Couple in Black & White

Couple by Ernest Haas of the great Magnum Agency. It's a scan (& cropped) of the UK edition of Richard Ford's Women With Men. Great collection. Paris plays a role, if you've not read it, but not the way romantics might like. Or might. Disappointed ones. (Is there any other kind? Seriously, I'm asking.) An obnoxious novelist, an ex-, snickered derisively when he saw I had Ford on my shelves. "Women hate him. He's a men's writer." Huh? No one told me. I should have known right then. Would've saved five years. But that's another photograph.

I think the photograph is from a series but haven't had time to look.

PS: Trying to break my OCD should-have-post-ready for 7am publish-next-day, no matter what. Here's hoping.

Bouquets of yellow mimosa...

...to all on International Women's Day. The annual theme is up to individual countries, but this year "Women and men united to end violence against women & girls" is the official UN/global focus.

When it comes to the condition of women & girls, my knowledge is mostly southern Italy, Sicily (Italians...sorry, it's true & you know it), the Middle East (all countries & territories), north & central Africa. I'm thinking a lot about colleagues, friends, & good acquaintances who are either on the Chad-Darfur border or detained in Sudan. Don't know yet. Border hopes.

On a less serious note, March 8 is celebrated with a great deal of fun & flair (no surprise) in Italy. See here for a little Roman anecdote. xoxo

Update: I can't believe I'm doing this. But if it makes some people happy, then I'll make your damn day. In Italy, there's an argument (of course) about the proper title of International Women's Day. So. Today is also Buona Festa della Donna. I hereby declare both titles correct. /susan/8 march/noon EST. Grrrr.

Week's End - Marlon in Black & White

How cool is this? Young Marlon with a great typewriter & his white cat (in 1955) via scan from Hollywood Cats that I found for $1.00 at Catapalooza on Valentine's Day. Such a bargain.) Off to brood (but never as cool as Marlon). Have a great weekend. Sunday is International Women's Day & I'll post something...they celebrate it in Europe (especially Italy) big time but in the States? Zip, really. What about Canada? Canadiennes, please weigh in, if you like. ciao, belle!

Artful Annie

Ever-so-cool & arty Annie Lennox. There are many great black & white pix of her but I love the color here. I've been listening to her cover album, Medusa, a lot lately. And then playing songs by the original writers/singers. Particularly Don't Let it Bring You Down by Neil Young (whom I love despite his crankiness & often reflexive sexist statements...he's mellowed somewhat in that respect). Here's a September post, Scots We Like, from the other blog, early on with another photo & credits & more reasons to like Annie.

Federico's film that changed everything...

It must be everywhere today but I can't let it pass without saying something. La Dolce Vita (the movie, not the saying) is 50 years old today. More thoughts another time...but I keep hearing Anita Ekberg say: "Marcello...come here..." in that nutty high voice at that goofy Trevi Fountain. (photos from screen shots).ciao belle.

Amusement: make an album cover

Thanks to Jamie at Small Expectations for her post (& to A Bird in the Hand blog where Jamie happened upon the instructions to make your own album cover). Mine isn't as cool as Jamie's but I've never used the text function in Picasa, so that was fun. I wanted to spend more time on the fonts but kept it to 10 minutes tops. Following the rules: 1) the first random Wikipedia article was about the HMS Achille; the last random quote on Quotations page was by Leon Tec, MD: "A sailor without a destination cannot hope for a favorable wind." So there's the album title: Hope for a favorable wind. The third photo (in middle column at bottom) in the last seven days of flickr page that loaded was by NenePhoto & titled Boccadasse, Genova, Liguria. See? I can't get away from Italy! ciao-ciao

Italian bloggers have style

Oh they're just wonderful, even if they are nuts. Maybe that's why I love them. This is the banner from the conglomeration of Italian bloggers for Darfur...Yes, my worlds collide. Isn't that George Costanza's cri de coeur? "Worlds colliding, Jerry..." :) I'm still looking for the attribution but taking a decidedly Italian attitude about it. ciao

Blue hyacinth

The hyacinth for constancy wi' its unchanging blue.
- Robert Burns, O Luve Will Venture In

Drunk on the gorgeous scent of a full-blooming purplish-blue hyacinth. It was a major bargain-treat last weekend. I feel like Ferdinand the Bull. And, of course, it's in the blue color family; the fixation continueth. As I lack a working camera, Tracey Tilson of Images by Tracey graciously gave permission to use her lovely photograph on both blogs.

Hadn't thought to include poem links with the word 'hyacinth,' but why not? There are so many, so this is fairly random. The Cats Will Know (Cesare Pavese); A Face (Robert Browning); Hyacinth (Louise Gluck)

I will post more later or tomorrow but the scented cloud around my head had to be mentioned...it might be why I've been so distracted.Yes, I can blame even a flower. It's a change from blaming Julie the Cat...she is asleep right underneath the Leaning Pisa bloom. Little Ferdinanda.

