Happy 86th!

We met once in his hotel room ahead of an upcoming reading.
Those two hours were to prove unforgettable for me.
Happy birthday, Mr Doulatabadi! 

Mahmoud Doulatabadi * 1 August 1940

Kelidar

Friday is Skyday

Relaxing kitchen view

Coffee time with Llamazares

La lluvia amarilla

 

Julio Llamazares * 28 March 1955

Laughing Lhursday* (NOT!)

Isn't she absolutely adorable?
Such a cute little girl!
And how wonderful:
She doesn't say anything.
She doesn't ask anything.
Best of all: she doesn't whine
while Mum is shopping.
(Sarcasm off.)

* [For first time visitors]: 
Typo in the title? Nah. It's just that 
I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

Once a fascist, always a fascist

Franco would be spinning with joy in his grave and salute with his right arm raised.
Impossible, of course. He's rotten.

Mariano Rajoy still has the composting to do.

In a guest column for the online publication El Debate, the former Spanish Prime Minister wrote that France had a “squad of the very highest calibre. Although it doesn’t include any French players.”  

*

En una columna d'opinió com a convidat per a la publicació en línia El Debate, l'ex-president del govern espanyol va escriure que França tenia un "equip del més alt calibre. Tot i que no inclou cap jugador francès."  

See also 
The Guardian

Friday is Skyday

...

On the Road

Glance to the left

Glance to the right

Rain on the way

Bloom's Day, not Joyce's Day

Giovanni Boccaccio, born on June 16, 1313,
after a full life died on December 21, 1375.
Leopold Bloom, though, born in 1866, 
has been an immortal since June 16, 1904,
as he recently explained to Giovanni.
Otherwise, instead of Bloom's Day 
 today Joyce's Day would be celebrated, wouldn't it?
But what would Joyce be without Bloom?
A Nothing.
;-)

What did Mr. Bloom's lovely wife Molly say again?

"I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes." 

Friday is Skyday

Here's to fill the rain barrels.

I have a dream

Now that like many others Africa's Referee of the Year has also been barred from entering the land of the presidential sex offender and his cronies in military and ministries, a few words about the upcoming Football World Cup.

I have a dream: 46 nations will decline to participate. Then the convicted sex offender and the most honorable FIFA Peace Prize awardee can both get ready, and each lead their glorious nation into the final as captain. USA vs. Switzerland-Infantilo.

Win-win situation for all:
The other millionaires in shorts would finally have a summer break worthy of the name and also time to get two meaningful statements tattooed on both buttocks.

Fuck corruption! & Fuck Fascism!

* * *

Won't happen. I know. 
And no, I feel no sympathy for those who are stupid enough to throw their honestly earned money down the throats of criminal organisations.

Saturday Night Music

Martha Argerich * 5 June 1941 

Nature does not care

An accident?
Sibling murder? Parental murder?
The ants don’t care.

 

Instead of a political rant

Hazel in April sun.
By now, there are more leaves. ;-)

Roses.

Sage galore.

Hydrangea petiolaris.

Voilà:
Future elderflower liqueur. ;-)

Lots of cherries this year?

Beers & Books (449) – Jóanes Nielsen: Die Erinnerungen

Brahmadellarnir

 Jóanes Nielsen *5 April 1953

Summer's arrived

Fruit and lilac blossoms are over, 
and so is the tulip display;

but along with poppies
and right on schedule for Pentecost ...

peonies (in German "Pfingstrosen" 
/ Pentecost roses) bloomed.

Same with roses, ...

Solomon's seal, bluebells ...

... daylilies, and much more ...
as if to soothe me
when I think with anger and contempt
of all those who coldly and calculatingly
walk over hundreds of thousands,
over millions of corpses...

Laughing Lhursday*

Self portrait on fern.

* [For first time visitors]: 
Typo in the title? Nah. It's just that 
I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

Beers & Books (448) – Jaume Cabré: Die Stimmen des Flusses

La voces del Pamano

 
Jaume Cabré * 30 April 1947

Coffeetime with Eco

The eternal fascism

Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 Februry 2016)

Roberto Saviano *22 September 1979

Happy Birthday, Lluis!

