The Other Side of the Mirror...

All right, said Alice, I'm going back
To the other side of the mirror
I'm going back...



Like Alice through the looking glass
She used to know who she was...



We all have crises of confidence, of identity, de temps en temps, n'est-ce pas, mes bloggy Scrabble-Boards?

And what do we do?
How do we react against this daring shot across our bows...
Do we retreat into the nearest boutique, to buy something that will place us in just the right shade of black, make us appear three sizes smaller, and to be the best that I can be...

What do we do?

We fight, we scream,
We please and wheedle...
We eat ice cream.

And then we freeze, and are caught
Like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights
Not knowing who that even is in the looking-glass any more...

There it is...

Staring back at its reflection.
Questioning its very existence.
To cry out, in its shrilly voice, "Fake!"

For one and all to hear.

Me in Black and White...

Landslide lyrics

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Till the landslide brought me down



Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?



Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older and I'm getting older too





Ah, take my love, take it down
Ah, climb a mountain and turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down




© WELSH WITCH MUSIC

This song is me, I know this song is me... And you cry, well what does she mean, la Fhina?

With her mysterious ways that we try, but cannot understand... And I say, I am in the wind, and the leaves, and the air, and the waves...

I am the whispering in the trees, I am here and I am nowhere... I am in the well, and in the stream, and in the lapping of the pond... I am nothing, and I am no-one.

I am me and I am you - In part, as partners, all but stitches and threads in life's rich, bloggy tapestry, non...

Take my love, and take it down...
Climb a mountain and turn around.

And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills, well the landslide will bring it down...

I was feeling a little flat when I wrote this posting, earlier in the week... I hope it's not too maudlin, or melancholy for you this sunny weekend of delights...

You might see that I've given the old blog a once-over... A change is as good as a rest as my mother was wont to say... I am very free with my kisses - So you may notice the preponderance of lips ripe for kissing at the edges of my bloglette -- Although I've lost two of me potential suitors at least, since I mentioned I quite fancied having a discreet, starry, nose-piercing... It'll never happen, you know, la Fhina is very risk-averse...

That's probably why she's been a Sibyl Serpent for many a tired and torrid year...and occasionally triumphant, but those are few and far between!

Anyhoo, have a lovely weekend my little dog-eared reads... Mwah! Mwah!

Hang on, I'll just get my lace hankie to wipe off the lipstick kisses... There - Off you go now... all clean and spruce... You do look gorgeous, you know?!

Eight More Things About Moi - Times 4

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

Retiring from work some day and finding something better to do with my time...

Returning to my Stained/Leaded Glass Crafts Class in the autumn

The Future, starting with my summer holidays (still not booked - Get a grip, Fhina!!!)

My son starting his last year at school in September

My son leaving school in summer 2010, and hopefully embarking on his wishes in life...

Christmas (always - I love Christmas...)

Seeing Ray Lamontagne in October

Sleeping, always sleeping...


8 Things I Did Today (I completed this over a week ago, on a Sunday by the way...):

Visited Lady Waterford Hall at Ford in Northumberland


Got a pin-like stone in my peep-toed shoe. (Not suitable for hiking, as it turns out!)

Watched a Heron fishing - How cool is that?!

Peeked through the window of a craftsmen's workshop, and wished I could afford hand-made wooden furniture from here
http://www.taylorandgreen.co.uk/

Had a vegetarian Sunday lunch complete with 2 Yorkshire Puddings...

Found 6 Lucite Place Napkins just perfect for Saz, I hope - Which I am going to post soon, I promise!

Shouted like a Harpy at Grizz ;' (


Pinched this Meme over at Carma's


8 Things I Wish I Could Do

Sing

Paint

Be more confident about my own abilities...

Visit NYC (same as Carma...)

Be my own boss (ditto!)

Live in a city (Some days it's true - I wish I lived in Paris...)

Get my nose or belly button pierced (Nose in my case : ) Belly button in Carma's and she's done that now, the brave thing! )

Realize it is not my responsibility to keep everybody happy (Truly!)

8 Shows I Watch:

Lie to Me (new, I've only seen two now, and I love Tim Roth's acting, but doesn't he walk as if he'd rode into town on a horse?!)
This is a photograph of Tim from artist Sam Taylor-Woods' Men Don't Cry series (more of that later, mes bloggy art-critics!)

