Cypriot Valediction

See you in five and a half weeks...

Mellow Miscellany

Wildflowers from my garden for the coffee table.

I loved Alexa Chung's tomboy tellings in July's Vogue, and the last photograph is a painting that blew my mind. Click for credit.







An overdue picture from Cannes' red carpet [Glamorous sale dress and Angelica's gladiators]; a special shot from Beach Break Live '09, which was disgustingly good [90's dress and rosy headscarf from the vintage tent, Topshop shades and 2.5p carbooted pyjama top]; and a pretty little lady who likes to shred up my jeans and give me war wounds [Tilda the tabbycat].





Tonight is Little Big Sister's big exhibition at St. Martin's in London, and I wish I was there with my parents to give her a big kiss and tell her how proud I am of her. Instead, I am packing. I leave for Cyprus on Monday morning. I cannot adequately express the emotional medley that my innards are stirring up as I speak. This is probably the most momentous thing I've done for quite some time, and I'm not really sure how my physical or mental self is dealing with it...better after tonight, I think.

Letters

If I had the paper of all the trees,
the ink of all the octopuses,
the quill of every feather in the world,
Father Time himself would not stop me
and I would write you every word I had within me.
I would pour myself onto paper
like honey on warm bread,
and send myself to you through red boxes
and the calloused hands of countless men,
over many green miles of land and water.
The fragile cellulose bird of my making,
marked with the place where you lay your head,
would fly and not rest
until my heart was in your hands.

Lazy Hazy Crazy

The past week or so has been peppered with more cocktails than you can shake a fist at, exciting food ventures (my favourite was the vegan Thai soup with sesame noodles), helping to babysit a beautiful boy, lots of animals and a surprise home visit from big sis.

X-Y-Z Cocktail that gets Mum going;
1 measure Bacardi
1 measure Triple Sec
1 measure lemon juice
1 measure sugar syrup

Shake with ice and top up with orange juice.

Big Sis Does a Spanish Omlette;
1 onion
1 clove garlic
sprinkkle dinkle of oregano
1 cup sweetcorn
1 cup podded peas
1 pepper
2 pork Sausages
4 Rashers of Bacon snipped into slices
6 new potatoes (sliced)
12 eggs
Block of Creamy Lanashire cheese

Fry onions, garlic and oregano 'til onion is soft. Boil the peas and poatoes separately, both these ingredients need to be par-boiled so the peas are fresh and potatoes don't fall to bits. Roast the peppers and sausages in the oven in the meantime. In another frying pan, cook the bacon. Prepare the eggs = crack them out and whisk out so not a yolk is left visible. When the pepper and sausage are cooked, peel and slice.
Now take the potatoes and add to the onions (which are now back on the heat) and spinkles the other ingredients (except cheese) in a thin layer making sure you get a bit of sausage in all areas. Cover with a layer of egg. Repeat so you have done two layers , finished off with the cheese. Cook throughly from beneath and then switch to grill to cook the top layer. Salt and pepper. Slice like a pizza and eat with ketchup and some fresh peas left over. LUSH.

The Fifty Films Of First Year

A list of the 50 films I watched for the first time in my first year at university, September to June. Next year, I'm aiming for 100...

A la folie...pas du tout
Apocalypto
Australia
The Boat That Rocked
Bride Wars
But I'm a Cheerleader
Changeling
A Christmas Carol
The Constant Gardener
Dangerous Minds
The Devil Wears Prada
The Doom Generation
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The Fountain
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Hallowe'en
Heathers
He's Just Not That Into You
Igby Goes Down
Ils
Im Juli
Just Like Heaven
The Lake House
Lars And The Real Girl
Leon
Lost And Delirious
Loving Annabelle
Mamma Mia
Paris Je T'aime
Peaches
Persepolis
P.S. I Love You
The Reader
Rent
Rock and Roll High School
The Royal Tenenbaums
Sin City
The Skeleton Key
Slumdog Millionaire
Star Trek
State of Play
The Strangers
The Terminal
Time Bandits
Twilight
V For Vendetta
The Virgin Suicides
Wattstax
Wolverine: X-Men Origins


"I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day the World will say, 'I am no more and I have nothing left to give." - Apocalypto


"There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts." - Lars And The Real Girl


"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici; by the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe." - V For Vendetta


"You will leave life even more beautiful than you entered it. Heaven will take you back and look at you and say, 'Only one thing can make a soul complete and that thing is love.'" - The Reader


"They planted a seed over his grave. The seed became a tree. Moses said his father became a part of that tree. He grew into the wood, into the bloom. And when a sparrow ate the tree's fruit, his father flew with the birds. He said death was his father's road to awe." - The Fountain


"Just because it is, doesn't mean it should be." - Australia

Baby Went Boom

It's birthday bonanza season once again, a big happy birthday to all June and July babies - specifically my lovely friends.

Lancaster

Quiet Now

I've come home to chaos, and trying to fit everything in to two weeks is proving as difficult as holding butterfly wings or separating salt from sand.

The drummers, they go on,
Beating sound like blood around this city.
What should sleep runs riot,
Peace is banished like the quiet,
And I’m not sure that I like it
But those drummers keep on going
On and on into the night.
My blood is beating beating beating,
My eyes shining like a light.
Now I lay me down to sleep
But the drummers just won’t have it
And they keep their primal beat.
Run like blood, like sand, like water
Calling me; “come out, Eve’s daughter,
Come out and join the dance!”
Horizontal in the dark,
When I would be up and running
Spurred on by insistent drumming,
Match the rhythm of my heart.
I am Athena, Aphrodite
Only nobody can see me
I lay still, the drummers pass me
Beating on into the night.