Surprise!!!

Guess where I am right now?? :o) Hopefully I have by this time surprised a young lady with my presence.

This also marks the first travel since the sailing trip last summer and hopefully the end of the most challenges that my MS suddenly gave me - not end to the now permanent issues about my MS but and end to the uncertainty if new routines could get everyday life back to somewhat (acceptable) normal.

Am going to enjoy some days in the company of good friends that I do not get to see too often and just have a good, relaxing time in one of my favorite places.

Have a nice weekend

September Tea Swap 2014 - Part 1

Don't you just love it when you receive old fashion mail, and the letter takes you down memory lane as the contents just make you smile?

In the September swap I was partnered up with Josie, who send me this card in fall colors. Wow bulrush - I haven't seen those since I lived in the country side, where we had water holes on our grounds and lots of bulrush was growing at the edge of the water holes. In the fall they sometimes exploded of exposed to too strong a sun. I remember that as one of the coolest things that nature could do to a plant. Bulrush and sunflowers mixed together in a vase - part of the fall traditions in my parents house.

 

The tea: ginseng and red ginseng tea from Korea - the very same type/brand of tea that I brought home with me when I visited in South Korea 4½ years ago - what is the chance of that happening? Already had the red ginseng while browsing some of the photos that I took in Seoul during my trip out there.

Thanks Josie.

My Own Toothbrush

Naturally, I have my own toothbrush - but it would be so cool to have my OWN toothbrush :o) 

Confused? Well Jordan has a competition locally (Denmark), where the first prize is a trip to New York and 100 uniqe toothbrushes with the winner's design... and I could not resist making my version of a cool toothbrush:

My contribution: Bricks

Pattern of the handle, is the photo of bricks that I shot during in England my sailing trip this summer.

Well the MS has me ship wrecked when it comes to creative things at the moment, so a moment of creative "me-time" when doing this.......

Bon Voyage!!

Today was a happy and emotional day. Lots of tears were shed today - those out of joy and excitement - at the Copenhagen Harbor. It is a dream come true, a boat that has MS crew members on board and will sail with changing MS crew members around the world. A dream that originated in an MS doctor's idea to spread the joy of sailing amongst MSers - an idea he pursued and could witness coming true today as he, the boat and crew left Copenhagen today.

Oceans of Hope - fitting name for the boat who is going to be greeted by MSers around the world and hopefully inspire them to go sailing too - perhaps not on a tour around the world, but hopefully they will connect/reconnect with the joy on being on a sailboat just feeling alive and get wind in the hair.

Seven spectators to this departure (including myself) were filled with a different kind of joy than the remaining of the spectators. We have all been selected to sail with this boat in the near future, so all of us are counting down to an experience/adventure that started as a wish/dream 1½ year ago..... knowing that lots of other MSers will get the opportunity to sail with this boat the next 1½ year makes the feeling even stronger.

TeaHouses TeaSwap Part 2

Josie was fast sending me her swap - me not so fast, at I was caught up in long workdays. Theme of the second Crafter's Tea Party: teahouses.

For once I decided to make a scrap book-like card, using one of my own photos on a card. Did not use regular photopaper but matte-paper and then one of my favourite bugaboo frebie stamps :o) This is where I imagine that tea ceremonies took place a long time ago... hence making it a teahouse or??

Saw that little tea house strainer a while ago in a local bargain store and bought two.... one for me and one to be used in a future swap... Well that future is now :o) Seemed perfect for the theme.

The World of Jane Austen

I see some of Emily Albright in me - booking a vacation where a part of it was a guided tour of Jane Austen's country....  I could also see myself working in a bookshop just like Emily..... And then what is the thing that got my attention the most when reading this book?

Stepping out of a comfort zone and go your own way? Think I am already doing that pursuing new crafty projects, going places that has never been on my must-go-to-someday-list.... But then there is the job thing where I am wondering, if I am where I am supposed to be?

The stories of Jane Austen have been great intertainment for years - have most of her books and have two versions of Pride and Prejudice on DVD - the BBC production with Colin Firth as Mr Knightley and the never movie version with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet - so could easily sign up for a guided tour to the area from where Jane Austen got her inspiration.... Do like going to England so the idea is not too far fetched.

Then there is this atmosphere of Jane Austen's view on relation ships etc. that a lot of people has fallen in love with: The idea of finding a real-life Mr Darcy. "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler touches a bit of that - though indirectly - but there are still references to the books of Jane Austen.

