With love.

Papounet and Little My, summer 2012.

“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems… But all these stars are silent. You-You alone will have stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night..You, only you, will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me… You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh.”

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The Weekly Photo Challenge this week is entitled Gone, But Not Forgotten. This post is in loving memory of Papounet, who would have been eighty years old today.

Minimalist: The Real Story of Prince Charming.

“Take the money, leave the Prince” – Cinderella, minimalist feminist.

Cinders, the minimalist

Was a mere opportunist.

This girl had already got the gist:

Get money. Disappear in mist.

 

When this story first began

Prince Charming was a fine young man,

But after Cindy R he ran –

And let his life go down the pan.

 

Queen Mother warned of many woes:

« Miss Cinderella picks her nose!

She wears black laddered panty hose,

And on her legs a forest grows! »

 

But Charming yearned to have a whirl

With this obnoxious, haughty girl…

Whilst Cinderella dreamed of pearls

To tangle in her fake blonde curls.

 

He was rich and hot to trot,

So Cinderella hatched a plot

To snare her prince and grab the lot.

She said « yes » quick, and tied the knot.

 

Bright and early the next morning,

Cinders woke as light was dawning.

Scratching her armpits and yawning,

She hid beneath the palace awning.

 

« Time for some fun! » young Cindy said

When Charming staggered out of bed.

Bang! bang! bang! She shot him dead…

and on the floor poor Charming bled.

 

Jumping up and down with glee,

Cindy grabbed the cash to flee.

« Yippee-doo! It’s clear to see

That where there’s muck, there’s brass – for me! »

 

Cindy said, « I have to say

A life of crime does seem to pay.

Hip-hip hurray! Kaloo! Kalay!

I think I’ll do this every day ».

 

This post was inspired by this week’s photo challenge, “Minimalist”. 

Endurance.

This week’s Photo Challenge, titled “Endurance”, really hit home.

This summer, I was in a small street in the busy centre of Cannes. As tourists shoved past each other, eyes glued on their smartphones, a movement caught my attention above their heads. A boring, grey pigeon. My eyes followed it as it headed straight for a nondescript windowsill. It landed softly. To my surprise, the window gently opened and a frail, carefully made-up retired lady appeared. I expected the pigeon to fly away, but it approached fearlessly, as if it had done so all its life.

The lady disappeared, then returned with something small in her hand. Passers-by tutted at me, bashing my legs with their shopping bags in their hurry to consume. I was in their way, mesmerized by an old lady and a bird repeating what appeared to be a long-established tradition above that busy street. A habit, a relationship. Real contact that had existed before I arrived and would do so long after – enduring friendship between a bird and a human who appeared to be paradoxically lonely in all the turmoil of the consumer world.

She sensed I was looking at her, turned her head towards me, and smiled. I pointed to my camera, and she nodded, then returned to her protégé. Here is the result.

Photo Challenge: Unexpected.

I couldn’t resist this challenge! There are so may things out there that catch my eye for their incongruous nature. Sometimes nature creates a heart from a tree stump. At other times, an old gate hides a funny little man with a flame hairstyle and a padlock nose. Turning down a corridor in an abandoned buildings, you can bump into the Grim Reaper guarding the door to the next floor… here are a few unexpected sights that Candide Canon and I have come across on our travels.

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Photo Challenge: Layers

Whilst I polish off the next post, I thought I’d put a few photos on line – it’s been a while.  This week’s photo challenge, “Layers,” reminded me of a few favourite photos, taken indoors and out. Hope you enjoy them. MM.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Habit.

The Weekly Photo Challenge asked for pictures of our habits, so here’s one of mine: Playing with Playmobils. Admittedly, (and luckily for my kids) I don’t do it every day.

Little My recently informed me that she had grown out of her Playmobil house. I protested hotly; she saw through all my lame excuses and kindly told me that if I wanted, I could keep it in my bedroom. I did. Partly because she may want to continue playing with it one day, and partly because… well… I enjoy creating alternative scenarios and taking photos of them.

PF was amused to find me playing quietly there after lunch today – the ideal occupation for a Sunday afternoon inside as the wind wails around the house. Here are a few of my creations over the years, depicting true life in Playmobilia (as opposed to the politically correct stuff our kids churn out). Hope you enjoy them.

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Photo challenge: Curves.

Curves. They are everywhere. intentional, unintentional. Natural or man-made. In the street. In your plate. In church. In the garden. Here are a few I’ve come across on my travels with Candide Canon. Click to enlarge…..

feminine curves in the woods.

Walk through the arches.

curves in the tiny streets of Southern France.

A curve within a curve, within a curve….

Yummy curves…

Curves in the sand in the church.

A barrel with sagging curves.

A fleeting moment….

This week’s photo challenge asks for a picture that captures a fleeting moment in life. I immediately thought of this series of pictures. Two weeks ago,  I spotted a huge dandelion in the garden. I lay down, and pushed my macro lens close up. What I saw took my breath away – a soft, daintily constructed world composed of gentle, silky curves than shone like satin in the spring sunshine. I yearned to climb in there and hide.

This ephemeral beauty only remains on my memory card. It had disappeared the following morning, blown away by the wind. Next year it’ll be back again, and Candide Canon and I will be waiting.

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Risk of Collapse…..

Now this photo challenge grabbed me straight away: Sara Rosso invited photographers to share a picture of a sign, and explain why they used it.

I knew what picture would be just the ticket! This sign stopped me dead in my tracks as I swung around the corner of path winding through a botanical garden on the Côte d’Azur last summer. Ten feet further away on the right of the picture is a cliff overhanging the Med.

The sign post translates into English as follows: “Risk of collapse”. I couldn’t work out whether a sadistic garden employee had it deliberately planted it skew-whiff to scare off visitors, or whether the sign had been irresistibly drawn towards the cliff edge, fatally drawn by the death-threat written on its forehead……..

Needless to say, I didn’t hang about. But first I took the picture of the first inanimate object that unambiguously showed how I often feel …… as a working mother 😀

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

My escape this week is into painkillers and antibiotics. The pictures I have chosen for the Weekly Photo Challenge on the same theme relate the escape theme viewed in different ways…. Hope you enjoy them.

Escape together.

Dream of escaping into the awaiting horizon.

Childhood escape.

Team escape.

Escape reality.

Escape to victory (face blurred to respect French law).