Monday 26 November 2012

Intercambio Postal

Este año me llené de valentía para apuntarme al maravilloso intercambio postal que organizan por segunda vez Pau y Margarita! Y aunque la montaña de cosas por hacer antes de nuestra salida para el Africa {esa es otra historia} crece, y crece… estoy feliz en mis momentos libres maquinando que enviarle a Mir, mi compañera de intercambio… sencillamente, me alegra el alma, pues no hay nada más rico que recibir correo.

Así que hoy sigo al pie de la letra las primeras instrucciones {qué primípara!} y me siento a contestar el meme para facilitarle la vida a Mir.

  1. series de televisión? Si? cuáles? – Ninguna. Hace más de quince años que no veo tele… creo que la última que vi, y sólo los primeros capítulos, fue Felicity!  
  2. sos de las que se las ve apenas sale y espera pacientemente cada semana o de las que prefiere zampárselas en 2 noches. Pertenezco a otra categoría… usualmente me las cuentan amigas queridas.
  3. que podrías comer todos los días sin temor a cansarte? pasta con salsa rosada {receta especial de M} y aguacates grandotes bien vallunos.
  4. que colores combinas? azul con blanco… y últimamente un poco de rosado.
  5. hay color favorito? — aguamarina
  6. 3 canciones.
    • In My Secret Life, Leonard Cohen
    • Downtown train, Tom Waits
    • Forever young, Alphaville
  7. cuál fue la última peli que viste, que te haya gustado, claro. To Rome with love, Woody Allen… la vimos en Berlín, y salimos con una sonrisa a recorrer las calles en una de esas noches magnificas del indian summer.
  8. prenda de vestir que te identifique... — que me identifique? Jeans. Que me gustará que me identificará: vestidos. Estoy trabajando en esto.
  9. 4 olores que te hacen detener.
    • Pan fresco
    • Lavanda
    • Mar
    • Aramis
  10. cuál es tu destino favorito? – el mar, islas, playas!
  11. a dónde viajarías? –a Provenza, en mayo para recorrer en bici los campos de lavanda.
  12. que te gusta craftear? – todo donde pueda utilizar las fotos que tomo por montones
  13. que quisieras aprender a craftear? – hornear {se vale?}.
  14. que lugares de tu casa habitas con mayor frecuencia? — mi estudio y nuestra mini-cocina inglesa
  15. La última novela que leí es: Winter Journal, Paul Auster
  16. Autor/a favorito/a: Repito, Paul Auster
  17. a que lado de la cama duermes? En el izquierdo, estando acostados
  18. que tienes en tu mesa de noche? – pocas cosas…. el libro del momento, mi despertador {que usualmente termina debajo de la mesa, pues de noche lo alcanzó a escuchar}, agua, aceite de lavanda, y las góticas homeopáticas para conciliar el sueño cuando el insomnio ataca.
  19. cuál es el momento del día que más disfrutas - la mañana, bien de mañana.
  20. como te gusta pasar el tiempo libre – haciendo largas caminatas en paisajes maravillosos, conversando largo y tendido, sumergida en mis propias cavilaciones, tomando fotos
  21. que recuerdo atesoras? — zambullirme en el mar de los siete colores
  22. te has teñido el pelo? si? de qué colores? NUNCA! Aunque ya las canas comienza a asomarse….
  23. café o té? café en la mañana, té en las tarde lluviosas {que abundan en Inglaterra!}
  24. vino blanco o tinto?tinto, Carménère o Malbec  
  25. sal o dulce? –sal…. Pero siempre caigo rendida ante un buen postre.
  26. suelo levantarme a las: 8:30am desde que me casé… de soltera era la madrugadora más feliz del mundo.
  27. no puedo salir de casa sin mi: últimamente, el anillo que herede de mi abuela.
  28. 5 pelis
    • La Era del Hielo
    • The Constant Gardener
    • Der Untergang
    • Los Amantes del Circulo Polar
    • The Gran Torino
  29. una novela que te haya hecho reír: One River, Wade Davis

Sunday 4 November 2012

Meseberg - oh schönes, erhabenes Zauberschloss am Huwenowsee!


