Happy New Year ya'll

Let it fly tonight!

Whatchamacallit VIII

One package of spark-fountains,
to pimp the flower-box.

Three party poppers from last year,
inside should be at least five pieces of confetti.

Two rainbow paper streamers,
will be blown and draped around the rubber plant in about three minutes.

(This is fun! Let's rummage through some more drawers
and see what else I can find...)

Oh my! Seven temporary tattoos!

Trivia At Night III

There's this new toilet paper in our bathroom.
On the packaging there's a drawing of
a pink flower
attached to a brown branch
which pokes through the hole of a bog roll.

Artistic assumptions anyone?

Secret Santa

Three, five centimeter, sand-filled fish ornaments I made for the annual "Has to be handmade!" Julklapp at the University. They turned out to be a success and I'll make a larger one today, from whats left of the fabric, for a sea-loving family member for Christmas.

 

©fish

Beautiful Books: Du är inte klok Madicken

 

Madicken (or Madita as we say in my country) was my favourite children's book growing up, and is still amongst my most beloved. The plot is set around two sisters, seven year old Madita and five year old Lisabet Engström, living with their parents and a housemaid (Alva) in the 1910's in the suburbs of a Swedish town. It is one of Astrid Lindgren's most charming books, celebrating a carefree childhood.

The Engström family is middle class. They live in a manor called "June Hill", are well dressed and -mannered and have a good standing with the mayor's family (whom they don't necessarily see eye to eye with). Jonas, the father, works as senior editor at the local newspaper, has a bit of a sarcastic streak and is involved in communal charity work. Kajsa is a very elegant stay at home mum as accustomed in these days. Madita's best friend, next to her classmate (and former nemesis) Mia, is the 14 year old Abbe Nilsson who lives across the river with his parents. They are a working class family and from them, Madita learns what it is like to live without the privileges that come with having money. She enjoys the Nilsson's company and different lifestyle enormously (and secretly wishes to marry Abbe, who's taking her on adventurous undertakings every once in a while and is the best storyteller in the world.)

The story features a wide variety of people and social situations Madita is learning from. And the child-reader is learning along with her. Astrid Lindgren never shakes a monitory finger though, the "lessons" come along naturally, side by side with climbing up the woodshed roof, telling off the schoolmaster, meeting ghosts in the washhouse, hearing about trolls in the woods or welcoming a new sibling at christmas. The book is completed with illustrations by Ilon Wikland, one of the finest artists I've encountered, with great attention to detail.
If you're fortunate to have had a (mostly) easygoing childhood, you will recognize a great deal of your own story within the book. I'm very happy to say, I do. And reading it, I feel like being seven again.

Trivia At Night II

Baking powder is a really imprecise term for a specific ingredient.

Essentially anything powdery one uses for baking is baking powder.

Sex and the Jazz

When you look back on SEX AND THE CITY, the series that supposedly changed the way women talk about sex, there's quite a lot to think about. What character you possibly identified with, what outfits you loved, the various glamorous locations, lots of delightfully ironic dialogues, the guys that passed trough, the guys that stuck around... 

But one of the crucial points in any television series (or any cinematic experience for that matter), apart from all the above, is indeed the soundtrack. Of course one can't go wrong with present-day music, especially when it's a present-day setting; everybody recognises the songs, there's a wide variaty of moods to choose from, easy and popular.
One could also go with a funky golden oldie selection. Or self composed melodies.

So what distinguishes this particular series from many others are infact the very cleverly interspersed syncopated tunes. If you happen to like jazz and funky rhythms it should be a no-brainer. If not, you'll still be able to catch on to the jazz-generated feeling. Cool drinks, sparkling dresses, smoky bars, urban nights. And so SEX AND THE CITY manages to transform the contemporary New York into a Town with a reminiscence of people who used to dress up with waistcoats and watch fobs, where smoking used to be chic and you could find yourself sitting next to Ella Fitzgerald on a bar stool.  What a pleasant and classic experience to have had within the main stream!