summer in THE city

it’s summer, it’s hot and a lovely, fat, long weekend is stretching ahead of me – berlin, here i am! ready to rock ‘n roll and have fun!

the days are getting shorter …

… and my time is spent more and more indoors, with lovely cups of tea, cookies and knitting hats, armwarmers and scarves for everyone and sundry

daffodils again

two springs ago, i posted wordsworth’s daffodils, which is one of my favourite poems – and today want to add another daffodil poem to the list of favorite spring poems – to me this is wordsworth updated – hughes takes the wordsworthian daffodil ideal and turns it into a beautiful love poem – i like it very much

Daffodils by Ted Hughes

Remember how we picked the daffodils?
Nobody else remembers, but I remember.
Your daughter came with her armfuls, eager and happy,
Helping the harvest. She has forgotten.
She cannot even remember you. And we sold them.
It sounds like sacrilege, but we sold them.
Were we so poor? Old Stoneman, the grocer,
Boss-eyed, his blood-pressure purpling to beetroot
(It was his last chance,
He would die in the same great freeze as you) ,
He persuaded us. Every Spring
He always bought them, sevenpence a dozen,
‘A custom of the house’.

Besides, we still weren’t sure we wanted to own
Anything. Mainly we were hungry
To convert everything to profit.
Still nomads-still strangers
To our whole possession. The daffodils
Were incidental gilding of the deeds,
Treasure trove. They simply came,
And they kept on coming.
As if not from the sod but falling from heaven.
Our lives were still a raid on our own good luck.
We knew we’d live forever. We had not learned
What a fleeting glance of the everlasting
Daffodils are. Never identified
The nuptial flight of the rarest epherma-
Our own days!
We thought they were a windfall.
Never guessed they were a last blessing.
So we sold them. We worked at selling them
As if employed on somebody else’s
Flower-farm. You bent at it
In the rain of that April-your last April.
We bent there together, among the soft shrieks
Of their jostled stems, the wet shocks shaken
Of their girlish dance-frocks-
Fresh-opened dragonflies, wet and flimsy,
Opened too early.

We piled their frailty lights on a carpenter’s bench,
Distributed leaves among the dozens-
Buckling blade-leaves, limber, groping for air, zinc-silvered-
Propped their raw butts in bucket water,
Their oval, meaty butts,
And sold them, sevenpence a bunch-

Wind-wounds, spasms from the dark earth,
With their odourless metals,
A flamy purification of the deep grave’s stony cold
As if ice had a breath-

We sold them, to wither.
The crop thickened faster than we could thin it.
Finally, we were overwhelmed
And we lost our wedding-present scissors.

Every March since they have lifted again
Out of the same bulbs, the same
Baby-cries from the thaw,
Ballerinas too early for music, shiverers
In the draughty wings of the year.
On that same groundswell of memory, fluttering
They return to forget you stooping there
Behind the rainy curtains of a dark April,
Snipping their stems.

But somewhere your scissors remember. Wherever they are.
Here somewhere, blades wide open,
April by April
Sinking deeper
Through the sod-an anchor, a cross of rust

tuesday …

… is not gray, but sunny and no one broke my heart today at all – but tuesday i fall in love – this tuesday especially – five minutes at the library were quite enough and now there’s a new man in my life, a new príncipe, if you will – let’s call him príncipe bibliotecario for the moment, which will be quite sufficient – my strange fascination with guys working at libraries can only be natural for a phd candidate in literary studies, who’d rather spend her money in a bookstore than a fashion haven

and this was a special moment we shared – he took my books back and checked out the new ones, while i chatted about the incredible amount of library books which have turned into permanent lodgers at my apartment, a phenomenon i’ve known intimately ever since i became a phd student – then he asked what i did a phd in and that he’s just finishing his degree and going on to do a phd with my advisor as well – we got to talking about phds, allergies and the lovely weather and only a friend, who waited outside with my bike, could tear me away – príncipe bibliotecario has red hair – it’s like i made him up, someone interested in the same things i am, with red hair, a sweet temper and a dimpled smile – almost too good to be true and very good for me and my slightly waning crush on someone else, also working in a library – oh dear, i can see a pattern there … and let’s hope friday is quite as nice as today as well