Yes, I will admit. I am a bit like Kathleen Kelly(Meg Ryan) in "You've Got Mail", that re-reads "Pride and Prejudice" and still hoping for Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to fall in love every time I read it. Is there an significant other out there for me? I would like to think there is. A Mr. Darcy: Well have all the Elizabeth Bennet-like heroines ever been actively looking for him? Think I have to qoute Mr Darcy in "Bridget Jones' Diary" here: "I like you, very much. Just as you are." that are the words of a guy, that I want to meet.

So if you like me, love to read a good chick-flic and have a soft spot for Jane Austen novels in general, then you should pick up a copy of Alexandra Potter's book and read it. Happy that a friend gave me an opportunity to read this book :o)

Destination: China

In China, you must know, the Emperor is a Chinaman, and all whom he has about are Chinamen too. It happened a good many years ago, but that's just why it's worth while to hear the story, before it is forgotten. The Emperor's palace was the most splendid in the world; it was made entirely of porcelain, very costly, but  so delicate and brittle that one had to take care how one touched it.

"The Nightingale"

H.C. Andersen

Happy Diwali

Earlier this year when travelling to India, I noticed this on a Coca-Cola bottle... followed by a "off course". Diwali is of great importance in India (if you go to Singapore, you will see it is called Deepawali there), so it is a natural choice to have it on their bottles. This label is now part of my India scrapbook pages :o)

In the western world, it is likely that you will soon find the 2011 holiday edition of the Coca-Cola bottle - for me that beverage have always had a special place in my heart, and I love Christmas. I have actually saved the labels from the past 10-15 years with different Santa pictures on them and always look forward to the one in the current year.....another sign, that "the holidays are coming".

Cheers and Happy Diwali

It Is Not Only Rock Stars.....

...that die young after misuse of substances. I did not know that the French artist Toulouse-Lautrec died at the age of 36 due to alcoholism and syphilis, until I went to an exhibition of some of his artwork at Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark).

I grew up with posters like this in the late 1970s, where you could find replicas in almost every home you went to (in the 1980's it was Monet replicas that were found in a lot of these home). Fond memories of them, as I remember looking closely at them and dreaming me into a world much like the one depicted. Was too young to realise, that is was mostly Montmartre and Moulin Rouge, that was captured in his works - for me it was some decadent art deco world, where women had astonishing clothes etc. The great laugh here is, that he is not representing art deco but impressionism :o)

Wandering around his works at the museum brought all the memories and fantasies back into my mind - something I thought long forgotten, almost like a déja-vu. Wonderful to get lost for a while in this time-pocket.

Not Just Another Day

9 years ago today, I found out why my body was not acting normal but had put me into a wheel chair: Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Afterwards a gazillion of questions in my head, about the future....well about everything really.... in a way relieved that my condition finally had a name.... and then also freaked out abuot the words Multiple Sclerosis.

Lots have happened since, but I am still me.... Albeit a changed me, as I had to make some compromises, forget about some dreams and then pursuing new and different dreams instead.... I have grown stronger in some ways and lost in other aspects of my life.

Am I bitter??.. Well, yes at little bit and then absolutely not, as I have learned to follow my own path. Sometimes I forget, that I am a MS'er, other times my body reminds me about it.

WHEEL AND WALK - I participated in the 5K event in Manchester in 2008 where I met a lot of British MS'ers. We shared our experiences during the walk which took us along a scenic tour of the city.... During those 5K I realised, that I had gone from wheeling to walking since the diagnosis.

Definition of Home

From today and two weeks onwards I will be house-sitting - well actually this time it is appartment-sitting which included looking after two indoor cats. I do this once in a while for family and friends, doesn't pay me anything but I will have some time away from my own little appartment and the noisy next door neighbour, and I still have to go to work every day.

Just after Christmas, I bought a book on sale "Twelve Days of Christmas" by Trisha Ashley, thought I would save it for holiday read later this year. However, when I grapped some books to keep me company on my latest travel, I had grapped this without knowing - and once I started reading it, I could not put it down until I reached the last page. The main character, Holly Brown, was housesitting - only difference between her and me: she gets paid to do it.

