The new pool
There was excitement in the air.
A hint of anticipation after the endless rain and grey clouds.
At last, they could go out and enjoy themselves!
They gathered up their friends and children, packed their swimming things…
… and set off to find the new pool.
Rumour had it that it was large, set in beautiful surroundings and that the water was just the right temperature.
……
……
…..
……
Come on in – the water’s lovely!
For more amusing pets, please visit: Pet Pride.
How to relax…
Even Dark Lords have to have a day off from doing evil deeds and trying to take over the world!
Flushed with flattery
Why yes – you’re looking lovely today!
We could all do with a compliment now and then – so remember to pay yourself one today, and to be kind to others.
Motto of the day: Don’t be yourself today – be someone nicer and more compassionate!
Grey is the new light
My small slice of the world has been wrapped up in soft grey tissue paper.
And sprinkled now and then with pearls. In this case, the luminous moonstone white of the swans bobbing upside down in search of food.
And just when I think the soft grey clouds are winning, I catch sight of a splash of tinsel, a dab of gold.
We have to embrace the grey too. After all, it is a part of life’s mosaic.
And look – the soft grey pastel tones have a near-magical quality!
What greys will you embrace today?
To see other colourful parts of the world, please visit: That’s My World!
Keeping abreast with technology
Sir Pe sent me this funny article, which I thought I would share with you while my brain is on vacation.
Apple strikes again!
Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that can store and play music. The iTit will cost from $499 to $699, depending on cup and speaker size.
This is considered a major social breakthrough because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.
Facebook funnies
Sometimes Facebook is full of statuses about what we have for lunch, where we are headed and who we are meeting. And that’s fine!
And sometimes, people post something so funny that it just has to be shared!
Here are three golden nuggets for you to enjoy:
“If you get bird flu, you need tweet-ment. If you get swine flu, you need oink-ment.”
“Menstruation, menopause.. and mental breakdown! Have you noticed how all women’s problems start with ‘men’?”
“Don’t you find it interesting that after Monday (M) and Tuesday (T), the rest of the week spells WTF?”
Hidden beauty
November is a dull grey month in Sweden. The sun has forgotten how to shine and the trees softly drop their burden of leaves.
And yet, in secret nooks and crannies, hidden along untrodden paths, you can find spots of beauty.
The smile of a friend, the laughter of a child or a bridge made out of leaves.
Even those familiar spots that I visit daily suddenly look different, clothed as they are in the soft November light, and shining with their carpet of gold.
Perhaps November isn’t such a dull month after all … if we can only remember to see.
What hidden beauty will you uncover in your life today?
To see more beauty around the world, please visit: That’s My World!
It’s a dog’s life
It’s about time I told you the story of how we came to have a dog called Oscar. You see, on Monday Oscar turns seven, so I thought we’d celebrate with his story (and a few tasty dog biscuits).
Oscar in 2007 when we first met him
Let’s turn the clock back two and a half years ago…
As I work from home quite a lot, I had answered an ad to be a dog sitter for a dog you all know (Frodo), so that he wouldn’t be at home all alone while his owners worked. Frodo comes from local dog breeders, who are famous for their beautifully-coloured working golden retrievers. The breeders had five or six dogs at that time, one of them being Frodo’s dad, Oscar. (Yes – our Oscar!)
Oscar was one of their stud dogs and his puppies were always booked up long in advance because people just fell in love with his sweet and generous nature. Unfortunately, he didn’t like living in a big flock of dogs and was getting more and more stressed.
Frodo’s owners brought him home, but as Oscar was very worried and followed them around all the time – he never seemed to be able to relax – they decided not to add him to their family.
That’s when they suggested that I go over to the breeders to meet him.
So, I did.
Although only a couple of weeks before, we had decided as a family not to get a dog until the kids were old enough to come home from school by themselves and walk the dog.
I didn’t tell Sir Pe, but took the kids out to the breeders. They were lovely as were all their dogs, especially a handsome 4.5-year-old called Oscar. I decided to bring him home for the weekend to see if he really was as sweet as everyone said he was.
On returning home, I did what any sane parent would have done: I made the kids go in first with the dog and explain to Sir Pe that he was spending the weekend with us! When Sir Pe wanted to take Oscar back at the end of the weekend, we all burst out crying.
And that’s how we ended up with one of the kindest, gentlest and most patient dogs you’re ever likely to meet.
Big thanks to Bozo over at Pet Pride for featuring Oscar this week to celebrate his birthday!
Days! Not daze… but definitely dazed!
Confused and dazed? Me too – especially by that post title that just seemed to have written itself. Honest!
Anyway, your sleepless nights and nail biting are at an end. Finally! (You’re welcome!)
Yesterday, I asked you which Michael Jackson song had these lyrics: Doodley daze before…
Only one person even dared to guess: way to go Wandering the world! (Make sure you check out her blog if you haven’t done so. She’s a funny globe-trotting blogger!) The song isn’t Billie Jean, but here are some more clues. (Update: Louise from Carmine Superiore also guessed, but not correctly.)
