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"Pongáio" was the name my Aunt Mona gave to a long, green, cool room where we gathered at her home —
replete with comfy chairs, a rocker, sewing machine, sewing goods, beautiful beads, shelves, books, bibelots, photographs, odds'n'ends, mementos of a life, treasures —
a gathering of all the useful & 'useless' things that so make life a pleasure.



Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dreamily Debrina

From roses&cottages through crafts&vintage, music and onwards, my feet — my mouse, that is, — brought me down the Road to the dreamily beautiful art of Debbie Price-Ewen at Debrina's Diary.


I love the textured collage-craft feel of her work.

And... *si-i-i-igh*... envy her very neat studio! Suffering from a serious case of studio-envy!
Mine is always resorting to its Mr. Hyde persona, turning into a stuff-deposit room.
Let me be inspired by her example!

Debrina's very neat studio... and nice sunset view!

Manu ~ Denia

Organizing my mp3 files, many "inherited" from my sons who also use(d) my comp, I came across Manu Chao's albums. I knew some of the songs, but not this one, that soon became my favorite: Denia.

A haunting melody, and true to many of his songs, a comment on suffering violence. In this case, the civil war in Algeria, a decade of violence from 1992 to 2002 with a death toll around 160,000 includinig many civilians. This song is from Manu Chao's 2001 album Próxima Estación: Esperanza.

Manu Chao (born José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao on June 21, 1961), is a French folk singer of Spanish origin (Basque and Galician). He sings in French, Spanish, English, Arabic, and Portuguese and occasionally in other languages. 
Chao was born in Paris, France, to Spanish parents. His mother, Felisa Ortega, is from Bilbao, Basque country, and his father, writer and journalist Ramón Chao, is from Vilalba, Galícia. They emigrated to Paris to avoid Francisco Franco's dictatorship — Manu's grandfather had been sentenced to death.  
— from Manu Chao at Wikipedia
From some of the Youtube sites there is this translation:
Poor Algeria
Life beats in the rhythm of your dismay
Life itself is a lie
My heart aches to watch you
Poor Algeria
Life through your eyes
Life as lie
Life swarming with police
Life soaked with
mothers' tears
Life racked with madness
Poor Algeria
Who really cares
in America about
what's happening in Algeria?
Who really knows?

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Smileys are from Mars!

I love smileys!

Both the traditional ones with the yellow faces, and others that soon followed.
With the advent of msn (there named "emoticons") they have proliferated and have become delightfully animated.

I've been collecting them for a while now — I know, I know: a totally infantile pastime. I guess it nourishes part of my inner child. (I do hope that's what it is!)

What I didn't know until recently:
The First Smiley is from Mars!

Just goes to show that the War God has a lighter side... or smileys a meaner.

(the Earthling version!)


The Martian Ancestor

The First Picture: 1976 Viking I Mission






Originaly called "Happy Face" Crater, the Original Smiley is the Galle Crater on Mars.