Leaving for Iceland for some days – only near Reykjavik this time. We will be spending some bathing time with friends. I just realized it is 10 years since our last visit. Hopefully this will mean some good times.
Wish you all a great weekend!
Thursday Thoughts
A Better Year to Come
I hope the world will see a better year, 2016, with peace and love in heart and mind. And I hope for a joyous, Happy New Year to you and yours!
My last post this year, is from my walk in the forest today. Contemplating 2015 and what will come with the new year. The sun spilled its glory from an almost clear sky – so – what better to do than spending the whole New Year’s Eve outdoors, hiking?
Freezing cold from the start…
…with the sun trying to reach over the tree tops.
Succeeding now and then – here from the south.
We had not walked here since the last great gale, and several times the path was totally covered in fallen trees.
The untouched parts were shimmering in the low, golden sun.
Some parts remained white and slippery, and my boys had to walk slowly not to fall into the mud.
Some of my favourite ice – in Sweden we call it håris (hair ice) – and if you look closely, you will understand why. (The header picture)
Heading home again, the sun setting and the real cold returning.
2016, we do not know what lies ahead of us, we can only hope, and work each one of us to make a better world for ourselves and for our fellow passengers on this planet.
The road may be uneven, slippery, narrow, filled with obstacles…but I want to believe there is a light shining us through. Safe travels!
4 Days to Go – Thursday Thoughts
Soon the winter solstice will be here. Much longed for, maybe more than ever this year. No snow – except for one single, great day – and many dark and drizzly days.
Here a series from one of the better days, this week in fact. Notice the play of warm and cold this time of the year. Warm colours if you turn in the direction of the thin rays of the sun – and the cold colours or darkness if you turn towards the sun itself.
One of my favourite spots in ”my” forest, is the passage between two of the grass meadows to the west. Here, Mille used to stand waiting for me by the big oak tree.
The other spot is on my way back from the open landscape to the forest path. The majestic beech trees all aglow with the last rays of the low sun. 2.30 pm.
Thursday Thoughts
My thoughts today are in Paris. Tomorrow is the last day of the Climate meeting, and an agreement MUST come. If there is no agreement signed – the Earth and mankind are as good as dead. All hope for the world gone. If the agreement is too weak – we are as good as dead anyway.
It should be very simple. In my own tiny sphere of the world, there is no snow anymore. Any living person in my neighbourhood can notice such simple facts. All the way up to the glaciers’ melting and the arctic areas dissolving, The polarbears starve and die. In fact they even drown because the ice is gone – it is from the ice they catch their food.
Don’t the leaders in the world have their own eyes…we really do not need any more research, any more scientists’ statements, anything…Just open our eyes and see – that the beautiful world we once had is no more. Stop blaming El niño, stop blaming each other, stop thinking only of oil and money and …Start doing! NOW. TOGETHER. It is as simple as that.
We only have this one planet, Earth. We have to save her. Don’t you think she is worth it?
Thursday Thoughts
I went to my school tonight, to visit the yearly Open House event. I do not know what I had expected, I guess I did not want to expect anything… did not want to get disappointed.
But they were there, my dear collegues and my sweet students. Many hugs and many of the students expressing how I was greatly missed. Wondering how and what I was doing now, when I would come back and …me wondering about them. Just before the Christmas vacation it’s usually rather tough – especially the second year. And those who will be flying next spring…I promised to come and see them take off, they are already fully fledged.
Old students who left our school last spring and some who left us several years ago – they come back, visiting. Surely this is the very best school to study at…because, why else would so many students return this day – and even other days during the year?
We are a big family. So, how can I leave? On a day like this I just feel all that Love rushing through my veins…I do love them all. All of them.
Thursday Thoughts
I could have written about yesterday’s heightened terror alarm in my country; I could have written about the new article on restistant bacteria; I could have written about the war – in so many countries and places in the world. But I will not do that. We are full up.
I support people every day. I need positive energy. We all do. I want to listen to the children and the young. I read articles on people miraculously saved, people who are coming back to life, children who have this life energy despite the world.
