For all Swedes

crocus, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

I know you just had a snowstorm, but look, there will be spring soon! This crocus is flowering in our yard, and the spinach plants are 5 cm across, already. I put down the seeds last fall.

Gorgeous but shy...

regal cat (Ella), originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Our long-haired cat Ella and her sister Smokey (not on this photo) have survived ice storms, snow, and visits by opossums, raccoons, labradors and Billie the Wildcat during their first winter outside. Here is Ella enjoying the spring sun, like an Egyptian queen...

Listen to the sounds of Deep Ocean

I found a link to

They have recorded the sound of whales and now recently the earthquake in Japan. Listen!

It sounds like a deep rumbling thunderstorm.

Flying

Everything looks different from above.  You see both more and less, and things become flatter and larger and smaller... how does that work, really?  But in this new perspective, you get a better feeling for how small we are and how vulnerable the earth really is.  This is what I saw on my flight from New York to Liberia, Costa Rica. (Click on the photos for larger versions on Flickr and links to more photos.)

This is somewhere over the Caribbean, maybe Bahamas.  That color of the water is amazing.  I tried to find this on Google satellite maps, I thought it wouldn't be hard to find such a long bridge, but I am not sure what this is.  Just that it is north of Cuba and in the Atlantic.  This place looks horribly vulnerable to sea level changes and hurricanes, but gorgeous too.  Except, the southern island is mostly a city. 

Down there under the clouds is Cuba, a place I would love to visit some day.  See the mountains in the distance.

A vulcano on an island in the Lago de Nicaragua, near the northern border of Costa Rica.  At least I think it was on the island of Ometepe, because I tried to match my photo to satellite images on Google Earth.  Harder than it sounds.  Look at all those fields, so close to the volcano.

A strip of land, much wider than you think, between the Pacific coast and Lago de Nicaragua.  The smoke probably comes from sugarcane that is burning.  After the harvest they burn the leaves and also often part of the ground vegetation.

The northeastern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, maybe also Nicaragua.  Wonderful unspoilt beaches that probably will have big hotels along them.  Too bad. 

Gorgeous: glorious sunset

glorious sunset, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

This is what I experienced a few evenings ago in Costa Rica. Sunset over the Palo Verde marshlands in Guanacaste Province... magical.

Akut hjälp till Japan - Help for Japan

I Sverige: Ifall du vill hjälpa, SMS:a AKUT JAPAN till 72900 för att skänka 100 kronor till Röda korset.

In US: In case you want to help people in Japan, here is a link to the Red Cross.

Bits and pieces from the internet, Japan edition

Before and after tsunami photos, ABC News link

Youtube movie ongoing earthquake with cracking ground: link

Youtube movie of nuclear power plant explosion: link

Time change

We got daylight savings time here in the US yesterday, but that is not the only time that has changed during last week.  During the horrific earthquake in Japan, which led to the equally horrific tsunami, this also happened:

"NASA scientists calculated that the redistribution of mass by the earthquake might have shortened the day by a couple of millionths of a second and tilted the Earth’s axis slightly." (link to NY Times story)

Nature is powerful, indeed.   

Costa Rica - a great place to be...

Right now I am sitting on the bottom part of a bunkbed, typing away on my laptop in a room with 3 bunkbeds, each b ed with mosquitonets you can sleep under (when the mosquitoes get bad in the rainy season), surrounded by limegreen painted concrete cinderblock walls in the dorm house at the Palo Verde Research Station, run by OTS. The day has been filled with adventures and experiences.

I got here yesterday in the late afternoon, in time for sunset walk along the miles upon miles-wide marshlands that form the Palo Verde National Park in northwestern Costa Rica.  Included in the park are also upland dry tropical forests on limestone ridges, tall enough that you have to do a real climb and hike to get up to the top.  It is the dry season, but themarshlands still have water in them, enough to attract many ducks, herons, and other wetland birds.  For the birders, here are whistling ducks, roseate spoon bills, several kinds of white egrets, great blue herons, wood storks (crazy giant white birds), and many more.  Frogs in the millions, which you can hear but not see, and crocodiles you only see when they try to catch something and cause a splash.  It is a gorgeous place and I have lots of photos but they are still in my camera.

