A horse called southern breeze

what started as a curve....

Near you

Drawing / Curve

It starts, it dances, it continues it's way, up and down and round,

it's just a line , a curving line, 

it is a little baby, a fish, a cat 

it is what you want or what you want to see,

it is rythm or chaos

it is my everyday companion , stubborn or flowing

it is the beginning of another gouache

it's also a smile ;)

There will be curves in other places, please visit the energetic and creative

 Nadine at Woolfenbell .

Good weekend to you !

The beauty of decay

The pots are emptied and stored 'till next year.

Yesterday, in the late autumn sun the garden showed a different beauty,

 hidden in corners,

the face of november comming to its end.

It's raining today.

Misty

Drawing / Lucky Bird

Sometimes we have to smooth out the wrinkles

and rediscover the lucky bird.

Outside it's dark,

the darkness of long winternights.

A lonely rose still blooming,

a brave bird still singing.

My house is warm and safe.

I sit and paint

I gaze at the moon

I talk to friends

near and far.

Stories are woven,

 passion lives here.

A lucky bird 

flying in and out,

but not leaving .

Please take a look at the other lucky birds,

the very talented Patrice will show you were they are nesting.

Happy weekend ! xx

Epilogue : Why Mano's key means so much to me

This is about my father.

One day, it was about a year before his retirement, my father woke up and couldn't get out of bed.
He called my mother, he could not move his legs.
My mother phoned the doctor, an ambulance brought my dad to the local hospital.
They didn't know what to do and decided it was best to bring  him to the nearest university hospital.
Meantime the paralysis crept slowly towards his pelvis.
They took him to intensive care, the paralysis reached his shoulders.
If it would go up, further to his head he would go into a coma.
He was in great pain, we were desperate, distraught, lost.
The doctors brought him into an artificial sleep.
Lots and lots of medical examinations,tests, questions.

Diagnosis, a very, very rare disease, a virus in the spinal cord.

After weeks and lots of medication they made him wake up and he was moved to a regular hospital room.
My dad could hear,speak,see and think but his body was paralized.
No doctor knew what was comming or how far he would recover but they were far from optimistic.
Months went by, there was no improvement.
We began to understand he would probably never walk again.
We all had feared the worst on intensive care but this thought paralized us too in a way.
My father spent another eight months in a revalidation center, and after a long and hard physiotherapy
he was able to sit in a wheelchair, to use his arms and hands again.

The day he came home was a very strange day.
We were so very happy he was still with us, but what was their life going to be.
We all cried.
I didn't mention my mother through this whole story.
All the time her husband was in hospital, there was not one day she went not to see him and sat at his side.
Being home brought many changes.
In the beginning it was so very,very hard.
I think i cried each time on my home after visiting them.
But they found a way to cope,they managed, they were so strong, and forever they will have my admiration.
My father always had been a quiet,serene man, he was never a great talker.
He loved to be outside, i guess i have my dreamy side from him and my love for birds.
Laying in his bed by the big window he watched the birds, he loved to watch documentaries about nature.
He read the paper , magazines, books. And he began to talk and tell stories about his life.
Stories we never heard before.
He talked with his friends or anyone passing by about politics, economics and sports.
He loved sports, as a young man he practiced cross-country running and he was very good at it.
He looked happy when he was talking, he found pleasure in telling you all kinds of things.
My father made the very best of his life in a wheelchair and my mother was like a rock he could support on.
Without her his life would have been very different, she wheeled him everywhere, took him on holidays to the seaside.
She nurtured him with  love and dedication 'till the end.


When life gets difficult and times are dark i think of my dad's braveness, his struggle to make the best of life
despite the circumstances. He means perseverance and flexibility, he means watching the birds and just be happy doing so,
he means very blue eyes full of stories, he means lots of precious things.
I don't really feel sad thinking of him, those days are left behind. You would understand if you had seen him
smile and laugh and have fun and talk and talk. He is in my heart forever, strong and loving and i love him too,dearly. When i dream of him he is not sitting in a wheelchair, he walks.


I started this blog to share my art with you.
Without Mano's key, that now belongs to me :)i would never had written this story here.
But i guess my dad is there sometimes, in the colours i use or between the birds i paint.

November garden in black and white

A story of a key and a heart

Last month, October 14th, i was visiting and reacting on your wonderful blogs.
I also visited  Mano's blog.
Reading her post of that day, Sammelsurium, my attention was caught by a beautiful old key.
A key bearing the initals G W.
These were the initials of my father who passed away October 2008, i spontaneously wrote her that.
The key opened a memory room in my head (that room is opened regularly, but not by a key).

This morning a packet arrived.
A packet with German stamps, a packet from Mano.
I was very surprised. Excited i opened the packet....and there it was... the key.
Mano made a beautiful small work of art .

She wrote 'The key belongs to you, i think! '

Emotions overwhelmed me, i felt deeply moved and still do.
I felt like Alice, i felt a caring heart, i felt sun, i felt love.

This is a key story i will never forget.

Dear Mano, thanks again, you are a lovely lady!
Your gift will be cherished.

My father and me.

My father, smaller sister and me.

Drawing / Outer space

Not feeling well at all and dealing with pain i felt like being somewhere else,

the world around faded and i found myself in another state of mind,

another space.

I only found out this morning Rachels theme : Outer space,

:)  i feel like just returning.

I got this postcard the other day.

Pech de Bugarach , aha, outer space!

i wish you to find yourselves in happy spaces this weekend

X

Thanks...

for all your sweet encouraging messages, they were deeply appreciated.

XXX

My dear readers and friends, i'm sorry for my absence here and
for not visiting and commenting as much as i would like lately.
I've spent the most part of the time in bed and on the couch.
Inflammation of the abdominal muscle, the doctor said.
I fatigued myself the past months and lifted more than was good
for me and now i have to rest and that is also all i am able to do.

After days lying down i had to go outside this morning and breathe some fresh air.

No drawing, no painting....
Beneath ....yes Alice lingered on here as well.

Have a nice and healthy weekend!!!
XX