It starts off like this:
Hee-Hee!
Ooh!
Go On Girl!
Aaow!
They don’t write deep lyrics like this anymore!
Still dazed? Well, apparently Doodle-y Daze (actually, that’s days) is really: My lonely days are gone.
That’s right: you’ve guessed it now, haven’t you?
………
………
……..
Without further ado or nonsense, please enjoy Michael Jackson singing ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’!
(If you listen carefully, it really does sound as if he is singing: Doodle-y days…)
Doodle-y what?
All families play their own versions of games, and we are no exception. As both of the anklebiters are very musical, one of their favourite games is to hum a tune while the rest of us have to guess artist and title.
Sometimes, we need a clue in the form of the artist’s name.
Sometimes even that doesn’t help…
… and then we get further clues in the form of song lyrics.
Like this:
Doodle-y daze before!
Can you guess artist and song title from these lyrics? (Yes – apparently the lyrics are: Doodley daze before…)
I didn’t think so…
…..
Neither could we, not even when we were given the artist’s name.
So – can you guess the title of the Michael Jackson song that anklebiter #2 entertained us with?
We couldn’t…
The winner(s) will get cosmic kudos, fame and fortune (Oh wait – I lied about the fortune bit!) and a shout-out in tomorrow’s post!
Red wooden jewel
This lovely wooden church stands gracious and glows with colour in Uppland, about an hour’s drive north of us.
The yellow box hanging so wonkily from its red fence is a post box.
Seems as if the church is a collecting point for letters as well as for souls.
And after 500 years or so, the church is still glowing like a ruby.
For more interesting perspectives of our world, please visit: My World!
Stuck
I wonder how this poor cat got stuck up that tree? Can you see it – its silhouette dark against the bright branches?
I don’t want to point any fingers…
… but I have a pretty good idea who might be behind this…
A certain someone who looks as if he was innocently enjoying a long walk…
Who - me? I'm innocent!
If he is innocent though – why the guilty look?
For more innocent pets, please visit: Pet Pride!
If you go down to the woods…
Breaking news: upturned dinosaur claw discovered in the woods this morning!
What treasures will you discover this weekend?
Shantaram: love it or hate it
Summer was a time for early morning reading outside with bird song, sunshine, a cup of coffee and a dog. Now that darkness and cool air have moved in, my reading time seems to have dwindled. Well, I guess that having to work might have something to do with it too…
And read I did. Lots of books – big thick ones the height of fluffy pillows and the weight of small elephants. And Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is no exception. In fact, this was probably the longest book of the summer with its 920 pages or so!
I’d resisted the pull of the book for ages as I’m allergic to screaming headings like ‘A publishing phenomenon’ or ‘A remarkable achievement’. Or even ‘A literary masterpiece … it has the grit and pace of a thriller’. (Thanks Daily Telegraph!)
But then I started reading it – and realized that, for me, all of the above comments were true. The book is the fictionalized life of the author and reads like James Bond meets Indian philosopher. The protagonist, Lin (or Roberts’ alter ego if you like) is one of Australia’s most wanted men (in the 1980s): he escapes from a high-security prison there and ends up in Bombay. Where he sets up a free health clinic in a slum, works for the mafia, gets tortured in jail and learns Hindi and Marathi. And that’s just for starters. (Apparently Roberts really did do all of these things.)
The book begins like this:
“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming of my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is an universe of possibility. And the choice you make between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.”
Apart from the high-octane pace of the prose, the book is lyrical, poetical and spiritual. He sees beyond the squalor and poverty to the soul of the Indian people, whom he portrays with love; he ponders about his own personality and how imprisonment can turn men into monsters; he philosophizes on the nature of good and evil; and amidst the violence and sadness, also reveals the beauty of life. Because, as he says, “Every human heartbeat is a universe of possibilities.”
Of reflections and boats
I walked down a leafy forgotten path when I suddenly spied some boats washed up on the shore. Colours fading, lying there overlooked…
… like cast-offs or children’s toys loved and then left.
It struck me that – sometimes – boats are like people.
We might neglect them; only see the outer shell of flaking paint; forget how once those colours glowed and how they carried us across troubled waters.
What do you see when you look at that boat, that person?
Neglected, abandoned; the beauty gone? Or can you go beyond that to see the jewel that is still there, the beauty and serenity?
Look deep, my friends – because what you really see is your own reflection.
For more perspectives of the world we live in, please visit: That’s My World!
We’re all searching for something
As I was looking through some recent photos, I noticed that our dog Oscar often had his nose buried in the ground.
What was he looking for? Exciting smells, traces of rabbits or just enjoying the feel of the cool dirt on his nose?
Head down, examining roots and leaves. What is he searching for?
Ah – at last! Is it the ball he has found – or autumn itself?
For more inquisitive pets, please visit: Pet Pride.
Who says what?