Give a little, get a little

It's rough times out there these days, and for a awful lot of people. Including many children. It breaks your heart. Donating whatever you can, be it time, money or something you can do without, is important, and possible for most of us.

It may not be much we can do, but I insist on believing that even a bit here and there can make a difference. In Denmark there are lots of ways you can donate and support, and no, I really don't think it's a fruitless, little effort in what seems to be a hopeless situation. You often wish you could do more than just donate, but money is never nothing. Just imagine what might happen if we all skipped in, all of us. I rarely write about specific political topics on this blog, but here I must mention, that the Danish government is about to downsize our financial aid to countries and peoples in dire need, by a staggering 2.5 billions. So apparently, they fail to see the urgency.

Today I stumbled upon one of these countless small initiatives and decided to support it: Every Child. They collect funds by selling children's t-shirts designed by Henrik Vibskov, and HuskMitNavn (I also wrote about him here - I am a huge fan!).

All proceeds go directly to Save the Children's efforts to help refugee children on the run. 

So buy your kid a nice t-shirt and do a little bit of good.
Or make a donation to Save the Children; go to the USA site - and here is a link to the Danish site.

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.

Ground Control To Major Tom

This morning, Denmark's first ever real astronaut went to work at the Baikonkur Cosmodrome launch facility in Kazakhstan, to be sent on a scientific mission at the International Space Station, way out there, somewhere.

We have been in media craze over this the last week or so, so every Dane feels that he or she knows Andreas Mogensen by now - Andreas, who also happens to be this genuinely nice, good looking, level headed (and insanely well educated - check his bio!) kind of guy. You feel confident that he is gonna make it just fine, out there in the chilling emptiness. Which is not empty at all, of course - that being the whole point of space exploration!

So I'm a bit star struck this morning, if I may say so. Talk about a crazy line of work - that takes some courage and wild determination. 

So have a nice one, Andreas, and come back safely to your wife and little daughter. Let's have a song.

Here are my top three songs about life in space...

David Bowie tops the list, obviously.
The 'Space Oddity' video is a real gem, a brilliant live recording from 1973 I never saw before. 

Elton John's 'Rocket Man' is just one of my favorite songs, period. And one of my best running or driving songs, by the way. I wonder if they listen to it up in the Sojuz rocket?

The last one, 'Rocket Brothers' by the Danish band Kashmir is a great song, but I love the video almost as much as the song. The animation video is by cartoonist and writer Anders Morgenthaler, and is a whole, little drama in itself.