Week's End - For Daphne on the Beach

...who got away & did not turn into a laurel tree, after all.

A toe touched the tip of North Africa & I took off, ran, ran, ran along the beach,* shouting over loud waves, too loud for the Med, really, about finally getting to the continent. Possibly I was shouting in my head. Only recently 18, one would've thought I'd journeyed that long to get there. I knew it would be a long haul to get from there to the rest-of-there. Must always remind people, "Africa is a continent, the largest."

Three companions & the beach caretaker (who became a self-appointed guardian & two-week Arabic tutor), maybe they were rolling their eyes. It was the far end of dusk, so I didn't see & for once I didn't care what anyone thought about my exuberance.

*I love these photographs by Rengim Mutevellioglu. They remind me of the eastern Mediterranean shore (the top one is marked as 'Beirut' here, but not on RM's CV, nor on Kropp Creative Database). Definitely check out Rengim's portfolio - a 19-year-old Russian living in Paris.

NB: re pix & labels. I know Lebanon is not in Africa, people, but I was near Carthage & that means something to me, if no to one else. Additionally, that first NA trip coincided with the beginning of the Lebanese civil war...the story of begging an unaccountably smitten young English diplomat in Tunis to get me, g-damn it, on a plane to Beirut or Damascus is for another time. (I've possibly said too much already & have to check.) I conflate those two places because they conflated & collided simultaneously in my life & in other people's lives, many whom I'd yet to meet.

Week's End - Mirage/Mirare

Some additional The English Patient stills (by brilliant Phil Bray). I've used them to help with some research/writing prompts & as I'm metaphorically stuck in the desert/Middle East (& Italy), they continue to resonate. The shots in the Cairo apartment were not done there but I could swear they were shot in the Garden City quarter. Those maniacal production artists.

By the way, I recently read the late (so sad) Anthony Minghella's award-winning screenplay & it is well worth buying for any would-be adapters, fans of the film & novel. You'll find that many things you think are in the novel are not - they're in the screenplay; since it didn't bother Michael Ondaatje, it sure doesn't bother me. I am sorry there aren't more stills available of the Hana/Kip story thread; I have some in folders, but that can wait. I'm beyond indulging myself here. [many images from www.availableimages.com/movies/1996/english-patient-the/pictures; other credits, from here. But everything really comes down to Phil Bray.]

Have a great weekend.

Towards the Oasis

Camels on parade. Here's the story (& eight additional photographs) about the Master of Miniatures, Nikolai Aldunin on My Modern Met.

The Sheltering Sky

I was on the edge of a dust storm today (as here), just the edge; but enough to make one wonder "Why do you do these things? Why?!" Helping unpack & cull fabulous-to-good baskets from Darfur, Sudan, destined for sale here in the States. (The poor uh-oh baskets--we're thinking of what/how to salvage.)

The travel time for these boxes of baskets...what a journey. A new intern, "I think these boxes are older than me!" I think so, too. We had the Sahel all over us, the dust & grime. I said, "Look? Ugh" "I prefer to not think of it," she said in a funny voice. Naturally, I began thinking of the provenance of every piece of grit.

A nice bit of serendipity--Tina Tarnoff, fantastic artist & author of Thought Patterns has a post on tarting up a steamer trunk. (I have had one in my bedroom since I was very little & am enthused by the possibilities. This enthusiasm may wane. We shall see.) Tina & her husband were inspired to acquire & do something with a steamer trunk after they watched The Sheltering Sky, the adaptation of the Paul Bowles novel. And so I take that title for the post or else it will just be titled Desert Grime. Or something worse.

I just realized, yes only now, that I was unpacking things-that-were-shipped from a far away land. Camels were involved. Yep.

Thanks to everyone for their comments here, on Facebook, & in email about Giulia Geranium's birthday. The cat herself remains unimpressed by me & my machinations on her behalf. She is very interested in the basket I brought home tonight, though. After all, she descends from North African desert lands....as do all domesticated felines (anywhere in the world...how weird is that?).

Thursday update: Here's an interesting post called Writing Morocco from Peony Moon blog (gorgeous photographs).

[photographs by Tim Navis (via Sebastian tumblr), Fady Habib (via Beauty in Everything) & the sea is from Noa's tumblr (inactive) all via we heart it]

Summer Sandals

These are nearly identical to beloved sandals I had for about 18 years. Up & down countless steps & hills, deserts & cities, seashores & villages. Pulling out of a Metro station two days ago, I saw a woman wearing-- my sandals! (Or close.) Where, where? Did you get them? OK, I thought-yelled it. I do not believe they exist in this world--now--for less than $500 dollars. I don't remember where I bought them (a dust storm was kicking up), but they were in a half-smashed cardboard box. I searched for a left & then a right, paid, & left wearing them, running from that storm. So many people asked me about those sandals. They served me well. Until one day, a cobbler said Not even I, Signorina, can mend these. You must say good-bye. I know it is hard. Much history, yes? Only enough to break your heart. The kind that breaks your heart. [photograph by Nina Leen, LIFE Archives]

L'eau de Rose/Rosewater

I use a lot of rosewater (in food & otherwise). The last photograph of the Jordanian desert will illustrate why rosewater became essential to my well-being when living there. (OK, not in the desert but working on a dig, it's much the same thing.) It's an affordable tonic.

[photographs from lovely sfgirlbybay; your life, it seems extravagant/tumblr; dizrthymia/tumblr; all via we heart it; Jordanian desert from The Real Israel blog on Wordpress.]