Found: the Seven Dwarfs' cottage

At last, dawn woke the forest to the song of the birds, and Snow White too, awoke. A whole world was stirring to life and the little girl was glad to see how silly her fears had been. On she walked until she came to a clearing. There stood a strange cottage, with a tiny door, tiny windows and a tiny chimney pot. Everything about the cottage was much tinier than it ought to be. Snow White pushed the door open.

"I wonder who lives here?" she said to herself, peeping round the kitchen. "What tiny plates! And spoons!" Upstairs was a bedroom with seven neat little beds. Going back to the kitchen, Snow White had an idea.

Toward dusk, seven tiny men marched homeward singing. But when they opened the door of their house, to their surprise they found a bowl of hot steaming soup on the table, and the whole house spick and span. Upstairs was Snow White, fast asleep on one of the beds.

The chief dwarf prodded her gently. "Who are you?" he asked. Snow White told them her sad story, and tears sprang into the dwarfs' eyes.

I am utterly in love with these adorable cottages from The Rustic Way, which can be fitted out as guest houses, garden sheds, saunas and children's playhouses. They are just like a fairy tale come to life, don't you think?

For the child (and childlike)

Do you have little children in your life? You really must head on over to Child's Own Studio because owner Wendy will make a soft toy straight from your child's imagination! Isn't this absolutely adorable? Alas, our two girls are too big for this, so I will have to live vicariously through your family.

All photographs from the Child's Own flickr photostream.

A Dr Faustus halloween

The clock strikes eleven. FAUSTUS: Ah Faustus, Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, And then thou must be damned perpetually. Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven, That time may cease and midnight never come...

O lente, lente, currite noctis equi! ["O run slowly, slowly, horses of the night!" Ovid] The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike. The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned. O I'll leap up to my God! Who pulls me down?...

The clock striketh twelve.

It strikes, it strikes! Now body, turn to air, Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell!

Thunder and lightening. 

O soul, be changed to little water-drops And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found.

Enter DEVILS. Tonight's very spooky halloween brought to you by the chilling, sad and beautifully rendered 'last moments' of Doctor Faustus according to Christopher Marlowe, and these glorious 1925 illustrations of Goethe's Faust by Harry Clarke, found on 50 Watts.

Favourite things: book wormery

I'm so tired, I just want to curl up with a good book all day. But did you know you could do all these things with books, too? 1. Sniff an old book

Now I know why old books smell so darned good. Found via B for Bel (her source).

2. Read a rainbow

Random House's Vintage Classics series is turning 21, and to celebrate they've reprinted the entire collection in rainbow colours. See them all here.

3. Repurpose vintage books

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/23224441 w=525&h=295]

STC Craft Presents: The Repurposed Library by Lisa Occhipinti from STC Craft / Melanie Falick Books on Vimeo.

I love all the concepts in this video and I'm keen to try some of them. Trouble is, so far I haven't had the heart to sacrifice anything from my bookshelf (video found via Our City Lights).

4. Dine in Wonderland

I really, really want to go eat in this Alice in Wonderland restaurant in Tokyo, Japan. Discovered via B for Bel, who features twice in this post because she always finds such fabulous things.

5. Browse a bouquiniste's stall

In Paris, hundreds of independent booksellers (bouquinistes) sell under the open skies along the Seine, offering up new, used and antique books, magazines and pictures out of green metal boxes. They have been there since the 1500s, and are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Imagine!

More street art

Street art, spotted in and around Montmartre, Paris, where art is given carte blanche. And now for some street art from New Jersey, just to even things out. (Thanks to Poppytalk for the heads up on this little video). [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/30209136 w=525&h=387]

Shepard Fairey Paints Asbury Park from Adam Worth on Vimeo.

We swam through a patch of moonlight

"We swam through a patch of moonlight - it was fun making silver ripples just in front of my eyes - and then to the steps of the corner tower... "After we turned the corner to the front of the castle there was no more golden light from the windows or the lantern, nothing but moonlight. We swam on our backs, looking up at the sheer, unbroken walls - never had they seemed to me so high. The water made slapping, chuckling noises against them and they gave out a mysterious smell - as when thunder-rain starts on a hot day, but dank and weedy and very much of a night-time smell too.

"I floated and Neil did too; it was lovely just drifting along, staring up at the stars. That was when we first heard the Vicar at the piano, playing Air from Handel's 'Water Music', one of the nicest pieces - I guessed he had chosen it to suit our swim, which I took very kindly. It came to us softly but clearly; I wished I could have floated on for hours listening to it, but I soon felt cold and had to swim fast again...

"He helped me out and we climbed over the ruins and sat down with our backs against the kitchen wall; the sun had been shining on it all day and the bricks were still warm. We were in full moonlight. Neil had patches of brilliant green duckweed on his head and one shoulder; he looked wonderful."

Excerpt from I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Photography from Indian Summer by Jessica Olm. Her blog is truly gorgeous.

