Urban squirrel

Credit photo: Rongem Boyo (Flickr member)

Volcanoes in France

French volcanoes, located in Massif Central. The entire region contains the largest concentration of extinct volcanoes in the world with approximately 450 volcanoes. One strip alone running north to south and less than 60 square miles contains 115 of them.

Credit Photos: renardjaunard (Flickr)
Source: Wikipedia

Jumping, jumping, jumping

The picture reminds the book 'Mr Vertigo' by Paul Auster... You should definitely read this book. Paul Auster describes strange heroes living in a violent, wild, naive, America in the 1930's. The America of jazz, gangsters, cinema... You can feel the same creative writing in Paul Auster's book as in Twain's or Steinbeck's books.

Credit Photo: Andre Lazaro

Hot chocolate time

Credit Photos: your_secret_girl

My favorite quotes

Here is a selection of nice quotes:

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
Plato

Coffee isn't my cup of tea.
Samuel Goldwyn

Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world's perfect food.
Michael Levine, nutrition researcher, as quoted in The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
Maya Angelou

If music be the food of love, play on.
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller

The game isn't over until it's over.
Yogi Berra

Credit Photos: this_is_my_brain_in_lithium (Flickr)

MoMA in Paris

I took these pictures during my last trip in Paris...

FOUND magazine - drawing

FOUND by Grant in Los Angeles, California
'While looking for a new place to rent in Angelino Heights, I found this comic drawn on the back of an old receipt'.

Story of toes

“Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going --
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.”

- Kozan Ichikyo

Credit photos: dhammza (Flickr)

Number 12

The 12-step chocoholics program:
NEVER BE MORE THAN 12 STEPS AWAY FROM CHOCOLATE!
Terry Moore

Credit Photos: Stefano_Lewis (Flickr)

1000 visits on my blog in about a month...

So, for a change, a nice music video by Cocoon, a very good French band. I love their music. So simple, so peaceful, so... cocoon ! Enjoy you all !!



By the way, thanks Mark and Morgane !!! You're great ;-)

More stars...

Credit Photo: For_Photo (Flickr)

Looking at the sky

This image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. During the course of the collision, billions of stars will be formed. The brightest and most compact of these star birth regions are called super star clusters.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Sunny side up

Credit Photo: code-poet, Flickr

A smile in the sky

Three birds and a smile... it's terrific !!

Source: Wallout

Koh Phi Phi Ley

Creidt Photos: Flickr (jeffshaw)

Chocolate

I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process....
It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?

Unknown

Spring time

Credit Photo: aussiegall (Flickr)

Sushi time

That makes me hungry.

More nice pictures

Pavement and Concrete

I like pavement... sometime there is no better place to chat. You know, it's just it. Fair enough, it's usually dirty, wet, cold, late... BEURK... It does not look as good as a cosy sofa (I like sofa too). But, it's the way it is. Whatever... You sit there, it's the night with the light of a new day starting to shine. I like it... so simple. You just let yourself going, speaking, listening. I can't say how many times, it happened so far here and there. With her or him.

Tribute To Courage

Courage is doing what is right
Without having to be told
Courage is manning up
When you know you've done something wrong
Courage is looking the enemy in the eye
And telling them to just bring it
Courage is having fear
But still staying strong
Courage is facing adversity
But being able to overcome it
Courage is leaving your family behind
To defend the country you love
Courage is being a soldier
In the greatest army in the world
Thank you for this courage
That lets us live free
May God bless you
And come home safely to your families

James Elston

Credit Photo: my sister - Ireland 2008

Beautiful pictures

Here is a collection of pictures taken all around the world... our planet is so amazing. It's definitely time to protect it and not to waste and to destroy it. We have only one Earth...




Credit Photos: 480 x 272 (Flickr)

Hello Sadness

Adieu tristesse
Bonjour tristesse
Tu es inscrite dans les lignes du plafond
Tu es inscrite dans les yeux que j'aime
Tu n'es pas tout à fait la misère
Car les lèvres les plus pauvres te dénoncent
Par un sourire
Bonjour tristesse
Amour des corps aimables
Puissance de l'amour
Dont l'amabilité surgit
Comme un monstre sans corps
Tête désappointée
Tristesse beau visage.

Translation:
Adieu Tristesse
Bonjour Tristesse
Farewell Sadness
Hello Sadness
You are inscribed in the lines on the ceiling
You are inscribed in the eyes that I love
You are not poverty absolutely
Since the poorest of lips denounce you
Ah with a smile
Bonjour Tristesse
Love of kind bodies
Power of love
From which kindness rises
Like a bodiless monster
Unattached head
Sadness beautiful face.

'Barely disfigured' by Paul Eluard

Xavier said:

I'm going to do what I've always wanted to do. I'm going to write. Everything seems simple and clear. I am not that. Nor that. But I'm all that. I am him, him, him... "I'm going to write books". And I don't want to deceive him. I am her, her... I am french, spanish, english, danish. I am not one but several. I am like Europe, I am all of that ! I am a real mess ! Now, I can start telling you everything. Everything started here

The quote is from the movie "The Spaniard Apartment" by Cedric Kaplisch
I feel pretty much the same today...

Credit Photo: KaRINe_fr

Portraiture

Some superb portraiture from Philadelphia photographer. Manuel Dominguez Jr.Manuel dominguez jr. is a photographer
www.mdominguezjr.com

Art Illustration by Oliver Jeffers

By Oliver Jeffers. Please visit his website...
http://www.oliverjeffers.com/

Illustration by Jack Blanchard

Jake is some sort of illustrative Dr Doolittle. Here’s an excerpt from ‘Animalgamation’, a poster for the Brighton Source.

www.gdi08.co.uk/jake-blanchard
www.jakeblanchard.co.uk

We are all made of stars...