Half a year ago, I started a draft on a novel, where the main character would be a house sitter, who earned her living doing that + crafts. After having read Trisha's book, I stopped writing it, as she had already written was I had imagined for my own little novel. Discarting my own idea does not make me sad, as I could not have done it better than Trisha - in fact: I would not even have come close to her writings.

Maybe my comfort in travelling and housesitting actually come from a sense of being without roots? That I have not yet been able to settle down and said: "This is what I want!" I like my job, and yet I have this feeling that the job is not truely, who I am.

Where thou art, that is home.

Emily Dickinson

Looking Down - Part 1

A lot of people (including me) say: "I learned to look up to find details, when I got my digital camera. Well in 2002 I started looking down too. Sometimes the sidewalks of the streets have small unique gems.

Motif: The Freedom Trail (marker)

Location: Boston, MA - USA

One of My Favourite Things Turns 125 - Part 1

I am talking about that little brown beverage .... no no not coffee.... Coca-Cola :o) Best thing I know, if my stomach acts up = medicine.

I forfeited the deposit on my 1½l bottle when tearing off this aniversary label on the plastic bottle - I just had to have it. Realising that Lisa Congdon was right - not aware that this is just another thing I collect even though I don't keep the labels in one place. It is mostly keept with travelling memorabilia or in scrapbooks next to pictures. For years I have kept the different labels with Santa Clause on them :o)

Even though you are travelling to a country with different writing than you, you are actually able to recognise the logo and turning the bottle you see the familiar "CocaCola" - I have seen the above both in South Korea and in China. That is the good thing about this brown beverage - you can get it everywhere you go, especially when the stomach just craves/screams for something familiar.

Some places they even serve cola, claiming that it is CocaCola, but me, I can actually taste if it is a Coca Cola or not - been selected to to blind tests and have so far always been able to point out the coca cola.

Imagine that you could go into a time machine - I would like to go back to May 8th, 1886, when the pharmacist John Pemberton caried a syrup to a pharmacy where water was added and sold as mixture. Not to reveal to him, what he had actually created/started, but to get the feeling on how he perceived his invention.

Boy, did I just get thirsty writing this? :o)

Sherlock Holmes

You probably already know, that I am a big fan of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie - but I need to add another writer to that list: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In my teenage years, I always looked out for a book by either Christie or Doyle, that I had not read before - something about English crime novels that I can not resist - and those two are timeless.

First trip to London included a trip to the Sherlock Holmes Museum in BakerStreet - which is why I have one of his business cards: *LOL* that is natually a advertising gimick from the museum. Another London trip included  a In the Footsteep of Sherlock Holmes Walk, and afterwards I found this book at a Waterstones store, and it was a definate MUST-Have. By the way: wether you are a native Londoner or not, you should go on one or these walks or two, as they are worth every penny - been on 4 different walk now and all of them a very nice way to explore London.

In the 1980s British Television made the TV-series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmen" with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock - for many years that was my visual perception of Sherlock as he captured that character soo well - still watch the re-runs on tv from time to time.

Never have I thought, that Sherlock Holmes would say the following to Watson: "I am lost without my blogger". But since they started airing the BBC series "Sherlock", it seems soo natural, that instead of writing books about Sherlock's cases, Watson is now blogging. This is an up-to-date version of Sherlock Holmes that is brilliant - it still has some gloomy touch to it, that you sensed when reading the books and none of those super brigt colours. Would it not be great if people reconnected with/discovered the old novels after having seen some of this new series?

One of My Favourite Things

We all have those favourite things, that we like to have at any occation.....sometimes we use any occation to have it.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough icecream from Ben&Jerrys - yummi :o) Just realised that it is the 20th aniversary for that icecream this year.

First time I tasted this icecream was during a vacation in Florida, where the hot weather just called for something cold.... when my aunt and uncle discovered how much I enjoyed this icecream, they bought the biggest one, that they could find in the local supermarket, so it was handy in the freezer (we had rented an appartment for the vacation) - they always have a piece of key lime pie as dessert on holidays, which I don't like so they were happy to find something for me to eat as dessert.. Well icecream in the freezer and CocaCola + GingerAle in the refrigerator - who could ask for more? :o) Well it was a combination of those 3 things + nice weather, long walks on the nearby beach, relaxing, reading good books on the porch and.....ahh those memories.

