It's the longest day of summer today

And I am way too busy or preoccupied to blog at the moment. As always, I will tell you that I will be back at it, and of course I will. I just can't find the peace or time at the moment. 

So what do I do? 

I take care of my day job, my family, my garden, two guinea pigs, two households - and sometimes, but not often enough, myself. 

But I always find time to enjoy summer - as personified here in symbolic form, by Alexander Girard's lovely, big, yellow sun. Alexander Girard is one of my all time graphic design heroes - have a look right here, and see why. 

Happy midsummer, and see you a bit later!

Winter Solstice: close your eyes and listen for five minutes

It's winter solstice today, and therefore the shortest, darkest day of the year. Let's celebrate this turning point with a very, very beautiful song! 

Björk is always great, and when I looked for this video I ended up looking at amazing Björk videos for almost two hours. Maybe you'll do the same? Not the worst way to spend a long, dark evening.

I also found this interesting article about the song.

But first, slow down and listen to 'Solstice'.

The last LAST day of summer

It makes sense to me; it's fall equinox today, and to some that is the sort of outer limit of summer, and I think I agree. Others have taken up woolly scarves and closed their windows weeks ago, but I am stubbornly wearing flip flops. With blue toes, some days, but still. Not that much longer, though.

Days are getting darker, nights are getting cold. And soon the season of winter bathing will start! 

We have packed up the summer place, and now only go there on weekends. I have started a new job and I am totally tired most of the time, although very pleased with the job. 

In the garden it is all reds, golds and faded greens, and everything is too ripe and smells a bit mouldy, wet and earthy. We are making apple cordial, tomato soup and blackcurrant jam.

Midsummer week in woolies

It's freezing here in Denmark, and it is really getting on my nerves. It is such an utter waste of time to be frustrated about the weather, but this cold is really draining me. I sit indoors all day, with a constant fire in the wood stove or a feeble electric heater on (- that causes the meter to spin out of control!). I can't be bothered to do any gardening, and it takes half a day to build up the courage to shower in the outdoor shower.

We went to a summer party at my son's preschool today, and the children had made lovely collages, where they explored single colors - for instance the yellow of the sun. They warmed me!

The young artists hadn't signed their work much, so I can't tell you their names. But they did beautiful yellow!

Tuesday was the official Midsummer's Eve in Denmark, and since it was just an ordinary working day, we weren't really doing anything. But then we were invited to dine in the most spectacular location, last minute. And so we did. And the ocean was right there, below us, and the sunset was just wow. And we even built a fire. 

So what am I complaining about? Not much. I just want out of this sweater.

Palm Sunday and start of daylight saving time

It's Palm Sunday today, and Easter begins. We have a big Easter lunch party today, and we have a ten day holiday before us - not that we will be going away to any exotic locations, we will slave away in our garden, spring clean a bit indoors and air out everything.

The best thing today: Daylight saving time starts, yaay! And most Danes wake up, trying to remember the clever little rule about the garden furniture (it's hard to translate, but it is this little memorizing trick: when spring comes, you move the garden furniture 'forwards', from the garden shed. Just like the clock - see? And in Autumn you move the furniture back. I find it totally smart, before I learned that little trick my mind was always at a loss).

I love palms. I have have yet to visit Los Angeles, but to me, these palm lined boulevards are so iconic. I have seen palms here and there, and the way they silhouette against the sky is so beautiful, and plays so well with all kinds of architecture. The wonderful sensation of picking up fresh coconuts from the sidewalk (as we did in Miami) and fallen leaves as big as yourself. It is just magic, to this Scandinavian, anyway!

Here are some black and white versions (to illustrate the my point about the silhouettes better) of palms in Marrakech (top), Addis Abeba (middle) and Miami. Addis Abeba is actually much more about eucalyptus trees, but the street we stayed in, had these lush gardens behind all kinds of ramshackle fences, and the graceful palms sort of hovered over all the dense greenery. In Marrakech, as in Miami, palms are just everywhere, and the great thing is when you see the whole, slender trunk. In the image beneath taken in front of the Koutoubia Mosque, they are painted white at the base, so pretty.

Everytime I see this book from Taschen (Taschen always make me wish I had endless book shelves, funds and hours of leisure), I think about getting it. It's a bit pricey, and having an extremely nerdy book of botanical illustrations of palms is not my highest priority, but I will probably end up giving in to it, some day.

The last image is my son running towards a pink sunset on what almost looks like a beach in paradise. It was actually in Key Largo, and not paradise at all, but when you faced the ocean and the little palm grove, it was glorious. 

Here's to longer, sunnier days!

Welcome back sun, and welcome to a little girl

It is winter solstice today, and which day could be better to have as your first day in the world?

My little niece was born last night (so no more waiting - and an explanation for yesterdays slightly cryptic post), and I welcome both her and the sun, who will be making a comeback of sorts, every day from now on, and until midsummer! And she was not even supposed to be born now, she was a little handful of days early, but maybe she was impatient or maybe she just insisted on becoming a saggitarius!

Winter solstice is, in many ways, the real christmas day to me - a tiny glimpse of perfect balance between darkness and light, before the sun takes over again (correction: I just knew something was wrong, when I wrote this: and of course it is - I got the equinox and the solstice mixed up in my head, so not balance, of course - but just the darkest it gets!)

I want to celebrate the winter solstice with Little Sun - this wonderful piece of gadgetry, symbolism, art and innovative, charitable thinking in one yellow starburst.

The Little Sun was invented by world famous artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen, and it is a small solar powered high quality LED-lamp, sold as a fund raising (and quite practical - 'a work of art that works in life') objet d'art in our corner of the world, and sold for a very reasonable price by local Little Sun businesses in those areas of the world where electricity is not the self evident service it is around here.

Having access to dependable, cheap (in this case practically free) lighting makes a major difference in life. It enables you to lengthen the productive hours of the day - for homework, for thinking, for socializing. It is hard for most of us to imagine the impact it has on daily routines, if you cannot even depend on a bit of light.

I spent some time in Addis Abeba myself, where power blackouts are an annoying daily phenomenon, and where cheap solar power and LED technology has meant a truly great difference to the millions of inhabitants in this vast city. 

I am neither a sociologist nor a politician, but I have no doubt that this is an example of the many little ways that simple, low tech technology can and will change the world, long term.

I love how happy, simple and optimistically appealing this little lamp looks. You should buy one - now!

Buy it directly from the Little Sun webshop, or find lists of local retailers.

Danes can shop and support a special Little Sun Uganda charity project here

This blog has a number of american readers, and should you by chance be anywhere near Venice, Los Angeles, I have this special recommendation; buy it from the supercool Danish art gallery / design pop up shop HURRA! They also have a webshop, that carry Little Sun (and a lot of other lovely things), and I think today is their last chance for US holiday shipping. Go shop!

Last, I will link to a beautiful video, from the Sustania Award show in Copenhagen, earlier this year.
See the video here!