The first, light pre-monsoon drizzle had just ended and the reluctant grey clouds still hung about in the evening sky. It was a gloomy weather that brought back memories of things long forgotten.

Harry parked his Mercedes into a nearby lot and stepped out into the open, covered by a full-length raincoat and an extraordinarily large parapluie. The wind was laden with minuscule drops of drizzle and the sweet smell of earth. He took a deep whiff of this pleasant combination of freshness as he walked past puddles that had formed on the pavement.

He decided to linger on in this mood for a while and observe the sights and sounds that the fresh drizzle had brought about and entered an old, almost dilapidated café. The café was dark and he could barely make out the rows of benches and tables. He sat down at the one closest the door, by the side of a large glass window and looked out. The pane was covered with ten thousand droplets and he could vaguely make out the scene outside. He could also see his breath transforming into a thin film of mist on the glass.

His reverie was broken when he saw the reflections of ten thousand droplet-sized waiters arrive at his table. He turned away from the glass for a brief moment, ordered for a coffee and continued gazing at the glass, the film of rainwater and the view it permitted of the outside world. Somewhere in the background, a faint audio began to play:

“Where were you, when I was burned and broken;

While the days slipped by from my window watching…”

It was quite faint and didn’t intrude much with his thoughts or the sounds outside so he let it play. He sipped his coffee slowly, lost in thought of the years gone by.

So engrossed was he in his thoughts that he didn’t realize the entry of a neatly clad woman into the café. He would have continued to gaze at the window when-

“Remember me?” she smiled, sitting right opposite him with a twinkle in her eye.

“Annie!” he exclaimed. It was the one face Harry could never forget.

She smiled that warm smile, full of joy and mirth, which Harry had once adored. It always reminded his poetic self of sunshine and it came as a welcome break to his otherwise gloomy thoughts on this side of the window pane.

“I saw you getting into this café and decided to see how you have been”, she said.

“Coffee?” he offered and she assented.

“I have been fine. I don’t know if it could have been better or worse because life doesn’t offer you iterations, does it?” he remarked.

She smiled and nodded her head vigorously, her pony tail dangling merrily behind her. Harry’s observant eye noticed that she was quite much the same as he had last seen her 5 years ago. He could never tell her then, how much he loved her and she could never understand his meaningful silence. And then it was too late.

“While you were hanging yourself on someone else’s words,

Dying to believe in what you heard

I was staring straight into the shining sun…”

“Oh! You got a car? Which one”, she asked, picking up the keys from the table.

“A Mercedes”, he said and pressed the remote lock. One white Mercedes in the parking lot went ‘Tuick – Tuick’

‘Nice!’ she said and smiled her sunny smile.

“Well, what about you?” enquired Harry.

“I have been here in this town for the past 2-3 years. I stay at ‘Mansion Villa’. Have you seen it?”

“Oh wow! That’s the biggest house in this town. I have passed by it a couple of times”.

Their coffee cups were drying and so was the conversation – in fact there never had been enough verbal conversation even in earlier days. And what the eyes said went unread….

“Lost in thought and lost in time,

While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted.

Outside the rain fell dark and slow

While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime…”

“OK. I need to be leaving now”, she declared.

“Alright, Annie. Nice to have met you after so long. You bring back memories…” he said.

They exchanged smiles and goodbyes after which he walked away towards the washroom and she headed for the door.

Just as he entered the washroom and closed the door behind him, his cell phone rang. He had left it back on the table besides his car keys. Annie heard it and received the call, thinking she might convey the message when he got back.

“Where are you fooling around you sly rascal. I haven’t hired you as a chauffeur to have fun with my car. Now get home as fast as possible. I have an important appointment…” and the line went dead.

Annie placed the phone back on the table as she headed out of the cafe.

When Harry got back from the washroom, it was the same melancholy ambience that had prevailed before Annie’s arrival. The sunshine that Annie had brought with her had vanished with her departure.

He headed for the table to pick up his keys and phone and to settle the bill. As he was picking it up, he noticed a small white envelope on the floor, on the side where Annie was sitting earlier.

He picked it up and opened it. It read –

“This is to confirm that Ms Annie has been appointed nanny to my baby and will be permitted to stay with us during her….”

Signed,

Mr Gupta

Mansion Villa

Harry folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. He left it on the floor where he had found it and headed out of the cafe into the drizzle.

----------------

PS: Inspired by O.Henry’s story “Gift of the Magi” and Rituparno Ghosh’s movie “Raincoat”. All lyrics used in the story are from Pink Floyd’s classic “Coming back to Life”.

