Bottled and labeled in Paris. It was cold the day I found this twine on a narrow sidewalk in the Marais. A man making a delivery had just pulled up and rushed inside leaving the door to a workshop open. Inside a bee hive of activity. I remember the noise, but not what they were doing. My eyes were focused on the abandoned twine. 4 or 5 French high-school girls were screaming and laughing on the sidewalk behind me. I pretended to study my map. They passed me. One of them threw her water bottle at another. More screaming and adolescent high jinx. I waited. Bent down and collected my twine. Slipped it into my pocket. Collecting street trash shouldn’t fill me with such glee.
But it does.
The story of how I collected water from the Seine without falling in is coming soon.
I’ve been meaning to extoll the virtues of my map book. If you’re heading to Paris this is the only map you’ll need.
If you live in LA and want to add a great book about Paris to your collection, get yourself to VONS. I picked this up today for only 10 buckeroos. Really great if you’re heading to the city of light soon. Good restaurant recs, excellent photos from around the city, and some recipes. A real find.
The fact that I fell asleep outside while reading it late this afternoon should speak more to the 24 crafty kids I spent the day with than its interestingness. Next year when class size goes up to 29 students life is going to get very interesting. And loud. Louder.
I’m wanting to work on a Blurb book of my trip. Not for resale, just as a companion book to my travel journal. Projects.
So many.
Paper. A fine stack I picked up at a flea market in Paris. Impossibly gorgeous. Inky swirls and loops. Each letter seems to be dancing with the one next to it. Love.
Have already used some in my travel journal and will use more when I construct the next one. Yes I cut up and use the original paper. No I don’t care if it’s acid free. No I don’t make copies. Same with photos. I have no sense of preciousness when it comes to people I don’t know. I take great pleasure out of using every last bit of something and not saving a single solitary bit of anything. No literary French scholar or archivist is coming to my house after my demise to comb through my paper stash.
In the page below, the photo on the left and the book page on the right are more flea market finds.
How fun it was to collect those bits then come back to the apartment at night and paste them into my journal.
I’m jumping all over the place here, but I finished The Minpins by Roald Dahl the other day at school. There we were in the hushed classroom library. I had just finished reading about a boy who takes secret rides on a swan at night. Last page of the book. I came to this:
And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
And I was so moved. I could hear my voice catch in my throat. A tear pool in the corner of my eye. I wrote those lines in my journal a few months ago, but didn’t know which Roald Dahl book they were from – or if they were even from a book. It was SO so lovely to stumble upon them as I was reading. There in the darkened room with my audience of little people. It felt like…magic.
~
I love that you bottled and labeled that twine. Street finds should always be treated as treasures! Amazing finds from the flea market too!
As enthralled as you (and I) are with all things Paris, if you do not already read him, I must recommend David Lebovitz’s blog
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/
It often captures Paris through unique perspectives.
Oh thank you so very much for these wonderful words. I shall forever watch the world through my glittering eyes so as not to miss any magic. Wonderful photos and I am continuing to travel with you through Paris. Happy weekend my dear Miss Mary Ann Moss…
If I could save twine in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do, is to save…..oh, wait that’s Time In A Bottle by Jim Croce. Now I’m humming that song. I loved this post, full of stories of finding treasure. You have such a delightful way with words.
You’re always awake to the secret magic of things and change the simplest object into a treasure.
Did you know that the Square Chaise Recamier was named after a certain piece of furniture used by a famous society dame in the 19th Century? Come to think of it, it may be in your Paris Walks book (which I requested for my birthday after I saw yours).
It’s delightful to see those bottles in use. Can’t wait for the water-in-a-bottle chapter!
What a joy to read your blog!! I check in daily and it’s a feast for the senses. I feel the magic here. Thanks for it all.
And now after sitting with you this morning, going through your wonderous travel journal with the authenic ephemra (uh, I need skoolin’) and the magic…………Let there be magick, I say!
I laughed outs loud when I read your story about the twine and then I showed it to my two daughters (ages 12 and 14). I tell them that I am a recycler but they call their mom a trash picker. Thanks for sharing and filling our day with glee with you story.
We’ve been working our way through the Dahl books, skipping the ones that are “too scary” for my five year old daughter. And speaking about books that make you well up…have you read Dominic by William Steig? If you haven’t, check it out. That book empties me of tears and fill me full of courage…
why do i love little bottles full of things? and this is twice in 2 days i’ve seen water from here and there in bottles. the other was in the studio of janice lowry. she had hundreds! i’ll bet you do too! i wanna copy this! i used to want sand from everywhere, and i still do, i have some, but water…i mean, it could be from anywhere, at any time! and just what i need…another collection! sigh. lol! oh well.
and speaking of magic…i feel like i’ve been to a magical place every time i’m here! thanks for taking us along on your magic carpet rides! i think i’ve about gotten my 7 yr old daughter convinced that i’m magic! she is way too logical for her own good! that’s ok, i’m gonna blow her mind tonight when i tell her i have to bottle some of her bath water to use in my magic spells! :~)
hope you have a wonderful weekend!