Yesterday on TV (I seldom watch TV, but have done so now to follow the terror attacks abroad and the news from our government), there was this young boy, aged 9, whose hands and face had been badly burnt when he was 5. Now he had met his idol, a young singer who also had been severely burnt some years ago, in a train accident – Axel Schylström, 23.
The boy, whose name I do not remember as I came in late in the program, was interviewed on his thoughts about what had happened to him, and how he had tackled his fate. And, what did he think about meeting his idol and why was Axel his idol?
The boy was only 5 when this happened…and at first it was very difficult for him – face and hands badly burnt. Now, he says, he loves playing TV- and computer games with his friends and in fact life is rather good. He has been operated on several times, and luckily his eyes are working and he can use his hands. He is smiling. ”Sometimes people look at me, but I have got used to it”, he says. ”I think that if they wonder what has happened to me – they should ask!”
So, he met his idol, Axel, a singer on the rise, and told the reporter afterwards that you can do anything despite what has happened to you. Axel is a living example of that.
Calm and too early grown-up, this 9-year-old looks into the camera and says: ”You don’t change because of this, you know, inside you are the same guy.”
Bild: Daniel Ohlsson/TV4 , Axel Schylström
Thursday Thoughts
So, it was raining and …not at all what we had hoped for. This fourth visit to China. As the days went by I adjusted my mind to the drizzle and the cold. What would I do to rewire my thinking and focus?
I started to focus on people and details. To lose myself in details would most certainly reduce the weather conditions to the margin of my thinking.
And China is a country of exquisite details. Walking into the Forbidden City, I had made my decision – this was not going to be an ordinary visit. My previous ones had been made in great awe and many photos had been taken of the splendour here.
I started to focus on the little things, and not the whole city and its buildings.
I focused on the magnificent marble bridges…
The vastness of the open spaces…
The 9 or 11 small protectors on the roofs…where the Emperor resided.
I saw my chances to for once – not rush, I had been here before – but to enjoy the people too. My chances…not to go with the crowd. ..but to turn around and look at everything they were rushing by.
Endless labyrinths – but my thoughts had made their way out of them.
I went to see the Imperial Garden and its wreathing branches. But the garden was so crowded that I could not walk there. Could not stand under the trees without being pushed and knocked around.
My thoughts…went flying up in the canopy…
…and down again. Restless. I imagined my forest at home. I tried desperately to find some peace, but had to admit that in this garden of extreme beauty, it was impossible.
I think I learned something new this day. Even in trivial issues, it is always possible to rewire, to think new, to accept and find new ways. Being a teacher is the synonym of flexibility and thinking new, but when it comes to traveling, I am not used to this much bad luck with the weather conditions – for so long a time. Maybe easily overcome for an ordinary trip, but for a long journey in a faraway country – more difficult.
I was very grateful I had been here before, seeing this ancient country in all its splendour. So, I recalled the Ditan park back then, in golden Ginko leaves, and the silent morning gymnastics.
It is a very special country, China.
Thursday Thoughts
Thinking. Coming back again from Riga, Latvia, and a trip back in time. To my childhood and my cats.
How I loved them…and most of all Måns. Måns was my favourite… and only Mine. He was shocking black, and he lived a short summer at my grandmother’s.
This is not my grandmother’s house…but it could have been…
This is not my grandmother, sitting outside her house, waiting for me…but in my dreams, she still is.
Her cat, Rose (Rosa in Swedish), was rather wild – but I didn’t realise that. I always felt sorry for her…having to stay outside and never coming indoors for some warmth and cuddling. So, one day I let her in.
I should never have done that…I should have listened to my grandmother’s words. Rose went totally wild and scared when let inside. Of course I had closed the door – didn’t want her to disappear out again. But she was in shock and fiercely climbing the curtains, scratching and screaming…
My grandmother came inside and let her out. She never said a word about it…because she knew my heart. This chaos was punishment enough…and I was so ashamed…
Strange, how faded memories come back to you, when triggered by something you somehow recognize or remember. A house, an atmosphere, a tune, a voice, a word, a place…a cat.
