1,000 Days In Venice

I love the discovery of a new book, a new author, someone whose words I have not yet read or come to know. I tend not to re-read a book as there are too many new discoveries to make.

I hear what other people have been reading, or see a book that someone else is in the middle of and I'll make a note of the author and the title. I read a review of a book that someone else has taken the time to share and I'll make a note to myself.

One of my favourite ways to discover new books is on the back of one I'm currently reading...I love to read the reviews by other authors and then make a note of who they are and what they have written. It's the possibility of finding a pearl in an oyster...the "never knowing" if the new book will be as good as I hope.

That's how I discovered Marlena de Blasi's "1,000 Days in Venice", a read rich with the author's travels in Venice, of falling in love and leaving her life behind to discover possibility in a new country, with a new language and someone she knew not very well at all. Marlena listened to her heart and allowed it to make the decisions.

I lost myself in Marlena's well woven story about love, about food, about possibility and I came away with renewed senses, most particularly with regard to food. The words on the page came over me like smooth butter being spread on freshly baked bread and when I closed the last page, I knew I wanted more..and more..and more. Of the simple pleasures in life. Of finding the possibility that something as simple as bread can leave you filling full ~ not just sated from hunger, more a feeling full of choice, desire and possibility. It reminded me of how much I loved the food of Italy when I visited as a child of 16 and how very much I have missed eating and enjoying food for what it is, what it brings, rather than just something I must "do".

Imagine the pleasure at knowing that Marlena has now worked her way through Sicily and Tuscany ~ something warm and pleasurable to help me make it through this very cold, very dim, dark winter.

Soul Mantras

soul mantra pendant created by Liz Lamoreux

I have long admired Liz Lamoreux's soul mantra pendants for what they represent, and kept thinking I would one day treat myself to one. These pendants are hand stamped by Liz and are worn as a reminder for whatever mantra you feel speaks most to you. With words and expressions such as possibility, yes, truth, begin, inhale, be present the possibility of finding just the "right" mantra is as close as a chain worn round your neck.

Until last night, none of these words spoke to exactly what I was looking for. And then I found it. "Grace"...right there, waiting for me. The possibility of finding grace ... I eagerly await it's arrival. Is there one waiting for you?

The Art of Blogging

While reading through some old magazines yesterday I came across this article in Somerset Studio. I was reminded about another form of possibility...the possibility that we might say things we regret that go out into the "space" of internet ether. The possibility that the things we say can be misinterpreted, or that some of the subject matter talked about is now in the public domain, things that might be better for the writer to be kept private. Point #8 speaks to this.

Point #10 is speaking about life from the perspective of art, but it applies to everything that is posted on the internet. What is written and posted can be found; you can be found and what might be better kept between the writer and the person in question, has now been made public fodder. There is always the possibility that the writer will be seen by others in a negative light for what the rant is about, "who" is being ranted about and how those feelings/emotions/thoughts have been expressed. Those who are regular faithful readers of a blog will no doubt be sympathetic and offer comments in agreement with the author's comments. Employers, potential employers, may end up with this and likely not be as sympathetic. It's something young people who use social networking sites must be reminded of at all times. It isn't private, it isn't just "in your own home" and "on your own computer". Whatever you write is being "given away" and has the potential and the possibility to affect your reputation.

Certainly something to think about.

Click on the image to enlarge the text for reading.

Found On A Starbucks Coffee Cup...

...a grande skinny vanilla latte...$4.10 plus applicable taxes...caffeine and wisdom...I've read this before, today it makes even greater sense to me...just because we are "good" at something does not mean that it is the "right" something...

Where An Idea is Born

A few weeks ago, when I closed for good my blog Esprit * d'Art there were options and choices. Leave the blog up for me to go back to if I wanted or delete it. I chose to delete it. I'd said all I wanted to say there, accomplished all I wanted to do and felt myself changing. I'd done all I could do in that "skin". There was the possibility of a new blog, which was already on the back burner, an idea that was brewing and waiting for me to step forward with as I move into a new phase in life with new possibilities and projects to complete. Hitting "delete" was the obvious answer. I don't want to "go back", to dwell in the past or to re-read things that were relevant to me a year ago or more. I had reached the point of going forward without looking over my shoulder at where I had been.

It was a month ago, while watching this movie on tv one Saturday night, a Queen Latifah festival, that started the gears working; the voice from the back of my head saying "this is what you want to do, this is where you want to go...now do what you have been thinking of...you've planted the seeds, give them some water and sunlight..." and that is how Everyday Possibilities came to be and will continue to grow.

I Hope You Dance

Transition

Transition: n. 1. The process or an instance of changing from one form, state, activity, or place to another. 2. Passage from one subject to another, as in discourse.