Monday, July 14, 2008

Ode to Tomatoes

By Pablo Neruda

The street
filled with tomatoes,
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it's time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth, recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Heaven is a blue bowl of red, red tomatoes






A friend and I ate at a new restaurant last night and at the end of the meal the chef (a three-Michelin star one too!) came out and took us on a tour of his kitchens. He was full of passion for food and cooking, pointing out how all his vegetables were imported from Italy and look, how ripe and perfect the tomatoes are and how fresh the fish from Hokkaido. To our delighted surprise my friend and I found ourselves with a small gift of a bunch of the tomatoes. Of course I couldn't wait to sample them, and this morning I had them for my first breakfast (a bad Hobbit habit I know, having more than one brekkie). What could be a more heavenly start to a fine summer's day than a blue-patterned bowl of bite-size, perfectly ripe Italian tomatoes, doused with extra virgin olive oil, with a little salt and a few basil leaves added to provide that perfect salty-herbal counterpoint to the sweetness? Tomato really is fruit!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Fighting the cold

Today I had:
A fairly healthy and definitely warming bowl of noodles
2 helpings of chicken soup with macaroni that I made myself
2 bananas (so far)
1 orange
1 fibre-rich snack bar

...all in an effort to zap this nasty, lingering cold and cough. I had to beg off from a friend's housewarming party just to get more rest.

I hope my chest is clear tomorrow.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Père-Lachaise, 2006


One of my Europe 2006 photos has been selected for inclusion in a digital photo map/guide to France!



Below is the link to the Schmap France site:




I'm thrilled!

Monday, April 14, 2008

My heart in Paris



In the springtime few things can be as beautiful as a cherry tree in bloom.

Taken in Paris, three days ago.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

La saga des cheek-bones!

Hoooo my friends this is hilarious...!

Ma semaine: Carla Bruni Sarkozy


Lundi

I am a new woman. Avant, je was la petite friend of many, many rock stars, et renowned across la France as le vélo du village. But now, je suis la demure First Lady. La panther who ’as come dans la maison. The nun avec le saucy glint in ’er eye. Right now, I am at a desk in our chambers, attending to the affairs of state in my finest lingerie. My little President, he is sitting up in bed, watching cartoons.

“Alors, cherie,” he says, with a yawn. “What are you going to wear?” I put down my pen. This is an important matter. Peut-être I will be the Iron Lady, avec blouses and bows. Or peut-être the late Queen Mother, comme une grande fluttery blancmange.

“Or,” leers my ’usband, “you be as in the photograph from your modelling days. The one being auctioned by Christie’s. Eh? Eh?” Non. This is the woman I was. A wild woman. A passionate woman. But the world must know that I ’ave changed. I am to meet the Queen. Le first impression est très important. Par example, quand je first met mon ’usband, he was standing sur une box.

Mardi

Into the Elysée Palace, where I am to pick up some briefing notes on the finer nuances of British politics. The President is with me. He is to pick up a new comic.

The guard on the door clicks his heels. My ’usband winks at him. “She’s avec moi,” he says. “Did you see le picture from Christie’s? Phwoar!” “Nicolas!” I chide. “We ’ave no time for ton traditional Gallic lechery! Tomorrow, on y va to Grande Bretagne! We ’ave beaucoup to decide! What is to be our position on nuclear power? Where do we stand avec le ratification of the Lisbon treaty? Le Common Agricultural Policy? Iraq? Afghanistan? What do nous pensons about China? Or Russia? We must be prepared.”

Nicolas sighs. “C’est vrai,” he says, gravely. “But you ’ave forgotten the most important question of all. Are you going to show a little leg?”

Mercredi

Donc, we are arrived in la Grande Bretagne in our aeroplane. My little President is sulking. He feels I am la dowdy, comme une grey nun.

“Nicolas!” I scold, peering out the window. “Maintenant! Put away ton Game Boy! For there is Prince Charles. Best behaviour!” “Sacré bleu!” roars Nicolas. “Quelle is this insult? He is avec un des Rolling Stones, qui est wearing a dress! J’espère que it n’est pas one que tu as shagged!” “C’est Camilla, Duchess de Cornouaille,” I point out.

“Ah,” says Nicholas.

Jeudi

Beacoup des banquets. At one, I am en conversation with the Duke of Édimbourg, qui est famed for his subtle British wit.

“Italian-born, aren’t you?” he says. “Not even a damned Frog! Colourful past, what?”

“Ah am a new woman,” I purr. “But once, monogamy bored me. I was a cat, a tamer of men.” “Sounds to me,” jokes le Duke, “like you were a right slapper!” Mon Dieu! ’Ow we laugh!

