Friday Gallery: Doors/Portals

I decided to tackle today's theme - doors or portals (portar in Swedish) - by taking some photos on my way home from the metro station after work today.

Every day I pass this beautiful entrance to someone's home just outside Isolde's school. 

And further down almost the same street there's a little chapel in disguise. Or a electricity station in disguise depending on what direction you are coming from. I wonder if it was a chapel (or altar, as you can't actually go into it) first or an electricity station first. 

And after that I'm almost home. I like the entrance to our building and especially the name of our building. Why don't Swedish buildings have names? 

Friday Gallery: Faith, Hope and Love

Making it easy for myself today as I'm busy packing for a Christmas shopping trip (and catch-up with friends) in London Saturday-Wednesday together with my mum.

Found this very timely ad for a new exhibition at the Maritime Museum. Not that I'm particularly fond of tattoos (rather the opposite), but could be an interesting exhibition.

By the way, Västmanländskan is Friday Gallery director for this month and has chosen today's and three other themes: Lucia, Christmas preparations (julstök) and Half-Year Check (photos from the last six months).

Inviting

Finished my little Christening related project finally!



Via Anna's iPhone

On a Spiritual Note

Note found in the letterbox this morning (my translation from the original Swedish):

Mr Omarou

Fortune teller, international marabout

Born with spiritual power. I am famous around the world. I can solve all Your problems e.g. love, health, family problems, business, legal issues, financial transactions, weight loss. You will be told how to protect yourself and your family from the enemy and how you can bring your loved ones back into your life. Guaranteed result.

Speaks English, interpreter in Swedish.

Call and book a meeting!

Day 9: My Beliefs/Faith

Big topic about which pages and pages could be written. But the hour is late and bullets will have to do.

• * Yes, I believe
• * But I'm probably more of an agnostic than a true believer
• * I'm too much of a rational thinker to believe 100%
• * I really hope there is something or someone out there though
• * I think it helps people to think that there is or there may be something
• * And even if there isn't, or we will never know, that may be the point of it; that it gives people strength
• * My beliefs are personal though and I don't believe in a lot of the dogma
• * If there is a God, there's probably just one; s/he just have different names (God, Allah, etc.)
• * Saying that may not qualify me as a Christian, but Christianity is still what I feel the closest too, but partly for cultural reasons
• * I will raise our child with the help of many of the values that stem from (the positive side of) religion (and culture) and instill those values in him/her

Show & Tell: When I Was Little...

I'm going to be a bit boring and just show a few photos as my interpretation of Bejla's second theme of the month. I started scanning old photos a few months ago but didn't get very far (so far I have only scanned random photos kept in boxes but I will tackle my albums soon), hence I don't have much to show you (in addition to those you've already seen). Here are a few you haven't seen yet.

Age 2½, not sure where it is taken exactly but I think it's in front of one of the houses we rented (in Dalarna?) in the summers when I was little

My fifth birthday but I have no idea who the other children are. I think this is taken at pre-school. Maybe my mum can enlighten us :)

Skip to age 15 or 16; I travelled to France by train together with the church youth group I became a member of following my confirmation. We spent a night at the Swedish church in Paris* before we headed to our destination, Taizé, an ecumenical Christian monastery, which has become perhaps the site of Christian pilgrimage**. Taizé is a place for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work, but for a teenager it's very much (mainly?) a camp for young people from all over the world. One of my favourite moments in Taizé were the twice-daily prayer/song sessions in the church:





A blurry picture of my beloved cat Kitty Tigera who's no longer with us, Someone (me?) has put a napkin around her neck, poor thing!

Check out my outfit at the Christmas celebrations at the Norwegian church in New York in 1995 (together with Norwegian aupair friends)! What was I thinking??!!

Here I have recently returned to Sweden (a few pounds heavier...) after my aupair year in the US. I think this picture is funny as we're all wearing blue and my grandmother's curtains also happen to be blue :)

* The Priest who was our "tour guide" is a very kind but a bit naïve and a scatter-minded man, so there are quite many stories from these annual trips (I only went on one) ranging from kids (well, teenagers) left on the platform in Hamburg (this happened to my friend on the trip I was one and, I have to say, was really my friend's fault) as the train to Paris leaves in front of their eyes to the group getting lost in Paris's redlight district to a girl (another friend of mine, the year before I joined) tripping and breaking her arm.

** If you haven't heard of Taizé, you may have heard of its founder Brother Roger, who was tragically stabbed to death by a mentally ill visitor in 2005

Zodiac Fun

When I was weeding our book shelves to make room for new (well, mostly very old books that come from Peter's grandmother's home) books I found an astrology book that I hadn't looked at before (Peter must have had when we moved in together). I'm not really a believer in horoscopes but this one was a little different; it had a sense of humour both in text and illustrations! The subtitle is "A necessary guide for all who want to maximise the possibilities of astrology and avoid getting lost in the zodiac".

So what does it say about Aquarius? Where I can relate in purple.