Dead Art (Dee Snyder visiting fascinating graveyards and cemetaries!)


Desperate Housewives


The Apprentice


The Naked Pilgrim (I'll watch anything with Brian Sewell in it usually... A national treasure - He should be listed, like our historic buildings, and probably stuffed, but let's wait 'til after he's died!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Sewell

Francesco da Mosto's series, whatever he is doing, really...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1030612/In-taxi--Francesco-da-Mosto.html

X-Factor, which must be due to start again soon (It's our American Idol - Only smaller and shite-r!)


You've Been Framed - Harry Hill is always a scream...



Tag 8 People

Since we are a little averse to tagging generally, I'm not going to tag anyone with this meme, but if eight of you do decide to participate, please let me know so I can visit your blog, pretty-please, with cherries for Amelie, on...

I love the film, Amelie - Give it a try, mes petits cineastes!

Five Things I Am Grateful For...

It's always worth conducting this little exercise de temps en temps, n'est-ce pas, mes bloggy anti-macassars?!

So, what am I grateful for, my sweets, at this moment in the blog-oracle that is la Fhina's mad, misty, bad and seriously dangerous to know, life?

1. That I have some of my health back, particularly in terms of the mobility I feared I had lost, for a time... That's something indeed, non?!

2. For the love that y'all share with moi daily, I am sorely and irretrievably grateful...

To the bottom of my soul; To the sole of my bottom... To all the parts of my heart that you rub up against, like a lovely fluffy, warm and wonderful, pussy-cat, every day, chaque jour, jeden Tag...



I love you and embrace you with virtual, (but real in Northumberland!), flabby bingo-winged arms!

Yes, that includes you, my little sis', Bloggus Interruptus... And Derrick, who is running even now from my arms, and Diane, with all of my love; And Saz, like the sister I always wanted, and now feel at last that I have; And Lola, for all your joie de vivre and je ne sais quoi... And Rosaria, for your beauty and wisdom... And the Chairman, for your brains... And Liz, for your fabulous Mom-Spin and unstinting faith... And Michelle for your beauty and chutzpah, and Ann for your Rants-Not-Rants, but brilliant writing... And the Jo's for being just-Jo-fabulouses, and Bagman and Rob-bear for your love and your promises, ...And Braja for all your wonders, and Voddie Mom for your wide love of life and artful teaching to those who will create all our futures, and Z for the love of Batcat and all that is good in your life, and kapgaf who doesn't blog but who still touches hearts, and Dedene and la Belette for your love of la belle France, and Drolly and Sallymandy for art and beauty always, and Artist Unplugged for her life, and Pinklea for the love of Stevie and more, and Clay and April for their writings, and anyone I have loved, and have neglected to recall the name of, I am sorry...

And if you're in California, or Italy, New Zealand, or Australia, Hong Kong or Puerto Rico (brave Cynthia), Canada or Slovakia, or Ireland (both ends) ...That's not all of you, I know, but please know that I know that you're there, and I am thankful for your love and your patronage of me, and that I owe you, big-stylee!

3. I am grateful for my ability to, pretty-much-always, sleep like a top in my blissful pit of a Egyptian linen-wrapped bed!


4. I am grateful for love, wherever it finds me, and however small it seems - I am filled with love and light and grace and music and whispers created by the cunning, stunning, angels' wings...



"Sometimes, I am surrounded, by too much love...", sang la Stevie... And yet there can never be too much love, mes bloggy hottle-tottle bottles... Can there?!

5. I am grateful for an honest job (well mostly, I do work for politicians ;), about which the least said, the better!), and for the spirit and humour that keeps on keeping on...

What are you grateful for today, mes bloggy strawberry shortcakes?



Remember that I love you, more than I love myself...

Always...Toujours...Immer...Siempre...

Hayseed Dixie...

La Wiki knows this, "Hayseed Dixie is an American band which began in the Fall of 2000 with the release of their first album, A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC. The band performs a mixture of cover versions of hard rock songs and original compositions in a style that is a cross between bluegrass and rock music. The band's name is a play on the name AC/DC and was originally AC/Dixie, but they were forced to change it. Claiming to hail from the fictional Deer Lick Holler, Appalachia, the band has played nearly 1,000 live dates in 21 different countries since 2001".