White Tulips

Audrey Hepburn & her mother & white tulips by Tom Grim. How can I go wrong with those? (AH & mother via scan from audreystyle) As I type this Tuesday early evening, awaiting ICC decision Wednesday, 7:45AM EST, re: arrest warrant for President of Sudan. Will be on conference call early a.m. Back here to post & look at everyone else's beautiful, inspiring, & thoughtful photos & comments. Will need it, for sure. Either way it goes. ciao.

Mont Blanc/Monte Bianco

Thinking about France a lot Bleu/Blue, etc. The photograph's quality deteriorated; it's an integral part of the permanent fridge installation. A friend's then-young French niece already has style here, no doubt about it. She had a cheerful determination about reaching this point (note stance). Good manners, too. Anne-Sophie was the only one of 8 people who didn't quickly correct me when I slipped & said "Monte Bianco" instead of Mont Blanc. (They're French, can you tell? An Italian would not do that...vive la & all that) bisou and baci.

Blue typewriter, 2

Another vintage blue Olivetti by Peter Lindberg, of Stockholm. This is a Lettera 22 for you Olivetti-philes (who probably already knew that). ciao

Blue typewriter

I love this & can't do anything with it right now as a big bunch of snow & high wind are making their unwelcome way to the DC-area. (A big bunch of snow would've have been most welcome in February; as it is March, I see no reason to be chipper about it now.)

The blue mosaic was made by Yvonne Stehle who graciously gave me permission to use it. (Coincidentally, she has an etsy shop, moline.) A thing with portable typewriters (I wish I still had mine) & a few paragraphs from a poet's journal have me obsessing about: Olivetti portable typewriters (mainly red, though), delphinium, a blue balloon, figs, oranges, & the Matisse chapel in the south of France. A Vespa, too, I think. All will become clear eventually. For now, if posts keep coming at 7am & seem to have absolutely nothing to do with anything else (that is, more than usual), then I'm in the midst of a power outage. ciao!

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!

Update: Read The Clever Pup's excellent post on St. David's Day. Well done!

Tomorrow is St. David's Day, the Welsh National holiday & I totally forgot. My annual desperate search for daffodils (ubiquitous every other dang day in the pre-spring/spring) was forgotten. I do have leeks, as always, in the house. I wrote a post for GG's blog to publish tonight & I'll just have to scrape stuff out of that...& excuse it as bricolage...I have a bone to pick with those Welsh, Anglo-Welsh, American-Welsh poets who complain about all the other festivals & sit on their rears & do nothing. I've cheerled (is that a word?) & worked on getting something going in DC (something as much fun as Burns Day at the local Royal Mile Pub or St. P's almost anywhere but in my neighborhood, McGinty's--real Irish-owned) for a few years & give up for now. Too busy.

From GG blog (later):

St. David's Day snuck up on us, it's tomorrow (March 1). Must run out to buy daffodils, braise some leeks, & watch out for red dragons on the loose. As a child/teenager, GG's editor put in hours of choir rehearsal relearning songs in Welsh for an annual appearance at a Pittsburgh Welsh "old people's home." We cringe to think that's how the senior homes were described back then. The older folks were so pleased to see us every year & one or two people always asked, wistfully, if any of us grew up speaking Welsh, or even knew it? Maybe? We had to say no...but they were very complimentary about the performance & asked lots of questions about our lives as "you young people." Lovely people, lovely dinner, loads of daffodils on all the tables.

Dylan Thomas' unfortunate public behavior in America (& everywhere else) still irked/embarrassed many of the older Welsh but they chose overlook it so as to recite Thomas (many could by heart). Do Not Go Gentle...must have had great resonance for them, as it did not for us--then. Seamus Heaney read it at Ted Hughes' graveside in a rainstorm after the funeral & we remember thinking, "fitting, very." For many reasons that are best left to readers of actual poetry books & biographies. Here is a post earlier this year about Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr & one on current Welsh heroine, Duffy.

(Lovely photograph of a real Welsh daffodil by Jan/brynmeillion)

cariad! (kisses)

There then, guilt absolved. Sort of. ciao

Week's End - It's Me, I'm Not Home*

*The title of a poem by good friend, Reetika Vazirani. From her last book, World Hotel, though there was at least one more manuscript. Probably will be writing over the weekend but also on a photo search. Have a wonderful weekend, wherever you find yourself.

(Photograph of orange vintage phone by Grant Hutchinson)

Celestial Ceiling

Another kind of starry night. (only alice, marrakesh.)

The blank page.....

