MERMAID MIRROR

PRESENTLY, and due to workload, I am going through a weird case of writer's block! I have ideas and episodes from my new novel come to my head all of the time, but I have no strength, at the end of the day, to sit in front of the keyboard and write :-(

Possibly, this is precisely because I am now writing on the keyboard. I always found it easy, at the end of a long working day, to take pen and paper and jot down a couple of new paragraphs. However, if I am tired, I can't do this in front of the screen.

My novel now is Mermaid Mirror (my 2009 Eliza novel) happening in a parallel universe! It's an amazing version of the same story. Mermaid Mirror will eventually have four volumes, it will be a tetralogy. I have written the first two volumes, Mermaid Mirror and The Doll's Tale and Other Stories, the sequel/ prequel.

Wish me luck! ;-) 

xxx

A PROPER LONG DAY TODAY

SUMMER TIME starts today, and I'm so glad! You know I only love summer and the long days. To honor the event, I took a long walk by the sea and here I am.

I have many books about the Mediterranean on my shelf, and I really like the one I am reading now, The Great Sea by David Abdulafia. I learn so many things I don't know, about the grand and mysterious ancient civilization of Malta, Sicily's immensely rich past, and the history of writing. Also, the history of my own city, Larnaca, the ancient Kition (Κίτιον), built by the Phoenicians!

The ruins of Kition are all around you in Larnaca. And, of course, the beautiful sea in the background here is the beloved Mediterranean.

The avenue is new in Larnaca, they have renovated the old sea road that led to the former airport building. It has been named Tasos Mitsopoulos (Τάσος Μιτσόπουλος) Avenue, after a minister of the defense, who was popular and well beloved, but died young of a massive stroke. :'-(

To turn to something happier, it was a proper long day today, but too cold for my tastes! There was a crowd of people coming and going along the sea avenue, locals as well as tourists.
:-)
Have a good Sunday evening, and happy Easter, if you are celebrating. Always with beauty and a book!

xxx
P.S. Many thanks to the kind and talented with the camera lady who took the pictures for me!

PUN INTENDED (ABSOLUTE FAVORITES)

Here I am near my beloved Forever Friends figurines collection at home! I collected the figurines for years, though because of lack of funds (my forever problem, pun intended) I could not buy each whole series. So my collection is limited. Still, the forever friends figurines do not come out anymore: the assembly is unique!

On the shelves you can also see the Twilight saga (not favorites, I wanted them as cultural objects), Fifty Shades of Grey (absolute favorites) a picture of Justin Bieber (favorite pop star) a blow up for my sketch for the (previous) Lipstick Papers cover, and much, much else.

Theories of collecting are usefully summarized in the book The Duchess's Shells by Beth Fowkes Tobin: a collection is an extension of oneself, composed of narratives of self; related to events in an individual's life; illustrates a system of thought (e.g. my collection centers around the beautiful).

I love collecting, and I only collect pretty and beautiful things!

Xxx

NO CHRISTIAN GREY NEARBY

Thankfully, Calzedonia stays open on Sundays, defying the law! I took a bad fall today, stumbling on an iron bar at Fairy Cakes, tearing my tights! Of course, I had to buy new ones. Calzedonia was open, so I rushed in. They also had a first aid kit and I applied some salve on my bruised knees. Thank you so much!

Though I tumbled down, like Anastasia Steele, there was no Christian Grey nearby! :-(frown emoticon Luckily, I didn't break my glasses or anything else.

Talking about Fifty Shades, I'm SO excited filming has started for the second book! I can't wait. Fifty Shades of Grey is my favorite book. The soundtrack to the book and to the film (they are different) are also great.

Now I have a second huge bruise on the left knee and I acquired a long one on the right leg. Isn't it fantastic? Grrrr!!!

Have a good Sunday night, always with beauty and a book!
Xxx

EVEN PRETTIER IN REALITY!

BLONDES have more fun -- it is, as Jane Austen would put it, "a truth universally acknowledged"! I certainly love the blonde hair color, made blonder today :-)

The mobile phone camera is not doing the color complete justice, I think, it's even prettier in reality!

