Stayin’ Alive

This July Paris is opening it’s first “Live Water” swimming area on the canal in my neighborhood, the result of decades of work by city governments and local activists who’ve brought the river water that feeds the canal back to life. Particularly relevant as summer returns and I’m coming back to life myself after terror episodes and two exhausting presidential elections…also  inspiring and galvanizing, as Trump withdraws the US from the Paris Climate Accords. Many of us are dedicated to keeping the planet alive and imagining a better future. He can’t stop us! xxxxx Aliss

Sanity Savers 3: Get this party started

Dancin’ in the streets with 10,000 sisters and brothers in Paris and millions around the world!

 Standing with Womenability and Helene Combes, environmental activist 🙂

When can we do this again?

xxxxx Aliss

Seize the Joy

Taking a moment to immerse myself in Joy… Time to “store” up light for 2017, we’ll need it!

This is the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann Christmas tree. Go to the second floor for more information about uploading a magic app, or use the tablets on site to view the world in a holiday glow (no spoilers!) More coming xxxxxx Aliss

I won’t stop believing (November 9th)

Since I saw the swan on Friday, trying to find words for how I feel.

It’s been quite a year, many challenges in my life and around me, too many to count: terrorism, violent demonstrations, floods, refugee crisis, family issues, and now the US presidential election… Trying to stay up to date, reeling from toxic news overdose, head down, walking in cold rain, not looking for a sign, I lifted my eyes at the right moment and there it was, a white swan, first in almost a year,* pure beauty and grace, life, resilience. Took my breath away, filled me with joy. The only way I can describe my feeling is “something happening in the Force”… but not a “disturbance”… so what is the opposite of disturbance? Smoothing of the force? Harmony in the force? Light in the force?

That day, someone added me to a private FB group called Pantsuit Nation, carrying positive information about the election that ballooned from a few people lightening up with pantsuits, to three million in a matter of days, a community of thought, a fabric of kindred spirits, shining like beads of light woven together in space.

http://mashable.com/2016/11/06/pantsuit-nation-secret-facebook-group-clinton-supporters/#iYaNOaemtmq0

Suddenly there was a refuge to share our stories, dreams, courage, determination, love, inspirations, tolerance. Millions people opening up, laughing and crying together, trading experiences and pictures. An antidote to the poisonous headlines.

There are millions of good people out there with energy for the future.

The days are darker as we move towards the winter solstice and the rebirth of Light. I won’t stop believing.

*

Since Paris implemented a Biodiversity  Program several years ago, stopped using pesticides, and began creating Green and Blue corridors for wildlife, a pair of swans settled on the canal and raised 6 cygnets every year. Last January we found one of the adults sick or wounded on an embankment and it was taken to the vet school for treatment. Never heard anything more about it but the flock disappeared completely. Until Friday…

Good Omens

The first swan I’ve seen on the canal in almost a year filled me with joy and got me thinking about good omens. What does “omen” mean?  Still trying to put this into words…To be continued  xxxxxx Aliss

Just when you think the world is well and truly f**cked…

…someone restores your faith in the future… a volunteer teaching refugees French, Place Stalingrad, Paris 19…

http://www.streetpress.com/sujet/1473955260-cours-de-francais-en-plein-air-pour-des-migrants-de-stalingrad

To be continued…. xxxxx Aliss

 

Welcome to Wonderland

Being in the right place at the right time…

Ok, so I love this place and the staff, come here every chance I get and they refer to me as their best customer. Had no way of knowing they were planning to completely redecorate inside and out in honor of my namesake. Cool coincidence. Can we surf on synchronicity? Is love a magnet? What about time and tea?

Pavillon des Canaux, Pavillon des Merveilles

“Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.” –Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths

“You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable…
But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,
And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing….”
 Kahlil Gibran

White Rabbit:

“Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realized what it was.

‘Is there any tea on this spaceship?’ he asked.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Queen of Hearts:

“Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?”
― D.T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture

“As far as her mom was concerned, tea fixed everything. Have a cold? Have some tea. Broken bones? There’s a tea for that too. Somewhere in her mother’s pantry, Laurel suspected, was a box of tea that said, ‘In case of Armageddon, steep three to five minutes’.”
― Aprilynne Pike, Illusions

And one last picture: installation with tiny Alice under a glass dome at the tea party…Must find out more about the artist, one of several contributors to the decor… To be continued, thanks everyone for checking in and liking…xxxxx