Such lovely rain today. The perfect compliments: a rare Susanna Clarke short story, thanks to The Morning Oil: The Dweller in High Places, and this.


photography by Federico Ferrari

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

- T. S. E. The Wasteland

artist: Alexandre Day

Right now I am trying to shift way too many books from my double-stacked shelves, loving this lovely photostream, this group, and this man and his poetry:

A girl arose that had red mournful lips
And seemed the greatness of the world in tears,
Doomed like Odysseus and the laboring ships
And proud as Priam murdered with his peers,

Arose, and on the instant clamorous eaves,
A climbing moon upon an empty sky,
And all that lamentation leaves,
Could but compose man's image and his cry.
- W. B. Yeats

March. The earth is stirring. And hands catch flares of sudden sun,while feet still wend their watery ways. Underneath, little yawns are breaking and the hopeful treck begins to spring.

photos from here

Take Away Show

Since 2006 Vincent Moon, a Parisian independent film maker, has been shadowing musicians around the world while they cram into telephone booths, elevators, and even chase crowds, for the benefit of his Take Away Show, featured by La Blogothèque. In a simple camcorder-like approach, Moon melds the live vibes of impromptu performances with his artistry to produce music videos (like this one) of excelent quality and imagination. Seeking to capture his subjects in their natural environment, he is maping the world with their music.
Above are only a few out of the 90 or so musicians Moon has filmed. Tap their pic to see their page.

This Weight

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more
- Lord Byron

Some days these grey skies seem to lash all quick spirits to the earth. Give yourself to the wind of it, the dark of it, and the voices of the pines will greet you.
photography discovered in these archives

The Ones We Love

This is the perfect day to revisit this little page. Choose a photographer and click. And don't forget to show our city your love today on its 150th statehood anniversary

To Write Love On Her Arms

Since today is the official day of this little group, which has grown so extraordinarily in the last two years, it is the perfect opportunity to revisit the story that has sparked such a movement of hope and write love on your own arm today.

"What ought we to do? This. That. The contrary of this or that. There is no determinism that governs the future. What ought we to be? That is the essential question, the question that concerns spirit and not intelligence. For spirit impregnates intelligence with the creation that is to come forth"
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Flight to Arras

Drawings by Saint-Exupery's fellow countryman, Alexandre Day

No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion. - G. M. Hopkins

The heavy smell of sunwarmed dirt, the quick gust of a flighty breeze, and the warm touch of sunlight...could this day be more perfect?
pics from here