 

Lluis Llach* 7 May 1948

On the road

In full bloom.

Lilac

Lilac is blooming
All windows open all day
its scent everywhere
*
Dia de sol clar,
finestres ben obertes,
olor de liles.
(Paula)

*
I, d’on ve l’olor?
De sota el finestral!
L’olor de vida.
(Anonymous)

Coffee time with Droods

... well, and to welcome May:
Strawberries & whipped cream.

Cherry blossom

Inmidst all wars

cherry blossoms

are going to tell

life could be much more easy.

For sad reason

Sometimes I wish I were but a humble gardener
with love for literature and poetry
who does not read the news.

Coffee time with Satyajit Ray

Spring is in the air

Satyajit Ray (2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992)

Striking resemblance

According to my absolutely credible source*, the great-grandmother* of her informant* these days feels 'more and more reminded of an Austrian-born loudmouth whenever she has the displeasure of listening to the both moronic and perverse convicted sex offender, whose election to the White House reveals a great deal about character and intelligence quotient of both his admirers and brown-nosing sycophants'.

To which I replied: Your informant's great-grandmother compares the future ex-US president and first and only FIFA Peace Prize Winner to Adolf Hitler? 

To which my absolutely reliable source replied: ‘Moreover, amongst others she does also call him a megalomaniac war-criminal who shits on any law, the international inclusive.'

* No names are given, as Omnium is committed to protecting its informants.

I have seen the future

. . .

Spring's entering Seanhenge

It's blooming in Seanhenge

and it's buzzing, 

and tonight I heard the cranes singing.

Beers & Books (447) – Rulfo: Der Llano in Flammen

El Llano en llamas / The Plain in Flames

Juan Rulfo (16 May 1918 – 7 January 1986)

Laughing Lhursday*

Jürgen Tomicek, one of the most renowned German cartoonists of our time, 
often leaves viewers of his work with laughter stuck in their throats. 

 
* [For first time visitors]: 
Typo in the title? Nah. It's just that 
I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

Personal note

Tens of thousands of data thieves have finally succeeded: 
I've had enough! 
Until further notice, from now on, Omnium will only be accessible to friends to whom I sent an invitation last night.
The peace of the night.
* *
Desenes de milers de lladres de dades finalment ho han aconseguit: 
ja n'he tingut prou!
Fins a nou avís, a partir d'ara, Omnium només serà accessible per als amics als quals vaig enviar una invitació ahir a la nit.
La pau de la nit.

Beers & Books (446) – Charlotte Mew: Poems

Well, and this was the surprise on top.

Charlotte Mew (15 November 1869 – 24 March 1928)

Saturday Night Music

 

Seiji Ozawa (1 September 1935 – 6 February 2024)

Martha Argerich *5 June 1941 

Beers & Books (445) – J. Johnson: Now in November

Now in November

Josephine Johnson (20 Juni 1910 – 27 February 1990)

On the road

3:30 p.m. On the way to shopping. 
Snow drifts. No sign of the cycle path.

5:30 p.m. Heading home.
Shopping was a good idea.
For tomorrow snow, rain and black ice are expected.
Schools across the country will therefore be closed.

Beers & Books (444) – Rushdie: The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour
*
In the South I enjoyed best.

Salman Rushdie *19 June 1947

Friday is Skyday

16:25

Another Robert Burns Night

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796)

Tam O' Shanter (Original and Traducción al español)

Beers & Books (443) – William Heinesen: Noatun

Noatun = We

William Heinesen (15 January 1900 – 12 March 1991)

Beers & Books (442) – Nedrejord: Acht Jahreszeiten

Sameproblemet / The Sámi Problem

Kathrine Nedrejord *16 September 1987

Seanhenge transformed into Snowhenge

Whether viewed from below ...

or from above:

Seanhenge has been transformed ...

into a Snowhenge.

However, there's no reason to complain. 

With blue skies and bright sunshine, 

even in freezing cold a walk is a pleasure.