Sunday's sofa 1.2.2015

 The book "Ansichten von Frauen" (Views of women) is nearly 40 years old, I am still intrigued by some photos (and statements), this is one. Her statement is "I hope I will manage every situation in life".

There also is this book about Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, which I was browsing through. I love the way he was photogaphing her, especially her hands.

And there are pages from magazines, some for paper swap and some to keep. My Flickrfriend Lene has sent me 31 kilos (!!!) of (old) magazines and postcards and stuff. Like Xmas for me!

Now I have lovely material for new collages.

I am also playing with paper again. Here with little quote bags.

The true way to love

Try this:
Take the title of the book you are reading now and ad "is showing me the true way to love" at the end.

Please write in a comment what it is! :)

Mine: "The lady of Avalon is showing me the true way to love".

Have fun! xox

The sign

This is a calendar of 2012 by the German "Weleda" company, who makes natural cosmetics with an anthroposophic background.
When I posted it, it soon got many fans, on Flickr as well as on Tumblr.

The funny thing is, when you look at it, you see the sign of a cross in a circle, which is an old symbol meaning either the wheel of the sun or the 4 elements.
Soon after I got this calendar and have put it on my wall, a certain little book kept nagging and whining, that I should read it again: "The dark is rising" by Susan Cooper.
It's the second book of a series of 5:


Over Sea, Under Stone (1965)
The Dark is Rising (1973)
Greenwitch (1974)
The Grey King (1975)
Silver on the Tree (1977)

It's about winter solstice and a boy who turned eleven on that day. He has a special task, to keep "the dark(ness)" from getting power again. And therefore he needs to collect 6 signs and they all look like the one on the calendar: a cross in a circle.

It's a very good book, maybe a famous children's book in USA and Canada? In Germany it's quite unknown, but worth reading it. It's so full of myths and magic, of folktales around winter and Yule and it's got two very lovely figures in it: The White Goddess and the Merlin, though in disguise, you will recognize them at once. It's packed with suspense and best of all: it's in England!
A great book for winter solstice.

Miss Leah Jodd's companion

This is another Etsyfind bought to use in my collages. Well, I never learn. When I hold this in my hand, I feel this is a world of its own, something which once was the companion of a young girl or a woman and I cannot tear it to pieces.



Miss Leah Jodd must have been obsessed with the number 568, it's written all over in the book. Was it her darling's telephone number?
Nice to see, that her child later has used this book for some scribbles.


Time has turned this book into a work of art.

And it's also filled with so much usefull informations like how to write a letter, antidotes for poison, health hints, safety rules for pedestrians, Etiquette, even golden rules of sociability:
"Do you best and rejoice with him who can do better."
"Thank God for every uplifting wave..."
I love it! Miss Leah Jodd, wherever you are now, it's in good hands. ;)

Happy world book day!

World Book Day!

I love books. I always did. And I always will do.
They accompained me through good and bad days, through all phases in my life, I can't remember a single time in my life when I did not read.
I love reading in bed, when it's raining outside. I love reading outside in the garden or on the upper deck of a London bus.
I love book stores and the smell of books.
Karl Lagerfeld is about to create a perfume with the smell of books!

Books can change a life. Books make the difference.

I am very happy to live in a country where books are lovely made, good quality and not too expensive.

So if you want to exchange a paperback with some-one in another country, why not signing up for the "paperback swap". Please send me an e-mail to lawendula@googlemail.com.


Please click on pic to see credits! Thanks.

A book to become ONE with

About a week ago I found a picture on Flickr, showing a book.
I did not know the book, but in some strange way I had the feeling, I must found out, what it is about.
I could only read „One- living and loving it“ and I googled it.
So I found out, it’s an Australian book and unfortunately not available in Germany. I asked amazon.de, but no way to buy it from here.
My bibliophil instinct told me, that I MUST have it, although I did not really know, what it’s about. Well, internet is a great thing, if you want to find out what it’s all about and so I looked for the author: Victoria Alexander, found her blog and left her a message.
And she was e-mailing me straight back. Very nice!
Later that day, I really was amazed by another e-mail, coming from Scott White, the sales director of Murdoch publishing in Sydney (where „One“ has been published), he told me, that I will be able to order „One“ soon from amazon.uk and we had a lovely e-mail chat about this and that during that day.
And once again, I thought: „How nice Australian people are!“ (Everybody says so and they are right.)
And yesterday was the day: I’ve got my copy of „One“ and it really took my breath away.

This is the most beautiful book, I have ever seen! It talks to all senses, it’s a real tactile blowoff, an eye candy, speaking in a voice that comes from the heart, it has lovely little secrets (like that little bag at the end or some hidden messages in envelopes inside), it has an unusual design (e.g. pages with a wavy cut), lovely layered pictures etc.. The more I browsed through, the more I became pleased with my purchase.



And the topic? It’s about being „one“, being one with yourself, finding out who you really are, not letting anybody tell you, that you are an unfinished half without a partner at your side. It’s also about the world and its people being one. In fact that’s what I always feel about the internet, this was invented to connect people, to make this planet a lovely neighbourhood, to become „one“.
This book has also given me a break from watching the shocking news about the Japanese earthquake and worrying about having another Tschernobyl in the world. And I am grateful for that.

So I want to say thank you Victoria, you really have done a great job and I love the way you put the pictures together and the way you are writing.
And I want to say thank you Scott for leading me to purchase it, Murdoch publishing made this a real gem! And I hope, one day it will be translated into German, because we Germans are great book lovers and I know this will be a real success here.