[_] |~| monumental

one day you are at possibly the most famous place

that you saw in those reference books at the library
that you couldn't borrow

the surreal feeling

of seeing it in reality

a vast structure

and looking back at the sea
that you sailed on the day before

a fitting day to end to our time in Greece

back home 

I packed up my life

and moved into a rental house
my stay for a while
until I decide my next steps

oh and a new resident
this little kitten
was found under the bonnet of my mans van
when I was on the island of Astrous

so we named her Astro
when I was settled in my new home
she came to live happily with me
~~~~

^~^~^~ endless blue

how to challenge your fear of open water

take a 7 day sailing trip

around the Saronic Islands in the Aegean Sea

on a small boat

with 6 women and a male skipper

of course I was nervous

having never been on a boat smaller than a ferry

those fears melted away

as we visited islands everyday

docking at different a harbour

waking up to the sounds of sail masts

the bustle of water side life

then setting off to a bay for swimming

a new found love of being on the sea

sleeping to the sound of the water

lapping on the side of the boat 

and gazing at the changing shades of blue

each Island very different

like the ladies I travelled with

who were forgiving my quirks

and so very encouraging

as I dipped my shoulders under the Aegean water

sunrises/ sunsets

yoga, laughter, food food food

music, boats, dolphins,

flying fish, sea
our fantastic skipper Petros

and blue 

endless blue

again next year maybe?

https://room-2-breathe.com/weeks-in-greece

x

Islands & bays we visited ~~

Poros, Docos Bay, Hermione, Metoxi,

Tolo, Nafplion, Astrous, Zagoria, Spetses,

Hydra, Peloponese, Soupia, Aegina, Lagouses, Alimos

@@@ love the life you live

 this little window

is where I watch the sun rise 

through shutters

 by night we drink beer

play boule

laugh

putain

calliou

with Portuguese neighbours

one shares the same initials

til the sun sets

under the stars

the clack of metal

the sound of the river

dogs run free
c'est la vie 

face your fear

the brain is a peculiar thing
it holds deep memory
it pushes negative things into the recesses
and brings positive to the forefront
if you allow

despite living beside the seaside for most of my life
I don't swim but adore being next to  the sea

a lake, a river, an ocean

I have a fear of being in or on open water
born from a childhood incident
that I really don't remember
but my brain does
I walk the shoreline
dip my feet and ankles
but that's as far as I go
until this week ....
I felt the time was right to face my fear
with my hand held
I walked into the lake, to my waist
and dipped my shoulders under the water
looking at the mountains from the water line

calm breath, a smile
for a short moment I lifted my feet from the sand
I was safe
and it felt amazing

^^^ no holds barred

life is a journey

as long as you keep moving forward

“the free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it - 

basically because you feel good, very good, 

when you are near or with them.”

― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness

--- oui ou non

the tug of war between definitives
questions
invites online
rsvps
we want answers now
yes
or
no

or maybe
now this word has been good to me
the get out card of commitment
a nice bold question mark

?

I've over used it
it was my knee jerk reply
until recently ....
in realisation that good opportunities can be seized
when they come your way

the value of feeling able to assert your boundaries
forgiving yourself when you don't have an answer
saying yes more often
and giving yourself time to think
if the answer is fuzzy

and remembering my mantra
'you are allowed to change your mind'!

*.*.* water everywhere

the Chateau d'Eau in Toulouse

used to filter and distribute water from the Garonne

to the public fountains in the city
in 1974 it became one of the first

dedicated photography galleries

Currents Shift
is an exhibition that explores
the concerns connected to the social
and cultural exploitation of the seas
and their surroundings

Marie Lukasiewicz's work 
looks at the scientific and clinical
impact of the economic values of oceans

there's something sinister
and sexy
about her images

the focus on coral
one of our endangered species

bringing a clinical

but aesthetically pleasing
dimension to her images

as we look out to sea for reflection

“for most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive

in this century he is beginning to realise that

 in order to survive

 he must protect it.” 
― Jacques-Yves Cousteau

*.*.* have we known each other forever?

us humans are good at recognising patterns

we make decisions about future patterns

on the bias of our previous experiences

and expected behaviour

"think of those, who not by fault of inconsistency 

but by lack of effort, 

are too unstable to live as they wish, 

but only live as they have begun" 

Seneca ~ On Tranquility of Mind

just because you have always taken one path

it doesn't have to be forever

it takes courage to do things differently 

and make a change

it can be people who effect the change

walking right in to your life

bringing back the you

you'd forgotten to be

until you travelled to a new home

"we travel because we need to

because distance and difference 

are the secret tonic of creativity

when we get home

home is still the same

but something in our mind has changed

and that changes everything"

Jonah Lehrer ~ Why We Travel

**** one decade later

 this day 10 years ago
I wrote my first blog post

so here I still am

with a message for myself 

3650 days ago

if time travel becomes a thing

dear Denise

(yes you will finally be called 

by your real name and like it)

so much will change in the next years

your eyes will be opened

you'll move away

move on

heartbreak, heartache

arm breaks

you'll lose people along the way

tough times will be replaced by easier

you'll meet some amazing people

on your journeys

see some beautiful places

fall in love with mountains

add the things that bring you joy

plan less, go with the flow

listen, watch, see

be interested and open 

to those who deserve it

sift and shift

your life will be what you make it

and right now it is 

fantastique

