Eyes, eyes. eyes..

The eyes of some of the world´s..

..most beautiful women.

I am sure you will be able to guess who they are!
Above for example: Recognize "The Da Vinci gaze!?"

Now: Eyes and mouth! Woody´s special darling indeed..

Eyes on fire. A woman with a temper.

Eyes - a bit of beautiful aloofness with a distinct hallmark of British class..

The world most famous Bambi/Gazell eyes..

The amberly sparkle of an unchallenged movie queen..

Eyes of which any man could die for...a single glance..

The eyes of a modern clear sighted beauty..

The green/grey beautiful eyes of a northern Europe Bond Blonde.

Eyes that conquered much more than a small European kingdom..

Eyes ofa woman that are all over in the global glossy magazines most of the time..

Pasta voluptuous and very Latin!
Eyes of the sweet dream girl of any mother-in-law.
"No sex please - we are British type."
The green eyes of Petulia..? A Darling from the 60´s.
An amazingly confidential gaze..

Key:

Liz T, Halle B,
Audrey T, Scarlett J,
Penelope C, Kira N,
Audrey H, Julia R,
Marilyn M, Charlize T,
Isabella S, Grace K,
Angelina J, Claudia C,
Gwyneth P, Julie C, Kim B,

A New Year..

..the shadows are long. Snow as never seen before in my lifetime on these latitudes. The sun shows her fair and pale face once in a while and we have to take care of the few hours of daylight that are offered to us here in the North..

Time to hit the library..
..and snuggle up with a warm puppy in front of the sparkling fire in the new fireplace.
Spring with her shorter shadows is so far away still..

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Oh Tannenbaum! The pleasure of chopping you own tree on your own grounds! It is not the most handsome tree on earth but I was up to my waist in deep snow with a rusty small ax- and alas- here it is, spreading heaps of light and pleasure!

Happiness is a warm hairy friend!

Time for a real Christmas kiss of sorts!
Sis and Hälge yesterday. Hälge is a great kisser and a pony with some personality to say the least. Stubborn, with a temper and very authoritarian in a flock of four (Arabs) of which he is by far the smallest! He also one brown and one green eye. Hälge.
Note how he is starting to curl his upperlip in anticipation of the kiss!

My princesses..

Isabella, now 5 months old and growing fast..

And Thalia 2,3 years old. Cousins they are and my two grandchildren as well - but they never met. (So far) The huge, wide Atlantic is between them! So sad. But they surely will when growing older. Thalia has already been to Europe twice. But that was before my sweet Isabella was born..

Assange is reportedly..

..released on bail in UK today.
A small step for man - a bigger step for mankind!
(Photo from: Aftonbladet, Sweden)
PS No no how wrong we were. A few hours after the decision, the district attorney lodged an appeal against this and Julian Assange has to remain in custody. The pending extradition to Sweden of Assange is now called "The Honey Trap" by his supporters. DS

Winter is gaining momentum..

..and the mice are moving indoors. (I don´t blame them!!)
However, I am getting increasingly annoyed that I am never, ever, the first to taste my breakfast bread! Well, that´s the price one pays to live in an old farm in the countryside.
And I guess - it´s worth it!

To kill the messenger:

Life of a whistle-blower is not easy. Looking back on history - a few more of those might have served mankind to avoid a holocoust or a war or two - no matter whether the messages are/were to be internet- or horseback carried..
(Photo: The First Post)

Not quite December yet..

..and we are already drifting into a Christmas mood. Plenty of snow has fallen the last few days here.

I have a constant fire going in my new fireplace! I had it installed just in time! The temperature dropped to subzero in a few days here in Gotland. Before we probably had the "warmest" weather in Sweden due to the fact that the surrounding Baltic has been acting like a radiator. In spring - it´s the opposite.

Christmas market at Bläse Old Limestone Kiln

Lacey snow patterns..

The Bläse Market in the limestone kiln with an old sepia photo of the hard working men who used to work here in the old days.

The Bläse chimney.

One of the huge hearthes in the kiln.

Gotland wool and sheepskins for sale.
Observe the sales lady knitting while serving the customer..

Today we celebrate the first of Advent. And we light up the very first candle.

My backyard today.

Two horses in my sister´s meadow seeking warmth and snuggling up close to each other. I thought for an instance that Dr Dolittle´s Push-me-Pull-you had come to visit us!
Here is another picture on the same theme by Gerry van der Wait of photo-africa

How I love these..

..old greeting cards from the beginning of last century by Swedish artist Jenny Nyström!

Jenny Eugenia Nyström was born June 13 or June 15, 1854 in Kalmar, Sweden; died January 17, 1946 in Stockholm. Jenny Nyström was a painter and illustrator who is mainly known as the person who created the Swedish image of the jultomte on numerous Christmas cards and magazine covers, thus linking the Swedish version of Santa Claus to the gnomes of Scandinavian folklore.

She -her work -is dearly loved by the Swedes-even the younger generations- in spite of a bit of the doggerel, old fashioned touch of those days. She was enormously popular and still is - and surfaces today mostly in Christmas and Easter times in wallcoverings and greeting cards.

She was extremely productive (and commercial alas!) during her lifetime and her artwork indeed reflects a great deal of the dreams and hopes of her era.

Of being a woman driver..selfsufficient and a bit arrogant.
Could this one possibly have been painted around 1920? The time of the suffragetts..
when the women in Sweden were able to cast their votes in political elections for the very first time?

Or the old fashioned housewife happily baking not quite appearing to think about politics for the moment..

The beautiful Santa Lucia - a symbol and saint that the Swedes strangely enough worship when she "comes to life" every December the 13th when in traditional celebrations, she appears as a young woman with lights and sweets.She is one of the few saints observed in Scandinavia. In some forms, a procession is headed by one girl wearing a crown of candles (or lights), while others in the procession hold only a single candle each.

Jolly Easter!

Birthday greetings from Mom and Dad!

"Georgie Porgie Pudding and Pie, Kissed the Girls and made them Cry.."
(Where on earth did I get that from..?)

The young shepardess.
A postcard from Karin saying many dear greetings..

This is from Ester wishing little Erik a Merry Christmas.

I think this one is a prize winner! This Easter witch is scratching her head when discovering a sign arriving at the Brocken reading: "Admission fee with cat: 1 Crown. Without cat: 50 öre!"