fredag 30 april 2010

Reading today

Lady reading in a parkland
Edward Radford Arws
1831-1920

torsdag 29 april 2010

Reading today

The Reading Lesson
Gladys Rockmore Davis
1901-1967

onsdag 28 april 2010

Reading today

Girl Reading
Franz Eybl
1805-1880

tisdag 27 april 2010

Reading today

The Young Connoisseur, c. 1895
Paul-César Helleu, 1859-1927

måndag 26 april 2010

Reading today

Time for a Fairytale
Axel Törneman
1880-1925

söndag 25 april 2010

Reading today

Woman Reading a Book by the Window
Delphin Enjolras
1857-1945

lördag 24 april 2010

...when life's alive in everything

The goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) is coming in full force. I wish the Spring was as eager to join us!
A couple of weeks ago we had some lovely afternoons in the sun — but since then it has been too cold, even for us fresh-air-fanatics, to spend any time on the veranda.
Today started out gorgeous, but cold — the nights are still quite cold, usually under the freezing point.


Spring
Frost-locked all the winter,
Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits,
What shall make their sap ascend
That they may put forth shoots?
Tips of tender green,
Leaf, or blade, or sheath;
Telling of the hidden life
That breaks forth underneath,
Life nursed in its grave by Death.
.
Blows the thaw-wind pleasantly,
Drips the soaking rain,
By fits looks down the waking sun:
Young grass springs on the plain;
Young leaves clothe early hedgerow trees;
Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits,
Swollen with sap put forth their shoots;
Curled-headed ferns sprout in the lane;
Birds sing and pair again.
.
There is no time like Spring,
When life's alive in everything,
Before new nestlings sing,
Before cleft swallows speed their journey back
Along the trackless track---
God guides their wing,
He spreads their table that they nothing lack,---
Before the daisy grows a common flower,
Before the sun has power
To scorch the world up in his noontide hour.
.
There is no time like Spring,
Like Spring that passes by;
There is no life like Spring-life born to die,---
Piercing the sod,
Clothing the uncouth clod,
Hatched in the nest,
Fledged on the windy bough,
Strong on the wing:
There is no time like Spring that passes by,
Now newly born, and now
Hastening to die.
............ Christina Rossetti

Reading today

Library 10
Hong Kyong Tack
Korean, 1968

fredag 23 april 2010

torsdag 22 april 2010

Reading today

Reading a Book, 1872-3
James Tissot
1836-1902

onsdag 21 april 2010

Reading today

In the Library
Auguste Coomans
Belgian, 1855-1896

tisdag 20 april 2010

Reading today

Reading by the Brook, 1879
Winslow Homer

måndag 19 april 2010

Reading today

Libray, c. 1945
Jacob Lawrence
1917-2000

söndag 18 april 2010

Reading today

Portrait of a Boy Reading, 1913
Edmund Charles Tarbell
1862-1938

lördag 17 april 2010

Reading today

Subway Portraits (Two Women Reading a Newspaper)
Hayley Lever, 1876-1958

fredag 16 april 2010

Reading today

A Girl Reading
John Constable

torsdag 15 april 2010

Reading today

Reading
Annie Gooding Sykes
1855-1931

onsdag 14 april 2010

Reading today

Reading monks
Ernst Barlach
1870-1938

tisdag 13 april 2010

Reading today

Afternoon Reading
Fernand Toussaint
c. 1873-1955

måndag 12 april 2010

Reading today

Woman Reading, c. 1950
Gershon Benjamin, 1899-1985

söndag 11 april 2010

Alive, if not exactly kicking

A High Kicking Dancer
Ferdinand von Reznicek
not this high anyway. But my legs, are moving slowly — just like the rest of the body.
Some of you have written and asked if I'm OK.
There are several reason that I've been so remiss in blogging. Brain fog and lack of energy are a couple of reasons, but also having workmen here and trying not to miss several appointments.



Spring is here and we've been sitting outside all afternoon today — for the first time this year. My darling loves when the door is open and he can come and go as he likes. And I love to watch him, when he's sniffing in the air, and checking out every square inch of his property.






If you wonder if I'm alive, you can always check my Swedish blog — and get Google's version of my life. I can't guarantee that you'll understand the translation, but I can guarantee some confusion and a chuckle or two.

Reading today

The Word Eater, 1788
James Gillray, 1757-1815

lördag 10 april 2010

Reading today

The novel reader
Vincent van Gogh


fredag 9 april 2010

Reading today

Boy reading from The Vallardi Album
Antonio Pisanello, c 1395- probably 1455

torsdag 8 april 2010

onsdag 7 april 2010

Reading today

Still Life with Red Roses, c. 1931
Samuel John Peploe, 1871-1935

tisdag 6 april 2010

Finally

Most of the snow is gone.
Most of the ice on the river is gone.
A few, very few, flowers have dared to come up.
The darling is spending more time outside than in — and his waist is starting to show.
It is Spring!

We have had quite an assortment of workmen coming and going — going more than coming. The plumber left us with water only in the kitchen and one toilet, and no shower, before Easter. And remember that Sweden closes on the evening of Maundy Thursday and is closed until Tuesday morning! It was bad planning, not an emergency, a job planned in advance! But this morning two nice guys came and put up the new shower and gave us the water back. Now we're waiting for the carpenter to turn up again — he was here before Easter to remove the threshold, to make it easier for my mother to move around with her walker. But he disappeared with the plumber — perhaps he needs the moral support from his friend to be able to work...
We have waited so long for this to happen, I do hope something will happen very soon. We're also waiting for workmen to install a stairway elevator, but fear we have to wait some more


Reading today

Girl with Book with Roses Behind
Sir Edward Burne-Jones

måndag 5 april 2010

Reading today

Barthold Georg Niebuhr
German artist

söndag 4 april 2010

Reading today

Girl Reading
Alfred Emile Stevens
1823-1906

lördag 3 april 2010

Reading today

Readers
Jean Raoux
1677-1734

fredag 2 april 2010

Reading today

Silent Advocates of Temperence, 1891
Edward George Handel Lucas
1861-1936

torsdag 1 april 2010

Reading today

Portrait of an Elderly Woman, 1603
Aert Pietersz
Dutch, c. 1550-1612