Tuesday Afternoon Tea for two...

La Vie imite l'Art...

... bien plus que l'Art n'imite la vie,

Oscar Wilde

Je suis bien d'accord avec Mr Wilde!

Vous voyez? Je viens de surprendre 3 de mes tasses à thé, chinées dans les brocantes entre l'Australie et la France, essayant de se faire passer pour de l'art... Elles ont même détourné mes pots d'encres et gouaches pour se camoufler!

Pendant que je peins, je ne me permets que rarement les distractions du genre 'petit afternoon tea entre amies.'  Mais aujourd'hui je fais une exception! C'est Plumed Pen qui m'invite et j'en suis ravie. Ahh le luxe! Je me permets le temps d'une pause avec des amies - sans quitter la maison!

Alors installez vous le temps d'une respiration profonde et

permettez moi de vous offrir un Yogi Tea aux épices et  des bonbons AMORiNo venus de Paris via ma copine Sabina!

"Allez Ange, au boulot! Finie la pause. Ton nouveau tableau dans les couleurs douces des bonbons à la violette requested by the Dear Dr M n'est pas encore fini, et les messmonsters ne vont pas tarder à arriver..."

Voici la voix de la raison qui me sollicite!

Revenez demain, et je vous montrerai le tableau fini. Mais CHUUUUUUT, c'est une surprise! Dr M ne peut pas le voir avant jeudi 19 novembre..

Ce fut un moment de détente bien agréable mais toute bonne chose à une fin.

Mais "Les folies sont les seules choses que l'on ne regrette jamais"!

N'est ce pas Mr Wilde...

The Paris episodes: If you have built Castles in the air ..

... Your work may not be lost; that is where they should be.

Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

My Monday posts from now on will be dedicated to my Australian friend Julie, and her alter ego Ruby (Amelia Earheart).  For the real-life adventures she lives every day...

The Paris Episodes start in March 1995, 6  months before the public transport strikes that brought the country to a halt, when a dreamy eyed Kiwi/Aussie girl who had clicked her Ru(g)by shoes finally landed on the other side of that well sung about Rainbow ... in Paris, France (not Texas, and not Kansas either ;-).  WOW! A dream come true.

This random phrase from an old school friend still on the Sunshine Coast, Australia, is what first got me thinking:

'You live in PARIS? How GLAMOUROUS!' It must be sooooo much more exciting than HERE! You've really MADE IT!"

To some extent, she was right - but not for the reasons she imagined!

Julie, along with Les Champs Elysées at christmas time, drinking the world's best hot chocolate at Angelina's, the glittering Eiffel tower and afternoons on the Ile St Louis eating icecream from Berthillon, what made Paris such an adventure, is all that I could never have imagined:

The Grind!

 Yup! The frustrating, every day, not-on-holiday-but-living-here Grind (and no I'm not talking about some exotic French horizontal dance)!

- Tiny, run-down, expensive, bedsits with no kitchen, not even a shower curtain...

"That's IT? The WHOLE apartment? Wow! They never showed those in the movies I saw!"

- Dealing with feelings of powerlessness at not being able to help so many homeless people eg: the time I offered, in frustration, a guy the carrot I was going to eat instead of money, and the shock I  received back when he flashed a 'frustrated' toothless grimace!

- Coping with going to work on the metro in the dark and coming home in the dark

(Metro Boulot Dodo, as we say in French)

- Dog poo! 'O Merde!' They made a film about this, do you remember?

- Conflicting cultural definitions of the words 'impossible,' 'efficiency, and 'today.'

- Confrontations and helplessness before that great mastodon which is the French Administration (which started with getting the visa in Sydney for that matter...)

- Being 8 months pregnant, dying for a pee, and never being able to find a public toilet I could 'fit' into!!!

Wouldn't have traded 'the Grind' for all the macarons in Ladurée... It's how I found myself! It's how I learned, thank heavens, that life is not a magic carpet...  but a much richer tapestry with all the little plain threads holding those few silver and gold ones into place.

So RdV every Monday for the Paris Episodes and a wee giggle; 'cause, in spite of what my darling adoptive France mistakenly believes, you can laugh and work at the same time!

A Julie et tous, I hope this will entertain you and inspire you and even bring forth a few of your own tales... for where ever we go in the world, what ever 'exotic' country we live in, we can't escape from ourselves!

See you tomorrow for a cuppa with Silken Purse and hopefully a new piece of wooden inspiration if I can only get off this keyboard ...

Graines de changement...

