Live in the Sunshine {HH}

Oh how my heart sang and how quickly you came to mind when I saw this beautiful print on Etsy ... isn't it joyous! And I love the message that Katie Daisy has included in the description: "I made this painting with the intent of reminding others that life is for living... the air is for drinking! There is only NOW, so stop waiting, and start living!" ... amen to that! :)

Suitable Spaces [BB]

Absolutely ages ago I read a lovely article in either the Guardian or the Observer about non camping outside holidays and, if at that time I could have been bothered to hauled myself to the 'puter, I would have written about it. Helen and I have had a soft spot for La Rosa outside Whitby for some time (though we can't get it together to go), she has rebooked her camper van for the Green Man Festival and also has her eye on Anam Cara for a very special purpose. I found this loveliness www.vintagevacations.co.uk and particularly love the sofa in 'The Bungalow', check it out - its cute.



Here's to making time and space, getting away from everything with just the sky and sea, a flask and a knitting bag or doodle book as you choose...

Guilt [BB]

I have been absent. I have been busy. I have been tired. I have been almost overwhelmed with inertia... It hasn't been the nicest place to be.

What is nice is that I know that there is person out there waiting to wake me up when its time - either with a poke in the ribs with the pointy stick of guilt or with a cup of tea and toast with brandy butter.

I liked this video... and thought of me (and of you) : )

Do I feel guilty, only for a moment...

My main inspiration for this project {HH}

First off I feel I should apologise for posting so many things in a row ... I am hoping that my dearest Lizbet will not feel shamed or guilty ... and yet I know her well enough to feel sure that no amount of reassurance from me will make her feel guilt-free ... but she should do because this project was never meant to be a 'take turns' thing so if I happen to post one hundred things on a particular day or don't post anything for three months then that is all fine, and exactly how it is meant to be :) ... I still feel guilty for any guilt I cause Lizbet ... ha! what a perfect pair we make ;-)

Anyhoo, on to the real reason for this post ... when I had the idea for this project I was more or less completely inspired by a project I'd read about last year ... but when I launched the blog I couldn't remember the name of the project (doh!). Happily I managed to track it down ... it's the 3191 Miles project which is a beautiful collaborative photography project between Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes who live 3191 miles apart. Since 2006 they've been posting beautiful snapshots of their lives spent seperately but somehow all the more close for the distance that lies between them.



They've published two beautiful collections of their photos: 3191: Evenings and A Year of Mornings: 3191 miles apart ... quietly beautiful photos and a loudly inspiring project :)

You have become Paris to me {HH}

paris map close up 2, originally uploaded by Mark Andrew Webber.

Whenever Lizbet talks about Paris her eyes light up ... so whenever I see something beautiful/interesting/amazing to do with Paris I think of Lizbet ... and I imagine her eating a freshly baked croissant and drinking freshly ground coffee sitting on a small balcony with Mr D, the Eiffel Tower in the distance, both of them studying a map while they plan the day ahead of them.

P.S. you will like this young lady's blog about her move to Paris ... but don't you be getting any ideas!

Natalie Merchant sings poems into life {HH}

Aaaah, wondrous stuff from Natalie Merchant at the TED conference. I love the e. e. cummings poem someone has added in the comments below the video:

maggie and milly and molly and may
by e. e. cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

A tweetful journey...[BB]

I saw this on the front page of Esty today and the little blue bird reminded me of Helen - head above the crowd and tweeting. I liked it first off but its actually called a 'Tweetful Journey' and is by Tim's Sally - cute and very fitting.

a whole catalogue of ISTATOYs {HH}

When I opened my Coast magazine this morning a beautiful Cox & Cox catalogue drifted out from between the pages. A full version of the catalogue is on the Cox & Cox website: http://coxandcox-catalogues.s3.amazonaws.com/CC10_Spring_Catalogue.pdf

I could pick out at least 50 objects of desire that I know Liz will *love* but I've managed to whittle it down to three:

Jigsaw Cookie Cutter:


Lemon Drizzle Cake Candle:


Friendship Birds:

Button Tin - we do love a button...[BB]

View of front of kiosk
Originally uploaded by Sarah Waterhouse Textiles

Having spent perhaps too much of the morning looking for an online audio file of Mary Margaret O Hara's 'A New Day' - which if you can find it I promise, promise, promise you will love - I had given up. Aiming to return to work I happened upon these lovely photos of 'The Button Tin' - not only does it have the cutest sign but must be the coolest / cutest building in all Rotherham...

I would very much like to be sitting on a wrought iron chair, in the spring sunshine with a pot of tea looking at the textile loveliness... with HH, of course.

Simply Delightful Diaries {HH}

Oh what a joy to behold these Keel's Simple Diaries are. I am thoroughly convinced that we would both become goddesses of organisation if we had one ... I think I'd go for red :-)

"Your day was ( )Crucial ( )Open-minded ( )Immature"
"A secret passion you are dying to share with those who deserve it:__________"

Make sure you take a peep at the videos and also advice on how we can Be the Panda!

Love it, love it, *love* it!

Never ending or beginning {HH}

A strange serendipitous trail led me to this collection of three versions of 'The Windmills of Your Mind' ... Dusty Springfield, Dorothy Ashby and The Muppets ... enjoy the awesomeness: http://blog.discorocker.net/2009/02/windmills

I also love this version by Alison Moyet:



Actually I have a feeling that anyone could do this song and I would love it ... makes me feel like creating art when I listen to the lyrics ... expect to see lots of spirals, tunnels, keys, apples and footprints in forthcoming weeks and months ;-)

Live the life that I would love...{BB}

My first post to our very exciting collaborative venture is less an 'I saw this..' and more a 'I heard this...' so there you are - I haven't read the instruction book and I am going my own merry way already...

I've been pretty home based for the last 2.5 months after an accident and a badly broken ankle. I've done some thinking and some reading. I've kick started my 'Year of Knitting Selfishly' project and I've listened to a lot of radio at all hours of the day and (sleepless) night. On one early morning stint I heard the following on 'Prayer for the Day'. Now neither Helen nor I have a particularly religious bent, though we occasionally muse on our beliefs and ideas - but this seemed so very much a perfect thought and made me think of Helen:

May I have the courage today

To live the life that I would love.

To postpone my dream no longer

But to do at last what I came here for

And waste my heart on fear no more...

Many people postpone their dreams, and sometimes forget them altogether, under the weight of too many shoulds, musts, can'ts and shouldn'ts... I'm guessing it isn't easy but Helen is, I am happy to say, 'living the life that she would love' and (lucky us!) is cultivating her very special gift for helping others do the same...

So, here's to collaborations with your soul twins and to not wasting your heart, and your dreams, on fear...

A Place for Sharing {HH}

I have a soul twin, her name is Liz, I call her Lizbet (but, strangely, only in writing), on twitter she calls herself @betsybeth. We are each other's Anam Cara or 'Soul Friend' and, pretty much from the moment we met, we've been sharing things with each other: objects of delight, beautiful female singers, poems that speak our truth, how we see each other and the world around us.

This is a place to collect those sharings. I'm starting things off with a video which I know Lizbet will love ... mainly because she introduced me to the song in the first place ;-}


Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve on MUZU