The edge of love.

Open a pathway through the slow sad sail


Throw wide to the wind the gates of the wandering boat

For my voyage to begin to the end of my wound.

We heard the sea sound sing, we saw the salt sheet tell.

Lie still, sleep becalmed, hide the mouth in the throat,

Or we shall obey, and ride with you through the drowned,

Dylan Thomas.

Images from The edge of love,

The stuff of dreams.

Mr Nielson better known as Sid, and I were strolling along, taking in the excitement of the Christmas shoppers in our local mall. You could feel the last minute frenzy, that seems to panic everybody, as the 25th of December draws near.

'There is a lot of stuff in the world', Mr Nielson said sagely.

I nodded gently, in my all knowing way, allowing Mr Nielson better known as Sid, to continue.

Thus encouraged, he went on, warming to the subject, (as he is wont to do), and soon we were having a perfectly, lovely chat about the material world as we know it.

Mr Nielson recognises, that the more people become caught up in the desire for more and more things, (or stuff as Mr Nielson like to call it,) the emptier they feel.

Mr Nielson calls this 'stuffology'; a modern day ailment, with only the most meta-physical of cures.

Of course, Mr Nielson does not complain when said 'stuffologists', come into his store, looking to add a few pretty jewels to their collection!

In truth, I am not unfamiliar with the affliction.

Any girl worth her salt, knows how to collect a thing or two, for goodness sake! My own malady, finds its fullest expression in the stuff of art and books, one of the most chronic forms of the condition!

There is a lovely joy, in finding beauty in a collection of special things, that each add to the whole.

And there is something quite magical, in the way in which grouping things together, can create an order, and form that would otherwise be absent.

Even Mr Nielson knows, that sometimes more is MORE!

xxx elle

Love the difficult.

What is required of us is that we love the difficult and learn to deal with it.

In the difficult are the friendly forces, the hands that work on us.

Right in the difficult we must have our joys, our happiness, our dreams: There against the depth of this background, they stand out, there for the first time we see how beautiful they are.

Rainer Maria Rilke ( Selected Letters)

Where the sock things are.

It's that time of year when Witeka, the char goes home for a month to visit her family in the Eastern Cape.

And thus, one early morning, but only when forced to... you venture into the bowels of the laundry room to unearth the year's secrets.

It takes a few days at the very least, to get the room looking like it did at the same time last year.

When I am at last spent, there are piles of freshly ironed laundry, a shining floor, machinery that gleams inside and out, and....

At least a basket full of single socks!

One of lifes unanswerable mysteries...remains unsolved.

xxx elle

All I'd want for Christmas...

If I celebrated Christmas...sigh,

I'd want a few of these around my Christmas stockings!

No wonder that Valentino has such a big yacht!

xxx elle

You can't keep a good girl down!

It didn't take long for Leslie Oschman of Anthropologie fame, to move on to interesting and new things in the world of creative possibility.

Not content with the extraordinary achievements, of the covetable lifestyle brand, she helped to establish, Leslie is now commissioning artwork, on the retro pieces of furniture she has sourced.

It's a reinvention of that Bloomsbury penchant, for adding a lick of paint to everything and the kitchen sink! Just the inspiration needed, to brush up on a bit of furniture of my own... And I'm liking that dog a lot too!

xxx elle

Of wings and things.

Found on the beautiful novels and writings by Maggie May.

Some good things to know.

My friend Danielle found a yellowed old book on a dumpster on the streets of Manhatten. As a beautiful young songstress struggling to sing a siren's song in NYC, the words in that book were like a message sent especially to her, from some kindly angels above.

Wise enough to know when her muse was calling, Danielle held onto the little dishevelled book, and lent it out to others needing comfort and inspiration.

It found it's way to a shared friend in her hospital bed, who showed it to me.

I love its very 80's, pop psych sincerity.
Its kindness.
And best of all, its old fashioned sensible home truths.

Here are some for you:

* Everything you need to be happy is inside of you.

* The purpose of life is for you to grow into the best Human Being you can be.

* Change is inevitable, so stop resisting and surrender to life's flow.

* All obstacles are lessons in disguise - honour them and learn.

* Your mind creates your experience of reality, so make your mind your friend.

* Fear will steal your aliveness - make your courage bigger than your fear.

* All relationships are your mirrors and all people are your teachers.

* You must love yourself before you can truly give or receive love from anyone else.

* True freedom comes from how you respond to life and not from what life does to you.

* Whatever the question, LOVE is the answer.

The day after reading this list in that little old book with my friend, I found myself unexpectedly standing in front of the 2009 edition in a bookstore!

You can buy one too. Not a literary experience by any means, but a little wisdom goes a long way in a busy world...

From
Secrets about life every woman should know by Barbara De Angelis!

The joyful leap.

Every child knows how to express real joy. Unbridled. It will make a child laugh with; shout with; jump with joy.... And the body knows how to store that joy, sending it into every cell and every atom like a little missive looking for an envelope.


Open it up wherever you can, seeking joy in small things. And when you find it, let your body remember. An undiluted child's joy.

Find joy with and in one another.

Share. Witness. Jump.

Your soul will be grateful.

Images from Fine Little Love