Charles Dickens is the writer who excelled at producing unforgettable blonde women characters -- think Dora Spenlow from David Copperfield, Jenny Wren in Our Mutual Friend and Lucie Manet in A Tale of Two Cities. For the Victorians, the blonde stood for a number of antithetical images, such as the angel, the siren and the woman artist. For me, the most haunting literary representation of the blonde is found in A.S. Byatt's Possession, in Christabel La Motte and her descendant Maud Bailey. What an intriguing story!

Have a good Friday night, always with beauty and a book!

xxx

BRING IT ON!

ALTHOUGH T.S. Eliot said that "April is the cruelest month", personally I can't wait! I hate bad weather (and it is still lousy here). I only like sunshine: spring and summer! I also love the summer time scheme: how I envy the US for reverting to summer time two weeks earlier than Europe! There is a proposal to have summer time all year, and DOUBLE summer time in actual summer. Bring it on!

Despite the bad weather, here is the almond tree already in full bloom. This means that spring is near. (I am also starting the iced coffees. This also means that spring is near).

In Greek and Cypriot folklore, the blossoming almond tree is a harbinger of spring. You can see a lovely specimen in the pic, against the bright blue sky! 

Of course, the Greeks had a myth about the almond tree, associating it with Phyllis, a king's daughter who hanged herself when her husband left her. The first almond tree grew over her grave!

In Greek lore the almond tree is not only a symbol of the young bride but also of a young orphan girl who froze to death.

So, antithetical meanings. White is both the color of brides and the color of cold and death. Choose your pick! Whatever the symbolism of the tree is, and whatever the bad weather, one thing is certain: spring is near!

xxx

TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE QUESTION (AFTER ALL)

HERE I am with my favorite food, i.e. McDonald's! I absolutely adore Italian cuisine, and the gourmet dishes prepared by Cypriot cafes, but my favorite remains McDonald's! Yum!

There were no McDonald's restaurants here in Cyprus when I first went to the UK to study; for me, the double arches had the glamor of a whole new world. I still love fast food with the same love I had for it back then; like everything, of course, it should be taken in moderation. Even eating guides like The Food Bible concede that fast food, once occasionally consumed, can be nutritious.

The first time I went to a fast food joint was in London. And you know what? I asked for forks and knives! It was so funny now that I think of it!

You can imagine my dismay when I read somewhere recently that McDonald's are considering to actually introduce forks and knives in their restaurants. This will ruin the whole experience I think. To be a fast food restaurant or not to be? 

I guess that this is, after all, the question.

xxx

NICE AND ECCENTRIC (CHARLES DICKENS AND GEORGE ELIOT MEET CRISTIANO RONALDO)

THERE IS nothing better than faux bijoux with a statement, like this pencil sharpener ring made for me by my friend Salina! Apart from being famous singer, my friend also designs and makes her own rock jewelry! Another time she made a ring for me using a guitar plectrum (pick).

Jewels have accompanied humankind since the beginning of time. As a species we certainly love ornaments. My favorite jewels from antiquity must be the gold bee earrings from ancient Crete!

As for literature, jewels often have a dark power -- in Great Expectations Estella's jewels are symbols of her twisted mother-daughter relationship with Miss Havisham; in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Dorothea's selection of jewels stand for her unusual perspective on the world.

Personally, I never liked Dorothea as a fictional character/ protagonist. I think she's insufferable. I think the whole of Middlemarch is insufferable! Who can stand the endless treatises on Dorothea's inner thoughts?????? Not me.

I am wearing this nice and eccentric ring with gusto. I get comments like, "it's too small, wear something bigger". Next time I will wear a ring with a football on it.

Perhaps a football signed by Cristiano Ronaldo? (Cristiano Ronaldo aka God) <3

xxx

THE STRAIGHTFORWARD, VANILLA ANSWER

There are many things you can do with a portrait than hiding it in the attic where it will grow old while you stay young! For example, you can publish it in your amazing blog about lipstick, beauty and books!

This iPad portrait was taken the other day by my friend, who is a great amateur photographer. I just love it! (It's three pictures actually, so three portraits).

The portrait has been invested with mystical power since forever - think of the intriguing women painted by Leonardo- a trend which culminated in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian is the classic literary character I am in love with!

