discovery

Meaning and Happiness.

___________________________________________________________________

Even

After

All this time

The Sun never says

To the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look

What happens

With a love like that.

It lights the

Whole

Sky.

(Hafiz)

__________________________________________________________________

Infatuation is temporary.

Disenchantment is inevitable.

Marriage cannot succeed without mature love.

Mature love is self-responsible.

♥

__________________________________________________________________

person of the week

This award goes to a gentleman whose name I didn't get.
He gets it for bestowing an unconditional- kind - act on 2 South African ladies walking through a park in Denmark.
Here is the scene:
Denmark, spring.
The dusk sets in from 8pm onwards and we have been walking most of the day in and out of parks, around and over lakes, rivers, in and through shops.

This park Ida tells us was previously notorious for gay-meetings of the "not-just-kissing" nature of love-expression...
Anyway- we are wandering around when a gentleman carrying his laptop bag in one hand and jacket in the other, walks past, stops and starts speaking Danish.

The blank "eyebrows raised" look usually stops them mid-sentence and he asks: are we from here?
We must be careful and better exit the park before it gets dark as there have been rumours of attacks in this park.

He smiles and walks on.
I'm going to call him Christian.

Thanks Christian.





On the topic of being caring and compassionate.

Here are some thoughts (courtesy of Sonja Lyubomirsky)

♥ let it go
♥ do it now
♥ enjoy the process
♥ Identify the problem.

Hope you are having a happy-Sunday evening ( non- bluesy)

take the power - mantra

This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well.
Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly.
Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature.
Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you.
Take the power to make your life happy."- Susan Polis Schutz

I read this on a beautiful blog: Being Brazen.
check it out Here.

chiao bella
M

Last 2 days in Stockholm before we return to the Southern hemisphere

We were sad to say goodbye to Ida.

She made Copenhagen come to life.

We flew back to Arlanda and headed to a different part of town, Skanstulls.

The sun goes down at 21.30 and Maggie and I were making the most of the evenings.

Here is Maggie grabbing a Cafe & Kanelbulla ( cinnamon-bun type pastry) in the city centre "Teater & Kunshuset" square.

we treated ourselves to Sushi. Salmon so fresh it is insane !!
They refer to prawns as "Rak"

numerous little openings in the city: water features, grassy-areas where students or young mothers relax in the sun, people read, meet & have a chat. Lovely.
Here we are in our room: determined to finish the gin I flew over from Cape Town:



and we succeeded... and I made Maggie parade her new Zara jacket round in our room.. here she is standing on my bed.. against the wall-paper I liked.
Thanks model for being a sport !

and here my model features again: this time dressed for her flight home.
The boots are also new (and we couldn't fit them into the luggage, so she was forced to wear them.)

a lady cornered her and asked her to fill out a shop- questionaire.
Look at the cool couch resembling a conveyor belt, complete with cushions (suitcases)
I love this town !!

bye bye, heading back to CT
m

sweden- stockholm- denmark- copenhagen-

so from Stockholm, we travelled with the "Flygbussarna" to Arlanda ( airport ) and unfortunately our flight was delayed by 45 minutes. (mist, cloud, no visibility, but these days they fly on radar not eye-sight?!)

The flight-duration is only 1 hour, so does that make it 185% over its time?
anyway, we rang Ida from a telephone-box (Thanks VISA) and left a voice-mail.

The flight was quick and then JUST before I tense up ( as the wheels touch the tar mack ) the pilot pulled the airbus up. Sharply.

We were climbing again.
Wide-eyed: "Maggie what the hell is going on?!"

Circled.
More mist & fog.
Pilot informs us that the Tower instructed to abort landing as we were too close
to the aeroplane before us.

??? okay.

geeezzz...., so we landed safely a while later (amidst fog & drizzle).
Ida's friendly sunny-smile welcomed us to Copenhagen, Denmark.

It is a much smaller city than Stockholm ( so the public transport is even less crowded ) and the festivals, winter- carnivals, midsummer-treats of sing & flags & booze is ( according to Ida ) one of the reasons the Danes are counted among the happiest of nations.
I was just happy to be safely on the ground.

