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Ailsa's travel photo challenge: On display

Ailsa has shown us some colourful displays she’s seen on her travels.  They’re worth a long look:  http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/10/12/travel-theme-on-display/

She’s asked us, too, to find a photo of a display that would be good to share.

Strolling through Paris one Sunday afternoon, heading for Place Vendôme to see where the rich do their shopping (though not on Sundays when everything’s closed, as I found), I was stopped in my tracks by this window display.  Someone with an eye for the beauty of repetition has found a new use for old Singer sewing machines, technological marvels that produced clothes faster than human hands.  Their black and gold and curvy bodies fill the windows to the ceiling on both fronts of the street corner.

When I was 5, I was taught to sew by a professional dressmaker (my sister), but I had to wait until I was 12 to get my own sewing machine, a Singer treadle.  I made clothes on it until I started work at 15 when I bought an electric one, which I still use… That Sunday, the sight of all these old machines had me believing this was a tailor’s shop, and I would have gone in if it were open.  But  a little Internet research this morning reveals it’s a clothes shop.  I’ve found photos of similar window displays in the US for the same company, All Saints Spitalfields.

Next time I’ll stroll down Rue Etienne Marcel during the week, and go in, but not to buy.  I want to look at the window display from the inside.

Window display of Singer sewing machines, All Saints Spitalfields, Paris
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Weekly photo challenge: Mine

I’ve been reluctant to respond to the theme of ‘mine’ – it struck me as a request to show how self-centred and unsharing we can be sometimes.  However, I’ve just realised that I have something I’m pleased to call ‘mine’ because I’ve been using a borrowed one for 15 months.  I don’t need to hang onto it very tightly:  it’s one of those things that no one else would ever want!

In June last year I began working on the translation of a story, reading from a library book which I was the first to borrow since the 1980s.  The story was so good that I soon tried to buy my own copy.  But it’s such a peculiar title and edition that my worldwide search turned up nothing.  Until 2 weeks ago.  I was reminded that persistence pays.

Here’s the library book I’ve been using, printed in 1980:

‘Un Hiver à Majorque’ in ‘Oeuvres Complètes’, George Sand, printed 1980

And here’s ‘mine’, the edition which rewarded my relentless searching.  It came from a bookshop in Geneva complete with an old folded 1920 invoice between its pages.  I was thrilled to find that the book is the original of the library version, meaning the page numbers are the same and I don’t have to rearrange my notes.

‘Un Hiver à Majorque’ and ‘Spiridion’, George Sand, printed 1867

My book is so fragile that page shards are appearing on every surface where I work with it.  But it’s mine and I don’t have to return it to a library.  Every one of its readers from the past 145 years is inspiring me as I translate its words for a new century of readers.

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366 unusual things: days 264 – 268

20th Sep – Looked at a lagoon and a lizard on a log.

Frill-necked lizard, Korora Bay, NSW

21st Sep – Saw four dead gum trees on the clifftop boardwalk in front of a mansion with million-dollar views.  A huge Council sign says:  “These trees have been POISONED”.

22nd Sep – After 14 months of searching for an out-of-print book, I’ve obtained an 1867 edition, its spine broken, back cover torn, but entire.

23rd Sep – Heard on a documentary that enough sunlight falls on Australia in two days to power the whole world for a year.

24th Sep – An author sent me a manuscript to read and is eager to know if I’ll translate it.  Oh yeah!

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366 unusual things: days 259 – 263

15th Sep – At a chocolate shop/café my cup of coffee came with melted chocolate dribbled, apparently decoratively, down the outside of the cup.  It ended up on my fingers in a great mess.

16th Sep – Went to a church in this seaside town where we are holidaying.  It looked conservative from the outside but the music was hypnotic, the last song line repeated 16 times, and the preacher didn’t preach;  he prayed for troubled souls until they fell on the floor.  I’ve heard of this but never seen it before.

17th Sep – Walking to the beach we passed a refugee and his sons.  We smiled and said Hi;  he hesitated, nodded ever so slightly, but didn’t smile.  I wondered what he was thinking.

18th Sep – Found out that a short piece I submitted to a magazine has been published, including two photos which I had taken for this blog.  Only, they attributed the writing to another Trish!  The editor promised to place a correction in the next issue.

