2022/12/31

Unveil the art

 


Hi, hi,

There is no way for me to skip writing this post because I really want to show you what exactly I saw...introduced by Li...created by an fabulous artist...a beautiful art piece in the window shop that was mentioned in Au Revoir on my last night in Paris. 

Yes, they are real, they are for sale, they were in the arrangement of a hemisphere, the one Li said that she has to stopping by every time. I am totally agree that they are truly stunning when I saw them that night, the overall size is within one meter, hanging right above eye level of the passenger but you will never miss them. 

There are some others in different colorways, smaller but cool ! I do wish to tell you where they can be found, but sorry again...I forget, because it's not the matter of where it were, if you love it, it will always in your heart, au revoir :)

2022/12/30

Au Revoir, Petit Paris

Au Revoir book cover
click to enlarge

It will be hard to write this post I’m sure, the last post to end my series of Petit Paris ~ the first poetic travelogues that I’ve never had & the first e-book series that I’ve ever published. Three years are neither short nor long, long enough to write a book but too short for a forgetful bird to become an author, it’s only the beginning… I hope. 


When this project was started three years ago, as I’ve mentioned in <Au Revoir>,  time flies like a spark, when it has to end the journey which seems has begun not long before,  I am a bit of emotionally un-detachable, at least, still at this moment.

Solo trip is always a valuable experience to whom you are, what you have or haven’t. You have to face everything on your own, surprisingly amazing moments or unexpected horror, imaginary or real. 

You are the master of your time, a totally stranger on earth there ; you can mute in most of the time, just see and feel, think & rethink…or, you can seek, a new friendship that might start, to be an immigrant for a week, to act like a local for an hour.

You can capture all the moments by your phone (camera) or simply to remember the unique memory…just for you, yourself on that date, at that time…happy or sad.

You can try anything new, participate in an adventure that you’ve never did before or, have an apple in hand, just enjoy under the sun & relax. 

You can follow the norm to all the hot spots or you can walk in your own way, your own destination in your own pace. 

You can…
…Yes, I can find another angle to see the world, to discover more instead of following the norm; something I might mis-understood when it was presented without the truth in depth.  I can listen the voices behind that might fainted for over a while…it’s not barely a vacation but also a chapter of my life started from October 2019 and keep on transforming in December 2022. 

The last book in this series is a wrap up of what I met during the trip, and because of it is the last one, it urge me to take the last chance of sharing of what were or might be overlooked, but really meant something in this series. 

Actually I took almost 1000 photos, for all the selected photos, they should cover what I discovered in the whole journey; I do wish you can feel travelling with me while reading. 

“A book has to be edited prior to publish.” I think this is the norm or general rule that I do agree but will leave it for this very first time. The free prose lead my thought to and fro from one moment to another, but raw and real time that I really want to attach, sorry for the free-flow' if it makes you feel lost sometimes :P 

I am a real forgetful bird, it’s hard for me to remember the name of people I’ve met, especially for those I didn’t even ask. But, seriously, I do remember their faces, their tone of expression when we communicated;  I still remember right at this moment…almost three whole years, so memorable. 

Color & aroma, are the ever lasting sense for human beings, whenever I close my eyes, fly back to Paris, they are there, still there…all the same…!

I know I have to end right now, the post and the obsession to this journey. I am moving on for a new novel,  in another language...may be; I don’t know when can this be completed? Hopefully not too long and is for sure not too soon, by that time, I wish you are still here to be my companion , Merci beaucoup et Au revoir !

2022/12/26

Christmas is…


 

2022/12/23

Some year end review

 A few more days to go will end the year of 2022, usually it’s the best moment for us to review everything, including the content of this blog. 

We always wish we could concentrate into a specific genre of blog posts, so readers can search the content more easily and the  reading experience of this blog can be more unique & consistent, but unfortunately it‘s not the way we were. In reality, not all things are related to design : beautiful, attractive, creative, impressive…lots & lots of “pebble & stones” could ruin the scene (hopefully not :P).

Sometimes we did want to end this blog and start all over again but when we reconsider deeply, after years of building a whole new blog, the result may still be the same, because this is us,  the life of Cocoa, the implication of design, life of sweet & sour…as we shall say, what a complex but on the other hand fruitful. 

By trial & error, this is the 14 years since the first post was published in Coffeebreak, our former name…time flies. It seems we have to be truthful of what’s going on, but we are thinking of removing “Cocoa Fabric Store” “Cocoa Grocery” and “Bird Talk” ~ another way to simplify our “complicated life”, what do you think?


2022/12/14

自由、平等、博愛~ Liberté , Égalité, Fraternité



Giggle girl fly to cut & release balloons


最近忙著各樣大小事情,花在網誌的時間也相對減少;並非沒有想記下的事,只是太多也太雜亂。戰亂的瘋狂、國家主權無限的宣示、核武的氣燄、移民/難民的浪潮、氣候的危機、疫情的無奈、地球/太空資源的爭奪…;要説的還可以有更多,都是你我熟悉而非新鮮之事,也是全球在同步發生中,不管你是什麼1,2,3⋯世界。

Liberté ~ 自由。是每個人都擁有的基本權利,如果各自運用得宜,天下太平;要是滲入了自私和霸氣,就在不知不覺間搶奪了他人的一份去成就自己的所謂自由。並非只有掌權的人才有機會妄用自由而誤置人民生死,即使是無權無勢的平民如我,也有可能在高唱“自由之歌”的同時影響到其他人,每當我想到這裏,心中不禁亮起紅燈。但為什麼原本是美善的質素卻可以變得“邪惡”呢?

我想了又想,可以這樣說嗎?原本擁有的自由在不會無故失效的情況之下,我可以適量及自在地享用;但一旦受到衝擊,特別是不平等的衝擊,隨之而來的反應便會很強烈,甚至為了“捍衛”有可能失去的而極力反抗,去到一個連自己過了火的地步也不自覺,腦海中只剩得‘我要...這是我的自由!其他的…我不管了!’

Giggle girl with giant monster


Égalité ~ 平等。或許這就是自由與平等必須共存的其中之一個原因吧!要是世界上所有資源,包括機會也是較為平均分配的,只要每人再為自己的未來努力一點點,便可以安然居住,活在穩定及充足供應之下。但同樣地,要是有人被慾望和貪念所遮蓋,貧富懸殊隨即出現,因為有的想要更多,比基本需要的再多,即使佔據了其他人可得到的一份也在所不計,因為無止境的慾望得不到滿足~這,又何嘗不包含在我們想擁有的“自由”而言呢?!平等:讓每個人也可以有機會活下去、被尊重、被等同,享有生存的自由!

Giggle girl with cats


Fraternité ~ 博愛。要是能考慮到其他人,甘願放棄擁有更多,甚至保留比應有的更小,我想,沒可能沒有愛的成份在內。人性大多為自己的一生籌算,包括家人,特別是摯親;但除了在這個圈圈之內,會為著不認識甚至是本土以外的人,在各式各樣的事情上付上心神的…大有人在,也許就在你我的身邊。地球上有很多事情令人憤怒、無奈與歎息,唯有愛能化解一切,把不平衡和失去的挽回。在神人之間如是,在人與人之間也如是。自由、平等、博愛並非不可實現的空談,要是我們每一個肯付出一點點或更多,地球還是有希望的。