This morning I did I hike up on to the Mirador limestone hill, which is more like a tiny mountains.  The limestone is sharp-edged and has holes in it, so not really a nice thing to fall one, but sturdy to hold on to when you climb to the top.  I started in the early morning (8.30 AM), before it got too hot, so it was only maybe 27 degrees outside (Celsius that is, I guess 80 in Fahrenheit or so).   The dry season means that many trees have lost their leaves and are bare-branched temporarily, which makes it perfect for birdwatching.  I saw parrots (the screamiest bird in the forest!), woodpeckers, kingbirds, and a hummingbird.  After climbing the Mirador and looking at the fantastic view over the enormous river valley, with its snaking, meandering river on its way to the see, I continued on the trail and ran into some other hikers from OTS.  They had just been watching two monkeys, two white-faced capuchin monkeys, try to catch a black and white owl!  I saw both the owl (flying away), and the monkeys that had given up the hunt and now were splayed like tired jaguars with their bodies and limbs draped across horizontal tree branches, high up in the trees.

In a little grove of evergreen trees we saw two long-tailed manakins, which look like small birds of paradise.  Imagine black velvet colored small birds, with bright turqoise colored sides and wings, and then the most intense scarlet red on the back of their neck.  And that is not enough!  From the tail, two special feathers have developed into two long lyre-shaped extensions.  Incredible.  They meat and have leks, like competitions between the males over who gets to mate with the females, and we saw one of these lek places, even if it was too late in the day for lek activities. 

Just a few meters away I spotted a movement on the limestone cliff slopes, and there were three white-nosed coatis - related to the racoons of the US, but bigger, more slender, and with a giant long tail they like to keep up in the air, like a semaphor.  One of the coatis was eating on something, something dark red... first I thought it was a red fruit, but then I saw the shape - it was the body of a black iguana, which was still over 2 feet (60 cm) long despite missing its head.  The coati, a fuzzy bearlike creature, chewed and pulled on the carcass of the iguana, which it probably had killed itself.  Amazing...

I saw lots more, but those where the highlights.  Now I am so tired I have to go to sleep.  I am getting up at 5.3) AM to go on a short river tour before breakfast, and I hope to see more crocodiles, storks and herons.  This place is filled with interesting people and great nature... even if a bit too hot in the middle of the day.  Then you can take siesta, if you aren't supposed to be in meetings - which I am all day tomorrow.

More reports to follow.... and hopefully with some photos then.

Gorgeous: Where I am right now...

early morning mist in Palo Verde, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

here.... in Palo Verde National Park in Costa Rica. This photo is from 3 years ago, and this year it is greener and wetter, and with more birds closer. A giant splash in the wetlands turned out to be a hunting alligator, I saw its jagged tail. Thousands of whistling ducks, a rosy spoonbill or two, and ibis and muscovy ducks. Crazy kiskadee birds make crazy sounds, and the cicadas are just starting to make noise in the sudden dusk that happens at the sunset around 6 PM. More reports to follow. Poor all you that are sitting in ice and snow and rain and floods. It is 97 degrees (35 C) here and sunshine.

Congratulations, world.

Today is the 100th International Women's Day.  I have mixed feelings about this day, which I have celebrated over the years.  Why do we need one day to focus on half of humanity? It is the same thing as Black History month.... why not focus on black history and women whenever it is relevant, i.e. at least half the time?

Anyway, congratulations all women of the world.  Without you there would be no more humans.  Neither would there be humans without men, so we should all be equal. Lets row together...

Woman in a rowing boat, about 1890

Collection of National Media Museum/Kodak Museum

Gorgeous: Inlagd gurka (pickles)

Making dill pickles at home, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Can pickles be gorgeous? Well, they can be gorgeously good, especially if you make them yourself or eat the one's mom made. There should be dill and garlic and maybe mustard seed in the brine. Last year I 'only' made about 22 jars of pickles, and it wasn't enough. We are running out and have maybe only 5 jars left at the most and there are months to when the cucumbers start growing again. I am going to plant the cucumber plants in the spot where the compost bin was, I think they will love that soil. I just need to make a little raised bed and fill in some more soil, and build a giant trellis for them to climb on. No problem, I still have some time...

Funny fact: 'inlagd' means not only pickled in Swedish but also admitted, such as 'he was admitted to the hospital' (= "han var inlagd på sjukhuset").

Gorgeous: small things

This is a teaser for some gorgeous things I saw at the Philadelphia Flower Show today.  This one won an award in the class for miniature gardens.  Nice, don't you think?

Stamp of the Day, and Poetry of the Week

American Life in Poetry: Column 311
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Peggy Shumaker lives in Alaska, but she gets around the world. Here she takes us with her on a ninety-foot dive into colorful mid-Pacific waters.

Night Dive

Plankton rise toward the full moon
spread thin on Wakaya’s surface.
Manta rays’ great curls of jaw
scoop backward somersaults of ocean
in through painted caves of their mouths, out
through sliced gills. Red sea fans
pulse. The leopard shark
lounges on a smooth ramp of sand,
skin jeweled with small hangers-on.
Pyramid fish point the way to the surface.

