"New life in SW France - uhh laaa - c'est fanta!!!" iris2002's Profile

My friend just launched a great travel app for iPhones, iPads etc... check it out >> Barcelona unbound" an uncommon guide for an uncommon city ... Istanbul is next ... :)

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I have now landed safe and sound in SW France to start a new life and continue with my creative career in an area that allows for a lot more life-quality. So far so good ... it is simply wonderful here and a bit off the beaten track - a real secret the northern 'Lot Valley'.

... after 10 years in soggy UK I feel like I landed in Paradise - people are friendly, men have manners, you are greeted everywhere and at every corner there is either a visual or culinary delight to explore :)

Last night I watched 2 deer chase the neighbours cat over the lawn :D ... and there is a batch of barn owls nesting in one of the castle towers and you can see them learn to fly ...

I shall soon have a digital camera again to update my new life 'en France' visually too... so watch this space!!!

Midi-Pyrenees.... here I come

So where is it exactly that I am going to be habitating - well, it's a tiny hamlet almost half way between Bergerac & Cahors - in the midst of medieval villages and gentle hills and Oak forests, with a thriving artisan community. I am renting a gite for the winter & spring before the tourist season starts in May again, to see how it suits me and if all goes well, will then look into long-term rental and set up an atelier/ artist studio down there.

In the past 3 years I have set up a jewellery & textile design business and am now selling in the UK, USA, Austria and France and even though it's a one woman show, it was the best way to diversify in this recession and I am amazed how quickly it has taken off ... if you want to check out my site, here it is Iris B. design ...

I shall report back from the new frontier in France and give you the low down of all the local secrets in a few weeks ;) ... until then .... I shall leave you with one of my favorite poems by French Victor Hugo and say ... a bientot

Je suis fait d'ombre et de marbre.
Comme les pieds noirs de l'arbre,
Je m'enfonce dans la nuit.
J'écoute ; je suis sous terre ;
D'en bas je dis au tonnerre :
Attends ! ne fais pas de bruit.

Moi qu'on nomme le poëte,
Je suis dans la nuit muette
L'escalier mystérieux ;
Je suis l'escalier Ténèbres ;
Dans mes spirales funèbres
L'ombre ouvre ses vagues yeux.

Les flambeaux deviendront cierges.
Respectez mes degrés vierges,
Passez, les joyeux du jour !
Mes marches ne sont pas faites
Pour les pieds ailés des fêtes,
Pour les pieds nus de l'amour.

Devant ma profondeur blême
Tout tremble, les spectres même
Ont des gouttes de sueur.
Je viens de la tombe morte ;
J'aboutis à cette porte
Par où passe une lueur.

Le banquet rit et flamboie.
Les maîtres sont dans la joie
Sur leur trône ensanglanté ;
Tout les sert, tout les encense ;
Et la femme à leur puissance
Mesure sa nudité.

Laissez la clef et le pène.
Je suis l'escalier ; la peine
Médite ; l'heure viendra ;
Quelqu'un qu'entourent les ombres
Montera mes marches sombres,
Et quelqu'un les descendra.

swan in evening light by: iris2002

Informative links:

BBC Green Action plan for a greener living

Friends of the Earth !

Offset your travel carbon footprint *

... soon more to come, so watch this spot!! :D

Notes from Delhi
...
Notes from Kathmandu

Pokhara diaries

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What Spain Was Like

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I am from AUSTRIA

I hope you find much inspiration and enjoyment in those pages, they are made with sweat, love, blood and tears and the passion of an adventurer who is not afraid to push the boundries a bit further...

DREAM **** DARE***EXPLORE*** --------------------------------
when it all began .....

I was 4 when I tried my first big solo-adventure - in my slippers, a crinkled map from a Reader's Digest booklet, packed lunchbox ...walking to the next bus-stop (3 miles away crossing a major rail track) to "go and see the world"... until a neighbour spotted me and brought me home.

My favourite bed-time story was reading Livingstones Adventures & the stories of Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama and so on ---- I had stacks of these little Readers Digest collection - that my parents had signed up for from a door-to-door salesman .......... and never cancelled the subscription. I loved to just look at the pictures and hear of all the explorations. Climbing Mount Everest, battling tigers in the jungle, I saw myself doing just that.

My curiosity is - as ever - undeminished --- and I shall find out for myself what lies behind each horizon. And one day, maybe---- write my own book :)

PORTUGAL SHORT BREAK SEPTEMBER 07
>> ALL NEW >>

LONDON PAGES

TOUR DE FRANCE

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courtesy of HillBilly Chilly

And since books were my initial inspiration, here are some that have inspired me:

"Nathaniels Nutmeg" - Giles Milton
"The little Prince" - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
"Livingston Seagull" - Richard Bach
"Vertical Limit" - Mel Odom
"Himalaya" - Michael Palin
"A mapmakers dream - Fra Mauro" - James Cowan
The Zahir - Paolo Cohelo
"Gorillas in the mist" - Dian Fossey
"Cry Freedom" - John Briley
"poemas" - Pablo Neruda
"The God of small things" - Arundhati Roy

most recently:
"The History of love" - Nicole Krauss
"Cloud Atlas" - David Mitchell

A poem for India

Between death and colourful butterflies
she lies -
breathing heavily under the mid-day sun
dust whirls causing her eyes to narrow
and look for shadow under the blooming
acacia trees
She is brutal in her extremes yet beautiful
always swaying between exotic temptress
and deathly strikes to those
who already have nothing -
she is loud, shrill and pulsating life
out of every pore
that sweats a history so old,
no one can comprehend,
but it's wisdom is still growing
amongst the roots of the jakharanda
and between the slums and the palaces
she finds peace at night
while the days heat only lingers now
under the skin of her children
This is her- this is Delhi
(by Iris B. 2007)

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USA HIGHLIGHTS

Florida Tip Off the beaten path

St.Petersburg Tip Off the beaten path

Dallas Tips

San Diego Tips

>>>> !!!American Hill Billy Slang Dictionary !!!

France lavender field

FRANCE HIGHLIGHTS

Vive la difference!!

Saumur tips

Bressuire tips

La Rochelle tips

!!! French survival phrases !!!

Ireland - collage by Earthlore

IRELAND HIGHLIGHTS

Eire tips

Dublin off the beaten path

Warnings & Dangers

County Dublin Things to do

!!! Gaelic Phrases !!!

Mantra - tibetan medicine

A place I want to visit > Men-Tsee-Khangh H.H. Dalai Lama Medicinal Centre in Tibet

and here is the wonderful traditional Tibetan Medicine Buddha Mantra

" Om Namo Bhagavate Beshajeya Guru Bedurya Prabha
Rajaya Tathagataya Arahate Samayak Sam Buddhaya
Tadyataya Arahate Samayak Sam Buddhaya Tadyatha
Om Beshajey Beshajeya Maha Beshajeya Beshajeya
Rajaya Samungate Savaha "

... it is said that just by reading these lines, ones general wellness is increased...

iris2002 - flooded Buckinghamshire

All counties of England ticked off now :)

Yes I can hardly believe it myself, but ... as of this weekend, I have been to every county in England.... here is the list:

Bedfordshire
Buckinghamshire
Berkshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Norfolk (in loving memory of Berni Shand, my VT-mum XX
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Warwickshire
West Sussex
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire

TATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in saftey,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

(Metta Sutta - Loving Kindness)