Papa: Children's art

Artist's (10 years) conception of Papa!

Old Fire Engine, France

This wonderful old fire engine decorates a roadside near the town of Lagny.

Last leaves on a tree: Photograph

Another gust of wind and they should be gone.

Street Art, France

Signed street art on a wall in a suburb of Paris.

Nets and Knots: Poem

Nets and Knots

Nets and knots, knots and nets.

Away from the shore, away from land
Into the mist and sea
Living, living and trying to be.

I am not a knot in a net
A knot I am not.

But, yet all I saught
Taught me naught
Life was a lesson, a reason
A long way have I come.

Nets and knots
Knots and nets.
Away from what I wanted to be
Just fishing on a lonely blue sea.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Basilique Sainte-Thérèse of Lisieux

An important site for pilgrims. St Thérèse was canonised in 1925.

.

The official website

http://www.therese-de-lisieux.catholique.fr/

Duck Conference

A serious duck conference in the river Marne, France.

Stone Lion, Dieppe

Stone lion on fountain at Dieppe.

One Day Old Age Will Bend Me Down: Poem

One Day Old Age Will Bend Me Down

One day age will bend me down

And I will walk slowly like my old father.

I will have left life's mysterious codes

Those codes that slowly left me, rather.

.

That day will come soon enough:

Old age has its own mystey and pain;

But wonder too at the singing bird, the trailing rose

The thunder and the rain.

.

My bones will be frail, my shoulders stooped.

I will recall the past, mirages and things;

Time will be measured by each new dawn, and

The wonders that each sunrise brings.

.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Urban Art, France

An entire wall that has been painted by street artists in Chelles, France.

Sculpted Entrance

In France, so many gorgeous doorways have flowers or busts adorning them!

A Niche For Me In Your Heart: Poem

.

A Niche For Me In Your Heart

If you have some place

Some place you could well spare

Make a niche for me in your heart

To warm me within your space

I will never, never depart.

I will be more than a name and face

If you could grant me this grace

I would be more than a queen

To live in this honoured place;
I would be part of your present

Not a part of your past

If only time would linger on

And make this dream last and last.

A silly poem it seems
But then, so are many dreams.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Austin Healey 3000

A fabulous car on these paved streets!

Street Art, Paris

This grinning cat is famous in Rue Bonaparte, Paris.

Blazing Suns Once Blackened Me: Poem

Blazing Suns Once Blackened Me

.

Blazing suns once blackened me

My soul was bright

I watched the moon dancing

With the clouds at night

.

Cold winter wind bleached me

That was my misery

My soul became dark

A sad lonely destiny

.

I whispered and moaned

My life seemed thus sealed

My mind fled thither

Into wounds never healed.

.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Sculpted Roses, Paris

A profusion of sculpted roses over this magnificent doorway in Paris.

The Porsche Carrera 4S

Standing quietly on a street in Paris, this marvel of mechanical engineering.

Taken from: http://ranishobha.blogspot.com/

I Would Have Liked The Same!

Curious dog admiring the motorbike that has been parked nearby.

Pink Rose

The delicate pink hints of this lovely rose are a hymn to nature.

Old Police Car, France

Old police car brought here during an automobile exhibition.

Smiling Buddha

Lovely effect of dappled sunlight on leaves and the smiling face of Buddha.

Sculpted Lion Over Doorway, Paris

The lion's fur and amazingly human eyes have been carved with great care by the sculptor!

Lion, Paris

Statue of lion, Place de la Concorde at Paris.

Rooftop Street Art, Paris

Its fascinating to think of these artists clambering on the roofs to decorate the cement walls of the urban landscape!

Wild Patch

A patch of wildflowers in a park that are left untended delibrately to enable insects and wild herbs to flourish.

Ornate balcony, Paris

A wonderfully poetic balcony in one of the streets of Paris.

Trials And Trying

Trials And Trying

Trying, everyday and in everyway
Coué would have clapped me on the back
At sunrise, up and up
Trying to work out my day, my survival
The trials of this destiny I did not chose.

Trying, and often crying, methods
That work or nor, who asked for this tangled web
Of sunrises and sunsets, when I see
The herons in a lake, the moon's soft glow
When I think the well could run dry

When I remember that I have to carry on
Trying, on and on in every way.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Faces on a House

Details on a house in the Parisian region, France.

Flower Detail, Brussels

Lovely detail of the facade of a building, la Grande Place at Brussels, Belgium.

Shoes on Roof, France

An astonishing detail in this photo. The sabots, or wooden shoes, left to dry on a roof!

Instants: Poem

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

....

Instants

.

These fragments of time

Dewdrops in an oasis of a lifetime

Distance, duration and enduring

.

