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.

Easter Eggs

My four year old son made this one the other day. To me, of course, it rivals the splendour of any diamond encrusted Fabergé egg, and has star billing on the easter tree. Which is not much to show off, yet, by the way. I hope to post a nice, little easter-themed paper project to make, one of these days. Stay tuned...

If you enjoy decorating eggs, I have to show you some images, for inspiration! These photos have been in some corner of my 'beautiful things to keep' folder for years, and I am sad to say that I have absolutely no memory of where I found them - but I know that they are from the Ukraine, and they are from some old book of templates or ideas, for easter egg decoration. If you have more information, please leave a comment!

I think they are fantastic, and should you wish to see more easter eggs from eastern Europe, try this google search: 'pisanki' or even 'pysanki'. Also, I found this little article on different decorating techniques from the blog of the super cool New York-based design studio Kiss Me I'm Polish.

While longing for snow and some proper winter

It is so wet, grey and damp here in Copenhagen. I normally try to see the beauty of all kinds of weather, but it's a bit of a far stretch, these days. The other day I came across a bit of snow, while browsing away in my coffee break. Oh, man, do I long for some actual snow, and perhaps a bit of sunshine! But in the meantime, one might enjoy looking at these fragile wonders.

More than two years ago I wrote about some fantastic snowflake photographers, so I felt like including this guy in the company. His name is Alexey Kljatov, and he lives in Moscow - a nice place to live, if you love doing technically amazing close up photographs of snowflakes, I guess. 

All the photos here, are taken on the balcony outside his Moscow flat - and for the nerds, he explains his work method and his equipment in detail, at his website (where you can see even more snowflakes)!

I just think they are almost unreal and very beautiful.

Kizhi Pogost

The thing is, I do have this weak spot for russian cupolas.
And in addition to that, for wooden architecture.

My list of places I would like to see in the world is loooooong, but I have to share this with you,
as the russian extravaganza of yesterday, made me think of it.

In central Karelia, in Russia, some 500 km. from St. Petersburg, is the lake Onega. In it, on the
Kizhi island, you will find one of the most spectacular wooden buildings on the planet, in my view.
Several buildings, in fact, as it is two churches in a large wooden enclosure - the 'Kizhi Pogost'.
The Church of Transfiguration (1714) and the Church of Intercession (1764).

It's on the Unesco World Heritage list:  http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/544 


This place I have to see, some day.

Images: top and middle: Wikimedia. The last one is by Flickr user ksenik_dan

Tivoli: from Russia with bling

We went to Tivoli, and they have really made a smashing russian themed christmas village this year.
Over the top colorful and extravagant, at least the exteriors and the lighting.

I mean, it is exactly the same vendors, selling exactly the same things as every year, the setup really
doesn't change much - but I got completely carried away with this russian thing, and purchased the
most outrageous christmas ornament ever to enter my home (and absurdly expensive it was as well).