April in Paris

Some destinations are sublimely beautiful in April. New York City with its abundance of cherry blossoms is one. England, with its magnificent gardens, is another. 

But perhaps one of the prettiest place to spend an April afternoon is Paris. 

Paris in April is pure magic. It's a cinematic sweep of postcard-style streets, overflowing florists, cheerful shopkeepers and charming maître ds, scented parks and gardens, exquisite window merchandising, elegant exhibitions and altogether entertaining street scenes.

April is also one of the best times of the year to travel to Paris—and many other places, for that matter. Skyscanner.com recently revealed that the cheapest week to travel is the last week of April and the first week of May. 

I tested the claim last night. Sure enough, return flights from Sydney to either New York or Paris that are normally A$1700—$2000 are just $1350. 

Oh April, you really know how to tempt us.

Here in Australia, my publisher and I have been working on ideas for a new book. It's about—you guessed it—Paris. I had planned to go to NY for work this month but now it looks like I may have the take the long (and scenic) way around the globe. Who can resist a chance to photograph Paris in spring?

I hope to show you some beautiful new 'finds' from the City of Light, from secret fashion museums and ateliers to gorgeous stores and hotels and even delightful walking trails that take in the best bits of this photogenic city. 

Some people abhor Paris (including my partner). And I must admit that every time I return I think: perhaps we should try a difference place next year? And then I find myself going back, yet again. Paris will do that too you. Almost 30 years after my first visit, some things haven't changed. My French is still shameful, but my love for the city hasn't waned.

On this note, I want to thank everyone who kindly bought Paris: A Guide to the City's Creative Heart. We've just learned that it recently hit the No. 1 Ranking on US Amazon for Illustrated Travel books. 

Actually I can't quite remember the category: it was a niche one, so it's not a big deal, but we were still very surprised—and grateful for the No. 1 ranking.  I'm deeply grateful to everyone who bought a copy. Book buyers are the loveliest people.

I also want to recommend some other Paris books. Nichole Robertson's Paris in Colour is delightful if you want some photographic inspiration, while the new book The Gardener of Versailles: My Life in the World's Grandest Garden by Alain Baraton is a superb read if you love gardens. 

Another I've recently bought is A Day at Versailles by Yves Carlier; a sumptuous behind-the-scenes look at the inner-workings of this grand estate. 

And Edmund White's new memoir, Inside A Pearl: My Years in Paris is... well, I had mixed feelings about the name-dropping and cruel characterisations, but there's no doubt he's a brilliant writer. And when he admitted he also struggled with the French language, well, it was a sign he's as human like the rest of us... It's an evocative book that beautifully sums up Paris in a way I could never do.

Au revoir for now. And once again, a sincere thank you.

[All photographs by me.]

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Finding Inspiration in Life

It's easy to lose inspiration. One minute you're full of exaltation and motivation, encouraged by new ideas and creativity; the next you're struggling for stimulus and stuck in a quagmire of inactivity. To make things more difficult, influences come and go so quickly that sometimes we miss The Muse when it passes through. All too often I've noticed something amazing that illuminated that moment in time, but have then forgotten it in the onslaught of life. The flash that could have been a magnificent impetus had faded before I'd even had a chance to properly absorb it.

That's why I take photos. Instagram is no doubt wonderful for this but a simple camera or notepad will also do. I'll use anything to scribble, sketch, record or jot down notes and ideas as they appear. I'll also collect things – beautiful cards from bookstores and museum and gallery giftshops, publicity material from exhibitions, and of course pages from magazines – and then collate the 'Papers of Inspiration' (as my partner calls it) in a pocket of my suitcase for when I get home. (That's the best part: going through it all again!)

Inspiration doesn't just come on cue. You have to seek out The Muse. It's like being an anthropologist of ideas; a David Attenborough of stimuli.

Here are some places where I find inspiration. Hopefully they'll help you find it again too.