L'image ci-dessous est bien plus qu'une simple phrase.

Elle ouvre la porte à un monde débordant de possibilités...

Vas y, clique dessus!

Voici un petit éclairci pendant ce samedi pluvieux...

Parce que tout compte fait...

Il n'y a pas de honte à préférer le bonheur!

On est d'accord?

The Trick to Success...

... Is making your vocation your vacation. *

Shhhhhh... It's quiet...

My precious messmonsters went back to school today, so I'm officially on vacation and I can abandon myself to my art and solitude: two cherished things which always fill me with a quiet sense of peace and purpose.

The future is full of open doors... to new insights.

(Of course, Beaker thinks I'm always on holidays because I get to look after the kids 'work' from home,  but that's another story ;-)

For now, better race off and do the dishes, fix the washing machine and tidy my atelier home ready for tomorrow's holiday! Hey, what did I say a couple of days ago? LIFE =ART!

See you tomorrow bright and replenished!

Love Ange

*This comment has been attributed to an obviously holiday happy Mark Twain. But then again, it might not have been him. This eventuality has left me somewhat perplexed: for more, in French, click here)

Sweet Libellule Mobile

Aujourd'hui ma Libellule fête ses 8 ans.
Party time donc avec 11 copines et sa grande soeur, dont toutes giggle non stop.

J'avoue que j'aime les bonbons autant qu'elles (moi grande enfant!).

J'ai essayé de faire les meringues comme Manon21 ...

mais j'ai fini par faire les mini pavlovas roses.

Parce que, you can take the girl out of NZ but you can't take NZ out of the Girl!

(NB Waiting for comments from the Aussies on this one ;-)

Nous nous sommes promenées joyeusement dans la boue.
J'ADORE CA!

(désolée les mamans - lessive ce soir!)

Nous avons traversé le petit pont Apy

qui nous sépare des kiwis

 (ouvert à la cueillette pour celles qui sont intéressées)

sous une douce pluie fine (j'aime PÔ le mot crachin)

pour aller voir les beaux chevaux de Fleyres 

(entendre des cris de joie de treize choupinettes passionnées de chevaux!)

Et de retour à la maison pour ... LES CADEAUX!

Ooh la la - bien trop nombreux pour les prendre en photo!

Puis un atelier 'création de MObiLe'
"C'est quoi un MOBILE, Ange?"

"Mince - ce n'est pas le même mot en Français?

Et bien un mobile, c'est ça...

plus ça

puis finalement - ça!

C'est ce que je fais avec les jouets cassés que je trouve encore trop jolis pour jeter..."

"On peut faire pareil?" demandaient-elles.

"Oui les filles - ramassez bien les jouets cassés, tubes de peinture, et petits objets divers éparpillés au sol dans vos chambres et vous aussi,

vous ferez un super 'mobile!' "
N'en parlons pas de l'aide que ça apportera à Maman... chut...

A 18h30 : 13 petites filles ravies (MERCI!)

A 20h30 : mes 3 messmonsters lavés, nourris et endormis ... sans cris!
Et une maman totalement épanouie, sinon un peu épuisie!
(pardonnez la fantaisie)

Bonne nuit!

Go confidently forward... Don't you agree?

Yesterday I visited Sherry's blog and she introduced me to Don Miguel, not personally of course, but to his Four Agreements. If you visit her (and I suggest you do), you will find out more about Don Miguel than I can tell you. I can only say that his first agreement struck a chord deep within my soul.

THIS, is why I started calligraphy. THIS, is why I constantly seek new words of conviction, strength, love and encouragement to pass onto others. THIS is my most cherished belief... 

The Four Agreements:

Agreement 1

 Be impeccable with your word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Agreement 2

Don’t take anything personally - Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Agreement 3

Don’t make assumptions - Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Agreement 4

Always do your best - Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Thank you Sherry - I needed to hear (read) it again. This time through Don Miguel.

And with these wise words may you too go confidently 
in the direction of your dreams...

Le Travail est de l'Amour Rendu Visible: Les Créations de mes Créatures

Si la vie - c'est de l'art... (je suis sure que celle-ci est une phrase connue)

...Et ma vie, pendant les vacances scolaires, c'est mes enfants...

 Alors Vie = Art = Enfants.

Voici les résultats de notre journée 'ARTASTIQUE' à la Rivière pendant que la délicieuse pluie d'automne battait son plein dehors. C'est un travail collectif pour la journée du 2 novembre de 'Art Every Day Month' chez Leah Piken Kolidas. 