19th Sep – Went to the porpoise pool and got kissed by a dolphin and a seal.

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Ailsa's travel photo challenge: White

Ailsa proposes a White theme in honour of the International Day of Peace on 21st September.  That’s today.

See her white things here:   http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/09/20/travel-theme-white/

Some people, she says, observe a minute’s silence at midday, but that time has already passed for me.  It’s just after two in the afternoon and I’ve just received her email.  Still, I can observe it with my photo of two white figures on the steps of a white church, Le Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, in Paris.  As I stood watching this scene (2 years ago), it was mid-morning mid-week which confused me when I saw the bride.  She posed for so many shots that I wondered if she were modelling.  If she had indeed just been married, then her husband must have been a very patient man.

The other figure that looks like a white statue isn’t.  He’s another very patient man.

Le Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris
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366 unusual things: days 254 – 258

10th Sep – Early in the afternoon, went to a beach where there were 4 people on the sand and 3 in the water.  Late in the afternoon, went to a Point recommended for its sunset, where 4 people were watching it and 3 were gutting fish.

Zenith Beach, Port Stephens, NSW.  The figure on the sand is me.
Sunset, Soldiers Point, Port Stephens, NSW.  The figure on the rocks is a stranger.

11 Sep – In a park, beside a sign declaring it an alcohol-free zone, a group of people were drinking tallies under an old fig tree.

12 Sep – Currently reading or listening to 4 novels:  The Brothers Karamazov;  The Pickwick Papers;  Spiridion;  Le Bouclier rouge.  Sometimes I confuse the plots.

13 Sep – Had coffee in a converted church called ‘The Flying Nun’.  The woman behind the counter looked like a man and the man looked like a woman.

14 Sep – On a small truck with ‘Outback Queensland’ plates:  Bugger this. I’m goin piggin.

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Ailsa's travel photo challenge: Texture

Ailsa has been checking out textures during her road travels:  http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/09/14/travel-theme-texture/  She’s asking us to show some textures from our own travels.  I thought of the bubble texture on these beach rocks at Apollo Bay in Victoria:

Rocks, Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia
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Ailsa's travel photo challenge: Sunset

Ailsa suggested we post a photo of a memorable sunset this week.  On her blog she has photos of US sunsets in soft lavender, pink and yellow hues:  http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/08/17/sunset/

The best sunset I’ve ever seen was almost a physical experience.  Unlike the US sunsets, this one was a solid ball of gold in an unclouded New Caledonian sky.  I had noticed the fiery sun low in the sky, just above the ocean, but before I could become too contemplative, it descended into the water and I couldn’t look away.  Only seconds passed from the moment I first saw it to its disappearance below the horizon, as though it had drowned in the sea.  I could almost hear a hiss!  I stood in confusion, knowing that the earth had moved, not the sun.

I’m currently translating a small book of New Caledonian legends by Claudine Jacques, colourfully illustrated by Papou, so when I saw Ailsa’s suggestion of sunset images I immediately thought of late afternoons in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia.  This Pacific island, not far from the north-eastern coast of Australia, is a French ‘special collectivity’.  That is, it used to be a territory colonised by the French from 1854, but now the people are working towards independence and power is gradually being transferred from France to New Caledonia over a 20 year period, looking towards 2018.  Unless the French can convince them otherwise.

Winter Sunset, Noumea, New Caledonia
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366 unusual things: days 224-228

11th August – My oldest son is composing a piece of piano music.  I’ve never known a composer before.  He’s posted it on his blog:  http://lukeworth.wordpress.com/

12th August – Saw a tiny finch digging in a planter box hanging from my porch. I looked in and found a slanting tunnel dug out beside the pansies.

13th August – When we read in a grammar exercise that King Charles Spaniels are named after Charles II, my ten year-old student told me that King Charles II liked to party.  She learnt it on Horrible Histories.

14th August – A male and female finch are sitting on the winter-bare branches by my window.  Now and then the female flits over to the planter box and scrapes a few more grains of soil out while the male stands guard on the branch just above.  Now I have an unusual problem:  how can I water my pansies without the tunnel collapsing?

Male and female finches nest-building in a planter box

15th August – Researched a holiday resort online and found many variations in prices for the same room, same dates.  Rang the resort and told the owner we’ve stayed there several times over the past 25 years;  he gave me a $200/week discount.