And suddenly those old memories seem crystal clear again. They are just lingering there, in the shadowy, hidden corners of your mind…waiting.
And isn’t that just wonderful.
Måns? He disappeared the same day my school started again after that summer vacation. Grandmother told me. He had followed my steps, down the road and away to school. Never to be seen again.
He was charcoal black.
Thursday Thoughts – Late
Slowing down means that I can have late, soft mornings if I like…but, I can also use the early mornings for hiking and reflecting.
Earlier this week there was an opportunity for a chilly, but sunny morning with no wind. I left my son at his job and went on to the wetlands I usually visit a couple of times each season.
The air was clear and cold, no wind, no sound.
I wondered if the birds had gone south all of them, or some would, like me, try to survive the harsh winter months. And…there they were…
When the fog lifted, I saw the cormorants – like old statues – sitting there, silently waiting.
When I was a child I was very fascinated by these spectacular birds…and I still am.
They are unreal, living statues…drying their wings.
Fascination. If you no longer can feel fascination or curiosity, I guess your life is… over.
When you look closer, but still cannot perceive the fog lifting or the morning light sifting through the leaves…
…when your first thought, walking through this morning forest no longer is: ”Why, this looks like powder snow!”…
…when you no longer stop to admire nature’s master weavers…
…or other little inhabitants on this Earth…
Then you are in danger of losing yourself…Your Self. I am so grateful I listened to my body and soul, realized where I was heading and took the consequences.
Think about it…Find your Self, do not lose yourself – if you have the possibility to choose.
Just think…this morning might not have been… mine.
Thursday Thoughts – A breathofgreenair
I have taken a year off, and tomorrow is, once again, my birthday. So, Time is a tiny bit more on my side this year…even if in fact time is more on the ”running out” side…
Life is difficult, strange and wonderful. You never know what is waiting around the corner – no matter what your plans are. My intention is to use Thursdays for writing down some reflections made the current week…on anything that comes my way. I hope you would like to join me!
A whole year off – or forever? I don’t know anything but the need for slowing down. Maybe searching for the woman I once was… I used to paint and write poetry before the wheel started spinning too fast. Could I find my way back to… anything of what I once was? Maybe i don’t know what I will find. I will know more in August next year.
I read two posts on Seonaid’s blog this morning – breathofgreenair. Her posts always lift my spirits. She has that effect on me (and many others) – It’s the harmony, her way with words…and magical photography.
We met up in August last year, and in August again this year. From the start, I came to see the Tattoo, but deep in my heart I knew that for me, it was mostly to see Seonaid and her family again. To my great joy, she could have us for one day and one night.
Edinburgh is a great city, and I dearly love everything about it. Even in festival times, even if I’m not a real festival person…I used to avoid big happenings like parties and events. Somehow, as years go by, you are more or less forced to get used to them.
An hour or two is great fun, especially as Edinburgh city has got – Harry Potter!
I had two wishes, where the first one was a day out – to some of the beautiful places Seonaid weaves her stories around. Just to feel the atmosphere, letting her words come back to me. My second wish was to meet her lovely dogs again. My Bearded Collie, Amanda, left me in the year 2000, but I will never forget her. She was in colour just like Maisie and Willow. And her coat flying in the wind…
The fresh air against my skin and the joy of the dogs running free with the winds and waves…make me come alive and remembering.
I think we all enjoyed this, and I’m forever grateful to Seonaid and her girls.
It wasn’t that easy to get all three of them in the same picture – but here they are! Maisie, Willow and Molly.
Seonaid told me that on all beaches in Scotland, dogs are allowed to run free anytime of the year! Oh, the joy! In Sweden dogs are only allowed during winter time and for the rest of the year only on special ”dog beaches”.
Just before leaving Scotland, Edinburgh and this lovely family, we made a quick visit to the green oak forest as well. Of course the dogs found their way to cool water. This time floating in a river of sunny spots.
I cannot thank you enough for having us and giving us some of your precious time, Seonaid! I found a piece of my old self again, and I left a piece of my heart with you, your family and Scotland.
Leya 
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