Vendredi
Our state visit to Londres, it is pronounced a success. We are both most pleased. I ’ave negotiated une nouvelle entente formidable, et Nicolas a un nouveaux Power Ranger he picked up in Hamleys.

Plus, je suis hailed as a style icon. No longer am I une voracious, accessible supermodel, comme une French Kate Moss. Now, I am une new Jackie Kennedy, une Evita Perón in les newspapers of le world. This is all très welcome. Not least because I ’ave a new album out.

“Les rosbifs,” grunts my ’usband. “They are not so bad, eh? Mais who was that creepy guy avec le sweaty ’andshake qui followed us around all the time, staring?”

“The Prime Minister,” I say. “C’est possible,” shrugs Nicolas. “Alors. Où est mon Scalextric?”

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Four Things That Matter Most

I'm at a place in my life where I'm searching for wisdom, and these are some of the gems I've found. Ira Byock's book says there are only four things that matter most that you need to say to people who touch your life:

Please forgive me.

I forgive you.

Thank you.

and

I love you.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting,
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Help Us Remember

(from beliefnet)

Heavenly Father,

Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Love Sonnet XI

From Pablo Neruda, for all you lovers and loverly people

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

-- Pablo Neruda

Friday, February 1, 2008

Because today's grey



It helps to remember sunshine.

Flowers sent to me on my recent birthday.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Dust? Or just New Year's Eve?



Those of you who've read Philip Pullman will, of course, know what I mean...

I think this is amazingly atmospheric but somehow disturbing.

Photo taken at midnight, December 31st in Manila.

Christmas faces



There was a day last December my sisters and I cooked like the demented, and not because we were feeling particularly festive. No; my mother had arranged for a "feeding day" for the less privileged kids in the village and the big pot of pork stew she had painstaking cooked the night before had gone bad overnight. Plus the children just kept coming; from an expected 70, about 250 showed up! So into the pot went any pasta we could get hold off, to have enough; we cooked the macaroni; we cooked the spaghetti; we sliced and diced and sauteed and stirred until our arms ached.

And at the end of the day, it was all worth it.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The uncivil



So today I went to the local consulate for the third time in two weeks to try and get a new passport as my current one is running somewhat low on pages. On my first visit the place was packed and I turned tail after copying down the requirements. I loathe queues and waiting. On the second attempt the semi-official photo booth (all passport, visa etc applicants are referred to this booth) took such an abominable picture, I had to go to a "non-official" supplier i.e. Kodak, to get a better one. Today I returned in hopes of finaly getting it done and rejoiced - NO QUEUES! Stupidly I celebrated too early. After a cursory look at the photos the woman behind the counter goes into a long-winded explanation of why they wouldn't do. The upshot of which is no, she is not going to accept them because my face is too close to the edge of the pic.

What the....???

With some difficulty I kept my temper and left.

Another trip, another lunch hour wasted.

Back in the office, I compared the Kodak set with the "semi-official photo booth" pix.

They were identical give or take a millimetre.

The only difference being an extra white border around the Kodak set. And that I looked like a mongoloid hybrid in one and halfway decent in the other.

To think my hard-earned remittances pay for this kind of petty-minded, power tripping, benighted unhelpful (un) civil service!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Snapping away




I was home for two weeks last Christmas and while I hibernated I was also madly snapping away with my newish Sony A100 and revelling in the super sharp closeups this DSLR is capable of. The result is a fascinating montage of plantlife in and around our neighbourhood. I also took literally hundreds of snaps of my family. I am perpetually fascinated by the human face, the many nuances of a smile, a goofy grin, the way people look when they know they're being observed - the face is tighter, but also more alive - and how, in repose, and unconscious of the observer, they seem to be much more reflective, in some cases sadder. I like that sort of guerilla photography. But I also like snapping away when they're looking at the camera, because then they seem to be talking to me and sharing with me a piece of their soul.

For now, a plant show, taraaa! People faces later.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Request for a prayer

Dear reader:

Tomorrow a very good friend of mine will be undergoing surgery in the Philippines to excise what is suspected to be a malignant tumour in her kidney. There is a 15 percent chance it isn't malignant. But 85 percent are high odds to beat. If it is malignant she might lose the kidney and have to function on just one. Living with one kidney is entirely possible - provided the cancer is confined and doesn't affect the other kidney and other organs.

Among her family and friends - shock, horror, grief. How can this be happening?

I can't believe it still. I can only imagine her constant pain, her fear, the immense effort required to remain calm and sane. Never mind hopeful. Life, at times like this, can seem like a cruel joke.

God, will you grant a miracle? That it all turns out OK?

Please - dear reader - I am one who never forwards chain mail soliciting prayers. But may I ask for even a short prayer from you, for a dear friend who may soon be fighting for survival?

My deepest thanks,

Lou