naught

Except for love's sake only. Do not say

'I love her for her smile...her look...her way

Of speaking gently...for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

A sense of pleasant ease on such a day' -

For these things in themselves, Beloved, may

Be changed, or change for thee, - and love so wrought,

May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,

Since one might well forget to weep who bore

Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby,

But love me for love's sake, that evermore

Thou may'st love on through love's eternity.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-1881