Blossom party

While I was on the other side of the world, spring happened at home. People in my new town like to plant their flowers en masse, it would seem, and a walk with the dog is now awash with fragrant banks of pink, yellow and white roses; jasmine and wisteria tumbling over fences, and thick hedges of lavender. Even in my own garden, almost hidden behind a weed jungle that makes the thorny thicket around Sleeping Beauty's castle look like a pathetic patch of dandelions, I discovered a blossomy bounty.

What to do with all this fragrant colour? Why, host my very own blossom party, of course, inspired by this one. Won't you join me?

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/22662531 w=525&h=295]

Blossom Party for Japan from Hype Vandals on Vimeo.

Random acts of kindness

A guest post by Patricia Sands. Folks, meet Patricia Sands, wonderful author of The Bridge Club, and raconteur of all things French. I can't tell you how wonderful Patricia has been in giving me advice and inspiration for my family holiday in France. She is talented, clever and has a generous heart, and I'm so happy that she'll be bringing more of that positive energy to my very own blog.

My friend author Naomi Bulger is in France and Italy right now on a wonderful holiday with her family. I know they are having an awesome time making memories that will last a lifetime.  Naomi has such a quirky, creative eye and the ability to discover beauty in the most unusual places, I can't wait to hear about her adventures and see her photos.

I was delighted when she asked if I would contribute to her blog in her absence! Recently I wrote on my blog about random acts of kindness and was pleased to hear from so many of you. Obviously that subject is on the minds of many of us. In France the term translates as Gentillesse Gratuité - Free Kindness. I like that, don't you?

On November 13, they celebrate La Journée de la Gentillesse in France and the number of people participating each year is growing.

Apparently November 13, 2011, is now officially World Kindness Day, a day that encourages individuals to overlook boundaries, race and religion. According to modern psychology, altruistic acts increase our own happiness in a profound way.

The mission of The World Kindness Movement, introduced in 1988, is to inspire individuals towards greater kindness and connect nations to create a kinder world. The WKM encourages individuals of all nations to set up their own kindness movements and join the WKM. Currently, membership includes representation from France as well as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Dubai, England, India, Italy, Japan, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland, South Korea, Thailand and the USA.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGUJnTGStsw]

Why can't we make every day a kindness day? I mean, wouldn't we all be a lot better off?  Let's each start our own personal movement right now and see where it takes us! Let me know how it's working for you and pass the message on.

If you go to www.giftofkindness.com you can order these cool cards.

Be the change you wish to see! La gentillesse a toujours du bon!

Favourite things: tea time

Could you do with a cup of tea right now? Me too. Do you take it hot or cold? Sweet or straight? And what goes perfectly with tea? How about this? 1. The travelling tea parlour This is Lady Bonin’s Tea Parlour, selling mobile, take-away tea from the back of a vintage caravan. Oh how I long to while away the hours sipping tea on that Persian carpet and soaking up the South African sun. I wish, wish, wish Lady Bonin would come to Adelaide, but methinks the odds are against me. I'm not sure how watertight that caravan really is. (Lady Bonin found via Shannon of Happiness Is)

2. The teapot wildflowers We have the perfect teapot for this at home, so I am most definitely going to borrow stylist Amy Merrick's fabulous idea. I subscribe to Amy's blog An Apple a Day for a regular dose of beautiful things.

3. The DIY teacup lamp If I ever find the patience (it must be here somewhere), I'd like to make not one but two of these fabulous teacup lamps and use them in our bedroom for night-time reading. This is a lovely, long-term project. First, the hunting through thrift-shops for just the right teacups, saucers and teapots. Then the fun stacking and re-stacking to find the best look. After all that, I suspect the actual making of the lamp may seem pretty quick! Does Bunnings sell lamp kits?

4. The tea party I love the ideas, inspirations and tips for a wonderful tea party in this article on All Women Stalk. All I need is (ahem) some friends in my new town of Adelaide, and I will be tea party ready for spring!

5. The cup cozy When the auld Irish fisherman comes in from a blustery day on the waves, leaves his raincoat and hat dripping by the door and thumps in to warm his hands by the kitchen fire, Mrs Fisherman will bring him over a steaming cup of tea wrapped in this cable knit cup cozy. I want one, too.

Oddly unsettling

Have you seen these photographs? This is downtown New York in the early 1940s, photographed in colour. Does it look real to you? While World War II raged on distant shores, an amateur photographer from Indiana, Charles Weever Cushman, took a holiday in New York. He took his holiday snaps on a rare and expensive Kodachrome camera, in colour.

Somehow this doesn't quite seem real to me. Maybe it's the soft, hazy, vintage wash in some of the pictures. Or maybe it's because I'm just not wired to picture life in the 40s in colour. Not real life, at least, just movies.

And yet here they all are, these New Yorkers from decades before I was born, going about their lives, walking the streets I walked, entering the doorways I entered. Suddenly, generations of the past are just like me. I feel connected. Neighbourly, almost. Who knew our grandparents' lives were lived in colour?

Take a look through Cushman's incredible collection here. He travelled widely, throughout the US and Europe, and seems to have always carried the trusty Kodachrome with him. It is only by an extreme act of self restraint that I haven't posted in multiplicity of urchins on farm gates from the 1930s, all captured in that oddly unsettling colour.