VOGUE LIVING

I was lucky enough to write for this beautiful magazine  in the 1990s (albeit under a different name), and I still have a soft spot for it. It's one of the most inspirational magazines in the world, which is why you always see it on newsstands in New York and London. I was saddened to hear that long-time editor David Clark has resigned (quite suddenly) and is now taking a much-needed break in Hawaii. However, I'm sure the new editor (whomever it is) will take the publication to even greater aesthetic heights. The latest issue is quite possibly the best ever. The online version has a story on the remarkable photographer Steve Back and his aerial shots of Hutt Lagoon (image at very top of post). If I could paint, I'd paint that photo. Just beautiful. Here are two more of Steve Back's extraordinary landscape studies...

VINTAGE MAGAZINES

Earlier this year, my partner bought me a vintage copy of a New Yorker magazine from the day I was born (or close enough to it). I've always loved vintage magazines, and this was a surprisingly thoughtful gift. It inspired me to spend half a day in London's vintage magazine stores last week looking for a vintage Vogue from the month my sister-in-law was born to give her for Christmas (top). But apart from the sentimental value, vintage magazines are full of inspiration: incredible photography by great names such as Irving Penn, cute stories on long-lost pastimes and gorgeous ideas, colours, interiors, gowns and places for modern projects. You can find them at the Conde Nast online store, or in London's vintage magazine shops. (I used the one in Soho.)

EXHIBITIONS

It's difficult to make time to see exhibitions – especially in Paris, where the queues for the just-opened shows, Paris By hollywood (Hotel de Ville), the Bohemians (Grand Palais) and Van Cleef & Arpels (Les Arts Décoratifs) took over an hour. (Surprisingly, London's shows, including Tim Walker, Hollywood Costume and Ballgowns, and were easy to access.) However, it's worth tracking down and seeing good exhibitions, as the inspiration they provide can keep you energised for months. If you can't see the exhibitions, then ordering the book can be the next best thing. I've just bought the exquisitely miniature catalogue of the Cristóbal Balenciaga, Philippe Venet, and Hubert de Givenchy exhibition. It juxtaposes the gowns with the influences of the designers – from roses to paintings, staircases, artwork, interiors, mirrors, even balustrades (one of my favourite things.) It's format is so beautiful, it has inspired the design of our next Paris book.

BOOKSHOPS

A bookshop is a magical place, which is why it's such a shame that Amazon is teasing us with cheap prices. In Paris last week, I popped by the bookshop at the Decorative Arts Museum next to the Louvre (Les Arts Décoratifs), and stumbled upon an entire section of vintage fashion books. It was like finding the veta madre – the Mother Lode! Bibliophilia bliss. There was more inspiration there than you could shake a Balenciage gown at.

TRAVEL

Those of you who read The Library's regularly will know I have a great weakness for a foreign place (especially if it's Paris or New York). Condé Nast Traveler magazine and its English version are valuable sources for ideas on places to go, even if you're only an armchair traveller. Their stories are always wonderful sources of inspiration, and this month's 25th Anniversary Issue, with Hilary Clinton on the cover is one of the best yet. The issue has offered a list of the 32 Best Trips in The World, and it includes Australia. (Thanks CN; we love you too.)

As a little addendum to the list, here are five destinations on my '32 Best Trips List':

1. Lake Como, Italy, and a day-long tour of the waterfront mansions in a 1950's wooden speedboat. BYO picnic and handsome man. (I'd take mine.)

2. Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and arriving at either island in a puddle-jumper plane from Boston, crossing the beauty of Cape Cod as you do. Nantucket village and Edgartown are arguably two of the most beautiful villages in the US.

3. Key West on Fantasy Fest Weekend. Hire a convertible Mustang, drive down the Keys, pay your respect at Hemingway's mansion, have a drink or three at a sunset bar and stop for some palm-tree-enhanced R&R at The Moorings on the way back.

4. A long weekend on Harbour Island, a far-flung island in the Bahamas. The celebrity spotting is incredible, but the pastel-painted Caribbean architecture (above) is even better.

5. Sailing the Whitsunday Islands in a little Beneteau yacht. Ask one of the sea plane companies to pick you up on the way out to the reef and go snorkelling on the reef: one of the world's most magical places. I get inspiration just from swimming amongst the tropical fish for an hour.

