Monday, 17 November 2008


Words from the diary of my favourite diary keeper, J.M.Barrie.
And my favourite writer and my favourite dreamer and my favourite everything.
He was true. The truest of the true. If True were a land, he would rule it as King.
(Only, I would pick Papa to be King first.
And then J.M.Barrie.
And then Stephen Fry.)

Lately, I am forever reading this paragraph and all his writings about the War. On Thursday evening there were lots of soldiers on my train home from London.
When there are soldiers riding with you on your train, you feel extremely small.
It made me wish I were brave. 
Bravery isn't something I can hold inside myself very well.
Sometimes I want to be a Lyra and I want it and want it, incredibly badly. 
But you can't be brave just from wanting.
It's an impossibility. Like snow in July.

87 comments:

lovebirds&seahorses said...

oh, pretty girl, what book is that from? what is the title so i can track myself down a copy?

Endofmarch said...

Oh wow. It does make you wonder, doesn't it? about war and peace and ghosts and death.
I shall track down J.M Barrie's journals now...
When I was in Korea I would constantly run into soldiers or soldiers in training since military service is mandatory for all men. It make me feel weird inside, scared too. It made me feel slightly unsafe and it made me think about war and how it effects people a lot.

Lovely entry. Thank you and have a nice day!

p.s. Stephen Fry! <3

quotationeducation said...

I cried just then, because I'm not brave.
I'm smaller than an atom and I fuse with the other atoms for comfort and a hiding-place.

I wish I could be as brave as I sometimes pretend I am.

Hope that your day was wonderful, and your twitter comment to me made me smile when I thought it impossible. So snow may perhaps fall in July. Thank you thank you thank you. xx

Blair said...

Believe that snow can fall in July...

It is my birth month, and I dearly love the snow.

Maybe?

<3

elle said...

you are the most inspiring beautiful person in the galaxy.
i wish i too were as brave.

& wanting does nothing but spoil our actions.

you're insanely correct.

Rosie Posie said...

Such beautiful words in a breath takingly wonderful blog!!

I will wish on a star that it snows next July. It is my birthday then, so maybe my wish will come true. If it does not, cut out pretty snow flakes from paper and pretend.

And then believe.

Your post has brightened my day with its inspiring words and I long to hear what you have to say next!!

x

Anonymous said...

i am addicted to your words x

love from bee x

Sybilla; said...

It is always snowing in July somewhere. It snowed up here in May last year, enough for a proper snowball fight and everything.

I think I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I shall always be scared, but if I keep my stubborn little head down and just plow onward reguardless, working and focussing on whatever bit needs doing next, then that is all the brave I really need to be for myself xx

Ps; How much do houses cost in True?

Rosebud said...

Oh how lovely True would be, especially if your father ((or everybody's father)) were king, then J.M Barrie.
I too love J.M Barrie, I liked him even before I knew he wrote the story of Pan. Did you read 'The Admirable Crichton' ? I found it in my grandmother's pile of books, and read it, and loved him. <3

Anonymous said...

You are truly amazing.
And the paragraph you posted...I was speechless!
Thank you so much for being one of the most inspiring people that i know. Or rather wish that I knew.

And yes, I dream all the time that I can be like Lyra.

-Lenore

Anonymous said...

but I now just remembered...

Strength is something you choose. Bravery is in all of us, we just have to find it. It may be hard, but there is always light at the end of the darkest tunnel.

maybe, just maybe...it will snow in July <3

-Lenore <3


ps. you are very right though, it cannot just come from wanting.
I'm really not sure if I'm making any sense at all though...I never make any sense

Mila said...

What a gorgeous post, dear.
I'be always been fascinated by the war (i mean WW II) and i've read lots and lots of books about it and saw almost all the movies about the theme.
Have you seen 'Band of Brothers'? It's amazing, the best series i've ever seen i guess.

I LOVE every single post of yours...

Mila.

Elisabeth said...

thank you for the glittering genuine bits of magic that is this site. i cannot help but feel connected to you if only for your love of all things jm barrie. this is my favourite place now. thank you for the pretty & broken thoughts & for the reminder to breath deeply, to feel deeply. wishing you a day filled with wonderment & secret smiles.

shilvia said...

i've come across your blog from pia...and iam swooning still...officially in love big time with your blog :) words so beautiful, pictures oh so whimsical...i've arrived in wonderland!!!!

Yoli said...

Bravery exists within us in and it manifests itself in unexpected places. Beautiful blog and beautiful words.

makemoremistakes said...

This is wonderful. I absolutely love your blog.

And I wish and wish that I were braver too.

xo
angela

Caitlin said...

OH my gosh, I love your blog so much, it makes me want to fall asleep in a big, pink, fluffy clod! :)
p.s. I tagged you! go to my blog to learn more!

La Donna Welter said...

amazing.....

Anonymous said...

i just found your blog, and i love it love it love it love it, i cannot express my love in words
but the font is so pale on my computer screen i can barely read it
please can this be changed, if it is not just me who has this problem

Natasha said...

that paragraph was beautiful :) really, really amazing. thank you

Anonymous said...

this is wonderful, but i dont have the words to describe how wonderful...such amazing words

Saorise said...

Ive given you an award on my blog dear. Go see!

Laura Amy said...

Sometimes i wish we could all have a little bravery. We could store it up in bottles and let it out when we needed it.

Like the BFG and his dreams.

The Stylish Wanderer said...

Beautiful

Natasha said...

that passage was so beautiful...wow.

Hannah. said...

I love your blog and photo's. Is your life really this pretty?

Links swap?

Anonymous said...

are the words you speak just as melodious? i wonder if i can write like you. please keep posting.

rain girl said...

you have the MOST beautiful blog i have seen ...not only in terms of picture, but content wise too. it's like a dream..hazy, foggy, beautiful...

please keep writing...i have bookmarked you as my current muse and will keep coming back...thank you for spreading such sunshine in the blog world..