]]> http://leechbabe.wordpress.com/?p=1037 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:25:36 +0000 leechbabe http://leechbabe.wordpress.com/?p=1037 Smiley Saturday time again. If you want to join in then click on the Smiley Saturday link above and head over to Lightenings to enter your Smiley Saturday link.

Heidi got assessed and diagnosed on the autism spectrum last year at La Trobe University. This week the University opened the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre.

Looking at their current projects it is reassuring to see they are not getting side tracked by the whole vaccine issue.

I'm currently ploughing my way through "A review of the research to identify the most effective models of practice in early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders".

We are also smiling because the Sensory Diet is working really well for Heidi. We've spoken to the Occupational Therapist at our early intervention centre a couple of times and fine tuned the diet a little.

If you think your child or yourself would benefit from a sensory diet, then please seek professional help (Occupational Therapist) as you really do need expert guidance as doing the wrong thing can end up very very badly. With the right guidance a sensory diet can be a huge benefit.

A few things we have been doing that I'm so thrilled about are:

1. The chewy necklace which I mentioned in the museum post.

2. Changing what foods Heidi eats, alternating between crunchy food at meal times and chewy food at snack times. Also making her drinks much thicker (by adding yogurt) and making her drink them through a straw.

3. More yoga / gym ball work. Lying Heidi on the ball on her stomach and rocking her back and forward. Or sitting her on the ball and bouncing up and down. Or lying Heidi on the floor and rolling the ball over her.

4. The joint compressions that we have been doing for a while, now doing in conjunction with other activities.

5. Swinging upside down - Heidi just loves this - like really really loves it. Sadly my back is not up to it and we have to figure out other ways to get Heidi her upside down swing. She does enjoy hanging upside down over the arm of our couch, so that is a good start.

6. Sensory tactile play - sort of a formalisation of things we had been doing like the "poke slime" experiment (Slime progress - Heidi will now hold the slime and poke her hand in to pull out the ball :) . She still does not like the slime all that much though :grin: )

7. Sensory mouth play - blowing whistles, bubbles, harmonica, kisses. One big success has been feather blowing races, I give the girls a feather each and they have to blow them along the floor to the finish line.

8. We are trialling a vibrating pillow (like the one halfway down this page) which so far has made it much easier to to Heidi's joint compressions (she does not try to escape as often) and helps at meal times to keep Heidi at the table - although I am worried about it getting dirty.

9. Jumping and bouncing and all those fantastic proprioceptive activities. My personal fav. proprioceptive input is for Heidi to get the wet washing out of our front loading machine, carry the basket full of wet clothes to the tumble drier and fill it up. :grin: Heidi really seems to enjoy it also, bonus of teaching her a vital life skill. :)

The sensory diet is all good stuff, heaps of extra work but well worth it to see Heidi much calmer and happier. It gives us more ways to help Heidi through difficult times.

One really fantastic positive is that Heidi does the sensory stuff with us and then starts to do it herself. She knows when she needs more / less sensory input and self-regulates really well, once she has the tools and the knowledge. We need to watch to see if she needs help or re-direction.

The second fantastic positive is that Annie is really on board with the sensory diet stuff. She enjoys doing the activities with her sister. Is a great example to Heidi of how to proceed in some things that Heidi does not understand and even leads some of the activities with Heidi.

I'm as proud as punch of both my girls.

If you think your child or yourself would benefit from a sensory diet, then please seek professional help (Occupational Therapist) as you really do need expert guidance as doing the wrong thing can end up very very badly. With the right guidance a sensory diet can be a huge benefit.

hello.

just a quick message to let everyone know that tonight I'm going to be taking pictures at the Mucha Marcha presents Annie at The Proud Galleries.  Dan Mumford (a jelly artist!) is doing a live portrait session so I will be reporting his progress and showing my support. So if you're down there, keep an eye out!!!

he will be at Proud (the Horse Hospital, Stables Market, Camden) doing some live portraits... exciting!!

i'll be sure to be down there, so make sure you are too!!

michaela @ jelly.

We talked about her earlier. Watch Annie give the Swedes a run for their money at these London dates:

03/07 O2 Wireless Festival, Hyde Park
04/07 Proud Galleries, Camden Town
10/07 Cargo, Shoreditch
21/07 Koko, Camden Town

* * *

We originally thought she was just going to play a couple of festival dates and toddle off back to New York but, no, it seems the lovely Nina Nastasia is gracing us with a full 10-date tour calling at the following venues:

25/07 Galway Arts Festival, Galway
26/07 Crawdaddy, Dublin
27/07 Cyprus Ave., Cork
01/08 Big Chill Festival, Herefordshire
02/08 Day At The Races, Manchester
03/08 Stereo, Glasgow
04/08 Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
08/08 Summer Sundae, Leicester
13/08 Roundhouse, London
16/08 Green Man Festival, Hay-on-Wye

Support for the Roundhouse date comes from six-man goth-country outfit O'Death. See you there!

