Saturday, December 09, 2006

A charming clutter

Sally and I had a wonderful lunch together yesterday, see photo on her blog. We met in a tiny cafe in Newtown on the corner of Albion and Belmore Streets. What a lovely place! Homely, intimate, full of old world charm (I believe the owner is Russian). Before Sally arrived I took a quick snap of the counter: on a wooden table a collection of cups and teapots, fruit, flowers, cookies - what a delightful clutter! Is this something you enjoy or do you prefer sleek interiors where everything is neat and tidy?
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Quel bon moment nous avons passé ensemble hier, Sally et moi ! Nous avons déjeuné dans un minuscule café du quartier de Newtown, au coin des rues Albion et Belmore (voir photo sur son blog). Un lieu chaleureux, sans prétention, intime et plein de charme. Avant l'arrivée de Sally j'ai pris un cliché rapide : sur une table en bois ciré, une collection de tasses et de théières, des fruits, des fleurs, des gâteaux... quel charmant désordre ! Est-ce que ça vous séduit ou préférez-vous les intérieurs aux lignes nettes où rien ne traîne ?

16 comments:

photowannabe said...

Looks like a delightful tea party is about to happen. I like the mix of colors and shapes in this photo.

Kate said...

Thanks for Sally's link, which I just visited. You two must have had a good time! Your photo is wonderful---prefer clutter. More artistic!!

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

That looks so inviting! :)

GiuCe said...

...cookies look so good :D
nice moment for a meeting...

Olivier said...

sans probleme, je prefere comme dans ce cafe. Cela devait etre sympathique cette rencontre, j'imagine bien comme deux parrains de la mafia, vous vous etes partages Sydney, pour eviter la guerre des photos sur DP ;o)
Bon cette photo, me donne envie, allez hop, petit dejeuner bis

without problem, I prefer as in this coffee. That was to be sympathetic nerve this meeting, I imagine well like two godfathers in the Mafia, you summers Sydney divisions, to avoid the war of the photographs on DP; O) Good this photograph, gives me desire, go hop, breakfast two

Cergie said...

Oh non, ça me séduit totalement

Je me rappelle la toute petite maison d'un copain de mon fils dont la mère est écossaise, cela avait un charme fou et était très encombré (l'escalier donnait sue la porte d'entrée et il y avait un fauteuil en plus ! sans doute pour mettre facilement ses chaussures)

A première vue, j'ai cru que tu avais fait ces appétissants gâteaux toi même

Bravo pour tes photos d'intérieur, je ne les réussis pas bien

Gerald (SK14) said...

Saw Sally's pic first and then came here -- what a nice cafe -- I'm thirsty for a cup of tea now!

Keith said...

good to see that the two of you got together, it is great when people with similar interest get to meet.
it is a shame that you didn't have more time as Newtown is a great place to explore with a camera

Sally said...

Ooooh, next time we'll have dessert too, ok!

I put some more Picasso stuff on Eric's blog. Really I came to all that Picasso, Dora Maar, etc stuff thru my interest in early 20th C Left Bank Paris...I'm so weird I've even been and wandered around both pere lachaise and Montparnasse cemeteries, and fight a losing battle with the rate at which museums open in Paris.

This year was a bit of a confluence too. I went to Paris again (and feel i know my way around on foot reasonably well, at least in some parts), then Barcelona - where Picasso spent formative years, and new York, where the astounding Museum of Modern Art had re-opened, and I was blown away by the Picasso/Braques Cubist collection. And then there was a Picasso / Dora Maar exhib in Melbourne as their 'winter blockbuster' this year...so........

By the way, there are treasures from the Louvre's Egyptian collection on exhibition til February in Canberra. Must get there and next year I'll be a big-head on Egypt!

[My two favourite bits of the Louvre, by the way, are Caravaggio's The Fortune Teller in the Grand Gallery, and the Islamic Arts - both of which attract v few visitors - certainly not the hordes who feel it their duty stampede towards You Know Who With The Enigmatic Smile! I am also capable of a dissertation on 'Sally's Theory That The French and Italian Paintings Galleries In The Louvre Are Rarely Open At The Same Time.' ]

oops, I've blathered.

Lisi said...

how nice to have a DP bloggers get-together! I envy you two :-)

Unknown said...

I would prefer to look at this charming clutter outside my home but I wouldn't want to have to clean and dust it all. Not that my house doesn't sometimes get cluttered but it isn't "charming clutter" LOL.

This place looks very inviting. Nice that two bloggers get to meet.

Annie said...

Did she recognize you immediately?

I love the look of this colorful and delicious clutter. I think it invites the person to look and focus and feel at home immediately with SOMEthing. But I prefer to live in uncluttered spaces.

Faye, come on over to my house. I think you'll feel right at home.

Anonymous said...

Sally and I didn't have nearly enough time together as it was Friday and both of us had to go back to work but it was really great. Didn't even have time to talk about photography or even the city of Sydney, it was more of a get-to-know-you thing.

Sally's knowledge on many topics is impressive, she's certainly seen far more of the Louvre than I have!

Faye and Annie, I can completely relate to your comments. Although I love to see displays like this one, I can't really live with that in my own home. My own clutter is one I would rather not see. We've got a club of three now!

Peter said...

I'm searching for Bloggers around the world interested in helping spread the word for a rather simple idea:

http://just-one-day-of-peace.blogspot.com/

v/r

alice said...

Oh la la! Je serais bien venue boire un petit thé avec vous...

Meg said...

I think you like red. Glad you had a good time.