We walked all day. the rest of the population was cycling. Moms with babies ( in a bicycle-pram-contraptions, students on bicycles, white collar workers on bicycles, every combination and colour imaginable. (bicycles, not people, as they are mostly blond and blue-eyed)

We saw the parks, the planetarium, the royal offices,

the Palace, the Tivoli - entertainment park, the guards, the opera house.
Breakfast here. Coffee in a different square.
We even walked through the redder part of town / sex district.
(and I came upon a church, we one can only hope they repent of their commercially satisfied- carnal cravings)

but I had to pose (as the neighbourhood sort of demands it)

We saw Thor. (3 movie tickets, 2D, not 3 D, R337) ouch.


Wonderfully appropriate: since the ancient- Norse-Viking teachings and beliefs are all portrayed in the film.

Odin, etc

We had the giggles ( like 3 teenagers going to an X- rated film unsupervised ) and a lot of fun was had. Oh, by the way: the seats in Denmark's cinemas do not go from 1 - 10
( rows ABCD, etc )
nope, they start counting from 1 in THE MIDDLE of the row...
we were in hysterics.

Back in Ida's apartment:

Thanks Ida for two hand fulls of memorable moments, plenty of champagne and warm Copenhagen- hospitality.

Won't forget it and look forward to your visit in the summer.

Stockholm day 4

Travel tip: don't plan.
Just focus on opening your heart, mind and ears to the new address.

Stockholm... fascinating city.

It is the largest city on the Scandinavian- group ( Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, etc )
This trip was a last-minute decision and Adrian was kind enough to lend me his Sweden- guide book as a prep-read.

It has handy tips such as how to say thank you (Tak)
How much you should be paying for a coffee ( in a street-cafe as well as 4-star hotel )
Respectively it works out to +- R25 and R35.

Their taxes are very high ( +_ 60% taken from the top-end earners ) and there are no homeless people
(the icy sub zero winters will not allow it anyway)
and the state assists (dental care, housing, etc)


On the way to Stockholm I learnt a little about the country by way of the cool interactive audio & video entertainment system of Qatar airways. Swedes are obsessed with living an eco-friendly life and they have a huge respect and reliance for solar power, hydro-powered plants are everywhere.


fashion:
It is like they are hovering so far above Maslow's hierarchy that self-actualisation's tip is actually their base! They have laid down the weapons with which we are fighting the battle of the sexes, they have distributed their wealth and energy needs equally, they are focussing on leaving a legacy and as such: something trivial as fashion (self-expression ) is completely for first-graders.

You wear whatever is closest in reach in your (Ikea) drawer/ cupboard. Functional, almost a "non- Fashion" is how I tried to explain it to Maggie. She just smiled at me and said that I shouldn't always burden myself with trying to label ir understand everything.

I have a clever and smart sister. xx


sweet dreams, from
(spring) Stockholm
m

Stockholm Sweetness Sums it up

with a prayer of thanks on my lips

for the egalitarian society
for the clean streets
for the late (light) evenings

for the Nordic wonder
for the intellectual capital

for the concern over the earth and sustainable energy

and for the bicycles

and for the music

(check the music store name)
and for the joy of discovery

getting ready to travel....

&%#! Crazy week... too much on the plate ... last working day before the holiday is spent at Feather's Lodge ata planning & review session and my boss forgot that he approved my leave and is visibly annoyed that I am going to be out of office (and worse: not on internatioanl roaming) and why do I feel 3grams guilty?

My brain obviously needs an overhaul... Nordic Overhaul.

I stay at the office trying to organize and delegate as much as possible. I'm sending out tens of e-mails.

It all feels a bit frantic & futile.

Dead tired: home.
I can't pack.
I watch: "The sea inside"
This movie was released in 2004, which was ironically my all-time-hands-down worst year ever. That year felt like death, not a numbness, but a constant wave of disappointment and horrible awareness upon horrible, disjointed awareness...
The Sea Inside tells the real-life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, played by EatPrayLove gent: Javier Bardem, who fought a 30 year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die. It is incredible.
Is asks the viewer: What is life? What do you see as life?

