Tuesday, August 21, 2007

antidotes to sulkiness

1. Tourmaline.




Having read Meli’s post, in which she quotes the opening paragraphs of Randolph Stow’s Tourmaline: red, hot and transporting, I reached out my arm, and picked up this:



Which I carried off to bed.

As I read my way into that carmine landscape, treading between the Spinifex and peeling paint, all that filled my mind was the essence of this place, which then became an Aida Tomescu painting, expanding into hugeness as I fell asleep, with my cheek upon the pages, warmed and calmer.


Aida Tomescu, "Liquid Amber" 2007, Liverpool St Gallery


2. Orange Baklava from Carlos....



is better than anything, really.

3. The Woolly Child



has a sensor, with which it reads my misery, and chatters away hard, to drive out potential tears and sulks.
He said,
“Do you know what I love? when we were at Point D surfing and I looked up,
And saw you, paddling delicately towards me.”
(delicately!)


(At which he tips head back and puts chin out, raises his eyebrows and half-shuts his eyes, making dainty little paddling motions with pointed fingers, to illustrate the supposed preciousness of my paddling)
“And then you surf in like a baby. You surf like a baby.”
-And just how might a BABY surf?
“ in a straight line, squealing. (makes line with hand) Like a baby.”

4: shoe post



I think my shoes are very me.

I will not think any further about white words, for the minute. New ones have emerged, and they are written in orange ink.
Still can’t get my head around is the indecent haste with which these people disposed of everything, how they would have seen the lovely pages sliding into shredderdom, and there is nothing I can do about it.

I’m going to Aida Tomescu’s exhibition opening. I am inviting y’all.
They usually have a decent Shiraz, which makes everybody look like a vampire with purple teeth. That will amuse me, greatly.

13 comments:

Jellyhead said...

tee hee ....I'm still laughing at your son's comments (nothing like a child to bring us down a peg or three right?! Luckily they also make us smile in the process)

I LOVE your shoes with your name on the sole...utterly brilliant! Thanks fifi for being such a great sport. Hope the pizza turned out well and gave you tons of Good Mother bonus points ;-)

jane said...

cool shoes baby surfer.

when's the opening?

Arcturus said...

That picture of the ocean was so beautiful.

I see your son's hair has grown back quite well since the hair cut that so upset him ...

:-)

Tourmaline and Spinifex. I thought tourmaline was an American crooner jazz singer and Spinifex was EITHER that big lion - human - falcon - ram sculpture in the Egyptian desert at Giza OR some kind of sea algae.

But then I realized it was Mel Tormé and spirogyra ... and I had to look up tourmaline and spinifex. I like blog entries that make up have to look up stuff. I was kinda close with Spinifex ... it's a type of Australian coastal sea grass. I don't think we have Spinifex growing in the tidal Potmac, or even on the Atlantic seashore.

meggie said...

Great post.
Your son is lovely.
Enjoy the red.

Unknown said...

Carlos looks a bit like the English comedian Eddie Izzard.

Nice shot of the boy.

Do they make those in mens shoes? I want sneakers like that.

meli said...

your tourmaline pictures are beautiful fifi! i'm rereading it at the moment too, and it is wonderful. i think it's his best. i'm so glad it makes it onto your list of lovely things.

fifi said...

Jane...tuesday!

Now you know why I never want to go for a wave with you. You'll put me to shame.

Arcturus: Yes , he quickly resumes his wooliness.
Tourmaline would be a great name for a jazz singer, though. Spinifex is actually a desert grass so I guess it has that in common with the sphinx.

Meggie, thanks, and I am. red wine that is.

Bryan, wouldnt sneakers require laces? then they would lose the genie-like quality, or do you want the name on the bottom?
I'll look up Eddie Izzard. Actally, C is quite cute. its actually a laundromat with a posh cafe front

Suzanne said...

over from Jelly's to see the shoes!! ha ha. they look comfy and like we need them in every color!

Pam said...

Your son sounds wonderful. You surf at all? I'm terribly impressed.

Fancy you reading Dietgirl, by the way. She's fantastic, isn't she?

fifi said...

Hi isabelle!
I don' think you could call my lame efforts at surfing REAL surfing. But I have a go from time to time.

I don't read DG, actually, but I DO read WNP, which had a link. Yes, she's wonderful. Hilarious! And of course the pictures have made me even more eager to get into that scottish countryside.


I believe all my blog-trails lead to WNP, including you!

Leann said...

I like the shoes to.baby surfer.cool it seems kids have a way of not beating around the bush.
I wish I were in the picture of the ocean.I could use a swim in clean water,instead of this pea soup we have around here.yuck yuck...

molly said...

Based on your shoes alone, I think we'd get along!

Unknown said...

I can't possibly wear those shoes! They'd clash with my blue hair! They'd have to be similar but a sneaker.

I wear Vans, skateboarder shoes... I bought 12 pairs of diffrent classic syled ones ten years ago on clearance. I'll never need another pair.

Darn it. I want new shoes. I'm bored.