Ninety feet down, blue ribbon eels cough,
their mouths neon cautions.
Ghost pipefish curl in the divemaster’s palm.
Soft corals unfurl rainbow polyps, thousands
of mouths held open to night.
Currents’ communion—giant clams
slam shut wavy jaws, send
shivers of water. Christmas tree worms
snap back, flat spirals tight,
living petroglyphs against the night.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Peggy Shumaker from her most recent book of poetry, Gnawed Bones, Red Hen Press, 2010. Reprinted by permission of Peggy Shumaker and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2011 by The Poetry Foundation. Posted on this blog with permission.

The stamps are issued by Antigua in the Caribbean. 

Book review: Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann av Jonas Jonasson

One more book review of a Swedish book in Swedish on this blog, but this one it on its way to be translated into English and a multitude of other languages.  It was a long time ago I read such a hilarious book.  It helps that the long beginning takes place in a small village not far from where I grew up, and that the author successfully makes fun of Swedish society, world history, politicians and incompetent bureaucrats, and puts together an obviously too-incredible story, but it is fun!  Just like crazy movies like Young Frankenstein is fun.  It is not because the story is believable, but because the book (or movie) creates laugh-out-loud moments in your life. 

In Swedish this book by Jonas Jonasson is called 'Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann', which means The 100-year old who stepped out the window and disappeared. It will be made into a Swedish movie in 2012.  Jonas Jonasson is a former Swedish journalist who had the first draft of this book in his drawer for over 20 years or so.  The story seems simple, but it is not.  An old man turns 100 (named Allan) and decides to escape before his birthday party at the old-people home, and steps out the window.  And then the story starts, which includes murders, elephants, police, journalists, mafia, drug dealers, akvavit, swedish summer, swedish women, and much more... all written in a hilarious Swedish based on 1940-1950s intricate and sometimes stilted grammar with words of today thrown in. Throughout the book the 100-year old reminisces about his colorful life, where he has traveled the world, and in fact, helped (or not) world history personalities such as Franco, Roosevelt, Mao, Einstein's brother, Stalin, and he visits and deals with the associated gulag camps, atom bomb makings, secret submarines, and Iranian revolutions.  The book gives a great work-through of 20th century history, but of course it is all wrong because Allan is inserted in it.  But hilarious! I won't tell you the ending of the story, but it is good to the end.

I loved this book.  Apparently many (snobbish?) book critics in Sweden didn't like it at all, and thought it was silly, overwrought, or just plain dumb.  Well, dumb, that is Danielle Steele.  Overwrought, sure, but that is the point!  Just like a Mel Brooks movie, get it!?  Remember Springtime for Hitler - just the same thing, but this is nearly better, I think.  Silly - come on, good culture can be FUN. One critic complained that the book wasn't believable (hello, it wasn't meant to be!). This is pure entertainment, not serious literature... I am keeping this book so I can read it again next time I get the flu and have to lay in bed for a day or two. It will make me laugh many times again.  (And thanks to BOS for sending it to me!)

So, English-speaking readers, keep your eyes open and get it when it comes out in your country in the translated form.

Kilauea Hawaii 2011 March

Picture from USGS, from the new eruption site on Hawaii in the Napau crater.

Book review: Yrsa Stenius - Makten och kvinnligheten

(Sorry English-speakers, this review is in Swedish, since the book is in Swedish and not translated into English.  Here is the short review: great self-biographical novel from famed leftist journalist, author, and ex-chief editor of Aftonbladet Yrsa Stenius about power, gender, and how we deal with it all, or not deal with it...  insightful, brutally honest, and well worth the read, that is, if you can read Swedish.)

Jag har alltid beundrat Yrsa Stenius.  Jag har inte alltid hållit med henne, men jag har beundrat hennes styrka, och hennes Finlandssvenska dialekt har på något sätt fått hennes ord och kommentarer att kännas mer viktiga än andras.  Jag vet, det är nog inte så, men finskans allvar och samtidiga humor i livets svarta ögonblick färgar nog av sig i finlandssvenskan, iallafall inbillar vi det oss.  I somras hörde jag Yrsa Stenius i en podcast från ett svenskt radioprogram och hon var fantastisk - hon fick mig att tänka, och sånt gillar jag.