good morning, snow flake

walking home in the early morning hours with the boys through a snow flurry is very amusing indeed

musical birds

sunday saunterings

sundays are best for day trips to amazing places near your home – last week i finally made it to the wartbug – world famous and pretty amazing – it is situated upon a hill, which you reach after a twenty-minute hike through the autumn forrest – perfect for a sunny sunday afternoon, when the leaves are falling and life is beautiful

this sunday was a journey back to childhood – to the wild animal park sababurg – i used to be there all the time, when i was a child and it was pretty damn great to be back and to remember happy days from long ago

that’s me tomorrow

hay making

summer living – summer loving

the past week has been hot and sweaty – too hot to move, too hot to worry, too hot to do anything but lie low and read a good book – but ever since a nice thunder and lightning storm life and the city have cooled down – i would love to spend the day lazing about, reading with my back against a tree or, oddly enough, a tombstone, going to the lake for a swim and making smoothies – but i do have loads to do – like writing a phd, which i seem not to be doing at all at the moment, due to extensive planning sessions for a six week research trip to yorkshire in two weeks time – hostel bookings, train fare checks and flight information are foremost on my mind – but, yorkshire, yay!

on such sunny days, even being confused in love does not matter – life is beautiful – and life will be even better tomorrow – tomorrow i’ll be in the city by the sea – i deeply long for the salty smell of the sea, dipping my feet into the water and chilling with a group of crazy friends – sounds like total summer feeling to me

this is hell

being sick during summer is about the worst thing to happen – but being sick on a day like today, when the temperatures rise beyond anything bearable, you haven’t slept all night due to having been to the toilet every 15 minutes and a hot water bottle on your tummy is simply out of the question, makes life seem about closest to hell you can get

spring is loath to come along …

… so you better bring spring yourself – how about some tissue paper blossoms? – easy to make and an awesome decoration for any kind of party – you could put them on a string and make a pretty garland or you could confetti them on the table – go wild and crazy and have a happy day

garden collection @ h&m

it’s mine, mine, mine – sold out and mine!

parents are wonderful

my parents called yesterday and asked if they could drop by to drop something off – it turns out they wanted to drop off a new bike, they had bought for me – very wonderful, a new bike in time for spring – it’s perfection

good morning!

can’t believe i’m awake already and have been for quite a while and am not totall tired and feeling sick and weak, like i’ve felt for the past few days – i take it spring tiredness is over for now – happy spring

next year will be fantastic

flyin’ away over the city

showerin’ in confetti

singin’ in the rain

dancin’ in the park

enjoyin’ the summer

jumpin’ through the year

o canada

yes! what a game – sorry, no football game ever came close to that feeling – my heart stopped about twenty-thousand times during those last few minutes – so fast, so good and so exciting – hockey was my first love and i’ll not forget that again – o canada, we stand on guard for thee and i miss thee dearly

spring fever

it is time for winter to finally give way for spring and sunshine and flowers growing everywhere – there’s a storm overhead tonight and it feels like the winter gets finally blown away – i’ve been feeling very much like a daisy lately, trying to bloom and reaching for the sun despite winter’s fierce coldness – so this is a last goodbye to winter – i love you and i’ll see you again in about eight months

so, let’s fly to the land of illusions, welcome spring and be as happy as can be – spring fever’s in the air, so definitely i am almost certain to catch it and be very much infected and considerably heart-broken in the end – but it’s worth every minute and second

skating 2010

just what i always dreamed of – figure skating with david

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

skating around the world

i love ice skating and here’s a list of all the locations i’ve always wanted to go skating at

canary wharf, london – closest thing to a frozen thames – add a mulled wine and some fish and chips for total happiness

rockefeller center, new york – skating inbetween the world’s talles buildings before chilling in a cocktail bar off 5th avenue and going for dinner in chinatown

the canal, ottawa – in view of the parliament and the château laurier towards the river and freedom – a cup of cocoa and a beaver tail afterwards

hey i’m in love

sun is shining, spring is in the air and flirting is fun!