JUNKER JANE said...

I just found your blog :)
I love it
It's so inspiring!

Lenore said...

please write more

mai said...

i absolutely adore your writing style!
i've only discovered this bit of virtual treasure today

Anonymous said...

please don't stop writing.

Raina* said...

I wonder, what is this blog for? It is beautiful, simple, and elegant. I love it and plan to follow it, or perhaps one like it. But please, what is its meaning?

becca said...

i need another of your posts soon.

thedrifterandthegypsy said...

i like that quote...it gets you thinking...
xoxo,
Micaela

Theresa said...

such a beautiful post, the quote is outdtanding and very inspiring

pomegranates said...

what a lovely place you have here....

Sarah-Lou said...

That's what I felt when I first read "Johnny got his gun"!

Anonymous said...

Turn the world over and the snow will fall in July. In Australia it does.

Anonymous said...

I recently found your blog and I am in love with it. please do not quit writing. your blog pushed my imagination, made me rekindle my childhood, and i must read more blogs of yours.

thedrifterandthegypsy said...

I have given your blog an award!! Check out my blog to see it=)

Have a wonderful day!!!!

xoxo,
Micaela

StickyKitten said...

I hope you come back to posting soon! I have tagged your blog! Take a peek at my blog to see. Have a wonderful holiday!
~Michelle

Siobhan said...

But you are brave... the princesses are always the brave ones; to gather up the ghosts and the fallen and ride home with them, to find words through the thorns that make us see, that is a mighty brave thing indeed...
Siobhan

Pernille said...

please update!
this blog is my favourite, and I visit it every day in hope that there will be something new :)
especially now that it's christmas. it would be great to see some christmas photos :)

thedrifterandthegypsy said...

ahhh. i love your writing. the way you phrase things is so...i don't know...so dream-like. it makes me feel like im in fairyland.
xoxo,
Micaela

Raina* said...

I love your faerietales...
this is a beautiful site.

Helenna said...

Merry Merry Christmas to you. Joy, laughter, happiness for you in 2009.
Helenna x

sirfeste said...

hello, love
you seem not to have even been on here in quite a long time
but i miss talking to you, i really do.
if you ever feel like it, i would love it if you sent me an email
bonescollide@hotmail.com
other than that, i love you and your posts and your art, and i miss you

xo
nora
(the dragon!)
<3

Anonymous said...

please come back!! i love your blog!!!isabella

david santos said...

Excellent!!!

Happy New Year...

Georgie said...

Where have you gone?

Daniela said...

This is one of the most dreamy blog Ive ever see.....

emilie and emily said...

your site is so pretty!
i also adore J.M. Barrie

Caitlin said...

COME BAAACK!

We all miss your beautiful posts.

xoxo!

V said...

so pretty. i love your poems on your blog. adore this :)


www.balmainbazaar.blogspot.com
link?

Anonymous said...

Please post more. We all adore you very much

Anonymous said...

:(
where are you joanna? it's so lonely without your posts.

Te said...

Your blog makes me feel...floaty. And also quite stupid for saying such a thing. I especially love the literary references.

Peach said...

everything is so beautiful...

Luna said...

you have an amazing blog..

maria said...

please keep posting. i'm dearly in love with your blog, your excellent words and deligtful pictures.

Jess. said...

This is such an amazing quote. Thank you for sharing it, dear! I am so inspired to read more.

x
Jess.

nostalgicveins said...

i adore your blog, please update soon!
<3

DENDENFABS said...

Your words are amazing.
I wish I was able to express my feelings like you. :)
Keep it up!

Ylva Vader said...

Where did you find the "The Little Princess" pictures?

Lovely blog :)

Pixienish said...

Beautiful :')

Anonymous said...

why do you not write anymore?

Relyn said...

I found my way to you from Nectar and Light and was instantly enamoured because of your amazing blog banner. How could I not love a blogger who would crown J.M. Barrie king? I just had to say, "Hello, friend."

Ashley L. said...

You might just be my new favorite blog. Interested in swapping links? :)

Anonymous said...

UPDATE! ...please!

Georgie said...

Glad to see you're back.

amy said...

so lovely.

Yoli said...

Oh you posted again! At least to leave another lovely image. I so look forward to all.

E.K. said...

Your blog is wonderful.

The Wanderers' Daughter said...

What a pleasant surprise to see a new post from you today! A friend sent me your blog a couple of months ago and it has been sitting silently at the bottom of my active blogroll ever since. Your photos have a mystery that enchants. You are talented.

ada and the fox said...

this is more a comment for your latest entry. for some reason i couldn't comment, or you just have it that way :)
your blog is such an extreme delight and your photos are just heavenly. i love coming onto your little place here and finding new delights...

andrea ♥

Franco said...

iLOVE YOUR blog, so escapist and romantic.

amanda said...

you have such a beautiful blog!


xxx

tiger milk said...

your blog is outrageous.

i've given you an award!

Daniela said...

You have been nominee.... :)

Your blog is very pretty and magical....
It deserves an award....

See you...

The Girl said...

Your blog is beautiful times 12786932.

Mind if I link you on my blog?

<3 the girl.

Lyra said...

Don't fret. It's not impossible. It snowed last July in the tropical country where I'm from.

--Lyra

Thuva-Lisa said...

The photos are really fantastic!

Maria said...

The first pic is.. WOW!
Your blog is really nice!!

Holly Golightly said...

I will give, if you don't mind, a few details about the quote. It is not an extract of one of JMB's notebooks (rather than diaries), but a letter to E. Lucas. (20/02/1918)

Anonymous said...

where i live, it snows it july.

Anonymous said...

in*

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