darlings

are you American (or residing here)?

if so.

a very merry Thanksgiving to you.

if you’re not (and so many of us in the world are indeed from Other Places and Other dreamscapes), hope your Thursday is going deliciously well, thus far.

ours?

well.

we’re sort of Celebrating Thursday (as opposed to Thanksgiving) to be honest.

not having any childhood baggage and trauma happy memories of Thanksgivings-gone-By, we really don’t know how to participate.

there were a few years when we did attempt it.

but it was Awfully strange watching people get a little tearful (too much pie was the diagnosis but perhaps a hidden trauma as yet unreleased was the reason for Indulging in the pie – who knows what comes first the pie or the pain? we digress) about Thanksgivings they have known – and we certainly fell foul of falling into Family dynamics *shudder* at one particularly memorable (and unrepeatable) meal where we were playing a role that, how do we put this, no one had given us the script for.

actually, there were three of those – different houses – alternate years.

so we gave up.

which makes Americans very nervous (they adore Thanksgiving, even the ones who hate it profess to adore it so).

oh. well, we don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving.

response = slack jaw, slightly manic eyes, unwilling to speak

but we hope you have a delicious time.

the remedy is always to be Charming here and people feel quite mollified for a while while they process (actually that should be “process”) what you’ve just Said.

the shops – we don’t go often but Trader Joes was PACKED last night and we only stopped in for milk but people were quite Crazed buying up pre-cooked caramelized onions and green beans – such a very Strange Combination – were full of people saying things like:

I’m doing the turkey.

which sounds slightly naughty.

or

we’re going to His parents this year (pauses for effect).

and you just Know there was a Massive Compromise to be made behind That statement because it comes with a pursed lips and a deep sigh.

so back to us.

*smiletocamerafive*

we’ll be heading to Friends later (after they’ve finished the Meal portion of the proceedings) because we’ve been Promised a Movie and the opportunity to look through someone’s DVD library is always Most Illuminating, darlings – up there with scanning-the-bookshelves, one of our most Favo(u)rite things to do with a raised eyebrow and a small smile on the left side of the cupid bow mouth when one spots That oh and That – most i n t e r e s t i n g.

now.

as it’s Thursday in the rest of the world we’ve done a little work.

in fact someone called From Finland this morning at 0700hours which is deeply glamorous.

then we got back to our Editor in Mexico (more on that, with links, late January, love) and also did some final edits to our piece for Good Housekeeping (oh yes, big league stuff now) for their March issue (in the UK) and then took the 2nd walk of the day (the first was at 0610 hours so we were fully Alert and sparkly for the 0700 hours call with Finland).

pictures?

you know we *did* take the camera……..scroll on.

we’ve been sending out more cards about the book and thank you notes to people who inspire us greatly to, well, say so. 

this is a house that we walk past often and admire its chinese lanterns.

there was a sound emitting from Every house that we walked past this afternoon – banging pots and pans – most amusing – 

see the cat?

the cat spotted us. 

the last latte before Everything closed down for Thanksgiving feasts. 

bits of los angeles really do remind one of Tuscany. 

or Provence in heavy summer months. 

or Paris in the (very) late 17th Century. 

or dusky evenings in the Loire between the wars. 

palest pink ribbons on black boxes in the shop windows of an unmentionables store. 

the sort of boutique where one would purchase (or one’s lover would buy for one) under-the-evening wear to a party where this would be the long entrance up to the Chateau…

street art with an enthusiastic glow. 

and the soft feline that guards the plant shop. we will be taking a small chinese take-out box of Citrus for our friends to enjoy and cleanse the palate post their Thanksgiving Feast.

before we go, we leave you with This:

we *wish* we had time to write a review but alas we do not so here are a few impressions: decadence thy name is Rome, sex, deceit, cardinals, saints, nightclubs, faded glories and past mistakes of the heart and body and destroyed lives, wistful, pained, late-late conversations that turn to vitriol on rooftops in Rome, fountains at dawn, dust on the soul, regret, regret, regret – and finally – what happens to writers who do not write (it’s not pretty but god is it magnificent and wrong).

perfect for the night before Thanksgiving when you think about it.

or even before a regular Thursday.

not that we’d know a Regular thursday, of course.

*shysmiletocamera*

wait!

one last link. 

listen and weep.

sadly none of it is linked there but if you have a spare hour to find a local service near you that contains such beauteous music (perhaps after you’ve indulged in the Thanksgiving feast or a particularly sumptuous thursday supper?), you’ll thank us.

which is what we hear today is all About.

isn’t that just d i v i ne?

like these tracks from the film: