You must remember this…

Nearly five years have gone by since I shared this post with you. As Hepburn said, Paris is always a good idea, once it re-opens, and safe to visit. There have been a number of new followers and not everyone wanders back in a blog’s archives so I’m playing it again… and hope you won’t mind?

“Paris is always a good idea.”  – Audrey Hepburn

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.” – Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” – Mae West

“No temptation can ever be measured by the value of its object.” – Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

*

You must remember this…

“We’ll always have Paris”

Rick whispers to Ilsa

The memories of

Passion born

Romantic interlude

Lucien taking my hand

Dans la Louvre

His deep resonating accent

Thick as a fine paté,

A call to arms, to lips, tongues…

Two arms guide me

Lost in Ribera’s

Club-footed boy

Spanish room

His favourite,

La Louvre closes

I’m introduced to

The Latin quarter,

Notre Dame,

Secluded niche

Spring grasses,

Canopy of leaves

Along the Seine

City of light

La ville de l’amour

No need for translation

Communication

Flows freely

Play it again…

*

Bisous,

Léa

La Fête du Muguet

Due to WordPress issues, this site (http://foundinfrance) is currently in hiatus and its fate undecided as of yet.Therefore, I have reblogged it onto the poetry blog. However, you are most welcome to visit this other site, https://poetryphotosandmusingsohmy.wordpress.com
As you may notice this a reblog from the past but relevant. Both have been active since 2011 and many posts to choose from. Thank you.

found-in-france

La Fête du Muguet, La Fête du Travail, May Day in France is a public holiday to campaign for and celebrate workers’ rights. It is also an occasion to present  Muguet, lily-of-the-valley, or dog rose flowers to loved ones. Often it is just a single sprig of Muguet with a few leaves. However, some will incorporate a rose or even add several sprigs of Muguet to a much larger arrangement or plant.

How is the day celebrated: People across France give bouquets (or a single sprig) to their loved ones. In some areas, families will get up early to go into the woods to pick the flowers. Labor organizations will sell the flowers on the streets on May 1. Special regulations enable individuals and some groups to sell the flowers on May 1 without complying with retail regulations or paying a tax.

Parades and demonstrations to campaign for the rights…

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Solitude of a Night in Prague

If you are not familiar with the work of Randall Collis, please do yourself a favor and read through this post.

Global Sojourns Photography

I’ve never welcomed the darkness as much as tonight. The isolation clears my head; this solitude of nothingness, paraphrasing the philosophy of the Dao de Jing, …holds everything.

Such silence is rare here on the streets of one of Europe’s oldest cities, where in the daytime each passing second arrives quicker than the last. At this hour, however, time essentially stands still.

The shadow of night creeps through my body, its blackness cloaking my soul to reveal a calmness lacking the past few months.  The lights, blinding during the day, become relief at this hour.  An hour of perception.  An hour of contrast, of paradox.

All encasing a world I seldom visit; deep into the night where elegance and vulgarity sit side-by-side on a curb, fused together through their unique naïveté by the darkness that surrounds.

The grace and coarseness of their melody illuminates who I was, who…

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Tony tells it like no one can…

I’ve stopped looking at certain magazine articles about travel to places I’ve been because I will not likely go to any of those places again: Los Angeles, Columbus, Atlanta, Miami, Fargo. There’s no point in looking at travel brochures for places I never went to because I will not likely go there now: Tenerife, Juneau, […]

via Tzitzicaztenanco — Dark Matter

Scattering

Originally posted 19 May, 2012

“In one of those stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night. And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend…I shall not leave you.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.”
– W. Clement Stone

“Here is my secret. It’s quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Scattering

Every new

Moon

I curl up

In my

Curvaceous

Crescent

Encircled

By each

Starry night

Celestial dreams

Await me

There is no man

Here

I control

The ebb

And flow

Of the

Seas

I watch

Over your

Attempts

To comprehend

Me

To encapsulate

Into ode

Or song

It is difficult

When you

Haven’t

The language

Of the

Universe

Bemused

My laughter

Scatters

Stardust

–

Bisous,

Léa

The Soldiers’ Pocket Books That Legitimized Paperbacks

Nicholas C. Rossis

Even though pamphlets and softcover books have been available in Europe since the 16th century, US readers looked down on them until well into the 20th century. As a recent Atlas Obscura post by Cara Giaimo explains, without a mass-market distribution model in place, it was difficult to make money selling inexpensive books.