Is it movement? autonomy?
Is it only "life" when it is shared?

I am suddenly grateful and ready for the holiday.
Ready to let my world be enlarged.
Ready to embrace new frontiers and ready to see how people live in the Nordic-islands.

I pack hastily and I pack very little (secret: hope that I may pick up whatever else I need from H & M)

Drama online ( telephone line and Internet line ) with regards to my lost ( stolen?) credit card and we dash off to Tygervalley to collect a new credit card.

I am incredibly stressed that the credit card division will not issue a letter to my (G-mail) account; stating that the Qatar- flights were bought in April on credit card ending 8024 and that it (and all its accompanying debt) belongs to me as well as the new credit card ending on 8040. We will not be able to board our flight at 18h if I do not have this letter.

Infuriating. I requested it on 9th of May and the call centre operator informed me that this takes 24 hours. It is now 11 am and I am logging off to go to town and I do not yet have this letter.

Fuming. I get to Maggie I do not want to burden her with my toxic karma. Blanche sends me an sms that she has accessed my G-mail and printed said letter. We can pick it up on our way to collect Maggie and finalise packing. done.

We take pictures of the kitten, Bella, and we try to synchronise our luggage.


In the hurry to "feel the holiday spirit" we all have our own opinion on the luggage combination and where the camera should go and I am feeling very disorientated.

I am also picking up that I am indeed spilling toxic karma all over the Gardens-apartment and in a flurry to mop it up with compliments and soothing remarks I let Chris empty out a hand-luggage bag and rework some smaller cases & bags into the big suitcase which is meant to be checked in and in this confusion (too many cooks!) the Absa- credit card letter lands up in the big suitcase without my knowledge.

N2 to airport. Im trying to keep it cheery and I say "I'll miss you baby" a thousand times.
drop & go.
wave & weep.

We check in at the Qatar- desk and I cannot find the G-mail- absa Blanche - letter print out.

Panic

We phone Chris as we try to figure out if it could still be in the Cape-Town apartment...
I plead for internet-access (there is no internet- commercial access at the airport?!) and Maggie speaks to Chris to make a U- turn...
the Qatar- duty manager points me to a desk where her friend works (she arranges that I access the internet at the Menziez-travel agent (the other end of the departure floor)
The lady prints the Absa- credit card letter and I run over to the check-in counter where the friendly staff (clerk and manager and fuming-Maggie all waiting for me) accepts the letter, we call Chris again to diffuse and we laugh hysterically about the tempo and incident-count up to this point, which we hope will not be the theme of this holiday.

My brain tells me that all is well and we are off to the security check so that we may enter and wait at the duty- free section. I do not yet feel the holiday spirit.
I feel confused and wonder how I transitioned from
a) organised
b) capable
c) perfectionist

to this frantic and alarmingly-disaster prone person.
I resolve to find this answer in Northern Europe. Land of Lapland, viking and moose.
I resolve to get to the bottom of many things bugging and tearing at me, and I'll search until my heart freezes over with clarity and reality.

___________________________________________________________________

Thank you Lord for bringing us safely to Sweden.
Thank you for Qatar's soft and non- turbulent landings.
please be with our loved ones at home and please spoil Blanche with good luck and a smooth week as we are missing her and sorry that she can't make the trip with us

Amen.

____________________________________________________________________











first night: dragged the suitcase in the rain for 1km because we don't yet understand the bus-routes nor had a chance to work out if SEK40 is a lot for a 1way ticket from Central-station to Gardét ( our stop ) and we are tired ( but excited )

look at our cute hostel !
This is the dining area.





The red theme continued into our suite. We were upgraded to a better suite with a kitchenette at no cost.

( Thanks Maggie ! )

ok- more later-
m

Luca's choir.. making a happy sound

The joy and unadultered pleasure of listen to junior choir... they truly are mini-angels.
Thanks Luca for being such a talented young (10 year old) man whom we could support & share a great night of "autumn- musical repertoire" with.

enjoy the photos!

m