She opened the curtains, and looked out towards the bit of road that lay in view, with fields beyond, outside the entrance-gates. On the road there was a man with a bundle on his back and a woman carrying her baby; in the field she could see figures moving - perhaps the shepherd with his dog. Far off in the bending sky was the pearly light; and she felt the largeness of the world and the manifold walkings of men to labour and endurance. She was a part of that involuntary, palpitating life, and could neither look out on it from her luxurious shelter as a mere spectator, nor hide her eyes in selfish complaining.

George Eliot, Middlemarch

Picture: J. M. W. Turner, View of a Town, 1798

On ne dit pas, on laisse dire. On laisse les mots venir, ils viennent dans un ordre qui n'est pas le nôtre, qui est l'ordre du mensonge, de la mort, de la vie en société. Très peu de vraies paroles s'échangent chaque jour, vraiment très peu. Peut-être ne tombe-t-on amoureux que pour enfin commencer à parler. Peut-être n'ouvre-t-on un livre que pour enfin commencer à entendre.

Christian Bobin, Le Très-Bas

Time

The people are gone, the portal is closed.

Morges, March 2007.

La Rouille

Moi, je la vois comme une plaie utile,

Marquant le temps d'ocre jaune et de roux.

La rouille aurait un charme fou

Si elle ne s'attaquait qu'aux grilles.

Maxime Le Forestier, 1973

A song I used to play on the guitar when I was a very young girl. Probably as corny as I was then, but these are still very good memories. Children of the 70's know this feeling.

Vous, ici?

(...)

I feel sorry for not having been able to post much on this blog in the last time. I work very hard in an institution for teenagers with learning difficulties, and the kids are all very lovable, but the institution sucks. I'm more of a friend than a teacher and it's obviously not what my contract asks me to be. Clearly, I don't fit in. That's exhausting.
In every bit of free time, I grasp to any good book at hand and read voraciously, as written words were my only salvation. And I spent delicious hours in company of Joseph Conrad, Paul Bowles and E. M. Forster.
By the end of June I should be definitely somewhere else, and myself again.
And then, I hope, back here!

Rue Curtat

Inside my heart

Mad

Le Roi-Cerf

As I went back to that place yesterday, I saw he had lost his head and torso. A part of the wooden-fence had been removed.

Je roulais un jour de tristes pensées, ayant perdu toute confiance en moi, en mes capacités intellectuelles, éperdument en quête d'un remède à mon anxiété. J'avais frappé à toutes les portes et la seule par où je pouvais entrer, que j'aurais cherchée en vain pendant cent ans, je m'y heurtai sans le savoir et comme par miracle elle s'ouvrit. Alors, d'un coup, revint mon appétit de vivre, s'évanouirent mes doutes sur moi-même, mon inquiétude quant à l'avenir. Tout était de nouveau possible.

Max Dorra, Quelle petite phrase bouleversante au coeur d'un être?

Proust said it better but I couldn't find the quote - and it doesn't matter, for content has been duely tested by our customer service, and found true.

Les mystères de Genève

Switzerland is not so quiet as you would think.

Tom Tirabosco

LES NUITS JUSTES

Avec un vent plus fort,
Une lampe moins obscure,
Nous devons trouver la halte
Où la nuit dira "Passez";
Et nous saurons que c'est vrai
Quand le verre s'éteindra.

René Char

Haworth Parsonage

Tom Tirabosco - Petite fille à la pie

Lost boys

Antoine Doinel/Jean-Pierre Léaud dans Les 400 coups de François Truffaut. A (re-)voir de toute urgence.

I spend my days trying to understand them.

To whom it may concern...

Clin d'oeil everybody!

I wish I was back, but there is no evidence for it at the moment. Too bad because having bred and butter now, I would love to put (homemade) jam on it. I'll try anyway. And I think of you all.