No Explanation Required

This is my little blonde Granddaughter at the wax museum in Niagara Falls this week.

An Excerpt from Neverland

"The movie claims “All Dogs Go To Heaven”. But now that I have been here for one week, I must disagree. All dogs go to…….CAIRO! Everyday when I wake up, I look out my window and see at least six stray dogs running in the cemetery across the road (haha, yes I live across from a cemetery!). When I walk to the bus in the morning I see at least three more. And, if you look under the vehicles that line the streets, you can increase that number to fifteen or twenty! In Cairo, dogs are like the “Tim Horton’s” of Canada. You can find one any time you like! In addition to an extensive dog population, Cairo has quite the number of stray cats! I swear I feel like I am living in a really big pet store! It would be a really cool concept if the cats and dogs were a little cuter. Instead, they are all so skinny! Except for the big cat we saw last night. We declared him a hunter! I tell ya….a REAL pet store would be feeding the poor things…In terms of dog and cat relations, they seem to get along fairly well. We have yet to see any dog versus cat combat, although we have spotted an animal that resembles both a dog and a cat….and so we presume that some of them get along quite well! We have termed this mixed breed a “cogdat”. Look for them in your own neighbourhood…they are exquisite!"-Neverland (you can go there now to read more. wink.)

Dancing in the Stars

Not 'with' the stars, but I'm sure she is dancing 'in' the stars. Smiling. Happy. Confident. Peaceful. Watching her boys (men) grow. I leave this weary week with an image dedicated to two people. One, Diana. We are all remembering you this week. Two, Patricia Gray. My fellow Canadian. One of my first readers, who keeps coming back. Thank You - she is our much adored blogger who designs for John. Have a wonderful long weekend. My wish for you is that you have much song, much food, much hugs. The Work Continues.....xo

Incredible header photo credit: Lefteris Pitarakis

Queen Anne's Lace

And other pretty ideas (Thanks Sophie):

1. Stop being so hard on yourself, to be so many things, to so many people, so much of the time, especially to yourself.

2. We connect with others through our vulnerability; rather than putting on an armored front of being able to cope with anything. So if you need help, advice or support, ask for it.

3. Strip the word 'failure' from your vocabulary and replace it with feedback.

4. Accept that you have a dark side and embrace it. So maybe you have times when you feel envious, that you are being selfish or insensitive. So what!

5. Stop judging others and being critical. Decide not to say a bad word about anybody.

Sometimes.....

You have to let go of all the things you want to do while you finish the things you must do. And then, you must lie down in the grass, let the sun rejuvenate your body and the waves massage your soul, so that you may begin again. My dearest friends, Please be patient. Liberty xo

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

These little wooden beauties would never fit my feet. I have chubby toes and my feet swell ever day. I long for smooth tiny twinkle toes, but you can't have everything you dream of. I come before you today actually, to beg forgiveness for not posting/commenting much in the past few weeks. Business has been very busy. Travel. Deadlines. Frustrations. Doubts. Am I suffering from corporate defiance and snotty insubordination? Do I sound a tad catty? I do feel a change in the wind. (for my career) I guess I am just tired and I need to rest and recharge so I can move forward - one step at a time.

The Butcher The Baker The Blogger

I knew it. I just knew it. I knew that eventually this image of Nathalie Lete's work would become a key ingredient to a special 'meaty' post. And here it is. Ah..dear (carnivores) friends. She arrived. I've been waiting 4 days to hear from her and now I feel beefed up. It began last night as I ate the most tender fillet mignon at our formal business conference in Toronto. This melt in your mouth meat should have been a sign of my news. Perhaps the wine had numbed my radar as I usually listen to the signs and messages coming my way. Upon opening my laptop; belly full, bloated, uncomfortable - I found the marbled posts that I had been waiting for. And here lies the tale of The Butcher. And no, it wasn't the wine that made me laugh so loud (although it probably amplified it). It's the thought of her experience knowing her as I do. I invite you to select the finest aged cut of blogging stories; to settle in for a year of what surely will be some great humour, sharing and entertainment. I re-give you Neverland. Could there be a book on the horizon? Some sharp editor might be reading.

Do You Have A Jar By The Door?

