Rodin inspiration…

I too am a thinker.

 While in Paris we went for a walk and found the Rodin Museum.

I can only liken my visit to going to church.

Now i am not being disrespectful of church or religion.

I believe that spirit can be moved in amazing places. 

I was deeply affected here.

Maybe it was the serenity mixed with art and history.

Or the spirit in the garden and the majesty in the sculptures.

 Strolling through the gardens was like stepping back in time. 

Even though the gardens were not manicured and neat in Mr R's day.

The place was just as gorgeous but in a magical, adventurous spirit kind of way. 

Clearly tending  garden was not his thing. Apparently he loved it but it was overgrown.

I imagine like the closed garden in the story "Secret Garden".

 He was an artist. He worked. A lot.

 The house is the museum.

The gardens with large brass replicas scattered about.

 Posed, frozen in time and position.

Having seen children's movies, where the statues come alive after the park closes, many of these would have cricks in their necks and need a stretch.

 These lovely lounge chairs would be a great place to relax on.

This brings me to the point of this post.

During 2012 and our family adventure in France i relaxed, became more of myself, more or the time. 

I was on holidays, no serious schedules, no commitments, no old patterns and every opportunity to take risks and challenge myself.

Coming home is always wonderful. Yet the home i feel in myself is harder to sustain. I am pulled in many directions. I fall into familiar old patterns, take things, people for granted and forget about the relaxedness of just being. 

Instead of focusing on the obvious how does one remain attentive to the big picture?

I love this cheap shot. Thats my kind of quirky humour. Sorry…. 

 I over think, over feel and can be sponge for the energies around me.

I end up being like this sculpture.

Enough.

2013 is to rejoice.

Yay that i am thoughtful & empathic, sensitive and considerate.

Clear boundaries can make the dilemmas more manageable.

 To simplify, and this picture of my little girl helps.

Simplicity= a girl and a juicy fruit.

Thats all there is.

Moment to moment.

 Some how i think Rodins day was simpler.

But probably not.

I would like to be like this lady, serene and meditative.

I would like to have lots of these moments with my beloved.

This is me rejoicing all year long, as i get a handle on the list of changes and new beginnings coming our way in 2013.

 I feel more contorted like this lady (left) presently...

1. get a new job

2. finish training course

3. settle kids in new school

4. buy new (2nd hand?) car

5. renovate kitchen

6. remodel family rooms

7. paint, create and rejoice

8. find a writing group

9. develop art class & find place to teach it

10. support and be attentive to the hearts and needs of my family

11. plan and create more adventures for us to go on

12. do physical activity ie yoga, tai chi, pilates, gym…

13. document my ordinary and amazing trip around the world this year in words and pictures

No wonder my husband looks more like the man in the photo above.

 I want to go back to the feeling in this place.

Complete.

Magical & mystical.

 Awe inspiring.

Detailed. 

Reflective. 

 All embracing. Vulnerable, yet brave.

Old yet creative. 

 In the presence of masters.

Open with the ability to be guided.

As we left i felt i knew this place.

I carry it with me now.

I can create this feeling in my home.

I can remember, just by looking at the  photos.

This is why this is like church to me.

Thought provoking and inspired.

Do you have a place that does that for you?

 Looking back one more time, the detail captures my imagination.

Mrs R opened this window. Called her husband to come in from the cold.

He looks up at her smiles, slowly moves from the roses and enters the house and sits near the open fire.

….maybe….

I love this sculpture with out head, feet or hands. 

Perhaps this is the reminder i need.

There is no need to run anywhere,

there is no need to do many things at once, 

or to over think everything.

If it is possible i too can relax into my life, like in her pose, and rejoice in my clarity and commitment to me and my life for 2013.

sparkle & twirl

*

And then there is Sunday....

We saw our lovely friends for lunch today.

We ended up at the playground opposite a church i have walked by many times (Eglise De La Duarade), but never gone in. I think because it was meant to be today. With my newest friend. The blahs of yesterday gone and forgotten. The husbands getting on well. The children spinning, climbing and generally torturing each other on the playground equipment.

 After our trip to Rocamadour to the "Madonna Noire" i googled black Madonnas and discovered there is one here in Toulouse. With our Polish friends we had a discussion, me telling them about my story (you can read the other post here) and they told us their story of the famous black Madonna in their church in Poland. (see here)

I told you "kindred".

 We girls excused ourselves, "said we would be back in 10minutes" and went to see her. WOW ! 

She was beautiful.

My friend told me about the regal dress she wears and that it is changed at certain times. In the Polish church once a year.

The altar, painting and design are inherently feminine.

The pinks and blues soft and kind.

