Happy Birthday Pontus!

                My son in law, Pontus turns 36 today! He is celebrating his birthday with Lina and friends in lovely Mallorca at a finca in the mountains - it´s now almost a habit of theirs to fly to this great island in the Mediterranian to meet Spring..

Here is a big salute from another island a little further north! Hip, hip hurray for Pontus today - who will, by the way, become a father in a few months! All the best for the new year!

The first Easter Witches..

 

.. flew by today on their broomsticks offering gifts of fresh farm eggs from their baskets.

Thanks god I had plenty of sweets at home to return their friendly witch offerings!

Be prepared! 

Today I fixed my own broomstick and gave it some tuning up for the long trip to the Brocken/Blåkulla. Being a bit short of means I added some sponsoring bumper stickers on each side of the broom! It looked rather good. Then I trimmed  the broom´s oldfashioned jet motor and I can now make about 60 km/hour in favourable wind condition!

Look sooo forward to meet all the other witches from the old days on the hill! 

It will be a ball!

No signs of spring yet though..

..in the outskerries of the Stockholm archipelago..

A friend of mine, Björn, is the owner of a small fishing hut outside Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago sent me these photos yesterday. He went out in his open outboard boat through the menacing iceblocks to spend a few nights in his little fishing hut..

This is the hut at the cluster of small islands called the Brandskerrries - situated on one of the very last small islets in the archipelago. Then there is only the Big Baltic.. Here the birdlife is outstanding, there are seals and good fishing. The hut is cosy  with a fireplace and fairly well equipped considering there is no drinking water - but a generator though- and TV!

A tough ride through the ice it was..

From here you can spot the island of Sandhamn where-I still live during the summer period-as backdrop in the horizon.

These small fishing huts are passed on for gererations in the archipelago.

In the summers though, the pretty islands are sometimes used as "location" for filming and for advertising settings.

Soon, very soon though, the very first spring signs will occur when the eiders will strart chirping -or rather "ho,hooing!" their traditional spring sounds of "Wake up archipelago! The spring is soon there..!"

 Midsummer photo from the same cottage.

 This is by the way a watercolor I made in summertime of the little cottage some years ago.

Every spring..

..it is with great joy I - and I guess, most people dying for Spring -discover the very first, timid little blue Heapticas under the murky leaves of last year.

I have been roaming the surrounding woodlands for some days now on the lookout for the blue Spring signs as the snow gradually is giving way. And, alas! Yesterday I found the very first! Blåsippor they are called in Swedish.

The Hepatica is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants belonging to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. A native of central and northern Europe, Asia and northeastern North America.Some botanists include Hepatica within a wider interpretation of Anemone.

In line with our own super-sizing of meals:

 

Paintings of the Biblical Last Supper over the past millennium show that the plate and food portions depicted have grown progressively larger, according to researchers.

The food portions depicted in paintings of the Last Supper have grown larger - in line with our own super-sizing of meals, say obesity experts. 

(Above: Hardly anything on the table! And they all look starvingly tired, no doubt. Can´t have been too much wine either from what we can see..)

A Cornell University team studied 52 of the most famous paintings of the Biblical scene over the millennium and scrutinised the size of the feast.They found the main courses, bread and plates put before Jesus and his disciples have progressively grown by up to two-thirds.

 

The main meals grew 69% and plate size 66% between the oldest (carried out in 1000AD) and most recent (1700s) paintings. Bread size grew by about 23%.

Now! That´s a bread size fit for a French Sunday dejuner of today!

The sharpest increases were seen in paintings completed after 1500 and up to 1900AD.

These included works by El Greco, Leonardo Da Vinci, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Rubens.

 Hmm. Interesting indeed!

I found out about this research study in an article published by the BCC.

Read full story

I have always been dreaming..

..of constructing a pond in my garden. Today, I found I had one! Without any effort!

The neighbouring fields are waterfilled (with an abundance of playing birds) - so now I have a sea view too! Well, the snow is now melting rapidly in this part of Sweden and I am happy to have a house rather elevated next to the church and not too much of any flooding problems. (The church was traditionally built on the highest spot in a community - and I am next door.)

It didn´t take long after the snow melted.. Some small brave flowers had been dying to wake up..I call them "the early risers!.

These pictures are from Friday in my garden.

A mild and sunny day..

..when the garden furniture was brought outdoors and the first cup of tea was had in the blazing spring sunshine..Now we´re talking!

It is not easy..

 ..getting dressed on when you are only 18 months old!

  Thalia, with a quite mature, serious expression on her face. Maybe sulking? Grandad Dag

 just returned from Washington and sent me these photos of my darling granddaughter Thalia growing, growing..over there far away from Sweden and her grandma!!

Now..I sulk and yearn..

 

Trying on Dad´s suit. More fun than those pink knickers,indeed!

The best of all: Playing with Dad when he returns home from work.

Have you ever wondered..

..about the origins of Easter Eggs?

 For centuries, eggs have been part of our easter traditions...they are symbolic of new life and fertility, and are representative of resurrection. I found this informative site on the web from where I also got the picture of the pretty eggs above:  

The history of the easter egg.  I´ll make my own any day now and have actually bought some sheets of leafy gold to glue on the huge eggs  bought from the neighbouring farm. But deep inside, I dream of somebody turning up with a gift of a real Faberge egg! Oh, never give up your sweet dreams! (No matter if they are somewhat...)

g.

These are beautiful Russian Easter Eggs inspired by the work of Peter Carl Faberge, the world famous Russian jeweler and purveyor of elegance to the Russian Court and the Tsars.
The Lilies of the Valley Egg is one of only two Faberge eggs created in the 'Art Nouveau' style. This egg was made of enameled gold, diamonds, pearls, rubies and crystal. The surprise consisted of three oval miniatures of the Czar, in military uniform, and his first two children, the grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana. An Imperial crown of rose diamonds and rubies surmounts the egg.The Faberge Rosebud Egg, part of 'Imperial Treasures: Faberge from the Forbes Collection.' The Rosebud Egg, was presented by Czar Nicholas II to his wife, Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna and its value is estimated at $3-4 million.

FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE: Viktor Vekselberg, the third richest man in Russia with a personal wealth of $6 billion, recently bought the largest private collection of Faberge Imperial Easter Eggs from the Forbes family, at an estimated $120 million. 

Vekselberg, in a patriotic gesture, returned the eggs to Russia. He said that the collection represents the most significant example of Russia's cultural heritage and "is a lifetime chance to give back to my country one of its most revered treasures. See all the beautiful eggs on  "The world´s most expensive eggs" ( where I got these photos with the text.)

The star piece of Viktor Vekselberg's collection is the $24-million Faberge
    " Coronation  Egg"                                                                                                                    

                                Its surface is enamelled translucent yellow with bands of laurel made of gold. Opaque, black-enamelled Imperial eagles appear where the bands intersect. Each eagle has a small diamond on its chest.The Easter surprise within this egg is a miniature coronation coach. The coach frame is gold, the wheels are platinum, and the windows are crystal. An Imperial crown with rose diamonds surmounts the coach. 

Now. That´s what I call easter eggs!

 

 

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Congrats America!

I just love this oldie..

..from the New Yorker (Of course!)