Photo from last year’s birthday, when you turned 84.
Today you turn 85, and you two have been married for 55 years! The sun is shining, and we will make it a memorable day for you – despite the difficult times we are living in.
Family
Wordless Wednesday
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #93 – Morning
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. – Marcus Aurelius
My mornings these days – are not quite the same as before the pandemic. Maybe yours are the same as before – or a bit different too? Anyway, a look at your morning – or Any morning – is the challenge for this week. Maybe there is a special morning that you will never forget – you could share it with us!
When the virus hit my world, in order to sleep better, I had to move upstairs to my daughter’s old room. So the first thing I see when I open my eyes to a new day – are fluttering butterflies. Feels good! And I do sleep better up here. I find harmony and peace.
This room is where many of my potted plants spend their winter season, waiting to come out in the sun and the fresh air again. What better place is there for me to spend the night?
Here I also grow new plants for the next season – these little ones are tomatoes in the making. I guess I love seeing plants, animals and people, grow –
In the hallway I pass the standing mirror, and a glance into it before closing the door, reveals Emma’s sewing machine waiting in stand by with her summer hat on top.
Before I go downstairs, I sit for a while with my new colourful plant puzzle – very relaxing and Mindfulness My way.
On coming down into the living room, I am usually met by a yawning Milo and a snoring Totti…(So…hardly ”met” really…), Totti is extremely good at snoring, so I hear exactly where he is. My husband tells me the dogs miss me terribly, but they have now accepted my strange night habits. Please click to enlarge if you love them –
Finally – coffee (Emma’s mug…). And the morning paper is a must. After a rather solid breakfast, I spend the rest of the morning out in the forest, enjoying the Wood Anemones while they are still flowering. Now on their last due to the dry weather and strong winds.
Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world
(My favorite song from younger days, when Cat Stevens still was – Cat Stevens.)
We are looking forward to saying Good Morning to all of you! Be it your morning, any morning or some creative twist.
A big thank you to our guest-host John Steiner of Journeys with Johnbo for ”Going Back the Second Time Around”, which brought many lovely memories from you – and tips for new memories to be made!
Have you seen these:
- Sue is treating us to the most charming little village in France
- Everest Base Camp and the cutest chalet ever from Pam
- Anne and her best friend
- Chasing the bloom – and succeeding at ramblingranger
Next week, April 25, #94: your host will be Amy of The World is a Book
As usual we wish you a lovely week, stay safe, stay well – and maybe make a phone call or two to someone who needs it.
Thursday Thoughts – Umeå Again!
Last weekend I went to Umeå with my son – to visit the daughter/sister. We all love this city, and its famous white birches. We hoped to have some fun in each other’s company, and to finally get some winter. As you can understand we got more winter than down in Skåne – but not much snow. Usually they have 75 – 100 cm. Too much jumping temperatures this winter, rain and snow taking turns. We did some tough walking!
We were lucky with the weather though – sun and temperatures between – 14C and – 3C.
Naturally we had to go to the big game shop with every game you can think of – we bought some new ones with us home. The evenings were filled with laughter and fun while playing – or trying to understand the new rules…
And, we went to the movies to see Parasite. All of us agreed it was worthy of every Oscar it got. I do recommend watching it – clever and entertaining, thrilling and fun. Really Something Else! Be prepared – the ending is a Tarantino one.
As always we visited the famous book cafe’ from where our most prestigious TV program on cultural events is sent. As we all love this place – I could not resist getting the most out of the visit by merging two of the rooms into one…
…and the bicycle, standing in another window in another room!
I hope you had some fun too, reading about our adventures. Just being together is a great joy, and playing board games is a wonderful way of using your spare time!
Lens – Artists Photo Challenge #75 – Nostalgic
I prefer the mystic clouds of nostalgia to the real thing, to be honest. – Robert Wyatt
Tina is hosting this week, and she wants us to be Nostalgic. This is a feeling that easily comes to me, touches me, just like tears do. Nostalgia is such a unique phenomenon because it fuses both positive and negative experiences and emotions.
The word nostalgia is a Greek compound, meaning ”homecoming”, a Homeric word, and ”pain” or ”ache”, and was coined by a 17th-century medical student to describe the anxieties displayed by Swiss mercenaries fighting away from home. Today its meaning is a bit different. So, my Nostalgic will be entirely about my own life.
I don’t have any digital photos of my grandmother, but my childhood was so much about her. My nostalgic memories always take me to her garden and the flowering apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, plum trees and …her sweet voice and contagious laughter.
I always make a distinction between nostalgia and sentimentality. Nostalgia is genuine – you mourn things that actually happened. – Pete Hamill
After my grandmother, my first Lagotto, Mille, evokes my nostalgic memories. He was such an impressive dog who hit all your senses already in the first blow. You did not stand a chance. He will be forever remembered by everyone who met him.
