Thursday Thoughts

Thursday Thoughts – Summer in May

/ Leya / 29 kommentarer

Strange – Summer in May – 30 degrees C today

Late evening biking by the sea – not a cloud in four weeks

Swimmers everywhere, enjoying the coolness of it

Past the old Blekinge cottages – just have to stop for a photo. Love these…

Picking buttercups

Back at our own beach – 23 degrees C, still 10 degrees more than normal temperature

Completely calm sunset and not a mosquito – yet

Bathing – water 18 degrees. Lovely of course, but

– I do not know if I like it – or not. This month of May was the hottest and driest ever in Sweden. And we are not alone. In July this could have been possible though…

On the news they said our newborn storks will starve to death, and I guess that applies to many birds and other animals who only eat living things. There are no frogs, and the worms are digging deep to survive. The birds cannot reach them.

Please let there be rain. And, what about Africa.

 

Thursday Thoughts – Fog Fantasy

/ Leya / 12 kommentarer

Is it not the strangest thing what fog can do to how you perceive nature and mood?

The header photo and the photo above were taken only a minute or two between them.

Walking along lake Vättern – The same minutes passing between these two.

And when the sun comes shining through – I turn around to meet – this view!

 

Nature is a master of moods.

Thursday Thoughts – The End of the Journey

/ Leya / 12 kommentarer

At the end of this journey – I send my love to the mountains and valleys of Bhutan…

to all its beautiful dzongs and chortens…

to its pristine rural landscapes…

to the beauty of its religion and traditions…

to its lovely flowers and trees…

to its loving people…

and beautiful art…

to its healthy stone baths…

to its humorous games…

and to its beautiful children.

And my sincere gratefulness to our excellent guides, who really went out of their way to show us everything and to share their immense knowledge of the country and its people.

 

The lovely Jenny Adhikari (left) – find her here: https://www.beyondbordersnepal.com

And our eminent local guide, Rinzen (so sorry I never got his last name!). Thank you also for answering all our strange questions and spending precious time in the evenings to explain about life in Bhutan, its customs and religion!

We travelled happily with https://www.varldensresor.se/resor/himalaya/askdrakens-rike

 

Have you missed out on some posts in this Bhutan series – most of them are here :

On the Wings of the Dragon

Paro Tsechu

WPC: Awakening

Thursday Thoughts from Bhutan

The Streets of Paro

Rinpung Dzong – Bhutan and Its People

I Had a Dream Tonight

Walking Home – Slow Contemplation

Thursday Thoughts – 108 Chortens and a Himalayan Panorama

The Divine Madman

Saving the World, and the Contents of a Pouch

A Dancing Traffic Light

Man’s Best Friend – For Real

Thursday Thoughts – Beyond Beauty

The Holy Chele La Pass

Guess Who?

Thursday Thoughts – Thimpu in My Heart

Thursday Thoughts – Taktshang Goemba, or Tiger’s Nest

 

 

 

Thursday Thoughts – Meeting The World’s Oldest Blogger

/ Leya / 53 kommentarer

Today I went to Health Sciences Centre, Lund, to attend the press invitation to the Gerontology Award of 2018.  My friend, Professor Susanne Iwarsson, introduced us to PhD students and their research in gerontology, and also to the award winning lady, Dagny Carlsson, aged 105.

Just imagine…she was born the same year Titanic went down…

Dagny is a witty and tough lady, who also is the world’s oldest blogger – or so we think… And her wit as well as her blogging are part of the reasons to why she won this prize. Dagny started blogging at the age of 99 – and today she has reached an almost iconic status in Sweden. Check out her blog here:

http://www.123minsida.se/Bojan/99578361

Only some of her achievements: On TV she has been a guest in at least ten shows, she was awarded ”Swede of the Week”, she was one of the Summer Talk guests on Radio P1 Sweden 2017, she was given a part in a movie last year and she has also written a book titled ”Life According to Dagny”. Two days ago she payed a visit to our King and Queen – and she said she liked them very much. Nothing strange with meeting them, Dagny smiles.

http://www.kristianstadsbladet.se/kristianstad/dagny-traffade-kungen-och-drottningen/

Dagny Carlsson was awarded also because she is an inspiration to us all. To elderly people she is the living evidence of a possible long and active life, as well as technology to be mastered even beyond the age of 100. Her experience from Swedish history through 105 years remains a valuable source from which we all can learn, and she continues to be a significant elderly person in Swedish culture.

I am proud to have met her. (Just a reminder…Dagny is the lady on the right side…)

Dagny, 103 years old, at the Skavlan show – but this spring she will turn 106!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Bikes of Any Kind

/ Leya / 10 kommentarer

 

I loved meeting this happy guy last summer – and he let me take a photo of him and his old military bike. So I guess it fits Cee’s ”bikes of any kind”.

 

 

 

Thursday Thoughts – Why you should go see this movie…

/ Leya / 10 kommentarer

The Death of Stalin (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/)

Director: Armando Iannucci

 

“The distribution certificate for the film The Death of Stalin has been withdrawn,” a culture ministry spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse.

Russia’s Communist party, the second largest party in parliament, has called the film, which revolves around the vicious infighting that followed Stalin’s death in 1953, “a form of psychological pressure against our country”.

Nadezhda Usmanova, head of the Russian Military-Historical Society’s department of information, told Reuters that the film was “despicable”. “It’s a bad film, it’s a boring film, and it’s vile, repugnant and insulting,” Usmanova said.

Just looking at these few quotes -made us watch this movie. A word of warning though, the laughs are not as frequent as the trailer may portray, but if you’re in any way into war comedy based on true events in history, you should go. And if you, like me, have forgotten a great deal about Russian history since leaving school, and maybe believe that much of this is applicable on today’s politics/society – (and not only in Russia…) what are you waiting for? Just go see it.

This film had to walk on thin ice to balance Comedy, Seriousness and Satire.. And in my opinion it does so – Brilliantly. The actors all do a great job, and I ended up searching more facts for hours afterwards. Good. That is just the way it should be.

The Death of Stalin, which picked up four British Independent Film awards last year, stars Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin’s successor, and Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet diplomat. Zhukov is played by Jason Isaacs.

 

 

Thursday Thoughts – Strong Women

/ Leya / 27 kommentarer

Today I woke up to a wonderland in white – the most beautiful morning this winter.

International Women’s Day

The whole garden soft and soundless – and today was the funeral for Marie.

Somehow it seemed so right that she was given the most beautiful, this magically soft light, her last day.

She was a strong and remarkable woman. Warm, creative and so full of life – she will always be remembered, never forgotten. Thank you, Marie, for being my friend.

Thursday Thoughts – Bratonia Toscane

/ Leya / 13 kommentarer

You who know me, know my love for orchids. In flower now is Bratonia Toscane –

a delicate dancer in my room.

As I am testing my new camera, I took a series of shots from different angles and in different light. The first two against the TV, then moved to the window for the other two.

I even tried Nik on this last one. Which one do you prefer?