The City Composing, Stockholm: “Vårkväll i Frescati” by Maria Ljungdahl, performed by Hara Alonso, piano

“Vårkväll i Frescati”, performed 26 May 2015 at KMH, Stockholm, by Hara Alonso, piano, a piece composed by Maria Ljungdahl (Maritune Art & Music) and submitted to the project “The City Composing”. Sheet music (copyright 2015 Maria Ljungdahl, STIM) available as pdf download, screen viewing/listening, or direct print out at Score Exchange

Litteraturförslag istället för naturporr

Tog ett par andra foton idag när jag var ute och gick i vårsolens glans och tittade på hur fint snön smälter bort. På ett ställe alldeles bredvid gångvägen och en busshållplats var det en bergvägg med torrt gräs på toppen och ingen snö alls. Dock flödade vatten ur en spricka mitt på den i övrigt torra klippan, från en dold källa av smältvatten längre upp bland radhusen. Det såg rent bibliskt ut, och porlade så fint. Naturligtvis kunde inte min usla telefonkamera göra motivet och stämningen rättvisa, utan det blev bara platt och porrigt. Alltså publicerar jag inte någon blogg med rubriken “Vatten ur klippan” (alt. “rock ‘n well”), men däremot denna någon vecka äldre installation av böcker i ett fönster.

mercury playground (poem)

Mercury Playground

Suddenly shadowed, the heavens imploded again
Dark clouds, dark grey over a quiet grey village
Thick curtains of crystals, wet, dropped down in silver

Shockingly cold, wrapping all ground in winter anew
like some sweet-scented lace, or a veil of white lilies
Laid folded in layers, wet, draped on the surface

Sun-melted then, when spring came to its nature once more,
was changing reflection, rejecting the goodness
in children out playing, wet, dipped in the snow drifts

Mercury, mercury, changing forever its silvery wings
Projecting and fleeing, like letters and mirrors
The playground now poisoned, wet, drowned in the icing

MaLj 29 March 2008

Family outing

This Sunday, I was out on a boat trip for the first time this year. The combination of summer weather and spring season — sunny and quite warm, but with a chill from the sea and wind; an abundance of flowers in the woods and meadows, but sparse foliage on the trees; silence or just bird song, since very few leisure boats were out on the water ways, and with mass tourism as yet concentrated to just a couple of popular islands instead of spread over the whole archipelago — this all made the day with the family an enjoyable and relaxing experience in our incredibly beautiful archiepelago.

All 12 members of the big family were present. B’s four sons, who had given us this outing as a late birthday present to him: the first, with his wife and their daughter (2 years) and their son (8 months); the second, with his fiancée (who is a sailor and Coast Guard officer) – she was our hostess this day, and had planned the whole tour; the third son, with his girlfriend and their son (14 months); and my son, the youngest brother in the clan.

We boarded an island ferry in the morning, and went from landing-place to landing-place through sounds and over fjords for 90 delightful minutes. I was of course standing on deck, so I could see and name all the islands and
feel the wind.

The rest of the day was spent on a nice island, where we walked some kilometres on hot sand roads, had lunch (brunch with herring, herring and herring – and a blueberry pie) at an old hotel, and sat on the beach while the kids played.

Then we got home by a faster ferry (waterjet), which was fun at first, but a bit crowded after 196 silly sunbathers on their way home to Stockholm stepped onboard at the next stop.

[Tack för bilderna!]

Open sea

Last weekend, the ice disappeared almost completely – there is just a little of it left in the marina and in the inner, narrow creeks east and west of it. The ferries can sail the shorter course again, through the shipping channel near the mainland that was closed during the coldest winter months, so the ships don’t have to take the long turn around the eastern part of the fjord any longer. This has been a long winter!