Drawing inspiration

Adding something to the chronicles of beach houses :)

Photos from http://gozoomaclassic.photoshelter.com; http://www.fafifu.com

Naples

I planned a rather long trip with several connections which I was annoyed with at some point but in the end I was happy thus having met some nice and interesting people on my way, seeing that time schedules for Italians DO exist and experiencing a lot of funny ways of communication when there is no common language spoken. It was almost like a trip down the memory lane as my previous visit to Naples took place almost 6 years ago when I actually experienced a cultural shock and that was after spending a year in another Mediterranean country - Greece. This time I knew already what to expect but still I had to get used to several things. Like their streets. Being a pedestrian and keeping in mind that pedestrian areas are often blocked with parked cars or pile of garbage sacks, or they are simply too narrow to walk on or non existing, we were forced to walk on the road. My friend met me at the station with two babies so I ended up pushing a pushchair and being close to a heart-attack on our way home. But I have to admit that in this seeming chaos there is a simple order - every driver has their foot on the brakes and I think that saves it all :) If you want to cross the street you simply have to cross it. Sometimes I had a feeling I could just close my eyes and go running after my already almost Italian friend as there would be no difference really and at least this way I wouldn't get the chance to get terrified by obvious possibility to get hit by a car. Little habits one has to adopt to survive there. One of my friends compared the scenery of Naples to a war zone as we got of the bus in the middle of the day in the centre of the city when we had just passed a crime scene with five burned/blown up cars, streets full of rubbish, the half of it being lit up and burning on the side of the street and other half flying right into our faces because of the wind, cars which didn't stop unless we pretended to be more impudent than their drivers and constant noise of honking car horns. That's how hell would look for me :)

But then again the pastry shops - mamma mia! One day on our way to Pompeii we stopped at one and spent quite some time there trying a little bit of this and a little bit of that :) That again would have been a slight resemblance to heaven in my mind:)

Overall people were kind, food was delicious, nature was beautiful, weather was strange, but most important of all - I had a chance to meet people I love and fall in love with new ones - that is official now - I fell in love with 5 months old half Italian, half Latvian boy Christian :) Thank you, Maiki, for the loveliest time! :*

Pina

What a magnificent convergence of three of my great loves - dance, music and cinematography! I am talking about Wim Wenders' latest movie - "PINA" - documentary about late dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch who was a leading influence in the development of the Tanztheater style of dance. It is a celebration of great talents, human body, movements, relations, emotions, beauty, dance and life. Every image is so esthetically complete and refined, being fresh and vivid at the same time. A treat for the eyes and soul. I was overwhelmed. And you simply have to see it to understand why. Words don't say a thing.

Those who reside in Luxembourg will have this opportunity for this and coming week in cinema Utopia. Movie is in 3D and for the first time I really appreciated usage of this technology in cinematography as it gave me a genuine sense of presence and in my opinion was complementing this movie on its' way of becoming a masterpiece.

Rabbit Hole

A movie to see.

Bicycle Wedding

Well, as today everything was about weddings and there are several weddings I will have to attend this summer here is something I found on Jordan Ferney's lovely blog Oh happy day. Many beautiful ideas on party organising and decorations. Maybe some bicycle wedding after all, my friends? :)

Photo by Rachel Thurston on Jordan Ferney's Oh Happy Day.

Royal Wedding Day

There was such a fuss made around this event! All these books, films, mugs, magazines, mystery around the bride's wedding dress, live broadcasts - a "fairy tale reality show". Of course many have earned a lot on that as human race has always had this urge to create idols to follow but then again it is nice to see that a nation can be so enthusiastic about their royal family. And this enthusiasm (or call it simple human curiosity) has taken over the whole world. Recently "a regular girl/boy goes royal" is a very widespread tendency among the royal houses all over the world. I don't want to dig into social anthropological reasons for that (there must be plenty) but for many little girls it sure means that fairy tales DO come true :) And why not to try to look at it with the eyes of a little girl. It is definitely better material to observe on the TV for a change than live broadcasts from battlefields...

And the hats! THE HATS!!! :) (check out http://abcnews.go.com/International/Royal_Wedding/royal-wedding-importance-wearing-hat/story?id=12769508)

Madara

I was happy and proud at the same time to discover that Gwyneth Paltrow has included Latvian cosmetic company's MADARA product among her favourite ones in her last week's newsletter on natural and organic skincare in her lifestyle blog GOOP.

It is possible to buy their products pretty much all over the world (also in Luxembourg) so check out their web page. As from 1 May it is going to be possible to buy their "travel&trial" skincare sets so that one can figure if MADARA products are good for their skin or not.

And I could not resist  but posting some of their beautiful advert photographs shot by one of the most popular young Latvian photographers Iveta Vaivode.

It almost brings out the scent of a summer day in Latvia :)

 Sweet dreams and sleep well!