(As for popular literary characters, you know my obsession with Christian Grey. Maybe I also love their shared surname???)

If you are interested in portraits in literature, have a look at Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon's disturbing novel about murder and madness. I read somewhere that the portrait of Lady Audley from that novel is a precursor to the picture of Dorian Gray in Wilde's novel.

Another sinister portrait is found in Earthbound, the Victorian novella by Margaret Oliphant.

Of course, I like sinister myself. I don't always go for the straightforward, vanilla answer. And I sincerely hope that Christian Grey is reading this!!!

Xxx

BEAUTY PARLOR

Sometimes people who come to my place for the first time think I am a beautician, and that my tiny flat is a beauty parlor. Of course, for me there is no greater compliment. To be able to pass for a beautician means that you look good. As for the flat, it looks like a beauty parlor on purpose; I bought my French boudoir furniture piece by piece. I saved, bought one piece. I saved again, bought another.

Here I am with a book I am reading now and which I like - The Invention of Nature, Andrea Wulf's biography of Alexander Von Humboldt. I am only at the beginning - Humboldt is a student of economics and hates it. I love Wulf's language; pithy, full, yet not tiring!

Behind you can see a section of my books. I have three times that inside the flat and a lot more in boxes in the basement.

Have a good Saturday, always with beauty and a book!

Xxx

HAVE A BREAK, AND A KIT KAT!

Had a great time today with an old, dear friend and a perfect Kit Kat cupcake with iced coffee at Ermou square here in Larnaca! The amazing cafe you see in the pics is Fairy Cakes! Exactly as if you are in Paris!

Though of course I love Paris a great deal, Larnaca here is a more antiquarian town, counting 4,000 years of history. The name of the square is the genitive for Hermes (Ερμής), the Olympian God of merchants and thieves. Ermou is the central Larnaca street, equivalent to the British High Street and the US Main Street.

You can see what a bright day it was. There was rain and hale too, but also some amazing sunshine!!!

Have a good evening, always with beauty and a book!

Xxx

WORLD BOOK DAY!

WHAT'S the best thing about today???? It's World Book Day! 

Here I am a couple of weeks ago, with my copy of The Life-changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k. I haven't read it yet, so I can't say anything about it, except that it is a lovely edition. The cover is fantastic (pink) and the paper and fonts inside are very nice.

World Book Day is March 3 only for the UK and Ireland. It's 23 April in the US. I am not sure what day we celebrate in Cyprus. I do know that there are no library events, either for March 3 or April 23, though I have seen mentions in magazines and bookstore page markers.

What's my favorite book-reading scene from literature? There are so many, it's tough to pick one. But if I had to, I think I would say either the scene where Ronald Mitchell reads Ash's copy of Vico in Possession (by A.S. Byatt) or the scene where Jane reads Bewick's British Birds in Jane Eyre.

What book I will be reading this World Book Day? That's easy! MANY books!

xxx

THAT WAS ONE LOVELY DAY!

YOU weren't a fully-fledged Romantic or Victorian, unless you could walk each day for miles! Jane Eyre crosses leagues across the fields, and the same goes for the Bennett sisters in Pride and Prejudice. Marianne Dashwood becomes seriously ill drenched by the rain in some woodland; in Great Expectations, our heart-broken hero walks all the way from Kent to London -- and so on and so forth to literary eternity!

Here are some beautiful pictures from my walking today! You can see, apart from the olive trees, a lovely young eucalyptus tree -- blooming, too! I hope they do not take it down; here in Cyprus they tend to take down trees arbitrarily and without consulting the public.

About the Romantics and Victorians, the upper and middle classes, they had walking as a great pastime and hobby. The working classes, too, would walk distances to and from work. Like for the middle classes, walking then became an opportunity to flirt and chat!

Artists found wisdom and inspiration in wandering. William Wordsworth walked miles in the country with sister Dorothy and BBF Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Shelley would go on rides and excursions with Byron; Keats crossed the fields around London with his friends. Not to mention the beloved Victorian excursion to sea or mountainside to gather specimens and sketch nature!

In the final picture, you can see me at Christmas on the beach in Limassol. That was one lovely day!

xxx