in the city of paris

To quite a few, Paris equals fancy shmancy shopping, old-ish monuments and croissants. And that's it.
Let me tell you something: I haven't seen all of Paris (far from it!) but I've seen enough to get that it is so much more than an Eiffel Tower on a 1€ greeting card. Paris, just like most things, is a constellation of stories, a great big bunch of them, and if you take time to piece them all together, you've get the full picture. The real, honest picture of Paris.

Story 1
The wide eyed middle aged tourists Walking along the Seine. They're following a French tour-guide - she cannot be more than eighteen - who keeps on tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear. "Here is one of the most romantic bridges in Paris" she says consulting her notebook. She looks up from it and pauses for effect: "It's really really romantic." The women smile widely and a sigh passes through them. The husbands roll their eyes and look at each other in exasperation, bonding over their wives obvious lack of competence. Was paying 24.50€ just to hear a young woman, three times younger than them, tell them how romantic a bridge is, really worth it?

Story 2
The pigeon's hop from one side of the road to another, hopeful for a little bit of food (they're not picky). The grandmas scrunch up their nose, "rats on wings", "pests", "flying vermin" they whisper and lead their grand-children away.

Homeless women, homeless men sit on one side of the road (or the other), hopeful for a little bit of food (they're not picky). In some cases, they clutch a dog or a baby to their chests. The grandmas scrunch up their nose, "fraud", "network of suspicious homeless people", "don't pay attention" they say - quite loudly I may add, pigeons don't have ears, but the homeless do - and lead their grand-children away.

Story 3
That little alley-way with a dozen of little markets, cafés and boutiques isn't always overlooked in Paris - the professional Parisians know that the magic happens behind the scenes, behind the tourist attractions. You've got the 'Dernier Bar Avant la Fin du Monde' (the 'Last Bar Before the End of the World'), the boulangerie, the traiteur, the boucher, the épicerie. In the boulangerie (bakery) for example, the baguettes are at 0,99€, which really doesn't amount to much at all. The bread is hard on the outside, and bouncy and soft in the inside. You know if it's a good baguette if when you tear of the end bit, they call it the crouton, it makes a satisfying crunch. Yes, bread has different sounds, or is that just me?

bless this mess

x listen (album :: "bless this mess", by lisa mitchell) x

the end of winter break ...

things I will miss

+ bubble-blowing in the garden

+ lazing around, doing not much at all

+ borrowing music from the library (yeah, I didn't know that was possible either!) such as lisa mitchell's beautiful album: bless this mess. / link above

+ grey skies, overcast weather giving me an excuse to read in the warmth

+ little every day adventures

+ the non-drama of the holidays (I'm not looking forward to the rush-rush-rush-no-don't-look-up-from-your-studies-to-enjoy-life-sorry-that's-not-tolerated)

+ going to the cinemas in the morning, as opposed to during nighttime - just because

+ impromptu baking or cooking at any hour

things I'm looking forward to

ok. no, guys I'm determined to make this work, positive attitude.

+ the new teachers, the new school-year. I'm also looking forward to the all the new things I'm going to learn and the new approaches I'll take.

What about you? What have been the highlights of your break?

Have a lovely weekend, friends.

xo

lts m

quiet

“T h e  q u i e t e r  y o u  b e c o m e ,  t h e  m o r e  y o u  c a n  h e a r. ” 

BABA RAM DAS

today was such a quiet day.

i drank white tea.

i munched on cashew nuts.

i sat outside in the winter air.

a lot of thoughts went through my mind, i tried to write them down as poems.

i pondered the meaning of life.

i played around with double exposures.

and i read the great gatsby.

today was a quiet day and i somehow feel much more peaceful than when i woke up this 

morning.

x

lotus m.

(oh and thank you for your encouraging comments on the launching of 'there is always a 

story'! i was very happy when i read all of them.)

a new blog design + a warm day

Here are a couple of my favourite photos taken this autumn holidays.

Yesterday was what you would call a warm-oh-wow-I-achieved-quite-a-bit-today day. Since it was one of the last days of the holidays, I decided to make the most of it. I woke up late (but not too late, one never wants to wake up too late because the day flies by so quickly), showered, ate breakfast, helped with the gardening, baked a cake (lemon and lime, just if you wanted to know), and worked a lot on my new blog design.

A huge thank you to Jianine for replying to my HTML questions, visit her lovely blog here. The design still needs some tweaking, but I am so excited to have made it from scratch. Tell me your thoughts.

at the beach

// Just because writing on the front porch, with view on the lake, is nicer than being in front of a computer, and because the sound of pen on paper is (sometimes) a prettier sound than pressing keys, I've written this in my little, leather bound notebook. Thanks to a dear friend (you know who you are), for this beautiful birthday present, I've journaled every night because of it. //

This evening is our first of the year at the coast, at our coast. We've been coming here for five years, twice a year. This Lake Tabourie is beautiful, one of my favourite places in Australia.
I love that evenings are spent reading outside just when the sun is dipping into the lake, and the silver fish are flopping out of the water, or inside if it's raining. I love that the beach is only a six minute walk away, I love that we have time to even measure these kind of crazy statistics, I love that more than a handful of people on the expanse of the whole beach is considered crowded for us.
I love that nights spent watching a movie is happily traded in for a night of board-games, and playing Uno. I love that, I can wonder off whenever and wherever. I love that it is a retreat from all the hectic-ness (aha, that's not even a word is it?) of everyday life, and the drama of school. Here, I can swim in the sea three to four times a day, I can spend the whole day with my nose in a book, and that things are so simple and straight forward.
You see someone crossing your path? 'Hello, beautiful day for the beach, dontcha think?' Yes, I do think.

At seven o'clock, with the moon out, and the clouds fluffy my hair thick with sea salt and the wind and the sand, and my feet bare, yes, I do think.