Truth, Literature and...

i live in Austria. on New Year's Day, our president always makes a speech on TV.

so do the presidents of other countries, and kings and queens, and whatnots.

usually these New Year Addresses are boring and annoying.

but one guy, a few weeks ago, made a really good speech about literature, dramatics, this world and the role a certain nation plays in it.

so, if you haven't yet read, or heard, or seen Mr. Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize Lecture, you might do so now.

happy new year! lots of truth and beauty and happiness to all of you.

cookies

little cocoa-brown rectangles, decorated with chocolate and almonds.

little round blonde ones, filled with redcurrant jam.

small crescents with ground hazelnuts in them, with chocolate and pistachios.

the same crescents, covered with powdered sugar.

more or less globular ones, made of eggwhites and coconut flakes (some of them with chocolate).

things that look like small hunks of asphalt, but are really made of poppyseed and honey.

...

kitchen's a bloody mess. wonder what santa claus' kitchen looks like after christmas?

p. s.: they all have one ingredient in common. they are made with love ;-)

still on the train...

this morning, a bright december sun and a clear, icy blue sky tried to wake me up early. but my subconscious decided i needed more sleep. so it had me dream of travelling on a train, a very comfortable and modern one, with big windows. so there was the light and the fresh air, and the monotonous sound of the train to keep the traveller drowsy.

i slept during part of this train journey (yes, i dreamt i was asleep). and i wasn't too sure at first where i was travelling, and why. but every now and then i looked out of the window, and when the train stopped, i recognized the names of some small towns in Hungaria and Slovakia, not very far from home. and the sequence made it likely i was going towards Vienna (but it might still take a few hours).

at first i thought i was alone among strangers. but while standing at the window and admiring the landscape, with the train going at high speed, i suddenly realized there was a girl standing beside me. a lovely girl with a sweet smile... the one i wrote the non-poem for!

this pleasing surprise startled me so that i awoke. and i thought: damn it, if she's on that train too, i want to continue the journey at once! we will have such fun!

and i fell asleep again, and the journey did go on...

i slept till past noon. heaven.

today's message

i have a cold, and i hate it.

*cough*

One little song... three tongues

Om kvelden når det mørkner, og alle går til ro,
da stenger jeg for stall og for låve.
Og spurvene, de netter seg i hver sitt lille bo,
da går vel også du til din kove.
Men siden vet jeg ikke å få tiden til å gå,
for i de lange netter, da lenges jeg så,
da har jeg ikke sinn til å sove.

(got this from Aasa... and here there is someone singing it... not too well, but he does :-)

At twilight, when the dark sets in, and all things go to rest,
I go and close the barn and shed;
and sparrows are a-nestling in their tiny little nest,
and you also, I think, go to bed.
But after that, I don't know how to make the hours go,
for while the long night's passing, my heart is longing so,
and no slumber comes to rock my head.

Am Abend, wenn es dunkel wird, und alles geht zur Ruh,
geh ich Stall und Scheunentor schließen,
und auch der Spatz im Nestlein drin macht seine Augen zu,
und da legst dich auch du auf dein Kissen.
Doch nachher weiß ich gar nicht, was mit meiner Zeit ich tu',
denn in den langen Nächten läßt mir Sehnsucht keine Ruh,
und da will ich vom Schlafen nichts wissen.