I boken Makten och kvinnligheten, som är självbiografisk och väldigt självutlämnande utan att vara överdrivet personlig, så skriver hon om sin livskris efter att hon avgått som chefredaktör för Aftonbladet.  Boken handlar om hur vi vill ha makt och blir beroende av den, hur vi ofta tror att vi är inget utan makt, och behöver iallafall lite makt över någon eller vår situation, och hur makten utnyttjas och påverkar.  Och kvinnor reagerar annorlunda än män generellt när de ställs inför någon med makt, får makt, eller förlorar den.  Makt låter som något mest politiker har, men Yrsa skriver om den i vardagslivet, och makten vi har (eller inte har) över våra livsval, våra kärlekar, karriärer, och hur makten eller bara aningen av lite makt kan påverka oss i livet.  Hon beskriver hur hon klappade ihop och hamnade på psyket efter att ha förlorat sin makt, och till slut vågade vara maktlös, och hur hon hittade tillbaks till sig själv och sin självkänsla.  Jag tror Yrsa Stenius är en av de modigaste människor jag känner till i Skandinavien, för iallafall i Sverige undviker man att sticka ut från mängden, undviker att prata om obehagliga ämnen (och där ingår makt), och den intressehämmande men alltför vanliga ytligheten flyter ofta över alltihop, speciellt i medie- och politikervärlden. I den här boken rannsakar hon sig själv och sina val, och bygger styrka ur sina svagheter. Många kvinnor (och män) borde läsa den och tänka efter ett tag.  Underbart och tack, Yrsa! 

Här är ett kort utdrag:

"Simone de Beauvoir uppmuntrade inte mitt kvinnliga självförtroende, så som jag alltid har påstått. Nej hon stimulerade mitt personliga självförtroende trots att jag var kvinna.  {...} Jag brukade henne till att fördriva mina kvinnodrömmar, plåna ut dem ofullgångna ur mitt medvetande. Jag ersatte dem med något dubbeltydigt som handlade om framgång i männens värld, om att förtjäna deras uppmärksamhet, uppskattning och uppvaktning genom att vara en av dem, lika duktig, om inte duktigare "

Gorgeous: soon it will be spring..

pink rhododendron (azalea), originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Even if it feels a bit far away during a long wet Sunday with heavy rain. At least it is not snowing. The photo is from our garden, from a previous year. I like the asymmetric stamens of the azalea flowers.

Gorgeous: Little Cranberry Island, Maine

light house and pebbles, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

In the distance, one of Maine's many light houses, and between there and here - a long, long beach of large and small water-polished stones. This is a place worth revisiting...

Gorgeous: small, simple things

Art glass series, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Small simple things can be gorgeous. A bubble trapped in some art glass made decades ago. A paint stroke on white linen canvas. The tail of a fox as it runs across the road an early morning. A homemade pizza, made with love and care. The sound of a train going into the darkness, on towards Pennsylvania. Distant stars, far away, but it feels sometimes like you could just touch them if you reached out far enough with your hand. A mathematical formula. Dewdrops on petals. Red roses in a vase. A crocus in March. All gorgeous. Enjoy them!

Gorgeous: Sweden

Wij Lake (dam), with cafeteria in one of the red houses, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

I know I am biased, but I think there are so many gorgeous places, things, and views in Sweden. The contrasts between the red houses and the green trees mirrored in the Wij Lake, for example. Or, sweeping fields of bright-yellow flowering canola fields under a blue sky. Giant thunderclouds developing from cottonballish Cumulus clouds on a summer afternoon. Small waves hitting water lily pads in a quiet, remote forest lake. Blueberries. Soft mountains in the fall, covered in shades of red, orange, purple, yellow and maybe a little green. It is a gorgeous country. This photo is from Wij in Ockelbo, Sweden, and you can see many more photos from this place if you click on the photo and then follow the link to Wij gardens.

Stamp of the Day: Rapadalen i Sarek

This Swedish stamp is from Rapa Valley in the Sarek National Park in the northern Swedish mountains, 'fjällen'.  One day I would like to visit this place, a wide area of wilderness.  The valley floor is a flat river delta filled with meandering arms of the streams of Sarek River, and it is surrounded by high mountains.  Willows, moose, falcons, lemmings, and rain are abundant, but not many people get here. You can see images of this gorgeous place here, and read more about Sarek here.  Here is a gorgeous photo from this wonderful Swedish place.

eye to eye

Happy birthday to KV - a frequent reader of this blog!  Grattis!

Gorgeous: Myosotis

forget me not, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Forget-me-not ('förgätmigej') photographed in a little private garden in The Netherlands, like little faces looking at you, expectantly. This is one of my absolute favorite flowers.

Quote to ponder: What to teach...

Do not try to satisfy your vanity by teaching a great many things. Awaken people's curiosity. If there is some good flammable stuff, it will catch fire.
- Anatole France