You are such an inspiration to me. I love hearing about your Paris trip and it just makes me want to go there more and more. I was drooling when I saw the items you got at the flea market. I would do just like you……..just use the stuff and no copies for me either. I used to keep stuff and not use it but not now. In looking at your journals and I am seeing old vintage picture frames and those thick pages from vintage journals……hmmmm I just wonder. Great pages. LOL
YOU ROCK!
p.s. one of my very three favorite quotes
Okay, lots of happy faces here:
Fair warning: I’m stealing the Roald Dahl quote–loved it. 🙂
Loved that you cut up the found papers for your journals. I vow to give myself permission to do that too. 🙂
Enjoyed the post. 🙂
Wow! That Dahl moment … magical indeed. May your glittering eyes continue to sparkle with the secrets you see 🙂
You are so awesome.
I love twine in a bottle.
I’ll be hitting the bookstore this weekend. That line is magical itself.
i am, as usual, in awe. the
preserving of a moment in
a piece of twine – inspired
and inspiring.
Leave it to Dahl to sum it up like that. Your journal(s) are beautiful and the paper finds from the flea are making me drool. When I worry about using something ‘precious’ I imagine my journal being found/read and the person reading/snooping/looking being torn between the thoughts “she CUT THIS UP?!!” and “what a beautiful documentation of a life”. Then I laugh and CUT IT UP. 🙂 Spring Break is upon us here in VA so school is the last thing on our minds but please let me know when the monkey paper stash needs replenishing–we’ve got some boxes waiting in the wings.
class size of 29! oh dearohdearohdear. And yet we read reports on how well the economy is recovering. All of the class size averages are going up here as well but not to those heights. And I’ll bet standardized test results are supposed to rise also. yes indeedy. We have a new state government with a new Education Secretary , fresh from Florida and Jeb Bush’s education program (school letter grades, etc) and zero classroom experience, with lots of plans and no support (Florida also reduced class sizes) for making things work better. Yippee.
Escaping to the world of pages, how refreshing, literally, to view real ephemera lovingly but unpreciously so liberally used. {Yay! I win the adverb prize today!]
I am so happy to be seeing peeks into your travel journal and more pictures from Paris. And picking up street trash is the best. I have found money on the ground too…so it pays off sometimes. haha
And I am proud of you for using the original papers and photos that you find. I have a horribly hard time doing that…one only hopes that the French seller opened them and looked for the elusive famous document before throwing it in the pile for an American to buy. 🙂
I also think that I might own that same map, although mine has a different worn out and TAPED up cover. Mine has gone to Paris with me every time for 23 years. It is indeed the best one.
and Finally, as I ramble, that quote is unbelievable. I am going to copy it down too. What a magical moment! I love when the universe speaks!
I’m betting the twine was used to bind a spy to torture him for secrets. It’s probably evidence of dasterdly deeds! As is your papers. Secret mutterings. You better turn them over to the propper authorities. I’d be happy to do it for you! Really I would. I don’t mind. It’s no trouble at all. I know a guy who know’s a guy.
Enthralling is the word I would describe what I find when I read your blog…just love it!
Thank you for another great post. It really appealed to me, particularly the part about using the original papers and not being concerned with their preciousness. I bought some old papers and books and photos at a “car boot sale” here in London and can’t bring myself to use them in my journal because of their historical value…but I agree, it is unlikely that an English historian will come to my house to comb through my paper stash either!! I will work on it…
It’s always a delight to see you posted something new. And this posting is a very special one, it’s indeed pure magic to see treasures in ordinary things. You bring the magic to us, thank you.
I am so delighted by your posts, especially this one, especially the part about reading the last of the Roald Dahl book. What a fantastic line you quoted! Thank you so much for sharing your treasures (of all kinds) with us.
xo
I’d say you are the bravest of brave souls when it comes to visual journaling Mary Ann, you are by far the queen of ‘use it up and spare none’. tis why I adore, ADORE seeing your journals, oh what I would give to just see them in person some day, oh the bliss of such a thing…really, truly, i’d be in awe and what is remarkable in that is that it’s in the life you’ve given to such ordinary objects, photos, the written word, their true value comes in how they were found and the role they play in the big journey of your life…anyhoo dee do….your story telling story was precious, indeed magic, pure magic.
It always feels like I won the Blog Lottery when I visit you and find a new posting. I just can’t get enough of your trip to Paris—or your fantastique journal