...isn't that scary. The one you fill & then read back? That can be scary. Back later. Wonderful photos from Alice Lucchin, a Venetian. ciao.

Update: Just checked & I used this already. In January. Oh well. Not changing it, it's too good.

Blue Roma, Fontana di Trevi

I used this on the other blog & its blue filter looks ghastly against the yellow background. (I really did not think that through back in May.) I wanted to see Giampaolo's photograph against a white background. I can feel myself pulled to vintage Italian film photos. The Roman obsession is kicking up. We'll see. I've a word-collage list (I use it to write) linking imagined photos/illustrations that I shall covet if I ever find them. Greedy, I am. Buena notte, belle.

Venetian Rosy Glow

Love these. The lampioni rosa are a well-known (& beloved) Venetian symbol everywhere in Italy. When I was there, I thought they would make great jewellry (scaled down, of course) & still do. For all I know, that happened long ago. I've drawn (badly) over & again, a pair of chandelier-style earrings...with imaginary Murano glass. Well, at least there isn't any blue in here, right? Rose, rose, rose.

(photograph by Alice Lucchin of Venice & a very interesting woman.)

Update: So tired that I scheduled this for tomorrow's date instead of today. Will keep repeating, "Wednesday, Wednesday, 25th, 25th" for rest of day, I'm sure. ciao.

Carnevale di Venezia 2009 - Azzurro

Spooky, blue-ish Venice (even without the graduated tint). I'll stop with the blue stuff soon, probably.. (photograph by mysterious wax0r, who is in Venice right now.) ciao

Carnevale di Venezia 2009 - Viola

Julie the Cat is racing around the apartment with Mardi Gras bead necklaces in her mouth. I have officially lost control of the apartment to her. (photographs by the still-uploading, busy wax0r from Venice). ciao.

Blue Legs

Still thinking about Blue. This is more cheerful. I love Miki's photographs of southern Italy. Here are two of her self-portraits.

Carnevale in Venice especially on mind. But before I do something evil (like put in spooky photographs of Venice films - Don't Look Now, anyone?), I'll try to do better, even with dial-up. Wings of the Dove (novel & film) comes to mind, as well. Actually, that's fairly frightening. Poor Millie. (Or Milly, both spellings used everywhere. It drives the editor in me nuts). I'll throw myself on the mercy of a photographer uploading from this year's festa. I scared myself silly in Venice at age 17 one night. But that's for later. ciao, le bellezze

Trois Couleurs - Bleu/Blue

Under the threat of high wind gusts & will post later, breaking my "one per day" rule. Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors: Blue/White/Red has been on my mind lately. Particularly Blue & always when marketing or performing other mundane tasks. I flash on Juliette Binoche's character's post-traumatic behavior. I recall that she had a rodent problem in her new apartment. Thankfully, I needn't concern myself with this odious matter as it is part of Julie the Cat's ministerial portfolio. (photograph, imagenet via Guardian's film blog) ciao, bisou

Update: Thrilled for Kate Winslet. Have seen every film she's ever been in, in the theatre (even the first one) & thought Hugh Jackman was wonderful. More later but Tina of The English Muse has the real deal, here!

And the Oscar goes to...

The Academy Awards are tomorrow & don't tell me you aren't watching. I've not yet seen most films that I'd planned on--shrinking bank account, you know. Meanwhile, I can't help saying that it was wonderful growing up & watching stars like Audrey & Grace from afar (actually, they were mostly retired by then, but still in Look, LIFE , & other magazines. I was very aware of them). Oh, there are great actors & stars today. But like them? None come to mind, at the moment. Why do you think there are so many blogs, books, & so forth with references to (or even about) Audrey?

My oldest cousin is named after an Audrey film. If Sabrina weren't such a lovely person, I would have been insufferably jealous. (Indeed, I was on the verge of insufferable the afternoon I found out about this film "Sabrina"--I was too young to know & certainly didn't see it until I was, perhaps, 10 years old. I complained of this unfair advantage I imagined Sabrina possessed to my proper grandmother; she put me in my place--nicely.). In case someone young(er) reads this, Sabrina was not a popular name in America at the time.

My second-degree-of-separation-from-AH moment. Indulge me. In 2006 at a local Amnesty International holiday event (in a bookstore), I told a colleague that I had to pop off for a sec to purchase my traditional Christmas gift to myself, an Audrey Hepburn wall calendar. His children (brought at my request--lure people with cute kids--yes, I am shameless) began whispering excitedly as soon as I said "Audrey Hepburn." Their mother Kathy walked in from parking the car & we finally met (after many missed opportunities). The children were beside themselves at this point, wanting their mother to tell me something. I couldn't imagine what was going on.


