Los Angeles

"Who are these people who've got a problem with LA, maybe they're just mad cos they don't live here".

- Ice Cube

Ann Carrington

W Hoboken "Manhattan Mettle" By Ann Carrington from tinklevision on Vimeo.

My favorite artist. For more of her art, click here.

Paperbacks

Tracy Kendall wallpaper

Such a wise man~

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

~ Mary Oliver

Such a beautifully fitting poem, read at a 9/11 Memorial Service I attended this morning.

REMEMBERING THE CHILDREN OF FIRST MARRIAGES

Oh remember the children of first marriages
For they are silent and awkward in their comings and their goings;
For the seal of the misbegotten is upon them;
For they walk in apology and dis-ease;
For their star is sunk;
For their fathers’ brows are knitted against them;
For they bristle and snarl.
All you light-limbed amblers in the sun,
Remember the grovellers in the dark;
The scene-shifters, the biders, the loners.

Lucy Tunstall is a doctoral student at the University of Exeter.

From The Paris Review.

"Some people get you and some people don't, and to spend your life trying to make people understand how deep, complex and varied you are - I think that way lies madness".

~ Cate Blanchett

All things Jane Austen

Having a hard time focusing on books right now. This is such a great idea and I love the cover.

You can buy it here.

Man's Best Friend

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog".

~ George Graham Vest

For the lovely Tania who just lost one of her best friends.

This Friday - the Royal Wedding

Alarm set, Coronation chicken to be made (will use this great recipe) and will then be ready to watch a piece of history unfold.

Hot Cross Buns

Homemade......

Winners and Losers

from Leaves of Grass

32
I think I could turn and live with animals, they're so placid and self contain'd, I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth.

—Walt Whitman

Simon Doonan

Via StyleCaster

Changing....

I've been contemplating for months the next phase of my blog and here's what I've decided.

I feel there's just too much me, me, me and self-promotion in the world right now and wanted to make this a place to come & find maybe a great piece of music, a thoughtful poem, some delicious photography - a place to inspire, a place to kick off your shoes, lie down on the grass and rest a while.

The comments section has been shut off so that you can feel comfortable to come and go, roam around and not feel awkward if you don't have time to sign the "visitors book".

All are welcome and you can stay as long as you like!

x So Lovely

The Earthquake in New Zealand

New Zealand has had a time of it lately - the earthquake last September, the horrific mining disaster and now this........

Hello sweet abandoned blog and my wonderful, faithful readers - I've been away and didn't want my first post back to be about money. The money is not for me though - its for my homeland and the people of Christchurch. This is the first time in the history of New Zealand that a State of Emergency has been declared - tragically lives have been lost, hundreds are still trapped and the city itself is rubble.

Many people have asked me what's the best way to get donations to New Zealand and my suggestion is through the Red Cross.

So here's the link to the NZ Red Cross -

I truly appreciate anything that you can donate - I know times are tough but everything little bit helps.

Update: An official donation website has also now be set up here.