The Extraordinary World of.....Mariko Kusumoto

Wearable art.

by Japanese born, America based

Mariko Kusumoto

How would you describe her work?

Like candy?  Like jelly fish?  Like flowers?

Like something from a dream or an other dimension?  Find more about her here.  And here.

HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A WONDERFUL WEEKEND

L'Heure Bleue - That Time in Between Daylight and Sleeping

Taking a break from the travel posts, how about a collection

of blue-ey images to celebrate

the passing of the seasons and the transition from blue summer skies

and sea, to cool rooms

and chilly toes.

Gray days inside

and dozing dreams of summer past.

How many hours will you require to sketch out your future and fill in the outlines of a New Year......just two months away from us now?  Will you be ready for it?

The Rain in Spain......Gives It a Somber Beauty

Even Ernest Hemingway in "The Sun Also Rises", describing events and places

of 90 years ago in precisely this area of the world

said that France seemed more "suburban" than Spain.  I've seen pictures of the Costa de Sol and I know that "suburban" definitely applies there.

But here in this part of Navarre widespread commercial development has still not hit.

There are a few extremely new shops on the border selling goods that the French

come to purchase at cheaper prices than in their own country.

But you will not find the big-box stores, the hyper-marches, billboards, music blaring

out of speakers everywhere, vast parking lots, CCTV cameras, generic Chinese-made goods.

Instead, life is lived closer to the earth, as it has been for centuries.

Things are still made by hand, or very nearly so.

Roads are not straight, but they meander - according to the contours of the mountains or following the turnings of a stream.

Everything is still mostly made "for the ages".

The structures seem to be deeply rooted in the earth and immoveable.

Indifferent to change's buffeting winds.

 This is a good thing for any visitor who craves tranquility, a sense of life lived in common

with others, and continuity....the sense of knowing where you've been - and the reassurance that 

where you're going might look quite similar to what you've left behind.

It's a place to move gently and quietly through.  Almost reverentially.

To sit often and look around oneself.

A place to seek comfort or simply, rest.

To be fed generously - as Hemingway describes, the Spanish dine copiously compared to

the French.

To breathe in lots of clean air.  And plan a long walk.  For when the rain stops.  There will be calories to walk off.

Picasso Portraits - For a Change of Pace

Spending time in Spain for the first time ever in my life

has made me look at Picasso differently.

Something about the solemnity and scale of landscape

and structures in Spain and a certain playfulness

that is unlike anything I've ever experienced anywhere before.  

Is it just me?  Or have you felt this?  I liked the feeling.

Have a lovely weekend.  A change of season is upon us once again.  And Mother Nature is showing who's boss.  Stay safe!

Pintxos - San Sebastian