Lace in the making

A woman came to the shop in Barnes looking for crotceting needles. In vain. However, I got to see what she needed them for and also to take a picture. She is making a runner for a table at her local church: St Thomas in Fulham. I was impressed.
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Three dogs met at Barnes Octavia in the afternoon:
 
The largest stayed a bit longer and eagerly struck poses:

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Facial hair to admire in the book titled 'Beards':

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I've been meaning to try this place one day. Too late....


Instead I enjoyed live flamenco music and tasty food at the 2nx tapas place in Ealing:

Pink roses appreciated and Polish poetry translated

Rose garden


Rose bath 




Rose circle


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A poem opening a collection of Polish poetry translated by Jarek Zawadzki:

THANKSGIVING PRAYER WITH A REPROACH

You haven’t made me blind

Thanks be to You oh, Lord

You haven’t made me hunchbacked

Thanks be to You oh, Lord

You haven’t made me a child of an alcoholic

Thanks be to You oh, Lord

You haven’t made me a hydrocephalic

Thanks be to You oh, Lord

You haven’t made me a stutterer a cripple a dwarf an epileptic

a hermaphrodite a horse or moss or any other specimen of flora and fauna

Thanks be to You oh, Lord

But why have You made me Polish?

Andrzej Bursa (1932

–

1957

Towards the end of the selection you will find a poem by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, a poet, painter and thinker known as Witkacy. It refers to his unique business enterprise: a portrait company where you could have your portrait painted in a very unusual manner. Recently I've come across a portrait of Ezra Pound by Sheri Martinelli.

A PORTRAIT COMPANY

by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) (1885–1939)

Today or tomorrow

On a claret paper clean and smug,

I have to get it done

With your sucker’s mug.

What a filthy trade it is to paint.

What a filthy, filthy trade,

To limn each puss with no complaint,

And only to be poorly paid

1

.

It’s no great fun, I say,

To paint a janitor all day,

And for some bread

Explore the stupid head

__________________

1

This stanza is originally in French:

Quel sâle métier que la peinture.

Quel sâle, quel sâle métier.

On peint chaque geule sans murmure,

Pour avoir un peu de la monnaie.
 

 Here is the original:

FIRMA PORTRETOWA

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) (1885–1939)

Dziś albo jutro

Na bordo papierze

Muszę się uporać

Z twą mordą frajerze.

Quel sâle métier que la peinture

Quel sâle, quel sâle métier

On peint chaque geule sans murmure

Pour avoir un peu de la monnaie.

Nie jest to przyjemność duża

Cały dzień malować stróża

I za taki marny zysk

Zgłębiać taki głupi pysk.

Gay musicians

Authors on happiness and to inspire

I like what these authors said:

'Happiness doesn't lie in conspicuous consumption and the relentless amassing of useless crap. Happiness lies in the person sitting beside you and your ability to talk to them. Happiness is clear-headed human interaction and empathy. Happiness is home.' (Dennis Lehane)

 'Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you've got to make yourself.' (Alice Walker)


'The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.' (J.M. Barrie) Well, that's another way of looking at it.:-)

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go... (Dr Seuss)

 “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.” (Ayn Rand)

“If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.” (John Updike)

“The future could go this way, that way. The future's futures have never looked so rocky. Don't put money on it. Take my advice and stick to the present. It's the real stuff, the only stuff, it's all there is, the present, the panting present.”(Martin Amis)

I came across this website with loads of quotations and I forgot to save its address. Sorry.

First snow and woolen meadow project

Here you can see a cat contemplating the first snow in London this winter:
The snow didn't last very long:
 

Naturally, when the winter  is over, the spring will come, followed by the summer and the abundance of colours. Some people in the Dover and Folkestone area are knitting and crotcheting their own woolen versions of plants and animals inhabiting the chalk grassland of the Downs area. I was told about the project by the designer at The Skylarks in Folkestone. The lovely girl handed me this flyer which only today came to the surface, obviously to contrast with the greyishness of the melting snow:

No! Not a nasty cold again! Go away!

Sleep in the kitchen!

 

Don't know about you, but for me breakfast in bed has never been such an appealing idea... Breadcrumbs, spilled coffee... Not for me, really.

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It's not funny. My boiler has stopped producing proper heat the day I stayed in to get rid of a bad cold. Here is some advice on surviving the cold a local GP published online today.

Well, breakfast in bed doesn't work for me, but sleeping in the kitchen may be an option if the heating is not repaired. I can turn the oven on and keep warm there...