The Rioja wine perspective

I´m purging, deleting, "backing up" and renewing old and new experience. The last old ones are in focus today.

Recently I have meet many old friends and I must tell - they age with grace. Some are more beautiful than ever. Some are more amusing then ever. Some have become real beauties and are aging with grace. Some have become distinguished gentelmens. And some have even improved their singing voices. The one I think of was great even before.

The spirits of my old friends are the same as once when they were young promising Bojelais Nouveau´s. And now they are turning into nice Rioja wines. Improving for every year.

And the bachata king has proved he IS The Bachataking. I love watching people improve. Epsecially when they are working really hard. It´s much more impressive than being a natural talent.

This weekend there will be one more reunions with old friends. I love it!

Do you want to be in my collection of memories deep down in the cave?

So now down in the bottle now! Hurry up!
Does it hurt? Well it is not my fault.
This is the procedure needed.
Keep your arms together.
There will be more air left for you if you stop struggling.
No do not kick back, down with you now!
Down I said!!!!

Paw, the bottle is corked now!
And now tapping down the stairs
to the basement.
.
.
.
.
.
.

You see - you are not alone down there. You have good company and plenty of time to become a great wine or a really sour vinegar ;-)

Thanks old class mates, friends, salsafriends and business partners!

See you all soon!








Kjell Engman´s Contradictory,
exhibition summer 2009, in the rock shelter at Vattenfall's powerplant, Stenungsund

GIIIC - trettio år efter studenten

Högupplöst

Här är mina bildminnne av en underbar kväll. Min mun är fortfarande fastklistrad från öra till öra - stort leende. Jag skäms dock då jag ser att kvällen värdinnor inte finns med på mina bilder. Hoppas övriga festdeltagare tog bilder på dem.

TACK ALLA UNDERBARA GAMLA KLASSKOMPISAR FÖR EN UNDEBAR KVÄLL!

Jag förelår att huvudfotografen (Lenas son) lägger sina bilder ex. på Flickr ellr Picasa i ett album och att vi allihopa samlar ihop våra bilder och där. Med andra ord - någon får sätta upp konto och kommunicera ut lösenord och kontonamn. Om ingen annan anmäler sig så är väl "någon" jag eller Lenas pojk.

Skriv gärna kómmentarer!

Till den som förirrar sig vidare i denna blogg - jag har haft en ovälkommen besökare här tidigare som jag tror mig ha skrämt iväg nu. Jag är Ok.

I think I prefer not to understand

Why do we always struggle to understand? I wonder so.

Why can’t we just rest in the fact that some things are not understandable? Like where the universe stops? Why do so many people starve? Why is there such a thing as war? Or why do my kid wants homemade lunch for the day trip tomorrow instead of a prefabricated salad in a hygienically box?

I use to think that if you have a lot of observations and riddles in life you cannot make fit together – find a few possible solutions and then pick one. Be content with that choice. Never admit you chosed the wrong one. Stick to it and be happy! But today I cannot make such a choice. For a long while I haven’t been able to comprehend a few things in my life. I have been lost in my self and a mind drowning in lots of “whys” and “wonderings”. I haven’t been able to pick one solution and be happy with it.

A few days ago I picked up the coin, tossed it furiously up in the air and it landed with the other side up. And there it was. The solution. It had been there all the time - I just had been blindfolded to see it. The other side of the coin.

For the first time in my life I have come to a point where I resign. I will never understand and that is nothing bad. I lie happily - well almost - on my air mattress on the ocean of non-understanding and not comprehending. The weather is perhaps no the best but it will get warmer. It is calm and the sea gives peace in my mind. And the rippling waves makes my muscles relax.

There are things I will never understand and I finally accept I can live my life without it. I think it is better than locking my mind in something that is wrong. And I feel content about it…well mostly anyhow.

It is like when reading a big nice book. The journey is enough – I do not need to know the end of the saga. I do not need to understand every word, every course of events or every character of that book. With an open mind and a good author I do not need to rush. Like when I for the first time read Steinbeck’s “Sweet Thursday”. I cried when I finished that book.

If one day I find the answer myself…
I will never admit it to myself. I will keep it to myself and presume I have locked my mind into wrong conclusion. And I will be happy with that.

If one day anyone tells me the answer …
I will perhaps even refuse to accept it. Who knows – I can be damn stubborn.

If one day anyone can tell me the answer…
I´d like to have a choice - to listen or not to listen. Or else I might come to a point where the almost same amount of work has to be done once again. And I will simply not manage it once again.

Nevertheless – I think I wish to get that choice one day. In time. After a year. Or When I´m old and gray haired mama. Or in next life. Who knows. But not now. That is for sure. I simply cannot recalculate all informations once again. I think...

Until then – the day that probably never will come - the day I’m not waiting for - I stick to my air mattress and the ripples of the ocean. And I will be happy.

