Mid Summer Signs

Mid summer comes with its own scenes and sights, and signs and invitations!!

First, the ground breaks, and you can dare to step on it barefoot.  Then the grass starts to emerge, and green bursts all around you.  

Slowly color starts to come up and around.  

These flowers are called Lupin!!  You always see them in places where people can see, but they seem wild.  Me and friend were discussing if they are truly wild or if the local community planners throw seeds in places where people go for walks or drives, so that it will give them a Vårtjanslor (spring feeling!!) 

And then the color envelops us.  We can see it all around us, in nature and on people, in the clothes they wear.  Women are in dresses, and guys in shorts and tennis shoes...

The days keep extending, and you forget you need to sleep. ONly your body and sleepy eyes tell you that there is something amiss.  You can stay up till 1:00 am and still feel that it is early evening.  The above and the below picture tells you how the sun is past 10 pm.  The above picture was taken in the woods behind the university around 10 pm and the below picture from my window at around 11 pm!! It is these long days that make the winters seem bearable!!

The city starts to get a different look.  In winter there are lights, in summer, there are flowers.  City here takes special care to create a feeling that we have entered a different time of the year! Every year the city Kommun has a theme, which is represented in special colors they pick for flowers around the city.  With little exceptions, you see the same color of flowers around the city. Gives it some uniformity!!

Wanna guess what the above picture is about? Well?  Eating outdoors, like all the other fancy places in summer!!

Well Ok....so, nobody expects us to not enjoy summer and pretend we are in Italy or Spain or Greece, where picture postcards show people enjoying their meals outdoors.  Right?  But for us to pretend that --we must have these heaters that create a warm space around us, and sometimes we throw blankets on our legs to prevent from feeling the bite in the air.  Otherwise, seriously it is like Italy, or Greece or Spain!! Not India though, because then we would be indoors!! 

And what would summer be without a beach...or at least a sand bed.  So, the city sometimes creates this in the middle of town!! Notice the sandy beach-like creation in the middle of the square?  Its for the children to enjoy their summer. While parents can watch over them, children get to pretend they are having a summer by the beach.  And some make sand castles, and other just roll in the sand. There are fountains around it.  This is also the centrum, the center, where all the buses in the town must stop for a rest before going to the ultimate Swedish destination--IKEA!! (ok, not all the buses go to IKEA--seriously!!)

And there is music in the air.  The first spring I heard music in the bus and was almost startled!! But in general, you hear more music in spring and summer!!  Our building is shared with people from English department and those from Music Department.  The musical folks are the most appreciated.  Every once in a while we walk out of our rooms to listen to warbles of young people---other times there are properly organized classes.  Sometimes they are just practicing, and other times we have witnessed serious grading being done in this open arena in our building.  Following are a few examples of what happens when schools close....and there is fun and frolic in the air....

I asked my colleagues, ‘so, what did you think of the beautiful singing?*

Nice  but sort of Christmasish.....

Ah, what do I know...??

And last but not the least....there are people jumping, laughing, singing and dancing all around.  People sit outside, sun bathing, eating their lunch outdoor, reading books,and about five times more people on bikes than in winter.  Bikes are a year around phenomenon here, believe it or not...Here the last little video just makes me smile every time I look at it...could there be better signs that midsommar is upon us?  Coming for raising of the maypole on the 22nd of June? 

Sundar (beautiful) Lilla ( Little) Sjöjungfru (Mermaid)

Beautiful Little Mermaid 

     Ever since I read Hans Christensen Anderson, I have been fascinated by his writings and imaginings.  The greatest and the most popular of all Danes. He won that title over the Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr.  So, a visit to Copenhagen would be incomplete without experiencing all things Andersen. I went to Copenhagen because there was a research retreat about two hours train ride away from Copenhagen.  How could I miss the opportunity?  The city is about 7 hrs train ride away from Karlstad.  So, I was sensible --for the first time, and combined work with a short break. 

The unimposing sculpture still attracts all tourists. Besides on a good spring day, which it was the day I walked on the promenade, the walk itself is a prize. April. 2013

      The brewer Carl Jacobsen (The Carlsberg Breweries) presented the mermaid's statue to the city of Copenhagen. The Little Mermaid was unveiled at Langelinje in 1913, as part of a general trend in Copenhagen in those days, selecting classical and historical figures to be used as decorations in the city's parks and public areas.

     The story goes that way back In 1909, brewer Carl Jacobsen was so enchanted by the solo dancer Ellen Price's performance in the "The Little Mermaid" at the Royal Theatre that he commissioned to present the city with the statue. In fact, he asked her if she would pose for the statue. She agreed in principle, but was not very interested in posing without any clothes on, when she found out just how public the statue would be. Instead sculptor Edvard Erichsen's wife stepped in and modeled for the body. Throughout the year, 75% of all tourists visiting Copenhagen go to see The Little Mermaid.

An exhibit at Hans Christensen Anderson Museum 

Copenhagen as the backdrop for the Little Mermaid, April 2013

It was a beautiful walk. I walked nearly 11 hours that day, and fell in love with the city.  I  hope to return soon.  But it is important to state that the statue in of itself is nothing spectacular.  But as with tourist spots, they make for great pictures and conversation starters.  So, is this one--a conversation starter!

For me, it was the experience of experiencing the city that H.C. Andersen called home.  

I met a group of Filipino au pairs, who were enjoying their day off.  Until I noticed that there was one girl from Nepal.  To her delight I spoke to her in Hindi.  She gave me a hug for that.

Hmm....language---just like stories--reaches parts of mind and body that have not been named yet!!

The Last Upper Class Hero

August, 2012, Winterton, 

Near to Inkosana Lodge, 

Close to Drakensberg Mountains, 

South Africa 

I was waiting to return to Durban, and he passed by. 

'Hi, could I please, please take a picture of you?'

He smiled and stood still.

I then asked him to stand next to the trash can that had South African Flag on it.  He complied. I was grateful.  But what touched my heart was when he gave me a soldier like look for the photograph.

Not sure if he was just playing with the camera, honoring me, or simply because he thought that was the appropriate posture for the Camera.

The reason I asked him to stop was his T-shirt.

(I'm) The Last Upper Class Hero!!

A close look will show you that at the bottom of the T-shirt it says, 'Sunny side of life'

I wonder if he knew what all that meant---even if he could read it.

And I truly wonder what would happen if he truly believed it!!