Longish story short: Kathy played the bratty little kid "Ruthie" in "Two For the Road!" Kathy obviously wasn't one to brag & name drop & I was too polite to ask tons of questions. But, she did tell me that AH was lovely to her (of course). AH sent Kathy cards intermittently throughout her life (birthdays, graduations, wedding, holidays), a wedding gift, flowers when she had the children. Isn't that just what you wanted to be the truth? Me, too. An elegant ciao-meow, darlings!

(photograph by Alan Grant/LIFE Photographers via artnet.com)

Week's End - Marrakesh Tea Time

Love these photos together. It wasn't planned that way...I just happened to see an AH photo in a book & that reminded me of a Marrakesh (or Marrakech, if you prefer) shot from only alice's flickr set. And I was drinking mint tea. This is how poems get written...& sometimes published. Not earthshaking but it's a start. ciao, good friends, new friends. Lovely weekend to all. ((AH photo/Cecil Beaton/Sotheby Collection via scan, audreystyle by Pamela Clarke Keogh)

Rosewater

Lame? Well, yes but you try & think of something more clever than "pink" on short notice. Besides, I use rosewater & it came to mind & the blog is bricolage, after all. North African pinks, roses, rose-mixed-with-ochres, are so beautiful. From only alice's Marrakesh set (to which she has added, grazie alice.) ciao.

Don't get carried away!

Greetings & baci from Washington, DC, where I'm worried about my carefully-protected red balloon of cautious optimism. (Is that nuanced enough?) About everything. From Congo & Darfur to the newly-homeless on my block. (photographs from Pure Wonder series by Ellen von Unwerth, via scan of precious Vogue Italia, Giugno 2007) ciao, amici.

Meowsers - Mattissean & Moroccan

Indulge me. No, not a cat site despite Julie's profile photo in 'about me.' There isn't time/tech support to separate the blogs yet. And really, it's not important. (Yes, first person. Watching The Tudors DVDs has made me self-conscious & annoyed by the Royal We-ness.) I spent part of Saturday (Valentine's Day) at the Washington Animal Rescue League's Catapalooza Day. It was hilarious. A cat cocktail party. As I walked towards the cat area's double-doors, a big orange guy was casually walking out like he had things to do, people to see. As confident as you please. I busted him. His name is Jam & he let me carry him around, quite content. A real pistol. I hope someone applied to adopt him. I would have done immediately if I had a for-sure contract or job. Alas, Julie remains an only cat & is not happy about it. At all. ciao.

[There's a sale at Kittendales on Cute Overload:)/Daily Kitten; Morrocan kittens by only alice]

Audrey in Black & White

Oof. A U.S. holiday & a catch-up day. Blogger and/or Picasa behaving badly. If one were paranoid, one would think Google has gone mad with power. Sigh. But on to more pleasant, less negative thoughts. I've been thinking about AH quite a bit the last 48 hours (a boring story or I'd tell you, hand to heart). So whip up a quick pasta dish or buy some white tulips--or both, if you can. Hope so. ciao.

(photos Bob Willoughby/MPTV via scan from audreystyle by Pamela Clarke Keogh)

Vermont Valentine

Have a happy day, no matter your relationship status. Paul Moody writes about his photograph:

"Slightly enhanced (shot intentionally dark, I lightened the heart shape to isolate, and I enhanced the top of the heart's notch) but this rock already looked so much like a heart naturally. Its in my western rock wall - I do love this place."

ciao, baci, bisou, smooch...

Week's End - Wings of Desire, Roma

Have an inspiring & slightly spooky (in a good way) weekend.

Take off your shoes & stay awhile...

[only alice's lovely Marrakesh flickr set]

Orange Window

Oh so beautiful orange (& the whole spectrum). From Rome & Marrakesh. (top photo of Roman window by Giampaolo Macorig & Marrakesh photos by only alice.) ciao.

Sofia in Black & White

A lovely Vogue Paris (the rest of France is in there, too:) cover of Sofia Coppola. Bella. (via scan)

Venice in Blue & Yellow

Matissean laundry. Huh? We're tired, man. Someday this will all come together. Meanwhile, we forge ahead with picture collection.Another lovely Venetian shot by Allison Lince-Bentley via worldislandinfo.

Week's End - Along the Tevere

Rome is my favorite city & I miss it terribly. Giampaolo Macorig captures a certain moment beautifully. Have a lovely weekend. ciao, baci...

A cold wind...

So tiny, so tough. By Tom Grim, bird photographer extraordinaire.

Bambi love

Oh that sweet face. (photograph by ynskjen/flickr via animalphoto)

Snowdrop love

Oh thank goodness, they're here! (photographs by John Crillan via floralimages.uk)

Simple Laundry

Monday is still laundry day for us, though alas, not in Italy. (miki**'s lovely flickrstream)