CFFC: Rain or Rainbows

For Cee this week – Rain or Rainbows – luckily I found both!

And I could not resist my pretty little Swiss girls either – surely they are little rainbows both of them?

March 20 – the End of Winter

Spring Equinox started off with more snow during the early morning hours.

Later in the day, sun and a couple of degrees above zero. Cold wind, but birds singing – not very convincingly though. A tiny wren ventured out of the heap of last years’ lavender, when the shadow of a kite swooping down made me let Totti out – to save the smaller birds from this giant.

Winter, ”Kung Bore” we call him in Sweden, hasn’t lost his grip yet.

Did You Notice? We Had a Sunny Day!

We actually did! And almost no wind…Even the sheep could not believe their eyes…

About the temperature,…in fact,  it was about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday.

 

mmm

mmm

mmm

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

 

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’s Special: Traces of the Past Y4-03

For Paula at Lost in Translation.

 

This is the Roman bridge in Verzasca valley, Switzerland. In fact, my favorite bridge – in a very special and surprising landscape. A real treasure of the past.

 

Thursday Thoughts – Why you should go see this movie…

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

 

“The distribution certificate for the film The Death of Stalin has been withdrawn,” a culture ministry spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse.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

 

 

WPC: I’d Rather Be…

Krista’s challenge…where/what would I rather be/doing…is quite easily answered, but then again – maybe not. It is not easy to pick some special activities among so many interesting things I like to do.

In the header is one of the last pictures of my Dream Garden, that used to belong to an old couple I have known for many years. Last summer their garden was sold, and those who bought it, immediately changed it for ever. I’d rather be with my old friends in their fantastic garden – but I know this dream belongs to the past.

Generally I am rather happy as I am…but here are some more suggestions:

I might rather be…walking the streets of Rome, enjoying its history while passing old and abandoned buildings.

I’d rather be attending interesting exhibitions…

And I’d rather be hiking new and exciting landscapes…

But, most of all, I’d rather be walking my everyday paths in the forest, with Totti. Hopefully, in some weeks, finding the forest floor exploding with white wood anemonies. Oh, the joy!