ADVENTURE + ALIVENESS Page 22 of 22

The most wonderful piece of bad luck

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A volcano erupted in Iceland sending a cloud of volcanic ash across Europe yesterday. You may have heard about it, seen the pictures, thought it bizarre.

4619861760_2d2486cfdb_zRangarvallasysla, Iceland Credit: Neil MacWilliams

As the cloud has filled the airspace, the airports have shut down one after the other and it has left an estimated 600,000 people stranded – including me! I was in Geneva, supposedly for a day. But my flight back was cancelled and the earliest I can get home to England is Monday evening on the Eurostar train. So what is a girl to do but head to Paris for an impromptu weekend of cafes, galleries, wandering and dreaming?? Oh life is hard.

It’s quite odd actually as I had been dreaming about going to Paris in the spring. Unusually for me I  had no plans this weekend, and I accidentally bought an ‘anytime’ instead of fixed time return train ticket back from London so even that is still valid when I get back. I only had my handbag with me, so no laptop = no work, and no clothes = excuse to buy new ones. Funnily enough what I did have in my handbag were every girl’s true travelling essentials: credit card, camera, chocolate, sketchbook and mascara. What more do I need? And an old friend from the US just happens to have also got stranded and is heading here right now. What a wonderful piece of bad luck. Even ash clouds have a silver lining…

If you also happen to be in Paris or have any tips on must-visit ateliers, flea markets, cafes or stationery shops please do share!

A bientôt.

More Paris posts here:
Paris je t’adore
Shopping in Paris
Travelling Light
Random acts of generosity

Bloom True

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Thought I’d share a piece from a series I am working on – ‘Bloom True’. The smells and colours of the emerging spring made me want to paint flowers.

Acrylic on canvas (20"x16") Bloom True
Acrylic on canvas (20″ x 16″)

Recently I was introduced to the incredibly talented Flora Bowley in a post by Lorrie Spotts, and instantly loved her work.  I was intrigued to then discover she is teaching a workshop at Squam in the autumn, entitled… Bloom True! It felt like a sign so I have recklessly signed up for Squam and will be heading back to the US for more creative fun with lovely American gals later in the year. I have also signed up for a photography workshop with Susannah Conway and wabi-sabi paper with Judy Wise.

Anyone else going? It’s going to be so much fun.

But for now, I am living in the moment of gorgeous sunshine, long mountain bike rides and painting – bliss.

Happy weekend!

Spring is…

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…trying to emerge from a long dark winter, seedlings wiggling up through the ground, trees preparing their new wardrobe, daffodils blooming courageously.

Snowdrops and Daffodils. Credit: Dominic Alves

Snowdrops and Daffodils. Image credit: Dominic Alves

 Is it just me, or do they look like they are whispering secrets?  

“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

This feels like a good time to reflect, breathe in and look forward. A time for something new…

A Homemade Life

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Just wanted to introduce you to this delicious foodie/love-of-things-homemade book ‘A Homemade Life’, as author Molly Wizenberg has just announced a new book tour of the US. As I am not planning to be in the US in April I sadly can’t go to any of them, so I thought I’d tell you about it instead, so maybe you could pop along and indulge for me! The dates are on her award-winning blog Orangette, along with lots of tasty recipes and ponderings about food and life.

A Homemade life by Molly Wizenberg

Following the death of her father, Molly took herself away to Paris, a city that ‘held vivid memories of a childhood trip with her father, of early morning walks on the cobbled streets of the Latin Quarter and the taste of her first pain au chocolat’. There she discovered that her heart was in the kitchen, and she goes on to tell a tale of cooking, eating, reading and love (with recipes!).

It’s funny, reflective, inspiring, and you can almost taste the vanilla bean buttermilk cake. Yum.

Books of the week

ART: Manolo Blahnik Drawings by Anna Wintour  – a collection of sketches of some of the world’s most gorgeous shoes.
ADVENTURE: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – ‘one woman’s search for everything’.
STORY: The Other Hand by Chris Cleave – on the back cover it says ‘We don’t want to tell you what happens in this book. It’s a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it’. I won’t spoil it either; let’s just say that it is stunning and shocking, sad and uplifting in equal measure.