When I came home from work something really non-comprehendible was happening in my kitchen. Big kid was cooking American pancakes for dinner. And there was three times as much than needed. So lunch for tomorrow’s day trip is ready.

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Today 5 june I finally understood the true mening of what a Japanese koan is.

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Picture on top: Kjell Engman´s Contradictory

With eyes sensitive for green

Where did all the snow go? The snow I suspected would stay until midsummer. It's gone. Vanished. Totally. In just a few weeks winter turned into summer. A weekend hotter than last summer made me wonder - is this summer going to be as hot as last winter was cold? Have we moved to another latitude? Is that big ball called planet earth totally screwed?

For the moment I just enjoy and follow the path deep into the wood. I breathe. I smell. I hear the blackbirds and a hysterical thrush imitating  at least ten different birds. It makes me smile. Soundsample

My feets softly treads the soft moss.

I can taste the sour juice from lime coloured spine sprouts.

I can feel the soft and damp air caressing my cheeks.

The moment of sanctuary fills my whole body and mind.

With eyes sensitive for green …I proceed.

The best way to grasp the nettle – eat it!

It’s “more” than spring - I could almost feel the scent of summer today. The first swallows arrived and I could hear their enchanting chatter. Unfortunately this also means the gardening season needs to be started up for real.

It was a hard day though. Almost like a “hangover day” since I danced all night and had 45 minutes drive home on top of that. And what a night! Since it is a bank holiday everybody was there meaning it was too crowded. So dancing the way I wanted was almost impossible. Instead I was caught by a Latino party feeling meaning more quantity than quality regarding dancing. And when however and I had had my amount of dance for at least a few days. I drove home with a happy smile from ear to ear.

Today I took it really easy. I slept half day and then I spent some hours by the computer and some in the garden. In the evening we all had BBQ accompanied by a really good wine.

And the nettles - where did they enter the scene?
The best part of the gardening today was the germinating nettles I found at the west façade of the barn. With rubber gloves on I harvested the sprouts, cooked them, chopped them and prepared them like spinach cooked in white full fat cream sauce.

But the taste is far from spinach. Swedish nettles are a real delicacy. A taste of it’s own - a touch of wood, meadows, mushrooms and summer. I promise you that if you overcome the initial resistance of eating nettles - you will never regret it. It must be experienced - it cannot be explained! And it´s addictive. Really addictive!

On top of this great meal I like the metaphore. To handle something sticky and get something good out of it. To turn something boring to something filled with joy. And perhaps even to turn something painful into something good.

I´ve been told now by old webfriend below that I was wrong in the explanation. Do never trust one dictionary. Look phrases up in at least three before you try to use the new idiom. But why not combine - the true explanation and mine ;-)

This was supposed to be an aprichot tree. Now the wildplum root has taken over. The first frost took all apricot branches.

Do you want to dance or do you want to dance?

After hectic week but full of laughters and increasing wrinkles around my eyes I couldn’t sleep very long. It’s typical after a "over stimulating" week.

I travelled all week, had two days at the consultant’s office. Thursday night at Liseberg gave me hope of a new carrier as Terminator. I shoot dinosaurs, robots and aircraft carriers like a pro. I never thought killing and burning would be so satisfying. I really enjoyed to se those wrecks hit by my torpedo, starting to burn and then...sink for ever deep in the ocean. It was so refreshing and so satisfying. And I truly enjoyed the bar and chatting with other customers and Know-It's staff. There is too little of this in current work.

Then Saturday and time to catch up with my home and myself. I had a long breakfast, an hour writing, cleaning, washing, a few more hours of working with a friends web and then - after a Thai dinner - I slipped down in my favourite armchair and watched not only one but two movies. Luxury!

The last movie was "The Thomas Crown Affair" with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. I´ve seen it before so I knew what it would be like and it´s is not the story that counts. It is the atmosphere...the stage design...the steaming hot dance scene when Pierce says: "Do you want to dance or do you want to dance?" and the orchestra starts up playing a hot salsa.

And then the sex scene in that beautiful house. The stairs...the black and white checked floor...the sculptures...the paintings and the vodka bottle. Hmmm - and that song. Who wouldn’t like to be in her clothes...or his...



Song: Wasis Diop - Everything is never quite enough

After this movie I asked to myself - "Do you want to dance or do you want to dance?"

I want to dance of course with all what that means even though I find it hard some times. Life isn´t always easy.

Meanwhile I dance salsa, bachata and cha cha cha. I want to spend some more time with my friends and much more quality time with my family. I want to meet new ones. And I want to live in "real life" and not any virtual world. Net friends are real friends too - but you can never count on them like the ones you can hug, kiss, kick or just pick up the phone and call to after years of silence.

The best way of "start to dance" again is to act.
To fill my senses - with impressions - old an new ones.
This week was a great startup