They do have the icecream locally, and I have just discovered the 150ml portions in the nearby supermarket :o) Have a couple of them in my freezer and everytime I get my MS treatment at the hospital (every 4-6 weeks) I spoil myself with one of those in the evening - well I did have the treatment and then going to work afterwards.....and that's about the only time when I spoil myself with this icecream - besides when on vacation in Florida.

World Wide News Clippings

Happy Easter

Source: Holland Herald, April 2011

Did you take a good look at that picture? Are you sure? Did you see, what the hen is made of? Click on the picture, and get a closer look :o)

This is the art of Kyle Bean, that KLM's infligt magazine shared with us this month - you see why I love picking up magazines like that in the beginning of a flight.

Or just maybe I gave you an idea for an Easter Decoration :o)



Gnomes Gnomes Everywhere.....

Have you noticed: gnomes are popping up everywhere and gaining some of the same limelight as frogs have enjoyed for years, and that owls have gained during the last couple of years.

I have always thought that the travelling gnome in the movie "Amélie" was really funny - I always enjoy watching that movie as it brings back so many memories from Paris and especially the Montmartre area.

Here's my little secret: I have always found garden gnomes to be the ugliest thing ever. Yes, I dare to reveal it, because then you will realise, why I started lauging hysterically loud on an domestic airplane in the US, where the following was displayed in a SKYMALL magazine:

The flight attendants got really curious about the source of my laughter and one of them laughed so hard, that tears emerged from her eyes crying...it caught on to all the other passengers who spotted great practical joke potential :o)

But even though they are the ugliest things, it does no mean that they can not be fun/entertaining/nice to look at - guess it depends on the way the gnome is presented. Just look inside this card that Torico made (the link takes you right to the page where she posted her card: front and inside) - wow getting a card like that, would really make me feel special, as this is a stunning card:

There you have it: Ugly can be fun, entertaining and nice :o) Sometimes new angle on things helps you realise it.

Look What Was In My Post Today

...and it only took 5 days to arrive :o)

I have been following James Hancock's blog All the Buildings in New York for a while now, and am contantly sweeped away when I see his latest creations. Sweeped away to a city I love and sweeped away because his drawings are amazing. I could not resist emailing him my address when he offered to send postcard out to the blog's readers.

New York - first time I was there I arrived at night and very tired after a long flight. Next morning I walked to 3rd Avenue and was hit with the noise, very tall buildings and a lot of people - I felt at home from that moment and have loved that city ever since.

Next time I return to NewYork I will pre-order some of his drawings from his shop and bring them home as memento of New York. Now you are wondering - Why not just order them now? Well, now I got an excuse to go back to New York again ;o)

Poisson d'avril - April Fool's Day

Do you know, how they do April Fool's Day in France?

If you happen to be in France today, and you see somebody wearing a paper fish attached to his back - then you see a victim of the old French tradition regarding April Fool's Day.

I will chose this type of teasing at any April Fool's Day instead of some of those eleborate jokes played on innocent people, that might be going through rough times in the same period, thus getting an even worse day/time because of some out-of-place jokes, that they should never have been the victim to.

Are you going to make a fool of somebody this April 1st - then chose a harmless one like this one so the victim will not have his/her days completely ruined.

The first April Fool's Day joked played on my, was my mother suddenly saying "Have you seen the stork on that roof top?" I looked, and there were of course no stork in sight - she told me all about the April Fool's Day tradition, and also taught me not to play any cruel jokes on people on any April 1st.

Springtime in Paris

I bet you know the feeling; you hear or see something that reminds you of a line in a song, and that song just keeps playing and playing and playing in your head?

Order of the Opus Gluei's latest challenge #95 is called "Springtime in Paris", and it instantly fuelled my brain to hear the wonderful voice of Ella Fitzgerald in my mind over and over again. The lyrics was accompanied by travel memories of walks along the Seine, where you felt like you could bump into Audrey Hepburn (in her role as Sabrina in the moving bearing that name) when you turned a corner of a street.... or maybe Coco Chanel accompanied by a model in one of her classic creations... even being served the waitress Amelié in the picturesque little café in Montmartre (yes it actually exist, the tabacco corner is however not existing in the real one).

Yes, watching movies is also a hobby of mine - and when travelling deja vu moments often occurs, only to realise it is because you have seen that place in a movie...... Oh wait I am rambling off, you just want to see the card that I was inspired to make :o)...  Here goes: