Loreena McKennit: The Mystic's Dream

A favourite one for misty evenings and eyes ...

I want to know you

I want to know you when you cry
I want to see you when you'd rather die
I want to love you when you hate it
I want to touch your anger
even as you fear loneliness
I want you to know I don't care
'cos I want to know YOU

Cat Wisdom

So einfach
Das Leben ist voller guter Gelegenheiten.
Wir müssen sie nur ergreifen.
Und unser Herz und unsere Augen öffnen für das Schöne im Leben.

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CATIME & MORE

Card Art Edition, Jochen Mariss, http://www.gwbi.de/

Verlagsgruppe Weltbild GmBH, Ausburg

The Spring Season of Mind

Spring is my favourite season; it's the time I feel nature coming back to life for yet another year.

It's the time when I start to wake up earlier, because days get longer;

It's the time I want to be outside more and more;

It's the time I feel the joy of birds singing, flowers blossoming and trees yawning in the spring breeze;

This year the spring solstice came and went bringing snowy drizzle, wind and cold.

And yet my mind was in the mood for spring and as it didn't look like spring outside, I stayed indoors marveling at this:

In Memoriam

It's been a year.

My first and only cat, Ricky, died on 4 March 2008.

I still miss her some times more than others. It's not like missing a person, but she had her own personality. I miss the small things: how she curled up to sleep somewhere on me at night, how she liked to 'talk' -- the Siamese are famously talkative, but this one was really something: such a strong and often used voice -- you'd never expect it from such a small cat. The Siamese are also notoriously vicious -- not this one. Ricky was very patient and good-natured, for a cat, that is. Her free will and comfort were always top priorities. Whatever mischief she wanted to do or had already done, however, paled into insignificance when you looked at her eyes -- the most brilliant blue. Unforgettable.

The Green Island

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been on holiday recently. I spent most of it on the greenest of green islands, Ireland. No wonder it's dubbed the Green Island. The grass riveted my eyes (more so when it's sunny), but that's not the only reason I found Ireland charming.

For such a comparatively small country with small population it offers quite a variety of things to do and see. Dublin has a simmering cultural life (Festival of World Cultures going on while I was there, more info on http://www.festivalofworldcultures.com/), inviting flowery parks and unique sights such as the Guiness Brewery and Old Jameson Distillery (some of the Dublin sights are listed here: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Ireland/County_Dublin/Dublin-296021/Things_To_Do-Dublin-TG-C-1.html). The city also offers fantastic jewelery with Celtic symbols and motifs (such a temptation!). These people have a fantastic sense of humour, which can be seen on any T shirts or beer mats sold in the gift shops. A central topic on all of these is drinking -- a subject which could not escape the sharp observations of Oscar Wilde (born in Dublin and incidentally one of my favourite quotation sources) who remarked: "I drink to keep body and soul apart."

Ireland also seemed to me to be a country of signs: everywhere there are road signs -- some giving directions, others - prohibitions, still others I foud quite fun, at least at first glance.

Here's a taster:

Can't have put it any clearer.

If the entrance is hidden, why put up a sign? Well, that's not the point, apparently:)

Glendalough area; more info on http://www.glendalough.ie/

P.S. While I am still under the spell of the Green Island, I think I'll be posting some of my Irish photos here and there.

How Ricky Blue Eyes smiled and found its home here

I've never fancied myself as a blogger -- perhaps I haven't given it enough thought or simply thought I couldn't be bothered ...That is, until today.

To start at the beginning, I must confess that I am an avid Harry Potter fan. Today being Saturday, I was doing my regular Harry Potter news check of the fansites, when I came across a post on www.mugglenet.com about an interview with the Twilight series' author Stephenie Meyer.

Ah, right, I was going to check what this was all about for ages, I thought. Now was the time(though still haven't got around to listening to that interview, but all in good time). And lo and behold -- the last book of the saga, Breaking Dawn, has just hit the book shelves! And there was a film coming out in December! My film/book-loving self couldn't resist it -- I was on to it like a curious cat. I wasn't disappointed: the treasure trove I discovered was promising. The book covers looked evokative, the bits of back story and first chapters I read (all could be seen at http://www.stepheniemeyer.com) told me this was a captivating story masterfully told, a must-read for me, definitely. After devouring countless clips, interviews and what not about the film based on the first book, Twilight, I felt very much drawn to the plot, the characters, the film-making process, the whole fandom living behind it. I couldn't pipoint exactly why, though. This wasn't the kind of books I usually enjoy. It was like watching Scorsese's The Departed (one of my all-time faves, though again, not the genre I would usually go for) -- characters teetering on the brink who can take any side at any moment ... I mean, I got a sense of the intensity of these books; choice seemed a big theme there (one that I am intensely interested in, incidentally)

All these and other first-impression thoughts prowling my mind until in some obsure corner they sprang on an idea: why don't I write about these initial Twilight reactions, why don't I discuss other books and films, haven't I always wanted (well, for a long post-school time, at least) to write film/book reviews?

Not that the above falls within that category, but then it occurred to me that the best place to do it would be simply to start a blog.

So that's the short behind-the-scenes story of the Ricky Blue Eyes (I used to have a blue-eyed cat, the most gorgeous Siamese, so hence the name). Books and films will be the main course here (I do enjoy desserts as well), but I suspect that it won't be long before it spills over, well, other things about the world around me, but you'll see (I will be no less surprised from the outcome, I am sure)

Any comments on anything you've read /watched or anything interesting you've noticed are welcome:)