And you might never have heard of them. I think this band is bigger here in the UK than they are in America, their homeland, as you can tell by the crapalicious video, n'est-ce pas... Full of all the things that we love about the UK, non?!



I love Hayseed Dixie's mad and fake-bad irreverance, their mock-rock hillbilly slant on la vie humaine, that could almost be luring me back to my childhood again, as a tot, sitting on the chintzy Fifties' floral sofa at my nanna's home in a former Victorian sea-side resort and fishing village on the North East coast, avidly watching the Beverly Hillbillies on her black and white TV...

Then later, she'd ask me to read out the sub-titles to her from that 'forrin fillum on the telly'... because her eyes couldn't quite cut the mustard owing to her bloggy cataracts.

Perhaps her love and prompting led me to be interested in languages and words later in life...

I just thought of that... Isn't it crazy when blogging enables us to grasp something about ourselves that we might never have discovered otherwise?

Who knows what drives us down the paths we sometimes choose, mes bloggy Bizets?

And where our dreams, nos reves, might lead us... Or you?

Something to tickle your humerus - The funnybone - Blondes' Medical Dictionary...

Doctor Fhina is in!



Here is her copy of the Blonde's Medical Terminology...

She picked this up aeons ago, don't ask her where please, she won't know...

Long nets of white cloud Fhina's memory, at the best of times, and the worst of times! She hasn't found the tablets yet to freshen the memory, but she's going to try a lot of them until she finds the right ones... In the meantime, this blog shall be Fhina's momento mori...

You're laughing again... I'll be over there shortly to rap your knuckles with my long wooden ruler... What do you mean, it's not allowed?! *Ahem!*


THE BLONDE'S MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY...

Artery -- Study of paintings
Bacteria -- Back door of cafeteria
Barium -- What doctors do when treatment fails
Bowel -- Letter like A.E.I.O.U
Caesarean section -- District in Rome


Cat scan -- Searching for kitty



Cauterize -- Made eye contact with her
Colic -- Sheep dog
Coma -- A punctuation mark
Congenital -- Friendly
D&C -- Where Washington is
Diarrhoea -- Journal of daily events
Dilate -- To live long
Enema -- Not a friend
Fester -- Quicker
Fibula -- A small lie
G.I. Series -- Soldiers' ball game
Grippe -- Suitcase
Hangnail -- Coathook
Impotent -- Distinguished, well known
Intense pain -- Torture in a teepee



Labour pain -- Got hurt at work
Medical staff -- Doctor's cane (like the one Fhina's going to use to rap on some desks later! Just you mind!)
Morbid -- Higher offer
Nitrate -- Cheaper than day rate
Node -- Was aware of
Outpatient -- Person who had fainted
Pelvis -- Cousin of Elvis
Post operative -- Letter carrier
Protein -- Favouring young people
Rectum -- It almost killed him
Recovery room -- Place to do upholstery
Rheumatic -- Amorous
Scar -- Rolled tobacco leaf (I'll have to ask Grizz about that -- Did you know that one of Fhina's most recent wobbles was finding out that Grizz had taken to the evil weed?! I think he's stopped now... At least that's what he's telling me... So on to something apt):
Secretion -- Hiding anything
Seizure -- Roman emperor
Serology -- Study of knighthood
Tablet -- Small table
Terminal illness -- Sickness at airport
Tibia -- Country in North Africa
Tumor -- An extra pair
Urine -- Opposite of you're out
Varicose -- Located nearby
Vein - Conceited

Ca va, (is that okay/how are you), mes bloggy space-bars!

What did you think?

Did you smile, laugh, grinch at Fhina's poking fun at blondes... It's all right, mes loves, for I iz one, after all, apres tout, after all!

Holy Cat-Flap, Batman...

"Holy Snapping Duck Do!

I just got hit on the head with a coal-scuttle and recalled that I have not updated this since Paris Hilton was in jail...

You would not believe how hard it is being waited on hand and foot and generally lounging around, flat-out like a lizard drinking.

Jealous much? Don't be, it was very painful... But someone had to do it!

I am lost in a sea of pseudo-olde-English, following my foray, into the Vale of York, with only your readership as life-preserver, hoping that you haven't found other blogs, just generally being asleep, dreaming and chancing to the servants... of la Crawford's Mansions, of course...