* * *

Kicking off in September, The Ting Tings embark on a 15-date jaunt around the nation in support of their chart-topping album We Started Nothing. Yes, that is its name. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.

20/09 Academy, Liverpool
21/09 Barrowlands, Glasgow
23/09 Academy, Newcastle
24/09 Rock City, Nottingham
25/09 Guildhall, Southampton
26/09 Academy, Sheffield
28/09 UEA, Norwich
29/09 Engine Shed, Lincoln
30/09 University, Leicester
02/10 Academy, Manchester
04/10 Academy, Birmingham
05/10 University Great Hall, Cardiff
07/10 Academy, Bristol
08/10 Shepherds Bush Empire, London
09/10 Forum, London

* * *

Also in September, the volatile Rose Kemp heads out a mini-tour of the UK in support of her third album, Unholy Majesty, due for release on the first of the month. Pre-order the album here. More dates to be announced.

12/09 Voodoo Lounge, Plymouth
13/09 The Cooler, Bristol
21/09 The End, Newcastle
22/09 Barfly, Glasgow

* * *

Alan Pedder

- Tori Amos to release live DVD of rare performances
- Norwegian pop icon Annie unveils second album
- New Giant Sand album to star Neko Case and Isobel Campbell
- Emma Pollock guests on new Green Peppers album
- Au Revoir Simone pay tribute to Bowie
- Pram to release remix EP

* * * 

Two of Tori Amos's earliest live performances are coming to DVD on September 22nd with the release of the latest in a longrunning series of tapings at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The prosaically named Live At Montreux collates the singer's pre- and post-Little Earthquakes appearances at the Festival in 1991 and 1992, showing her "fascinating progression from one year to the next as she grows in confidence and skill as a live performer, buoyed by the critical and commercial success of Little Earthquakes."

1991 show:
01 Silent All These Years
02 Precious Things
03 China
04 Crucify
05 Leather
06 Song For Eric
07 Upside Down
08 Happy Phantom
09 Winter
10 Thank You

1992 show:
11 Little Earthquakes
12 Crucify
13 Silent All These Years
14 Precious Things
15 Happy Phantom
16 Whole Lotta Love / Thank You
17 Me & A Gun
18 Winter
19 Smells Like Teen Spirit

Tori talks about the DVD and all her other new, post-Epic projects in a revealing interview with Spinner.com.

* * *

Four years on from her lipsmacking bubblegum pop debut Anniemal, the woman possessing perhaps the finest cheekbones this side of the Øresund is back with her second album, Don't Stop. Released through Island Records in October 6th, it's preceded by the brain-implodingly addictive ‘I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me', out next week.

The tracklist for Don't Stop looks a bit like this:

01 My Love Is Better
02 I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
03 Sweet
04 Loco
05 Bad Times
06 I Can't Let Go
07 Marie Cherie
08 When The Night
09 Heaven & Hell
10 What Do You Want (The Breakfast Song)
11 Take You Home
12 Songs Remind Me Of You

Pitchfork are ever so kindly hosting an MP3 of 'Loco' here.

* * *

Neko Case, Isobel Campbell and Henriette Sennenvaldt of Danish band Under Byen all guest on the upcoming Giant Sand album, Provisions, due out in September. M Ward, the him-half of She & Him, also joins principal Howe Gelb, as do Lonna Kelley and Canadian singer Lucie Idlout. Among the album's 13 songs is a cover of PJ Harvey's ‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love'. "It's simply one of the best songs ever written," Gelb told Canadian website ChartAttack, "and came begging for a horn section to mope with." Sounds good to us!

* * *

Emma Pollock, formerly of The Delgados, guests on two songs (‘The Shell Song' and ‘The Liars') on the new Green Peppers album, Adventures In The Slipstream, due for physical release on August 18th but already available from emusic.com.

Green Peppers is the ‘solo' project of former Soup Dragons guitarist John McCulloch, a frequent collaborator with Isobel Campbell. Adventures..., his third album, also features vocals from Anna Sheard, Melanie Whittle and Sandra Belda. The Melanie-sung ‘Angel Angel' is currently streaming on the Peppers' Myspace.