Ella Marigby picks up the rice in the church where her wedding has been. Lives in a dream. Waits at the window, wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for? All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? - The Beatles

Bird's Nest Incredible

Remember I asked you about this photo? Well here's the answer. Of course our resident bloggy smarty pants, At Home With the Farmer's Wife and Life in Red Shoes guessed it correctly. Way to go girls! Sorry, no gold medal. Now, feast your eyes on this pictorial from Beijing. How can you not be completely in awe? How will Canada beat this in 2010? (They need to hire me.)

Blue Threads and Clay With Bananas

I've tried so very hard to use other colours, but I always come back to blue (you).

Dream Girl

I want to come back (and yes I believe we come back and back and back) as a world famous singer/songwriter/performer because I cannot sing or play music. If you need lyrics, I could do that. And if I get to put in a few more requests, I want to come back looking exactly like this and live in the penthouse of this place. (Oh you must click to enlarge to witness my lip envy.) If you have any pull in this regard please leave a comment. Thanks.

What Is It?

Hula Loving in the Country (Canada's Hamptons)

Saturday evening brought the swirl of bats kissing above the lai, mixed with copious amounts of liquor beside a fire the size of a five storey inferno. You see, in the country; a good old fashioned silver anniversary party, everyone is welcome. You may be an outlawed biker, born again baker, just-walking toddler, dancing girl or rough and ready boy. You may be rich. You may be poor. You may have wrinkles earned with years of laughter or dewy skin anew. You are all the same and wonderful and hugged and fed and jigged and horseshoed and decorated. Upon the fresh cut lawn, the sound of grunting pigs, fireflies, green tomatoes, hissing frogs, laps of the Mad River and squawking roosters -you feel happy. Celebrating on the shores of the Mad River is nothing short of goosebump marvelous; a babbling, shallow stream overhung with cedars, its banks lined with ostrich ferns. Several rare ferns, including Hart's-tongue fern, smooth cliffbrake fern, northern holly and green spleenwort, grow further up the slopes. A tributary of the larger Nottawasaga, the Mad River is a cold stream which provides ideal habitat for brook trout that you can see glowing in the sparkling clean water. We are, were at peace. Joyful. Exhilarated and alive. Thank You. Thank You. Thank you for inviting our family to your historic celebration. 25 years. I signed the guest book with two words: My God.

Nice Day for a White Wedding

Ellen was quoted: 'I'm the luckiest guy around.'

Shiloh and Viv

I have always loved babies pampered in white. I adore toddlers in white. All children should be dressed in white until they go to school. Pure, innocent, perfect. Very unrealistic or practical, but pristine. Years ago my Mom would clean my white booties every night; polish them, soak the laces, buff them. Fresh cotton white cloth diapers. White pins. Tiny white undershirts. This powdery soft look needs to be a law. Who will vote with me?

If you've just tuned in.....

This is the new blogger of the new blog Neverland. Here is her 'to-do' list of things she must do before she leaves for Egypt (for a year) on Monday. (The photographer is her mama.) And. It's official. She can write. (gee, that's amazing.)

Dear Readers, Please Wish Her Luck

My daughter is heading to Egypt on Monday. First time flying. First time away from home. And now ladies and gentlemen, her first time blogging. Won't you please welcome her to blogging and follow along on her journey to Neverland! xo

Breezy Blurry Blond

Oh, I'm slap happy tonight. Here's a colour pic of me. Blowing in the wind. I might (might) be away from the blog on and off for the next week. I have a lot on my plate; and a conference to attend in Toronto all next week. I will miss you all terribly. Please wait for me. I am not one of those advanced bloggers with 'guests' to fill in. It's just little ol' me and you truly mean the world to me. Ahh. I almost forgot to tell you. I'm off to kiss Buttercup goodbye. She's off to Egypt on Monday. Be free. Shoot from the hip. Be Yourself. Liberty xo

Hair by Magician

Here is my new hair. Circa 10:30 am today. Razored and scissored and massaged and caressed and fingered and thinned and smoothed and treated and loved and paddled and angled and well, perfect. I love my magician. Do you have one too?

Eat Play Sleep

I'm writing a new book based on my year of living with vintage sheets. I am chronicling how I picnic (eat) on them, make forts (play) with them and 'tuck them in tight and then throw them off' (sleep) nightly. The 102 chapters will follow me to three destinations. My local beach, my living room and my bedroom. Did I mention I will do all this and learn to speak Spanish?

