It's a new day

ateliers de luxe

Marking time.

The new year never seems real to me until the regular schedule begins again after the holidays. A little night prowler in search of  crispy croquettes knocked over a porcelaine bowl of clementines during the night so I am not as fresh as I would like to be today after a sleep break to clean up the pieces that were all over the kitchen. There's so much to do without even considering resolutions. I need energy.

fabric from Lanvin gown 1936

 Cat food has to be rationed ever since two cats live under our roof. It's the slinky black panther who made mischief last night. Was he really hungry or just bored? These once reasonable eaters will gorge themselves just to prove to one another who can eat the most, but mostly it's the older tiger who throws his weight around to say who is boss.

Sharon Shalita and Maytal Barokas

So much for any true understanding of cat psychology. 

I do know that we humains have been eating a wee bit too much these days because of a delectable over-supply of festive foods that it would be a pity to waste --

Issy Miyaké

but that we will never get too much of  seeing beautiful things to lift our spirits. 

Enthusiasm and the downward-facing dog pose (the cat just isn't the same) are my two favorite antidotes for fatigue.

anonymous French gouache design

A happy and energetic new year to you!

Nouvel an

Sunrise by the Ocean  by Vladimir Kush

Starting over again.

Happy 2015!

C'est la bonne heure

Carl Holsoe

Now is the best time when the lamp is lit -

All is so quiet and consoling tonight, 

In such silence you could hear even feathers fall.

Now is the best time when, gently

Comes the beloved  

Like a breeze, like smoke 

So softly, so slowly.

She says nothing at first – and I listen to her; 

And her soul that I hear clearly,  

I surprise shining forth 

So I kiss it on her eyes.

Now is the best time when the lamp is lit, 

When confessions of loving each other the lasting day 

Come forth from the bottom of our hearts, 

Come from their transparent depths to light.

C'est la bonne heure où la lampe s'allume
Tout est si calme et consolant, ce soir,
Et le silence est tel, que l'on entendrait choir 

Des plumes.

C'est la bonne heure où, doucement, 

S'en vient la bien-aimée,

Comme la brise ou la fumée,

Tout doucement, tout lentement.

Elle ne dit rien d'abord - et je l'écoute ;

Et son âme, que j'entends toute, 

Je la surprends luire et jaillir 

Et je la baise sur ses yeux.

C'est la bonne heure où la lampe s'allume,

Où les aveux

De s'être aimés le jour durant,

Du fond du coeur profond mais transparent, 

S'exhument.

Émile Verhaeren

Guilaneu

A.E. Marty: Les Deux Nigauds from La Gazette du Bon Ton janvier 1914

We may be far removed from the Druids who, on the sixth day of the moon after the winter solstice, celebrated the rite of the Night Mother dressed in robes of white as they prepared a sacrifice before a venerated oak. Mistletoe was rare on an oak tree and was considered so precious that it was cut off carefully with a gold sickle. The parasitic plant was caught as it fell in a cloth of white wool. Its magic powers might be lost if it touched the ground and it was highly valued as a  universal panacea. The plant was brewed with very pure water to cure maladies and protect from bewitchment. For  centuries, celebrations of Guianeu from au gui de l'an neuf  (new year's mistletoe) were carried out to bring luck by children in the countryside. Today it decorates my home, and any magic it spreads starts with a kiss.

Happy New Year to All -

my very best wishes to friends and companions in the blog world for health, happiness, and beauty in 2011

open/close/open...

The following engravings are by a dear friend who found her inspiration for many years in Paris. Having learned the  arcanes of the printmaking arts at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-arts, Sherry Clive is an accomplished artist whose work  is conserved in the Bibliothèque nationale. She now lives and works in the mountains of Georgia.

The time has come once again for closing the year and taking stock.

In some ways, our new year is like a displaced person in the still heart of winter white.

Why doesn't it burst out with new growth in Spring as in near-eastern cultures ?

But who can manage true introspection in the Spring! And isn't that what it takes to start the new year right?

The word recueillement says it well = gathering in, collecting oneself for contemplation.

All those quaint customs of resolutions have their reason for existing if done after deep reflection.

So, it's time to take an inventory,

to make an estimates, appraisals of our resources or of ourselves.

It is through the shapes we have built that we set our sites on the future.
Because that is what is necessary to begin anew - a rolling over, a shaking up what we've been through to shake off the unnecessary (I have a lot of that)  then to brood tranquilly

and gather forces for what's ahead.

Poised, yet open,

in position for a new year -

which doesn't preclude transformations and adaptations

of the determined plan.

Ready, aim ...

See more of Sherry Clive's work on her site here.

Bonne Année!

The stage is set and there's no going back now.

May this charming procession light the way to celebration -

in just a few more hours the new year will find its way into every home.

Has everything been planned?

The table is set for a joyous réveillon.

The New Year is our guest of honor this evening.

However you chose to celebrate, here's to you and yours -

 Plein de bonnes choses pour l'année 2010!

Best wishes to you for 2010!

What a pleasure it has been to get to know so many interesting people this year!

photos: Plaisirs de France