* * *

Brooklyn trio Au Revoir Simone have covered a song by obscure Scarlett Johansson backing singer David Bowie for a new tribute album to the little-known artist. Of his minuscule back catalogue, the girls have selected a song called ‘Oh! You Pretty Things'. You can buy it now if you want to, from iTunes, or you can wait until the album hits the shops on July 14th.

Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered

01 Au Revoir Simone - ‘Oh! You Pretty Things'
02 Heartbreak - ‘Loving The Alien'
03 Kelley Polar - ‘Magic Dance [harold and baby o in italy version]'
04 Leo Minor - ‘Ashes To Ashes'
05 Carl Craig Presents Zoos Of Berlin - ‘Looking for Water'
06 Drew Brown - ‘Sweet Thing'
07 Matthew Dear - ‘Sound & Vision'
08 Susumu Yokota - ‘Golden Years'
09 The Emperor Machine - ‘Repetition'
10 Joakim & The Disco - ‘A New Career In A New Town'
11 Richard Walters & Faultline - ‘Be My Wife'
12 The Thing - ‘Life On Mars'

* * *

Pram, the ever-mysterious Birmingham trio fronted by Rosie Cuckston, release a new EP on July 21st through Domino. Prisoner Of The 7 Pines features remixes of tracks from last year's The Moving Frontier, with contributions from lovable labelmates Psapp among others. The EP will be released both digitally and on 12" vinyl:

A1 ‘Beluga'
A2 ‘Hums Around Us' [psapp vital sand pit remix]
A3 ‘The Silk Road' [aguirre wrath of godsy remix, by cherrystones]
B1 ‘Beluga' [grandmaster gareth mix]
B2 ‘Salva' [throwing toys into the pram mix]

The brilliantly creepy promo for ‘Beluga' is more short film than music video. I'm at a loss to describe it really...

* * *

Alan Pedder

more .... here.....

Apparently Madonna's seeking a divorce or something. Maybe Guy Ritchie will go back to making, you know, sort of fun movies and stuff.

There's a deluxe addition of the Bob Dylan documentary Don't Look Back coming out, according to Paste. The phrase "impassive Nico" almost seems redundant.

The guys in Slipknot have some new masks. That's so punk. But no, does anyone still listen to these guys? Bueller? Bueller? They're so yesterday, so yesterday.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers (who have managed to ruin XM Satellite Radio's music stations for me -- I mean, honestly, how often can you hear Snow (Hey Oh) before you go crazy?) are thinking of having Justice produce their next album. Why? How? ...what? I have only heard a couple Justice songs, but they're headlining the music festival me and my besties are going to in September. Thing is, I have no idea what Justice could possibly have in common with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Like. At all.

Whoo! Annie's (check out her song Chewing Gum) sophomore effort is due out in October. Pitchfork details the CD's track listing.

Beleagured comeback kid Amy Winehouse reportedly refused to return to the hospital after her Glastonbury gig unless she could do so as an out-patient. The pop star has spent the last two weeks cleaned up but her family and friends fear that it is too soon for her to face her demons on her own. Only time will tell.

The best news of all is that Norwegian pop star Annie is set to debut her sophomore album, Don't Stop, this October. Her first album, Anniemal, was filled with infectious pop melodies that both hipsters and trendies could agree on (yesI did just say that, and yes, it is true). For delivering biting lyrics wrapped up in sugary sweetness, there is no other who can do it quite like Annie. Check out the video for her single, 'I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me,' below:

Saturday 7 pm, I sat to watch MTV Splitsvilla. Watching the the petite and also potential love interest of Vishal being 'unceremoniously' dumped this week is what can be described as an unexpected turn of events. Splitsvilla is now becoming more and more difficult for the girls to keep up their good-n-friendly nature and show their true colors. Each one is gradually warming up to the fact that, it is not all fun and games on this Show.

From the very glam and sensuous looking bath tub task to the date on the yatch, to the bickering, gossips, politics to envious glances, flying tempers to planning and strategy building in front of the camera and behind it. In all which looks like a lot many unanswered questions, the show is turning into something more that what looks simply looks like a video from the Indian version of MTV Grind(remember the late night shows on MTV long before it turned purely desi.)
So read on as I list the various events that finally led to the the elimination of Annie Krislinki.

More High quality photos ... click here

Annie more than 25 photos

Hug....photos

Uncut scene and videos

Bikini Photos

Norwegian electro-pop star Annie is back with a new album set to hit stores in September called Don't Stop. I'm really excited because I thought her debut album was amazing. Can't wait to hear the new stuff! Here's a track off that album. You have to download it because I couldn't find it streaming anywhere. I think it's a pretty sweet track. Enjoy!

