Tips for Long Life "Conseils pour vivre longtemps"

What a beautiful image. She looks like Frida Kahlo, no?  That's impossible though - these are pages of a book from L'Ecole de Salerne in 1861. L'Ecole de Salerne was the first medical school in the Middle Ages in Salerne, Italy. Those are the signs of the zodiac corresponding body part. Funny how pisces are at the feet. Fish don't even have feet. But I guess that's the point.  If only our text books were so beautiful. I just found a free source for beautiful ancient books archived online. No dusty book smell, but still pretty amazing. If you have a little time and curiosity I recommend checking it out. Just maybe you'll find the secret to long life.  

http://www.archive.org/details/texts

What everyone forgets is that passion is not merely a heightened sensual fusion but a way of life which produces, as in mystics, an ecstatic awareness of the whole of life. – Anais Nin

 

My first Anais Nin book is "Ladders to Fire" (thanks Jeff & Katie for the recommendation!).  And I love it. Her writing is so free and sensual. There's almost no plot or setting, instead you are taken into layers of her characters' emotions, thoughts and feelings. So far, (I'm only half way through), there hasn't been any eroticism.  Although there is definitely something erotic about it in a subtle and feminine way.  When I'm finished it will join the other vintage books in the 70's Che Baba book collection.

603 Kingsway, Vancouver

Kingsway sounds like a very regal street. It dashes diagonally through the strict grid system of Vancouver heading southeast of historical Gastown towards Burnaby. It has seen a lot over the years but nothing close to royalty in recent decades. It has many ethnic eateries, garages, car lots and many Vietnamese Pho restaurants, some of which are actually private clubs with nicotine stained walls where gambling and after-hours affairs take place.

And well, this is the street Stephan and I chose to open our baby, Alibaba. In fact, we are turning one of these Vietnamese "restaurants" and the print shop next door into something more enjoyable for the ever-changing neighbourhood. There will be a yoga studio on one side and a restaurant on the other. They will work together and be a place to indulge in holistic therapies such as yoga, food, wine and conversation. It's been 6 months in the dreaming and it's at a very real stage. We have a vacant building, design drawings, and a team in the making. Tomorrow I'm scraping the letters off the windows, so I thought I would say goodbye to the old businesses with a few photos.

the old Pho restaurant

restaurant back door

front of the printing shop which is becoming a yoga studio

Like a water flea

I heard that in Chinese medicine the belief is that people are born with a certain number of heartbeats in a lifetime. So energy is not made, but spent. Here is a nice quote bringing that idea into modern day. 

"The wish to live as intensely as possible has subjected humans to the same dilemma as the water flea, which lives 108 days at 8 degrees Centigrade, but only twenty-six days at 28 degrees, when its heart beats 15 million times in all. Technology has been a rapid heartbeat, compressing housework, travel, entertainment, squeezing more and more into the allotted span. Nobody expected that it would create the feeling that life moves too fast." - Theodore Zeldin

Life These Days

Nostalgia, the simple life, heritage, authenticity and ideas about the past seem to be the innovative ideas these days. Reality tv wasn't real enough,  and now the quest for all things "real" has begun. From holistic medicine to backyard chicken coops, to  home cooking and family values. The western world seems to be looking for roots.

All of a sudden I'm seeing the value in a baker pounding dough day in, day out. I feel like our society has become so evolved - that there's nothing real to do anymore.  I for one have had me mind in an international, cross industry, innovation state of mind. What about the planets, the dinosaurs, the Mayans, and the trees and the plants that used to live where I'm standing?  I can only speak for myself, but they are all things I learned about in elementary school and haven 't put much thought towards since.

 What if doing less, helps more? Maybe moving slower, producing less, making less money, enjoying the moment and consuming less could actually bring more satisfaction in my life and also be better for humanity? hmm.

Gone Fishin'

 

This is a rough but perfect kitchen on a retired fishing boat. I forgot how much I love marinas. The names of boats, the 'gone fishin' relaxed vibe and the sweet smell of fishy-salty-gasoline mixed with a cool breeze. I often say I think I was a fish in my past life because I'm addicted to the ocean. But maybe I was a fisherman.

In vino veritas

"In vino veritas, in aqua sanitas". In wine there is truth, in water there is health. I agree.  And want lots of both.

Lately I have been trying to figure out my ideal lifestyle. Being from Vancouver I love the outdoors, yoga, comfy sandals, down-to-earth and laid-back people. But I find the Lululemon culture, which is synonymous with the Vancouver-health-nut-lifestyle, feels great physically, and makes me feel safe, positive and grounded, but the routine turns into no-fun-city pretty fast.

This is why I have a love affair with European metropolitan city life. I fled to London a couple years ago and dove head first into London life. It felt like a whole new world. It's a place that doesn't stop moving, shocking and impressing me and it feels like anything is possible there. Similar things are said about New York, that anything can happen and that you can be whoever you want to be there. There are a lot of people out there "faking it until they make it" but not in a negative way....they are living a different life than they could anywhere else.  It makes for some very interesting characters.

So being back in Vancouver has put everything back into perspective for me again. But now I know I need a piece of both lifestyles in my life.

I've decided that the two lifestyles are not mutually exclusive, and I can drink both my water and my wine. My latest idea is to create a health conscious, grounded world in Paris, France where they have a healthy attitude towards food and drink, appreciate the joy of living, and has the sophistication that only a grown up city can have. Yoga, learning, beautiful design, holistic practices, real ingredients, positive energy and people...

Images from top: Tadao Ando Museum, Venice with paintings by Rudolf Stigel; Aesop store; Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2010.