Friday, 8 May 2015

Let's visit Tiébélé in Burkina Faso

The whole village of Tiébélé looks like a work of art, in an architectural style called gurunsi. The men build the mud houses and the women paint the geometric shapes and add ornamental etchings with symbolic meanings. Each house is unique and the chief's house has the smallest door, for protection. Feast your eyes on these:















Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Activist quilts

These exquisite quilts are part of an exhibition by Florida artists aimed at exploring and highlighting the impact of climate change on the environment. There are further details about this effort and a slideshow of the beautiful exhibits HERE.

"You've Got Brains" by Maya Schonenberger

"Wings" by Melanie K Brewer

"Denial" by Gabrielle Ditota 

 "Tide: We Have Been Warned" by Suzanne Evenson 

"Pink Ladies" by Melanie K Brewer

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Monday, 4 May 2015

Fear of flying, GrannyJ!

I saw this video yesterday and immediately thought of GrannyJ. These two ladies are quite funny, especially the one who's not afraid of flying. Enjoy!

Friday, 1 May 2015

Muguet du bonheur

Today is a holiday here, International Labour Day, and my Facebook news feed is full of photos of lily of the valley posted by French friends, wishing everybody much happiness. People offer women an actual bunch of muguet on May 1st.


In the "language of flowers", the lily of the valley signifies the return of happiness. Legend tells of the affection of a lily of the valley for a nightingale that did not come back to the woods until the flower bloomed in May.

At the beginning of the 20th century it became tradition in France to sell lily of the valley on International Labour Day, May 1, by labour organisations and private persons without paying sales tax (on that day only) as a symbol of spring.


The house of Caron launched a fragrance called Muguet du Bonheur in 1952. I remember wearing it in the 70s. It was a fresh, delicately sweet, very feminine scent.

Happy May Day, my friends, may happiness lie ahead for all.


Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Interesting white flowers

Hey Amy, have you ever seen these flowers before? The rain performs some magic on them!

[Diphylleia grayi, also known as the skeleton flower, has white petals that turn transparent with rain. When dry, they revert to white.]





Sunday, 26 April 2015

Quid pro quo

These butterflies drink the mineral rich tears of the yellow-spotted river turtle. The liquid helps the butterflies reproduce, the turtle's eyes remain clean... and everybody is happy!


      [Photo taken by Peter Oxford (Minden Pictures) at the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador.]

Friday, 24 April 2015