Forever and a day, M had been telling me stories about Meseberg, glorious Meseberg. ´We have to go and visit´, he would say. ´I want to show you Meseberg and the Huwenowsee (Lake Huwenow). There isn´t anything nearly as beautiful and sublime anywhere north of Berlin´… or in the northern hemisphere, for that matter. Last September - eleven years after M´s last visit - we finally made it to the baroque manor or Herrenhaus in the Mark Brandenburg (65 kilometers north of Berlin) that Marcus ´Biene´ Fedeler, M´s friend, ´discovered´ in the winter of 1992, a little over two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the time, Meseberg was abandoned and in bad shape. But M was enchanted. He did several oil paintings of the crumbling Schloss, he wrote an article for a national newspaper (containing a gripping journalistic portrait of Major Ludwig von Kaphengst, Meseberg´s wild and mysterious owner in the period 1774-1800), and many a times he would walk on the wooded shores of Lake Huwenow, going for swims in the summer and taking in the gorgeous views all year round. I now have become a witness to Meseberg´s beauty and am beginning to understand what it was that spoke to M´s soul when he first laid eyes on this forlorn yet magnificent place. And forlorn it is no more: since 2007 M´s Zauberschloss serves as the official Guesthouse of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. Did someone get inspired by M´s tales, articles and paintings? 




 



Sunday 28 October 2012

Wanderlust

 


 
Long walks are one of my greatest joys,
but especially in the fall,
when the light is perfect,
the air is crisp,
the leaves turn golden,
and scones, tea and whisky 
wait for us.
 
Photos by M & me.

To stop smoking…. Checked!


 


Friday 26 October 2012


“A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short”, Andre Maurois  

A long conversation is how I would describe the years by your side. A conversation that changes with time, always makes my life blossom, sometimes makes me sad… a conversation that everyday shows me that I married the right man. I wish this conversation will last until the end of time… &, why not, beyond that. Happy sixth anniversary, my love.    


Tuesday 18 September 2012

Berlin, dear old friend

 
  
 
 
Thanks for letting us celebrate M’s 45th B-Day in style.
We loved coming back
to walk your streets, neighbourhoods, parks
following M’s steps a few years {or decades} ago;
to discover your hidden beer gardens, dancing floors, and cafes
that provided the best settings for deep conversations and joyful moments;
to be amazed by your palpable history
that made us dream of Prussian times long gone.
 
Thanks for having Leonard {our favourite singer} as a very special guest during our visit
 and for letting us enjoy three hours of serene melancholy.
We love you, Berlin… and we may take you again!


Wednesday 12 September 2012

Old wise men

This summer I got inspired by two old wise men. They don’t know each other. Both have sparkly eyes. Both reminded me, in their own special way, that a young and curios spirit is the best companion for getting old.  Thanks David & Leonard!

Saturday 4 August 2012

The first part of the summer

 
 
 
 
 
We started out by cycling down to the ‘English Riviera’ with nostalgic thoughts about Cartagena de Indias in our minds. As it turned out, we managed to hit Rottingdean. Not bad for a start, a little reminiscent of Cartagena, but clearly not the place to be! Having learned our lesson, we boarded the Europlane to the Dreiländereck, where the sun does shine, the wine is good and flows amply over the course of alfresco dinners, the lakes are refreshing and the forests are full of mystery and delight. Why did we come back to the Island? Well, to introduce Markus’s Patentochter Hanna to the Primrose Cottage on Round Hill Street and everything that goes with it. (*Guest author – Markus)

Thursday 28 June 2012

It is not only about books




          My life as a doctoral student in Germany has been filled with good coffees, rose gardens, a lot of reading, wonderful hikes in the forests, a lot of reading and wild swimming by the lakes, tons of flowers, writing M in every opportunity how much I miss him, a lot of reading and sunbathing in one of the oldest pools in Freiburg, a lot of writing in an office with a view, and wonderful surprises waiting for me at home- including: a husband in need of attention.