Instants transfixed by memory

Transferred to the mind and brain

These moments of memorizing who

What why when where

.

Life flows on, and episodes blend into episodes

Chapters begin, end, pause;

Instants of grace, intense and fleeting

Love heals all, even by a chance meeting.

.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Horses, Normandy

Wonderful, against that lush countryside, horses in Normandy.

Rue des Morillons, Paris

When the lights come on, the mundane becomes magic especially in Paris.

Rolls Royal Phantom saloon 1937

A car one can dream of!

Stone sculpture, Paris

I found this lovely smiling face above a doorway in Paris.

Beehive on a peepal tree, Delhi

Beehive on a peepal tree in Delhi. Please click on photograph for details.

Strange sculpture, near Paris

Each time I pass this strange sculpture propping up a balcony in the Parisian region, I wonder at the inspiration behind it. It is very striking indeed.

Spring in Canada

It's spring in Canada- we have had some days of lovely sunshine but there has been rain and thunderstorns too ( a friend introduced me to the saying'April showers and May blooms') and it has led my son and I to shake our heads at the variable weather here.I don't think we have been this affected by the changing temperatures,as being in Dubai for the last so many years,we had really hot temperatures and some not so hot.
Here in Canada though we are so aware of the weather,it dictates what we wear when we go out and yes, it does affect moods as well. For instance, it's raining outside as I write this and I do feel nice and romantic, maybe get myself a cup of tea(not converted to coffee as yet) and then relax with a book or watch TV or listen to some music...day before it was glorious sunshine and both my son and couldn't stop smiling at the lovely day.We noticed the birds who came out to explore the lawn, and watched the antics of the squirrel as it went about the yard and the trees.
I wonder if that happens to other people too...am so glad that we have the time and the opportunity here to observe the beauty of the changing seasons,and also grateful for the lovely days..it has taught us to count our blessings and not take everything for granted.

Stone boat

Sailing in this boat might indeed be a perillous venture. Lo, what if the sea is choppy?

Snail in a rose

A snail in a rose. Interesting tandem and the first I ever saw on these city sidewalks.

A Mad Bird Was I

A Mad Bird Was I

.

I walked down that lonely road

That sinuous, torturous bend

You know how I hated

The cold, the distance, my thoughts.

...

My thoughts flew back and forth

Like a mad bird blinded by the light

I was lost; I was lonely; I was in pain

A mad bird was I.

There was no way out of this blundering

.

Floundering directionless path to nowhere.

There was no way out and the how and the whys

Were the least of it all.

.

I was like that mad bird in full, haphazard flight.

.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Cathedral St Etienne, Auxerre

I had to take this photograph from a rather strange angle. But I think the result is worth it. The stone carving is magnificent. The splendour of this handworked stone is always inspiring. Click on the photographs to see the details.

Words and Worlds: Rani

Rana and I have been writing for a good many years. We've known each other for so long that it is hard to imagine a past in which we did not know each other. We were fortunate enough to be giddy schoogirls together. Our families were also friends.

From these years together, and apart, our relationship has been like a long conversation. We can pick up where we left off without the slightest problem. Rana is one of the few who can shake me out of a stupor. She is erudite, speaks several languages (with different scripts, which has always forced my admiration. I strongly believe people who have this linguistic ability use different centres of the brain or mind which enables them to accede easily to the fount of wisdom). She is sunny, emotional, and practical: she has been navigating between cultures easily and that itself needs wisdom.

We decided to put our ideas together and write. I hope our experiences will be interesting to read. Now she is in Canada and I'm in France. We have become world nomads, indeed.

Words and Worlds: Rana

It's Valentine's Day,and here I am,thousands of miles away from my special guy and from all my special friends....it's amazing how strongly these cultural notions affect us.Glad to say however that for me personally, it really doesn't matter, because every day is special and every day an occasion to speak about our feelings to people we love.
One of these people is my friend Rani-a childhood friend who despite time,circumstances and distances( we are now continents and oceans awayfrom each other-she's in France and I'm in Canada) has been always there for me.We've seen each other as schoolgirls,giddy teenagers,married women, mothers and now 'mature' adults and through it all have held on to each other.Can't really explain the bond, but she and her family are now family to me.
Rani is an intelligent,talented,funny,wise,emotional, brave,loyal and one who has emerged stronger from all her trials and tribulations(and she's been through quite a few).She's also pigheaded,demanding and can be very hard to persuade,but what I remember of our times together is the sheer joy and fun that we've had.
So today, Rani created this joint blog and we hope to have friends, in separate places but held together by bonds of love and friendship, to join us as we examine our different worlds.

canadianimmigrant

canadianimmigrant