Positively Halloween 2017

by Mauverneen


Happy Halloween everyone! Found this creepy creature in Dublin.

And here is a link to the ghostly blog of Halloween past.  

http://maureenblevins.blogspot.com/2012/10/positively-frightful.html

Positively Aromatic

by Mauverneen

“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived." - Helen Keller

The Long Room, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

      Someone, in one of the Facebook groups I belong to, recently posted a funny comment on book sniffing. If you are a book lover, you get it.  
        There is something about the smell of books - particularly old ones.
       As a kid, my favorite store in town was a place called Henley's Book Store. Oh how I loved that place! My mother would take me there for books and paper dolls. For some reason I remember getting magnetic paper dolls. You didn't need tabs to hold the clothes on, they stuck on all by themselves by static electricity. (Kind of like when you rub a balloon on your sweater and stick it to a wall.)
     I am laughing as I write this - not only am I sounding like my mother, remembering my childhood, but it is amazing how little it took to keep us entertained. A little paper, a balloon, maybe an old catalog... Do they still make paper dolls?
      Funny how a smell can bring up so many memories.
      I do love the smell of old books. I recently had occasion to visit a very old library - the Long Room of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. And the first thing I noticed was the smell. The wonderful aroma of books. Very old books. Chatting with another visitor he asked me if I noticed the smell. "You too?" I responded. And then we both launched into our shared feelings on the love of that particular smell and how we were both completely awestruck at the sight of all those books, agreeing we did not want to leave.
      Looking at this picture, I can almost smell it.
      Have you ever read the book The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon? I wonder if he got his inspiration for the Cemetery of Forgotten Books from this place.
      Some of us still prefer to turn paper pages as opposed to virtual pages. I think part of that may be that holding that book engages other senses - not just sight, but touch, and smell, in a way an electronic device never will.
      Have a Positively wonderful day - go sniff a book!
   
"She liked the combined smell of worn leather bindings, library past and freshly inked stamping pads better than she liked the smell of burning incense at high mass.” - Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

As always, words and photos are my own, and require permission to reprint.

However, feel free to share the blog in it's entirety. In fact, I encourage it!

check out   MauveOnTheMove.  My travel blog!
 See more photos at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-mauverneen-blevins.html

                      and visit my website: http://mauverneen.com

   
   

     
              

Positively Out of Town

by Mauverneen

"A vacation is like love — anticipated with pleasure, experienced with discomfort, and remembered with nostalgia." ~Author unknown

There has not been a Positively Tuesday post in a couple of weeks because, well, I've been on vacation. It just so happens I left on a Tuesday - a Positively wonderful bit of serendipity! I had been anticipating this trip for months. I looked at guidebooks, researched my destination online, and asked anyone who had been to Ireland what I should not miss. Of course I overpacked - but I am getting better at taking a bit less of what I don't need and won't wear and although it didn't feel it, my luggage was under the weight limit. In trying to reach that goal I think my carryon weighed as much as my checked bag though.

I really needed a holiday. I've been back a few days now and I still feel pretty mellow, or maybe just  tired, but I don't feel stressed, and I'm still not sure what day it is.

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home." ~James Michener

Vacations are, for me, always eagerly anticipated. I love going new places, or back to favorite places, seeing new things, trying new food, getting no sleep, rushing from one place to another trying to fit it all in. All the fun things a vacation should be. I vacation to get away, apparently I do not vacation to relax. 

Yes, I did go to Ireland. That green isle of fairies, leprechauns and beautiful people, stunning landscapes and castles. And rain. But you can still have fun - and adventures - in the rain.

You can read about those adventures - and misadventures - on my new blog                     http://www.mauveonthemove.com/    So, come on along to the Emerald Isle...

As always, words and photos are my own, and require permission to reprint.

However, feel free to share the blog in it's entirety. In fact, I encourage it!

 See more photos at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-mauverneen-blevins.html

                      and visit my website: http://mauverneen.com