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Green, Spring, & The Art of Being Happy

Do you ever look up from your life and think: I'm actually quite happy? Do you ever sit in the garden with a cup of tea, or sing along to a great song in the car, or walk along an autumn/spring street just as the trees are erupting into colour and realise, with a small shock, that life is actually really lovely?

I'm deeply ashamed to say I don't. Not as much as I should. I used to. I'm sure many of us did. Years ago, a good friend told me about CBT and The Art of Gratitude, so I used to practice both of them. Often. Running was another life enhancer. Walking too. (Especially in foreign cities such as Paris: there are few things as lovely as being a flâneuse.) But then my partner and I had a few challenging years. As many of us have had since the media and PS industries hit the proverbial wall...

It started when we bought a big, old, rundown house in the country, which ended up being inhabited by ghosts. (No, I didn't believe in them either, until last year). Then I became quite sick, then kept getting sicker, and nobody could figure out what was wrong. (I'm slowly getting better thankfully). And then the publishing market collapsed, and my publishers collapsed with it. (One of them, Murdoch Books, is even being sold as I write this.)

So I started writing a book about a famous Australian novel (above), which I discovered was cursed. Or, if not cursed, then certainly affected by its own haunting back story. (The story is too complicated to explain but it's incredibly sad.) We eventually sold the big old house and left the persistent ghosts behind. But the entire book industry, meanwhile, kept falling to its literary knees, and still hasn't been able to get back up again.

So, earlier this year, we made the decision to move to the US East Coast where I could perhaps have a better career, perhaps even start my own company, and my partner could have a better career in his industry, and we could buy 3 houses for the price of our Australian home! But then, realising our families needed us, we turned around from our NY reccy and came back again.

Then, to finish everything off in a truly fitting way, we realised that, by not moving to the US, our dreams of having children were probably quashed once and for all. (It would have been easier there, with adoption and surrogacy options, than here in Australia, where such things are impossible.)

I'm ashamed to say that I didn't think about happiness for a long, long, long time.

Until yesterday.

You know those days where everything falls into place, like a high-scoring Scrabble word? Well, this was such a day. It was glorious. I took the dogs for a long walk and realised I could at last breath again.

The scents of the spring hyacinths, apple blossoms and jasmine filled the air, and the soft morning light turned into the most golden day. Some parts of it were showery with spring rains, but other moments were warm and still. There was even a double-rainbow, which acted as a exclamation mark for a pretty sunshower that made our newly replanted hydrangeas perk up again.

I gave the dogs a bone each and sat down to finish editing the last chapters of The Book About The Cursed Novel, and realised it wasn't such a horrific story after all. I went out at lunch and bought an orchid, and a sports bra to go running again, then prepared some dinner for The Loved One. I also made significant progress on The Garden Tour Itinerary (which has been very, very difficult, but will be worth all the effort), and then sorted through 658 photos of Paris and New York for 2 lovely new books that we're about to begin work on. {Image of a Gramercy Park balcony from our faux honeymoon earlier this year: Oh, how I loved Gramercy Park. That was a glimpse of happiness, right there!}

At 5 o'clock, I went for another walk with the dogs, amid yet another sunshower, and ended up near the Botanic Gardens at dusk, which reminded me of this beautiful book (above). It was there, at the top of the hill that The Loved One found me, soaked through and grinning from ear to ear like some Jane Eyre-esque madwoman. Only without the attic. And the match. (He'd arrived home, realised we were out in the rain and come to find us in his car.)

"Hi honey," I said, as we all clambered into the 4WD, soaking wet. "Thanks for coming to collect me. I love you. Life's pretty wonderful, don't you think?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Have you done something you haven't told me about yet?" he said.

I know it's a cheesy thing, but sometimes you just need a bit of gratitude to enjoy life again, don't you think? Why is it that the old-fashioned remedies – a walk, a run, two dogs, some grass, a whiff of jasmine, a toss of a salad, a flick through photos of Paris – work far, far better than any modern therapy methods? I don't know. But I do know that that the old 'Halleluja Approach', as my grandma called it, is vastly underestimated.