Credit Photo: Flickr

In Ultraviolet Light

One of a series, this image of Saturn was taken when the planet's rings were at their maximum tilt of 27 degrees toward Earth. Saturn experiences seasonal tilts away from and toward the sun, much the same way Earth does. This happens over the course of its 29.5-year orbit. Every 30 years, Earth observers can catch their best glimpse of Saturn's South Pole and the southern side of the planet's rings.

Website: NASA
Image Credit: NASA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

Apple C

I have her picture,
I have her email,
Her heart at the tip of my keyboard
I have her face
And I want her
Without ever having touched her
Should I save it?
Or just quit?
Apple, it's a man and woman
And it's all a program,
An artificial sky
Apple, who turns me on and off
We love too quickly;
Our lives are virtual
She writes to me,
But my screen formats the feelings
But I imagine that a machine
Can only imitate
My goddess,
She is not really real
Apple, it's a man and woman
And it's all a program,
An artificial sky Pomme, who turns me on and off
We love too quickly;
It's virtual
A little love, copied and pasted
A little love,
Apple C
A little love downloaded,
A little love to save ... To save
But love is not virtual
Apple, it's a man and woman
And it's all a program,
But love isn't virtual
Apple, who turns me on and off
We love too quickly;
It's virtual
Should I save it?
Or should I just quit?

Calogero - Apple C (original title: Pomme C)

Carpe diem

Carpediem, 'Seize the Day'
And I do not want to hear you say
Memento Mori
That’s another Story

David Darbyshire

Yesterday, today, tomorrow...

I wonder, what's being a child in Belfast yesterday, today and tomorrow.
I took this picture in Belfast, a couple of yards away from one of the major sections of the 'peace line' that stretches between the Catholic and Protestant areas of West Belfast.

Dandelion

Credit Photo: catmadoqma (Flickr)

Cork

When you first arrive in a new city, nothing makes sense. Everything is unknown, virgin... After you've lived here, walked these streets, you'll know them inside out. You'll know these people. Once you've lived here, crossed this street 10, 20, 1000 times... it belongs to you because you've lived there. Corcaigh. This thing that sounds weird was added to the long list of old weird names that we have somewhere in our brain.

Telectroscope London-New-York

The telectroscope was the first prototype television system. The term was also used in the 19th century to describe imaginary systems of distant seeing. Most recently, the term has been used for the name of a piece of installation art with a visual link between London and New York City constructed by Paul St George in May 2008. In May-June 2008, artist Paul St George is exhibiting outdoor interactive video installations linking London and New York City in a fanciful simulated "telectroscope".


According to the artist's invented back story, the device works using a transatlantic tunnel started by his great-grandfather, Alexander Stanhope St. George.

Source: Wikipedia

FOUND Magazine

Found Magazine was created by Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner. It's actually a collection of found notes, photos, and other interesting items, publishing them in an irregularly-issued magazine, in books, and on its Web site. Items found and published have ranged from love letters to homework assignments, and they are contributed by people who find them in a variety of places such as city streets, bus seats, inside school desks, and so on. I really like FOUND, because it's kind of 'alive', like pieces of puzzles, but we only see one piece of each puzzle. You can feel love, fears, tears, anger and so on.

I wish, I were cool


Found by Tyra Melai in Los Angeles, California
'I found this little doodle tucked between Beatles CDs at Amoeba Music on Sunset and Vine and started cracking up!'

I have an idea...


Found by Jeremy Solterbeck in San Francisco, California
'I was walking along Pier 40 behind SBC Park and this was lying on the sidewalk. I like how it's cryptic, and that he is saving the surprise for the phone call.' What kind of idea ?? I am still wondering.

Talk to her !!


Found by Miguel H. Gonzalez in Oak Park, Illinois
'I found this on top of a blue newspaper recycling bin on the CTA Blue Line El stop at Oak Park Avenue. It was a few days before Christmas.' It's so simple. It's like a message from above, from your angel. Actually, I need to talk to her as well.

No parking

Credit Photos: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Little sad clown

Blue eyed cat

Credit Photo: Robinpapa

Saturday morning thought

Like a dust being, a light being, we, humans appear so mysterious and in a way meaningless compared to the Universe. Who are we? What are we doing here? Why ? There are so many questions with no answers… Basically, we don’t know much about our world, about ourselves. The recipe of our life can not only sum up to a highly organized world of molecules. Matter, molecules are only the tip of the iceberg. The hidden part is so much more complex and important. We are more than just a chemical cathedral! Life is not just eating, drinking, sleeping and working. Among many texts about human conditions, I like the way some philosophers describe human beings as light beings, perfect reflection of what we are. Each one is unique, due to his weaknesses, his strengths, his fears, his hopes. But, we have to be aware of one thing. If we are on Earth, there must be a reason. A person can move mountains, improve our society. So, if you can contribute to our world, then just do it… even if your contributions may appear tiny and trivial.

What have you achieved in your life so far?
Probably, not enough…

Don’t be afraid to express yourself, your thoughts, to show your talent, to start new projects. Be ambitious. You are not born by accident. Everything has a meaning. Everything. That will be such a waste to realize you could have done better for yourself and the others. Ignore people criticizing you and your projects. Forget them, ignore them. These people are the ones that have NOT the courage and the motivation to live their dreams. Just try and improvise. We only live once. Don’t waste that chance. Please do, accomplish something even tiny. But, for God’s sake, leave a mark of your stay on our beautiful Earth !!!
François
PS: Sorry for the present post and my English... my brain is very slow this morning.

Credit Photos: imopen (Flickr)

Light writing

Credit Photo: kaalam (Flickr)
You can find some wonderful pictures and paintings from Kaalam on his website:
www.kaalam.com.

Sea and sky

Credit Photo: setev (Flickr)