God & the angels looking over La Madonna serene.

This church is not popular. It is bit hard to find the entrance, dark inside and not lovingly restored like other churches i have been to in the last few months.

 Yet i love that about it.

It must be how art restorers and archaeologist must feel when they know they have found something amazing.

One day it may become popular again and be cleaned, untarnished and mended.

Until then i will take her as she is; well worn, ageing and with a deeply lived facade.

 The windows are broken and gloomy daylight the only illumination.

 The stars still shine here, even in the day.

 You know this tiny photo hardly does justice to the magnificence and vast grandness of this ceiling.

 This looks like a carving but it is painted. Chipped and graffitied.

 A painting to celebrate the arrival or "Virgin Noire".

 “Every archetype has its seasons. They come and go according to the deepest, often unconscious, needs of the psyche both personal and collective. Today the Black Madonna is returning.”

Matthew Fox, Return of the Black Madonna, ©2006

 I seek light. I am a "light hunter".

Light also has shadow and embracing the darkness helps.

To hold both in your hands and your heart is what makes us whole.

 Amazing mural clearer in the photograph.

The blurriness in the photos is due to the poor lighting and no flash. Also an unsteady hand.

Excerpt from Sue Monk Kidd, author, "I first became aware of the Black Madonna in my late thirties through the writings of Jungian analyst, Marion Woodman. It was a revelation to me that hundreds of very old Black Madonnas exist in Europe and elsewhere, and that their darkness is a legacy of ancient black goddesses. I think of the Black Madonna as the White Madonna before the church scrubbed the really interesting stuff out of her. I began to study the Black Madonna, and to travel to her pilgrimage sites, especially in France. I discovered that many of her stories and history reveal a Mary who is openly defiant in the face of oppression. In Poland, South and Central America, and other places, she has been a symbol of revolution. I decided I would create a Black Madonna for the novel (Secret Life of Bees), who had existed during slavery in the South, and that she would be a symbol of freedom and consolation."

The truth is always the truth. 

The truth of today is that we are blessed in so many ways.

The journey is challenging, tricky and sometimes unkind. 

It is worthwhile when deep love is revealed and universal truths prevail.

sparkle & twirl deeply*

Looking up & down....

Here in France we find ourselves looking up and down. There is lots of visual candy at eye level. The little surprises and magic, however seem to be just out of eye shot. So it takes longer to walk anywhere. My family are used to walking ahead when we go out with the camera. "Come on Mum!", they call back. I can't help it. It is so different from home. Also the fact that it is autumn makes it divine to me. You may have noticed my adoration of the season. In our home town the weather changes but you have to look hard to notice the change in seasons. In Europe the changes are distinct. Each season has its own characteristics. As we meander through our last weeks here, i am taking in every image, experience and ordinary miracle. I am capturing as much as possible to take home with me.

 Toulouse is doing  a really big Christmas light display. It is to thank all the community for their patience in lots of construction & road works. Of course it gets turned on the day we arrive back in Australia. Ces't la vie. Pictures will be grand.

 In the parcs they grow wild flowers in little field-patches. 

Super cute. They are nearly all gone. Replaced with winter plants.

I like how the wilting, paler, rain-stained petals look.

These flowers are coming to an end, like this adventure. 

That's how it is. Not less, but lived.

 The old hydrangea petals look like butterflies.

 The kids threw acorns, the ones with little hats, flowers and leaves into the lake.

Bloom floating in the reflection of a grey sky.

 Then there are fish floating in the cement paths around a big church.

Leaves like bubbles next to the etchings.

Stars on fences to protect the church.

 Detailed mosaics from long ago.

Withstanding the centuries and the feet of many pilgrims.

A starry sky in the church. Love this so much. 

The footpath stained with oil. 

A mural of rainbow colours, which also happen to match Miss Six's glitter skirt. 

Blooms like starbursts. Delicate, yet hardy. 

I call this one cherubs with a prehistoric "Elmo". 

Kids laughed. At the Musee. 

 The doorway above a cafe.

 Pink cloud at the end of an afternoon in the city.

 Loved the wrought iron but only noticed at home the painted ceiling in the driveway.

We just don't light up the street in Australia like this.

Lamp post at dusk.

Walking home, the river is gorgeous. 

But I love the wall.

Chipped, mossy and ancient.

The wall gets to watch the changing Garonne everyday, 

many captivated passers by lean here, lovers steal kisses against it.

Beware.... always look further down, as dog bombs lay in wait, in the shadow of the wall. 

Remember to look up and down where you are.

You may be surprised to see things you never noticed.

Or come back here and i'll show you some more of what i see. 

sparkle & twirl*