{NB Here's K D Lang singing Leonard Cohen's Halleluja here – so beautiful, it will bring tears to your eyes.}

Here's another quick tale. I have a friend in the Bahamas who owns a famous and very beautiful hotel called The Landing, on Harbour Island. I'm helping her and her husband write a book. I may even publish it. One day, several years ago, her little sister, an extraordinary young lawyer who was highly respected in New York, went out running in SoHo. A guy started driving a truck backwards down a one-way street, while talking on his cell phone. The ladder perched precariously on the back of his truck struck her in the head. Just like that. She had no ID so she wasn't identified for several days. She was so respected that when the news leaked out, much of the New York legal community went into shock. Then this friend's father, a GP who by all accounts was another extraordinary soul, passed away. Then, just last week, I learned that her other sister, another remarkable person with a heart of gold, also died. The funeral is in Nassau this week. Hundreds are going. It's being planned as a enormous celebration of life. Which is just what it should be.

So this is what I advocate. Be grateful for the life you have. Even if it isn't quite what you imagined.

Here, to inspire you all on a Tuesday, are some glorious photos of green and spring growth. I'm sorry for the bad metaphor, but I couldn't think of nicer images to illustrate The Art of Happiness. Furthermore, I'm now officially engrossed in The Garden Tours, which are going to be wonderful, and so I thought a few horticultural images might make give us all a little spring in our step today. (Sorry, another bad metaphor!)

So if your career isn't going the way you want to, if your family life is getting on top of you, if your dreams have stalled and your life isn't unfolding quite how you planned, don't worry. Don't worry. Just be thankful anyway. It works. Trust me.

Wishing you all a truly lovely day.

(PS I've caught a cold from the rain yesterday but you don't need to hear that. It would have spoiled a good story!)

The spring windows of Peony, in Hawthorn. Jill always does a beautiful job of merchandising.

Joe's in Greenwich Village, New York. I remember this day in New York. It was sunny. All the cafes had opened their window and doors. Washington Square Park was full of happy dogs. It was a magical day.

The spectacular garden of the Delano Hotel in Miami. Gardening as only Miami can do.

A Marimekko tray from the spring range. Have you seen how Marimekko is coming back into fashion? The new store near the Flatiron building is eye-wateringly beautiful.

    

A bouquet with limes. Love this. Imagine the scent as you walked past?

Love this too. A design by Fulvio Bonevia, via Slim Paley. I love broccoli. Not sure I could do a handbag in it but this is still enchanting.

The parterre potager of a new friend, the always-delightful Bumble at Lynwood Farm, which can be found here, at this blog – here. Bumble's garden is truly amazing. Look at that trim job!

            

Photographs of the countryside by the talented Ben Pentreath. I love Ben's work, and not just his architecture and design. He's a skilled writer and photographer, too. His lovely blog is here.

The library of one of the most stylish people in fashion, Iris Apfel, via Architectural Digest.

Re-reading this, with much joy. Adam Nicholson is one of the best gardening writers there is, next to Monty Don. No wonder really, considering his grandmother was Vita Sackville-West.

Also bought this on the weekend. The images of Italian and English gardens are wonderful.

A curious little Arts and Craft-style cottage at 29 Leggatt Street in Daylesford that recently sold as part of an auction of charming country properties. Another one was Islay House in Woodend (below) – the old Georgian coach inn, and one of the architectural treasures of Macedon.

It sold for just over $550,000, apparently. Even though it was derelict and in a flood zone. So happy to see that someone's going to save it.

Bunny Mellon's conservatory. Have posted this image before, but still love it. Look at that trompe l'oeil. {Via Vanity Fair}

The royal greenhouses in Brussels. Just lovely.

And a gorgeous new restaurant in Sydney called Chiswick, which has its own kitchen garden. Love the colour scheme, and the outlook over the potager. A meal here would certainly make you happy.

And a few more images for the road...

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