'S' is for Shit

I just got in 'shit' from my Mother over this. In her cool tone (I knew something was heading my way) she said, 'I was so surprised to see that post.'. I said, 'What post?' (knowing full well which one she was referring to.) 'The post with that word.', she emphasized. Oh boy, I thought, I'm in big ka-ka now. I tried to explain to her that no other word was as effective as 'fuck' for my feelings about the situation. She, in her very motherly way, stated that I could have used another word to convey my frustration. Have I told you that I will soon be 50? Have I also told you that I hate to be censored? Especially by a scrabble champion. It is true what 'they' say: Once a Mother always a Mother.

He says, "Blogs are worthless" (what an ass)

'F' is for Fuck

This is the only word that suits my feelings about the Georgia/Russia war. 'Fuck' those men; yet more men - who feel it necessary to start yet another war. How much longer are 'we' (women) going to stand for this?

Hairband Love

They've made a huge comeback in the last few years and I love the look. Now we have permission to wear them out in public instead of to bed to keep our hair out of the gooey $120 night cream. And when your night partner remarks about your slippery, smothered face and awkward hair style, you can, with confidence, announce you are 'on trend'. Good Night Goo Face.

Part 1

Annie Leibovitz - Life Through a Lens - part 1 of 5
Uploaded by photojournalism

You can fall deep into the entire 5 part documentary here. Open a bottle of good wine.

Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

Photographer Annie Leibovitz has produced some of the most memorable and iconic images of the last 30 years, from her work with Rolling Stone magazine through to her Hollywood cover portraits at Vanity Fair. She has also recorded the horrors of war in Rwanda and Sarajevo and taken intimate shots her own friends and family, including Susan Sontag. This documentary, directed by her sister, is a fascinating portrait of a great talent, featuring vintage footage of Leibovitz in action during the 1960s and contributions from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hillary Clinton, Mick Jagger and George Clooney.

Obits

I don't read them. I am not old enough 'yet' to look through them daily to see if I know anyone who has died. My parents read them. My aunts and uncles read them. But not me. What is the official age to begin this daily painful habit? I did however, stumble across this obit about Susan Sontag and it moved me. To the core.

"She showed you things you hadn't seen before; she had a way of reopening questions. Through four decades, public response to Ms. Sontag remained irreconcilably divided. She was described, variously, as explosive, anticlimactic, original, derivative, naïve, sophisticated, approachable, aloof, condescending, populist, puritanical, sybaritic, sincere, posturing, ascetic, voluptuary, right-wing, left-wing, profound, superficial, ardent, bloodless, dogmatic, ambivalent, lucid, inscrutable, visceral, reasoned, chilly, effusive, relevant, passé, tenacious, ecstatic, melancholic, humorous, humorless, deadpan, rhapsodic, cantankerous and clever. No one ever called her dull." - From the obituary by Margalit Fox, December 29, 2004

Tibetan Carpet Ride

'Fire' is a new handmade carpet design by Chris Buckley, based on traditional Tibetan decorative motifs from the 14th and 15th centuries. Torana Carpets of Beijing, makes fine handmade wool area rugs from their own workshop in Lhasa, Tibet; rugs from the Michaelian & Kohlberg company and antique carpets and textiles from Tibet and Xinjiang - custom area rugs for interior design too.

Fashion Design in Beijing

The $550 Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit uses ultrasonically bonded seams that fit a swimmer like a true second skin, as opposed to the stitched-up suits of the past. With low-drag panels embedded within the fabric, the suit was designed in conjunction with NASA scientists in order to find the best performing fabric. However, the design also led to a controversial feature: potentially illegal levels of buoyancy (due to a mix of polyurethane layers.) Plus, the suit apparently is only good for 2 swims! Do you think they could design a suit to cover up spider veins, stretch marks and age spots that would cut housework time in half?

Olympic Barking

"One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him." - Chinese Proverb

I am hoping against all hopes that many of you are enjoying my 'back stories' of the Olympics. No results (you can click on the top right 'baby girl' photo to catch up on all the exciting coverage) just interesting tidbits of China. I know how creative types think....ughh! Olympics Slympics...but you know, 'we' (creative types) are inspired by all things - people, places and visuals. So, please. No Olympic Barking at this Canadian blogger. Yelp.

I Am Because We Are

I've saved these photos in my 'dream house' file so I never forget how lucky I am already. I am living the 'dream house' now.