My day sprawls from crawling out of bed at 6.30 to the point where I am begging Grizz to go to sleep or so help me God that kid (known around here as 'The Child from Hell'), will be decorating my wall. I'll call it 'Duct-tape Still Life', and am likely to apply for an Arts Council Grant.





I am not being a whinging Pom or anything, but like never say never...

I absolutely, positively promise I will update you with my nefarious activities as soon as I get a chance.

Truly!

Cats if you don't..."



Go to http://www.aussiebloggers.com.au to make your own, Aussie-flavoured, fresh from the BBQ, bloggy excuses - Seriously, I didn't write all of this, much of it is a drop-down, ticky-box Smorgasbord of delights and Antipodean Wonders!

Always good for a chuckle I find!

By the way, for anyone still hanging around this sorry excuse for a People's Soup Kitchen... York was absolutely fabulous, if a little pricey about the place... I'd place it easily on a par with the more touristy joints in London these days... I also begrudge paying £18 for just three of us to take a peek inside York Minster. Is it me?!

We spent a nice couple of hours -- Grizz whining all the way, bien sur -- in the National Railway Museum, where I loved the opportunity to look behind the scenes at all the Railway memorabilia that they haven't quite got the space to display. Amongst which I found the darkened writing board that was George Stephenson's, wonderfully light-catching Victorian stained glass from a variety of waiting lounges up and down the land, the impressive, but painted, stone portico statues that once graced Euston Station, and an old metal wall-map depicting the Tyne & Wear Metro system!

One is never far from home, wherever one may roam, n'est-ce pas, mes bloggy buttercups?

Home Is Where The Blog Is... and I missed you. I did... Don't laugh... Mwah!

Son of Who?

Come on in, mes bloggy blues-bottles...

I love the music that this man plays so artfully.

I saw him perform on Jools Holland's BBC 2 show, and I was spell-bound, blown away at what he managed to draw out of the machines he works with...

This is Son of Dave...

La Wiki whispers in Fhina's shell-like...

"Benjamin Darvill (born January 4, 1967) is a Canadian musician and singer-songwriter. He was a member of folk rock band Crash Test Dummies in which he played harmonica, mandolin, guitar and percussion. Since 2000, he has been busy with his solo project Son of Dave, which has resulted in four albums.

Darvill was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He moved to London, England, in 1998 and lived there for several years. His 2000 album 01, recorded in London, combined "aged blues with techno beats and everything in between".

Reviewer Benoît Felten described it as "a mixture of modern R&B, hip-hop and electronics with an edge; it has a strong bluesy feeling".

His 2006 album 02 has been described as a mix of "cotton-pickin’ blues, vocalising beat-box, hard-breathing folk, steamy funk and even modern R&B".

Dreams...

Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It's only right that you should
Play the way you feel it

But listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering
What you had
And what you lost...
And what you had...
And what you lost

Oh, thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing...
Say, women...they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You'll know...

Now here I go again, I see, the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself
It's only me
Who wants to wrap around your dreams and...
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness...
Like a heartbeat drives you mad...
In the stillness of remembering
What you had
And what you lost...
What you had...
Ooh, what you lost

Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know



What were your dreams when you were small?

Which of them have you accomplished, mes bloggy lace pillow-slips?!

What's stopping you now, my bloggy love-hearts?

...Not love... That's for certain. I love you nonetheless, mes choufleurs - Mwah!

Fika Meme - Wha'?!

MEME: from Sallymandy via Mervat and Moannie and Scriptor Senex...

What is your current obsession?
Blogging, bien sur! Even although I am now back in the full time shackles of the orifice, I wish I were here - laughing and chattering, and carrying on as if I led a life of wilful ease, non?! And, oh I am so afraid to admit to it - Someone young enough to be my son - Robert Pattinson! I love tortured poets... Lord Byron, John Keats, John Clare...



Good fika place? (That would be coffee to us non-Swedes) The Bookhouse, Newcastle, before Central Perk ever existed - Beautiful, spiral staircase leading down from excellent bookshop to cafe hangout - I don't even know what this place is now - But The Bookhouse remains in the mind like a lost lover, whom you never really wanted to let go, and you never properly bid adieu to...

Currently, my favourite place is Coffee Beans, an independent, locally owned, coffee house, near to The Office, very seventies but with WiFi, lime green and teak wood decor and brown suede sofas, and the staff are just fabulous, dahlink!