Annie - Loco

Here's Kate and Cara (Annie's daughter) this morning at the farmer's market in Santa Monica. Cara's eating fresh organic strawberries.

I'm so excited! I just happened to turn on the radio (I have Sirius radio in the kitchen -- it's wonderful) and guess what's on? Kelly O'Hara, star of "South Pacific" on Fresh Air!

I can't wait! I can't wait! I can't wait! We're going on Friday night, July 18th. I just know I'm going to cry through the whole thing and make a big fool out of myself. Happy tears!

It is only my favorite musical of all time -- and this is supposed to be a fantastic production -- a multiple Tony award-winner. We got the last two tickets available.

OK, I better get to work. Lots to do! I have a duck to roast, kefir water to brew, gotta get my sourdough starter going, need to freeze my ice cream bowl. And tonight I'm going to make a delicious high-vitamin salad with purslane, dandelion, sprouted peas and red lentils, tomatoes, and yellow bell peppers. Everything organic and local from the market.

By the way, Seth did fine with corn tortillas last night.* Of course they were sprouted corn tortillas. He couldn't digest the regular corn chips we had last weekend. So I think I am going to see how he does on some sourdough bread this week.

Oh! I almost forgot to report this! I'm so touched and feeling very grateful right now. When I met up with Annie this morning at the Organic Pastures stand (that's where we meet every Saturday morning at 8:30), Maurice, who works the stand, told us that someone had donated some money to support us in our trip up to Sacramento this week for the congressional hearings on raw milk.

Isn't that nice? I guess this person wanted to be able to go to the hearings but couldn't -- so s/he wanted to do something. And guess how much s/he donated? $200! Annie and I were totally floored. That pays for our hotel! Actually it pays for half of our trip -- since the gas cost that much as well.

There are so many angels out there. It feels so good to know that people in the community support each other. Thank you, whoever you are. We really appreciate it so very much.

* I take that back. Turns out he didn't do so well after all. I guess we're going to be grain-free and on GAPS for a while longer.

C'est comique de voir ma soeur jouant à la petite hôte parfaite, faisant le plein de café, nettoyant la vaisselle au fur et à mesure, servant des crêpes et du fudge maison, etc. Continue Annie, épuise-toi, ensuite j'aurai la paix demain soir ! N'étant moi-même guère intéressé par les replay en série de Dans une galaxie, je vais rester réfugié dans ma chambre ou dans le sous-sol d'ici là.

No matter what comes out of her sweet little rosebud mouth, she is so much fun and I can't help but laugh at anything new she does.  I do need to practice some self-control for future use, though, because I know it's only going to get worse ... her cussing I mean.

I remember the moment I became facinated with dress ups. It had something to do, strangely enough, with the thought that I was just like Annie.

My little girl hair was full of brown ringlets which of course bonded me to Annie. We both shared the same challenges in life. My hair was painful to comb out just like hers and my mom even cut my hair in a round ball when I was three just like hers. I try to hide those pictures.

Annie wasn't a princess feather weight either. She could bully the best of them, and liked to sing about suns coming up. Oh and she even got to influence the world. (You may recall her singing episode with Mr Roosevelt himself.)

I wore an Annie necklace as a girl just like hers in a heart shape which had a broken out piece with the inscription "I love you". Incidently a boy next door used the locket to pull me under the sheets of my parents' bed when I was about 8 to tell me how he felt about me. So we agreed to be special friends forever and the necklace became a secret icon of more than just dress up value.

I saw Annie getting fit for her new clothes in the Warbucks mansion and realized that clothes could be something other than utilitarian. A change of status maybe, a way to remember a moment in time, a chance to be someone else. I grew up with only brothers in Japan where I didn't have a lot of access to other girls who could speak English. Clothes had merely been a way to separate our bodies (I played with my brothers most of the time) from the dirt--barely.

A girl who likes one dress up but not another could possibly be living in her unseen world. One outfit represents something in the magical place she has created and another outfit might be for a whole different chapter.

Nevertheless, choosing out dress up clothes for my neice was fun and I can't wait to see which ones she prefers. After all, not all girls want to be princesses in their make believe worlds.

50 - 40 - 30 - 20 - 10 of

double unders
ab mat situps

time 10:44

PR by around 5 minutes.

Annie , Yamini Photos : [V] Get Gorgeous 5 Photos