Un coup de crayon gras par-ci...

 Un peu d'eau par là...

 Et une touche d'aquarelle à la fin.

Journée normale de rires et de pleures...

... beaucoup de pleures même!

 mais toujours en couleur!

Dites Mr Khalil Gibran... vous avez raison. Le travail, c'est bien de l'amour rendu visible!

Lighting the way to... the Winners

This evening, 3 little pairs of hands dipped into a magician's hat ...

... and to their own delight they pulled out the three winners to my giveaway from Thursday's post.

"What are we doing this for Mummy?"

"Because Mummy is an IT DUMMY and has no idea how to procure that widget Julie has for selecting random winners"

"Because Mummy thought it would be a fun game over desert for a change!"

(Hear giggles and squeals of delight from messmonsters)

Now your answers were soooo EnTeRtaiNinG and imaginative that I put all of them into the hat. Some of you had the answer half right. Some have really inspired me for future projects. And some were just hilarious in general!  In fact, next time I will hold a contest for the most inspirational new use for a flea market find and get the messmonsters to judge!

Would you like the winners first? Or the uses for the objects? Let's try for a bit more suspense (Heck, you can always scroll down to find out if you are like me and read the last page of a book to reassure yourself that everything will work out ok...)

The answer then! Each object is indeed going to be used to make a lamp or light fixture. Some will even be for sale as soon as I get my wee online shop up and running (This week I promise myself, THIS week).

BUT it's going to take me a little time to finish them. Why?

Put your best foot forward and Light the Way!

 The shoe lasts are going to become the base for 4 individual lamps (I already have the wiring ready and the vintage lampshades) but I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WELD and am counting on our local blacksmith to help me out with fixing the other bits to the lasts. He promised he would call a month ago but this is France so you can't be in too much of a hurry...

The Bed Springs, with the reluctant help of SkippY, and a lovely big piece of flat driftwood will replace the 1 teeny spotlight I have in a sombre corner of the house.  I'm sure you're wondering how in heaven's name I'm going to pull this one off, and for that matter, so am I. But I have a little idea in mind and they usually work out! I promise it will be visually attractive (fingers crossed ;-)

March to the Beat of a Different Drum: and Light the Way

And the wee 'tam tam' will indeed be mounted on an old door as a light for a little boy's room. This one I can do all by myself - but it's going to be tricky straightening the bands on the sides after so many years of neglect. This is probably the easiest one to start with - So keep an eye out for it on forthcoming posts!

After all that, I'm a bit disappointed not to be making a pogo springy footed, drum beating  scarecrow like LULU (hear applause).

Amanda (more applause) had the great idea of attaching the springs as candle holders in the drum. Hmm, I know where there are a few more abandoned mattresses so I may have to try that one out later...

You know Tammie (so much applause-hands hurting now), I really do think we will find ourselves in a world of joy and peace if we value more things handmade, reuse, recycle, appreciate and share... at least that's what I tell my kids every day.

Don't forget you three to contact me by email with your addresses so I can post the little decorations off to you.

Thank you ALL for participating because I don't think I've had so much fun in ages (no night life obviously seeing as I'm sitting here at 1am ;-). Don't forget to pass by again to see the finished products. And I promise I'll do another give away - probably a "positive plank" next time - for my 100th post!

Happy Monday,

Love

Ange

I had a DREAM in B&W (No ORANGE!)

I have been reminded. Not so long ago, I had a dream in which I put some black and white photographs on a page for Anne- Marie. I spoke about it, in jest, to the only Anne-Marie I knew at the time. In jest because I rarely put photos on a page (at that time), because the AM I know and love dearly has no reason to receive black and white photos from me, and most of all because I live very much in colour. Life is not black and white for me, nor even shades of grey, but an endless rainbow. A big splash of ORANGE! I rarely even wear black!

These are the photos I offer in Black & White for Anne Marie at Na Da Farm's Sunday. They are of objects that calm me when the sea is rough. I have no idea if the lovely new Anne-Marie (at Na-Da Farm) to whom I am linking, will notice I have done this. But it is ... time...

From JJ, after the Great Fire

Khalil Gibran whom I first read at high school when I was 16, who annoyed the priest at my wedding and in whose words I still find solace.

The violin? Unfinished work - but not for long.

 Another angel on my table (merci CC)

A word I LOVE

Du Vide Naît l'Enérgie, from my teacher Anne Sacramento

May your Sunday bring peace - and inspire...

Love