Chaos in Europe..

..as the erupting volcano in Iceland spreads clouds of ash kilometres into the air all over Europe. Flights across much of Europe are being cancelled on a second day of massive disruption caused by drifting ash ejected from a volcano in Iceland. Hundreds of thousands of passengers are affected and severe disruption could extend into the weekend, including on flights to North America and Asia.

So I went out very early to take some photos of a cloud? moving in over Gotland. Or? Maybe the ash cloud cannot be photographed. This is just standard April weather in this part of the world - we just had a minor horizontal snow blizzard here! Anyway, a great opportunity to spend the day indoors attending to cosy matters like filling in the IRS tax papers..

 6.00 AM

 6.30 AM

 7.30 AM

Swedish TV channels are full of interviews with people stranded at airports. And abroad.

Now: The masses of snow causing the worst snow chaos in modern times in Sweden - at times bringing the country to a standstill - has hardly melted, and now this. But people are -according to interviews -  taking this "setback" with some humor! After all, our thoughts are going to all the people in Iceland who are now being evacuated in the areas close to the eruption. The glaciers are melting causing flooding.

Last night, volcanic sunsets over all over Europe check out  Flickr  

(where I found this photo!) 

"We can actually smell sulphur in the air here now from the volcano cloud" according to reports from Norway on Friday

 

Trying to create..

..various expressions in a simple way I have been working in putty recently. Super imposing calligraphy and turning them into pictures. This one I call: "Illiteracy". It is funny to see how a little kneading of the putty lump can turn out to express a sentiment. Any sentiment I guess, if you are skilled. Which of course I am not!

 "Ma chère Maison" I made with a putty baby. It tries to express the dangers of growing up and leaving a golden cocoon of the womb - the little guy on the water colour on top is lured into someting evil in a threatening, dark world..

 The putty is the type that hardens like porcelain.

"On top of things" I made a few years ago shows my fascination of lighthouses! I found this used billboard on the garbage dump - so it´s really a recycling project..

Now, we´re talking..

Hints of summer today at Gotland. Doors are open to the garden..

Blue, blue all over..The sun is almost hot. One can almost hear the growth of the trees and the flowers..

And all the birds are going crazy! I have a beautiful pheasant couple living in the garden. I am starting to learn bits of their pheasant language: the warning sounds, sounds of love, of joy. I tried to take some pictures of them jumping around in the snow last winter. But no. They are too shy and watchful, these pheasants!

The barn in the evening sun.

Even the figures on the neighbouring Lummelunda church frieze looked happy in the sun. I am a bit curious just to know what they are up to. They really look a bit mischievous!

Old photos. First camera.

The childhood summers in Sandhamn (Trouville) in the Stockholm archipelago. Father built the first jetties (where there are today two huge ones for bigger yachts. See right). 
Our first Harpsund boat, Grandma, my sister and father crouched , mom with feet in the water and the big fish tank floating in front. Here we kept all fish we caught - fresh and nice, long before the fridge was installed in the cottage! Mind you, father had an earth cellar under the floor to keep his beer cold. And aquavit! Very, very important!

Outdoor summer lunch by the cottage.

Lemonade and bun party with friends and cousins. Me to the left and sis´ flanked by our cousins Nina and Bitte, today living in Canada.

I was so happy when I found this old photo album which have been lost for many years after many moves over places and continents. From the third photo from top, one can suspect that you haven´t to be very old to be in love.. His name is Calle and later I actually married his second cousin, Dag! A close cut!

Oh I forgot..

I finally got around to make some easter eggs - from my sister´s fresh duckeggs of the farm. She also provided all the tinsel, glitter and glue..

Great fun it was..not a bit like the Faberge eggs I dream of - but what the..!

And this is "Le vrais mec.."

This is quite a clip of Serge Gainsbourg co-singing with actress Catherine Deneuve in "Dieu est un fumeur de Havanes" (God is a Havana cigar smoker. And Catherine insists in the song that Serge is "only a smoker of blue Gitanes..")

 Note how Catherine keeps her cool dignity in spite of Gainsbourg´s efforts to make her crack.. 

Un de ces rares moments où il ne se laisse pas aller !

Gainsbourg, vie héroïque - C’EST L’HISTOIRE D’UN MEC…

He was the controversial singer-songwriter with all the best women, the finest cigarettes, and the catchiest tunes. Now the late French artist Serge Gainsbourg has been given the big-screen treatment with the release of biopic "Gainsbourg (Vie Heroique)".

Oh sweet memories of the French icon Serge G! Here I found the trailer of the new film Gainsbourg, vie héroïque by JOANN SFAR 

A sour conflict takes another turn!

 The jar we all keep in our fridges

 How exciting it is when Sweden touches the borders of Big International Politics!

The Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reports this story today: 

The friendy looking man featured on the Turkish yoghurt jar issued by the main dairy here is sueing the company for an astonishing 50 million Swedish crowns.

He claims "He is not Turk - he is Greek!" 

Oh, how we must realise that this can be more than a touchy subject on this eternally sour Mediterranian conflict!

On the dwindling lists of modern heroes..

(Immage: AFP/Getty)

..Baltasar Garzón, Spain´s 54-year-old high court judge, the legal crusader who has dared to investigate the abuses of right-wing Latin American dictatorships, is a truly outstanding representative. Spain's and possibly the world´s most indefatigable and courageouswatchdog, the nemesis of drug lords, corrupt politicians and violent Basque separatists is now himself facing trial. 

"Mr Garzón was charged yesterday with abusing his powers by launching Spain's first-ever investigation into Franco-era abuses – namely the forced disappearance of 114,000 victims on the losing Republican side of the war. In a 14-page ruling, Spanish Supreme Court investigating magistrate Luciano Varela charged Mr Garzón with recklessly violating a 1977 amnesty law that shielded members of the Franco regime from legal persecution.

"This is a sad day for justice," said Emilio Silva, president of the Association for the Recovery of Historic Memory, which has led a volunteer drive to exhume the mass graves of Republican victims. In an interview on national radio, Mr Silva blamed the decision to prosecute Mr Garzón on the ultra-conservative leanings of the Spanish Supreme Court, which, he said, had failed to evolve since Franco's time.

Mr Garzón is expected to face trial next month. If he is found guilty, he could be barred from the bench for up to 20 years.."

(Excerpt from the Independent  By Anita Brooks in Madrid Thursday, 8 April 2010)

 "We are truly scandalised," Giulia Tamayo, head of research for Amnesty International in Spain, said. "The UN Commission on Human Rights has repeatedly warned the Spanish government that amnesty laws were not applicable to crimes against humanity, but the Spanish authorities continue to hinder the victims' quest for justice and reparation. Now the only judge who wanted to abide by international law is being made to pay for it." 

If found guilty, it is not only a sad day for justice. It is truly a tragedy for the entire world.

Early Easter Sunday morning..

..spring was in the air. No wind and a beautiful morning for a walk with the dogs on the nearby stony beach of Gotland´s Nyhamn..

The sea was like a mirror and there was an abundance of sea birds..

You will find plenty of fossils among the beautiful stones in a range of colors around Gotland´s beaches.(Mind you, there are a great deal with fine, white sand too.)

Backwashes from a ship that passed 20 minutes ago came rolling to break the morning silence.

 A poor, dead woodcock in a deplorably thin condition was lying there on the beach. The harsh winter in Scandinavia has seriously decimated the bird population.

The small colony of fishing huts of Nyhamn.

A "shoe installation" in a tree by the beach.

And then, on the way home, I shot this picture of this pine tree, 450 years old. 

 Nyhamn.