I met the wonderful Sazfab from never has been Fat, Frumpy or Fifty...there on Wednesday, and it was magical! Magical, I tell you! More of our tale later, sans doute, mes bloggy air biscuits!

Do you nap a lot?


Good goddess yes. Whenever I can, I curl up, whip out the disposable lenses and snooze as if there were no tomorrow... I love my pit, I love warmth and comfort, and my wide, room-divider, boundary-pushing, sofa is my second bed...

Who was the last person you hugged?
My friends at work who have welcomed me back like the prodigal daughter... My last hug was with a stakeholder lady, whom I have known for seven years - I hugged her, kissed her cheeks, and got my lip gloss all over her hair - Embarrassing, non?! But sweet and very, very genuine, nonetheless. I love her.

Rescinded to say that my last wee hug was with the energetic and indomitable Saz! She is more than fabulous, dahlink, and it were such a treat to finally meet!

What’s for dinner?


Chip leftovers with decent German Rye Bread, with a smidgen of Tomato Ketchup - And I'm on a diet, so this is not allowed, mais tant pis!

What are you listening to right now?


The TV is on - Dark Water, a psycho-thriller film... I've seen it before, and yet I cannot remember how the movie pans out!

What is your favourite weather?
Sunny, not too hot, bright and warm. I've my sunnies on, a light blouse and skirt/troos, and I know I'm not going to get wet today! P.s. I'm not in England, apparently...

What’s on your bedside table?
I have a hand painted cupboard, rather than a table - Tables, I just knock things off... Fhina's middle nom de plume is Calamity, as my lovely late mother would say...

Anyhoo, my glazed placard is black with violet vines and flowers - In it there are books, some of my favourite novels, a couple of jew-jaws, my specs, (Prada, dahlink!), a Georgian map I bought for my husband in an antiques warehouse, some juice, a pillow, and the erstwhile remnants of my life... Can you tell what it is yet?!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be?
Paris, always Paris! Probably La Porte Doree if we could not afford a garden and cat in Montmartre, where the vinyards once were...

Favourite vacation spot?
After Paris, Nice in the south of France, where I long for a second home...
Trouville in Normandy, with its mists and literary electricity and eccentricity, as well as the Dominican Republic, for its greenness that reminds me of England, and its wonderful people...

~The things you can’t live without. .
My family, my good friends here, my new-ish laptop, my music, animals, books, coffee, wine, and now bloggering.

What were the happiest two years of your life?
My third year at college, and the first year I had my beloved son, Grizz...

What would you like to get rid of?
Despair.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Where my sadly-passed mum and dad are, to smell their scents, and hug their warmth and deep love to me... Failing that, c'est toujours Paris - Non?!

What did you want to become as a child?
A singer, (Sandy Shaw - I remember, I must have been about four, wanting to be called Sandy...and even writing the name, playfully, in my reading book...), then an English or Modern Languages teacher, then a mother, then a Registrar, then a shopkeeper, then a famous writer...in that order...

What do you miss?
My mum and my dad, ca va sans dire! Friends who live a long way away - Then and now, including vous, mes bloggeristas!

The orifice is sadly interfering with my Mojo and my blogging life - Visiting y'all... I am so sad and so sorry... : (

I also miss my youth and my thin-ness!

What are you reading right now?
The Twilight Saga, again ;0 Wonderful Blogs, and I have a backlog of fabulous contemporary novels to dig into ...Graduellement!

What do you fear the most?
Losing everything, as do we all, eventuellement, no?!

Which designer piece of clothing would you most like to own (new or vintage)?


It would have to be a Louis Vuitton handbag above all, or something from Biba in my super-size!

What did you last watch on television? A programme about David Bowie, made over 10 years ago!


If you’d like to do the meme, here’s how it works.

1. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention; add a question of your own.

2. You may tag others or leave it open to anyone who feels like giving it a go.


This Meme was posted by the darling and talented, John, Scriptor Senex at 4/19...

And I snatched it there, mes bloggy Cat-Burglars!

Please clock, mes petits chamois-leathers, that I am not around this weekend, non...

I am visiting the bold city of York with my family for two and a bit days... So I might not be around in Bloggusland, but know once more that I am, always, thinking of you, and I shall catch up with you a toute a l'heure, mes checkered lives... Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!