Tropical Pointer
Can you feel nostalgic about one single flower? I can! Many years ago I had a fantastic favorite orchid – a Cattleya hybrid, ”Tropical Pointer”. I had it for several years and it came back again and again with a multitude of flowers. I think of it as a He – don’t know why. He just flowered himself to death (if you can say it that way…). And like everything else in this world, you can never get the same thing twice. I kept searching for a new Tropical Pointer, in every garden center, in every country I visited, but new hybrids come every year – and the old ones are forgotten…
Nostalgia is a very human trait. – Stephanie Coontz
My beloved apple tree – a bit of a warden tree for this house (about 100 years old). Nostalgia hits me when looking at it in its former glory. You who follow my blog know it is the same tree (but lying down, 2019) in the Creepy post.
Finally, we had some foreign guests in town when the children played in different orchestras, some 15 years ago. A big meeting with other European countries brought a couple of young guys our way. They stayed at our house for some nights while the festivities lasted. This young man was an avid accordion player – every time I look at the photo, I can feel his love for music and for his instrument warming my heart.
In the header, one of the very few photos of my whole family together. Nostalgia over all those years we still traveled together, and how excited we were over reaching our dream – Tibet.
Thank you, Tina, for hosting this week instead of me! And, as always, Amy, Tina, Patti and I thank you for your continued support of our photo challenge.
Wordless Wednesday
A Masterpiece – Good Omens
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett wrote Good Omens, released 1990, when my daughter was born. So I missed out on it then. This summer my daughter and son made me read it, and we have watched the 6 piece adventure streamed from Amazon.
I simply LOVE it! The way I loved Narnia and JRR Tolkiens masterpiece about the Ring. But this one is hilariously funny as well. My student’s were more or less forced to read Gaiman’s books, but I was less into Pratchett. But now – I have to read him as well. This series is a tribute to Pratchett from Gaiman.
I totally fell in love with the series – with a master cast (Cumberbatch, Jacobi, Richardson, etc.) …and Queen’s music. Michael Sheen and David Tennant – they could not have chosen a more suitable pair for the leading parts of Aziraphale the angel and Crowley the demon.
For 6000 years they have known each other, and have come to love us humans…with all our faults and errors…so when Armageddon is nigh, they have an agreement to save the world together. No matter what their ”bosses” say. And important roles for the outcome are played by young children – at the age of 11. (When I grew up, they said 11 was a crucial age. You will see how…). A timely novel and movie indeed!
Now, just enjoy this, my favourite fan youtube clip – with Belinda Carlisle’s hit from my younger days: Heaven is A Place on Earth!
Lens-Artists Challenge #57 – Taking a Break
Once a year, go somewhere you have never been before – Dalai Lama
Tina allows us all to take a break this week, and I am just back from a lovely break together with my family. The best way for me to enjoy life!
We went to Denmark this weekend, the whole family, and watched the Danish wake-board championships together with many enthusiasts.
The weather was great, and the competitors skilled.
The only means of transport needed in summer!
Afterwards we decided to go for the sand sculpture exhibitions – and they were spectacular too. But, what I enjoyed the most, was being together with my children.
Find what brings you joy and go there. – Jan Phillips
On coming home this afternoon, I walk in my garden, among the flowers, listening to the late summer fluttering of tiny wings.
The Painted Lady is watching me, closely.
When she turns around, I admire her intricate outfit. And I feel good.
Welcome to join in the challenge!
Thursday Thoughts – Birthday
This June, my mother turned 84, and was celebrated at a renowned restaurant – a wonderful old farm by the name of Humlalyckan. In English that would translate into something like… Bumble Bee Happiness.
And yes – there might be two of them!
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #49 – Favorite Things
Our host this week, Patti, challenges us to show some of our own favorite things! They may be old or new – but all of us have favorites…
Many favorites have their own story, and some of my favorites are living things. In the header, a precious tulip I got from a collector, a friend of mine who sold his garden last year – he and his wife are now in their 80’s, and found it too hard to maintain it all.
Voltaire had Candide concluding, after all his travels around the world: Il faut cultiver notre jardin – ”We must cultivate our garden”.
And in my garden, I find the peace and magic I need when life gets too busy. I guess he was right, the old Voltaire…
Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened. ― Anatole France
My best friends ( maybe not ”things”… but…) – Totti and Milo – belong to my family, and therefore they are also my favorites, together with my other children. I grew up with animals – so living without them would be impossible.
The orchid is Mother Nature’s masterpiece. – Robyn.
I have kept my grandmother’s geraniums for more than 30 years, and they are my favorites as well. I can see her loving smile whenever I tend to them. The same feeling is there for other flowers I once got from old friends and relatives, now gone. But the orchids are something extra when it comes to beauty – first and foremost this delicate Cattleya, which has lived here for quite some years now. A glorious treat when in flower, filling the rooms with a delicious scent.
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.
―
Not to forget – books and pencils, of course… Favorites for reading, writing and sketching. Preferably outside of a dog…
Welcome to join in the fun! Remember to link your post here and tag it ”Lens-Artists” to help us find your post in the WP Reader.
Next week, it’s my, Ann Christine’s, turn to host the challenge, so be sure to visit!
Leya 
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