~~~ above the water line

fancy going to a road trip?
who am I to say no!
we drove to the Herault
to an abandoned village by a lake

Celles is on the shore of Lac du Salagou
merely 143m altitude

it should have disappeared
submerged in the late 1960's

but this didn't happen

the lake is quite otherworldy

with its deep red soil and basalt black rock

volcanic landscape

martian palette

Celles remains abandoned

but protected by chain fences

asleep
maybe one day reawakened 

:::: lost in translation

learning a language 

is easier when you live where it is spoken

you pick up the slang, the abbreviated

the phrases and sayings

and the nuances of regional dialects

here being Occitane, Ariegois and Catalan
you worry less about the le and the la
the correct tense and endings
you just go with it

but when it's 2am 

and you're feeling fine

with wine

try explaining cockney rhyming slang 

it ain't bright and breezy to bubble and squeak, treacle
~~~~ 

~~ keep your balance

the human body is full of bacteria
some good
some bad

E. coli is the best known bacterium 

that regularly associates itself with humans

it is the most studied of all bacteria
a sequence of 4,288 genes on its chromosome
but we don't entirely understand
its relationship with humans
and their normal flora
both host and bacteria benefit from each other
and the feeling is mutual
nutrients, a stable environment, protection

there are also parasitic flora
who live at the expense of the host
opportunistic infectors
striking when defences are let down

sometimes the relationship between them
can't be deciphered
where there is no apparent benefit or harm to either
a commensal relationship

thinking on this
when you visit a new country
or become close to people
your flora can be unbalanced
your normal shaken up
it takes time for you to adjust

but it's up to you to notice
wait for things to calm
or take action to make it right

t = [ ln (Nf/No) / (-0.693) ] x t1/2

getting back my reading mojo
delving into books
I never thought I'd enjoy
or get past the first few pages

or even understand

but this book 
I can't put down

carbon-14 is in all living things

when living things die

they stop taking in carbon-14 

and so the radioactive clock is reset

reliable detective work for carbon dating

if the thing is less than 60 000 years old

we all know about counting tree rings 

it's called

dendrochronology

each ring a year of growth 

tell tale by it's size

changes in climate, weather, illness

trees keep growing until the die

the creationists debunk
the conspiracists conspire

instead of convincing us it's not true

maybe show us how it is?

^^ above

right up there
is Montsegur

I can see this Chateau
most days

when it's not under cloud

but this day

and I were

clear 

bright

up

'the point is, not to resist the flow: 

you go up when you're supposed to go up and down when you're supposed to go down: 

when you're supposed to go up, find the highest tower and climb to the top: 

when you're supposed to go down, find the deepest well and go down to the bottom:

when there's no flow, stay still:

if you resist the flow, everything dries up:

if everything dries up, the world is darkness'

― Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

@narchy

time doesn't move in a steady way
you notice when it slows
and stops

sometimes you need some
chaos in your life
to shift your perspective
turn your head
shake up your normal
sync/unsync

~~ Ⓐ ℟ȶ℮

there's plenty of creativity here
but those who know me
know I like edgy and challenging
things that make me go oOo

this expo with 100's of stands

had something for everyone

including me
here's my picks ~

this colour palette and light 
by Pierre Riollet

 

carnaval de rio, 1922

by Sonia Delauney

still fresh and moderne

like mirrors of the soul

by Delphine Beguinot-Dollet

Da Vinci advised artists to stare for a long time

at old walls in order to find in them

familiar shapes to stimulate imagination

yes that's lego graffiti 

both by Lenz

lots of 3 dimensional art 

and I love the colour palette and form

by Swiz

simple strokes like Dior sketches

by Lu Mourelle

by Jerome Royer

 

folded paper and paint
by Laetitia Vidal

beautiful girls

by Marcos Rodrigo

best in show for me 

metal lingerie

by Christine Lemaire

plenty of playful 

crazy stands

hologram 3d art is back 

there was so much more

until the next expo