Although certain brands succeeded by partnering with department stores, individual booksellers preferred to stock their shops with sturdier, better-looking hardbacks, for which they could charge higher prices. Even those who were trying to change the public’s mind bought into this prejudice: one paperback series, Modern Age Books, disguised its offerings as hardcovers, adding dust jackets and protective cardboard sleeves. They, too, couldn’t hack it in the market, and the company folded in the 1940s.

Wartime Reading

Soldiers in Virginia wrangle with hardcover books donated through the VBC. Image via Atlas Obscura.

Then, war came. In September of…

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You must remember this…

“Paris is always a good idea.”  – Audrey Hepburn

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.” – Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” – Mae West

“No temptation can ever be measured by the value of its object.” – Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

*

You must remember this…

“We’ll always have Paris”

Rick whispers to Ilsa

The memories of

Passion born

Romantic interlude

Lucien taking my hand

Dans la Louvre

His deep resonating accent

Thick as a fine paté,

A call to arms, to lips, tongues…

Two arms guide me

Lost in Ribera’s

Club-footed boy

Spanish room

His favourite,

La Louvre closes

I’m introduced to

The Latin quarter,

Notre Dame,

Secluded niche

Spring grasses,

Canopy of leaves

Along the Seine

City of light

La ville de l’amour

No need for translation

Communication

Flows freely

Play it again…

*

Bisous,

Léa

Lumières d’étoiles, maison du futur?

“Without followers, evil cannot spread.” – SPOCK, Star Trek ‘And The Children Shall Lead’

“Beam me up Scotty. There’s no intelligent life here.” – SPOCK

*

Lumières d‘étoiles, maison du futur?

In another world

kepler-452b?

Or perhaps

one of the other

habitable planets

–

one-hundred-billion galaxies

each with as many as

three-hundred-billion stars

lumière d’étoile, étoile brillante

this planet, this star

home to future generations?

–

we are not alone –

never have been

the rush to find

a ‘new earth’ – frantic

as nature rebells

man’s use up and dispose

mentality

–

the race heats up

those who have –

demand to stake their claim,

colonize, control, manipulate,

it will go to the highest bidder

even a larger planet

can take only so much abuse

–

Bisous,

Léa

Magical smart phone

“Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we’re too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone.” – Steven Spielberg

*

Magical smart phone

Only two apps I think
Invisibility cloak
And time traveling

*

No, I do not have a ‘smart phone’ and am technically challenged. But if I had the above two applications to choose from, I will admit there would be temptation. I would start at The Algonquin Hotel and search out Mrs. Parker and friends then off to visit with Jonathan Swift… Where would such applications take you? What apps would you want or create and where would they take you?

* 

Bisous,

Léa

And the result is in…

 

 

LA CHATTE NOIRE

Several weeks ago, I asked for your help in finding a name for my business. There were several wonderful submissions. With the help of some very special trusted friends, and a few of the feline variety, the struggle has come to an end. However, that was not before spending hours trying out the suggestions, a few of my own and variations of them all. On 10 June as I drove away from the lovely beach village of Leucate after my weekly French class, a title popped into my head. There has been some criticism as the famous Black Cat painted by the late Henri Toulouse Lautrec was Le Chat Noir. Yes, I do love that cat. However, I am a female and what I write, publish, paint, photograph… is with a feminine perspective and I desire that the name reflect that. Ergo, I present to you for the first time, LA CHATTE NOIRE PRESSE.

LA CHATTE NOIRE PRESSE can also be found on my LinkedIn page.

My sincere thanks to all who participated and all who lent their support. Thank you to my friend Natalje who hashed it out with me last night and gave me valuable feedback and aided me in realising this is what I had been searching for.

 

Bisous et calins,

Léa