Manuela Trestl

Daniela Trestl by Nigel A JAMES

The Power of Visual Beat!

 

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The magic of good cooking depends on the feel of the kitchen, and, when kitchens turn sad they need help to bring back their smile. And, when Manuela Trestl discovered that it was music that was just the right note for fun once again at the stove, her life took a change for the better. And it was all thanks to her musical husband, Zeppelin!

Zeppelin loves the musical press, and, like most magazine readers his piles of unread and waiting for later lie growing in corners! Time, it seems, is always too short! And these piles would have grown up to the sky if Manuela hadn't discovered the treasures within them! Each magazine had something to offer, and all that was needed were scissors and glue!

And soon Manuela was cutting out pictures of instruments. Guitars, drums, trumpets and everything else that she liked, and all to play a new kind of role, and each in a leading position.

And so it was that Manuela created a brilliant collage where only colourless tiles had once shown in her kitchen. And the effect has been amazing. Everyone who enters her kitchen starts singing and tapping a song! Such is the power of visual beat!

And Manuela's cooking? It has now become better than ever. Whilst enjoying her meals, her family can feel the power of the blues, the twisting of rock and the deep moving movement of soul! There is a magic in pictures, and Manuela has brought it to life! Manuela's kitchen is back and so is its smile!

Dorethea Nahler

Dorothea Nahler by Nigel A JAMES

The Invisible Obvious

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Growing up by the side of a Corinthian lake was just the right place for photographer Dorothea Nahler. It not only provided impressions of ever changing beauty and currents of drifting emotional feelings, it gave her much more as well. It provided her with an eye for the seeing of the often invisible obvious. And this, in her future life was to become the main stay of her own special work. Photos of depth and outstanding simplicity.

Dorothea's path to photography was long and stretched over years. As a young girl, she thought and saw like a child and was keen to take snaps. And then, with the marching of time came family, and her time for herself became less. But her eyes were ever open, and her eyes were ever seeing, and her time was ever coming.

And then she discovered the power of creation in painting. At last, the stored up images in her head were beginning to become real upon canvass. And they were fine; but, her eye was still wanting, and so it was that her mind went back to her childhood photography, which, in its innocent way was the pureness and simplicity of her thinking; and the pictures of then were the same as her seeing of now! Her new camera was coming.

And her photographic style is true to her feelings. Dorothea doesn't alter her photos at all, she preferres instead to allow her pictures to speak for themselves, and the things that they show are mostly the common place items that are all too often overseen in everyday life.

Dorothea has become well known in Vienna, and her exhibitions have become events to be looked forward to. And, the good new is there are more on the way. The invisible obvious means more than we think, and Dorothea has opened it up!

More info – www.dorothea-nahler.at

Margeret Felder

Margeret Felder by Nigel A JAMES

Good News in Old Traditions

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Once upon a time, Arnica used to be the most important mainstay in everyone's first aid box. There was no ailment, however minor or serious, that this miraculous liquid wonder was unable to tackle. It was an indispensable component of everyone's everyday life. But, that was then!

Now, there are very few people who either know it or use it! But, one of the few who still very much use it and believe in it is a lady I had tea with last week.

Margaret Felder grew up before the war in Poland, and, because of the ways of those times, she saw very much of her grandmother. And her grandmother was in medicine. And, in those days there was no difference between homeopathy and mainstream medicine, and, so it was that Margaret understood and experienced the healing powers of Arnica.

Arnica was not only the perfect remedy for the scratches and scrapes of everyday childhood life, but also the internal sore throats and stomach aches of adult excess! It was good for everything, and, when rubbed in, was an instant relief for all sorts of assorted aches and nasty complaints!

So, where is it now? The good news is that it hasn't completely passed into the past! It is still widely available, and Margaret Felder and her children are amongst those who wouldn't be without it! So what about you? Why not check it out? This flora based marvel could, too, become part of your first aid box!

A Poem for November

Toy Soldiers by Nigel A JAMES

Poem Little Boy Blue

by Eugene Field (1850 – 1895)

listen to ‘Little Boy Blue by Eugene Field’ on Audioboo

The little toy dog is covered with dust,

But sturdy and staunch he stands;

And the little toy soldier is red with rust,

And his musket moulds in his hands.

Time was when the little toy dog was new,

And the soldier was passing fair;

And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue

Kissed them and put them there.

“Now, don't you go till I come,” he said,

“And don't you make any noise!”

So, toddling off to his trundle bed,

He dreamt of the pretty toys;

And, as he was dreaming, an Angel song

Awakened our Little Boy Blue.

Oh! the years are many, the years are long,

But the little toy friends are true!

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,

Each in the same old place

Awaiting the touch of a little hand,

The smile of a little face;

And they wonder, as waiting the long years through

In the dust of that little chair,

What has become of our Little Boy Blue,

Since he kissed them and put them there.

Monika Erb

Monika Erb - by Nigel A JAMES

Blog Monika ERB

Sweet Encounter

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When people return from far away places they usually bring back a reminder of long lazy days doing nothing! But, that which Monika Erb brought back from Sri-Lanka was not only a look back to leisure on the beach, but something irresistible as well! A key to a dark and bitter-sweet world.

It was 2011. Monika was taking in a late afternoon dose of pure southern sunshine when she noticed a girl who was chewing some unusual white beans, and so, with one being curious and the other one anxious to tell, the two were soon locked in lengthy discussion; and, it was all about chocolate!

Julie, it turned out, had just started a chocolate business in Munich and was touring the world in search of ingredients for her new brand of chocolate. And her search had led her to Sri-Lanka, for it was there that she was able to find dried cocoa beans, which unlike roasted beans retain all of their natural vitamins, minerals and antioxidants when worked and turned into chocolate. In other words just right for her brand new product!

And Julie's new sugar free emotion exploder is not to be found in the shops, it is made by the consumers themselves in chocolate clubs. And now, thanks to a sweet encounter in a far away place, Monika has become Julie's first chocolate workshop trainer.

And, these workshops are special. They are for creative people who believe that art isn't only for admiring, but for eating as well! And Monica's monthly meetings in Vienna are catching on fast. Sweet tasting temptation, it seems, is hard to resist!

For more info see,

www.chocqlate.com