• * An aquarius is full of surprises. Be prepared for anything when you meet this unorthodox gal. (Eh..?)
• * She wants no harm. On the contrary she has a strong wish deep inside her heart to make this world a better place to live. We ought to have more of them.
• * Aquarius need freedom for herself and those around
• * For some reason her thoughts seem to be more in the future than in the now (nah, 50-50)
• * They are gentle and nice people with a somewhat vague and dreaming gaze
• * It is no surprise that she who is such a nice person have many friends... but not so many to confide in (I have a LOT of friends including some I can talk to about everything).
• * She always know exactly what needs to be done... but entrusts the carrying out to others (haha, no, I'm pretty bad at delegating actually as I only trust myself!).
• * The water carrier really knows how to surprise someone... with a sudden capricious explosion... or through her secret vice to shock conventional people (nah, no such need).
• * Sometimes one wonder if she's a genius... or a madman (the former of course!)

The male Aquarius

• * The freedom-loving Mr Aquarius tries to avoid marriage as long as possible
• * He must be left alone when he wants to be by himself
• * He completely detests an extravagant wife

The female Aquarius

• * Someone who is so beautiful as Miss Aquarius has no difficulties getting the attention she wants (no, but as I'm talkative I guess I can "take over" a discussion)
• * Although sometimes she chooses extreme methods (illustrated with a naked woman jumping over a watering can)... and when she shows up all work sometimes comes to a halt

Famous Aquarius: Charles Darwin, Paul Newman, Ronald Reagan, Mozart, John Travolta, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln

Show & Tell: Light

Erica's last theme is light. (Simone takes over Show & Tell in November.)

Image from svenskakyrkan.se

The topic made me think of recent "advertising" from the Swedish church ahead of All Saints' Day, a day to commemorate the dead. In Sweden the custom is to put wreaths and candles on the graves of passed loved ones. If you pass by a Swedish cemetery on this particular weekend you will see hundreds of flickering lights - so beautiful and solemn.

Image from solakra.blogg.se

On the Swedish church website A Light in the Dark there are texts about what this holiday / custom is about and why it has become important for people. One writes that nowadays few have family and roots where they live and then it becomes more important to remember at least once a year. The need to connect becomes stronger when home (even though "home" can be fluid) is far away. Maybe it's that old cliché - "distance makes the heart grow fonder". And distance can be time as well, and not just geographical distance.

Eva Brunne* writes:

Lighting candles, remembering, thinking of what went so well, but also on that which didn't go well. It's like the candles relieves thoughts and feelings. Many times I have walked around the cemetery and heard parents tell stories to their little children about a grandmother or grandfather they perhaps have never even met. A story that connects and links to the future. And then they light the candle. [The light] points forward and into a life where we carry many stories with us that are necessary for our continued life.

But light also refers to optimism in dark times. There is always a way to light up the dark; the dark never wins. Life prevails over death. Good is stronger than evil.

I think a lot about that in these times of success for the Sweden Democrats, that, in my view, racist and backward-looking party. I sure hope that the voters that seem attracted to (according to the polls) these dark views find some light in their lives well ahead of next year's election** so that the Sweden Democrats don't get into Parliament.

* It doesn't say if she's a priest or other member of the church staff or just a member of the public
** September 2010

US Road Trip 2009: Sneak Peak

Holiday photos coming soon! Promise!

In the meantime, see how forward-thinking Leonardo and his fellow sculptors were back in the day! They could imagine the existence of mobile phones and text messaging!



P.S. It's a cross she's holding, but doesn't it look like a mobile phone?!

Show & Tell: Slow

Västmanländskan's second theme of the month is slow or långsam in Swedish. She presumably chose this theme because it was långfredagen yesterday, the Swedish name for Good Friday, which translates "long Friday". Traditionally this was a day of tedious waiting as one was not supposed to do anything, at least not anything fun, in order to honour Jesus who suffered and died on this particular day. Well until the 1970s Swedish radio only played hymns and there was a ban on public entertainment (until 1969), and shops were closed on this day. My mum, who is born in 1954, has told me that when she was growing up she had an aunt who was very religious and wanted the day to remain solemn. Luckily for my mum, her father was more of the secular kind and used to play cards with my mum and her sister when the aunt wasn't watching.

I had quite a slow day yesterday, though not necessarily boring. My dad didn't pick me up until 1pm (I'm spending a few days at my parents while Peter is skiing with the lads) so I had a lazy morning. And the afternoon and evening was mostly eating and hanging out with my parents and my grandfather. My dad and I took a walk with my grandfather - a very slow walk since he walks with a cane and must not rush.

Today the weather has been absolutely gorgeous and I have spent most of it sitting outside in the sunshine reading. My mum and I also took a little trip to a flower nursery which also has an antique shop (where I found a birthday present for a friend). This evening my dad and I took a walk, admittedly quite a bit longer and in a much higher pace than yesterday's walk but still very relaxing. While I'm writing this I'm sipping some camomile tea - the drink with the ultimate calming effect.

I think this is what Easter is supposed to be like. Christmas can be very hectic as there are so many things to do beforehand and people to see during, but Easter is a time to slow down, get some rest from work and catch up with yourself. Maybe a new start, in the way Jesus came back to life (except for his later ascension).

This weekend my thoughts also go the IT team at work who compared to me do not have a slow weekend. Instead they are working hard on deploying our new IT system. If everything goes smoothly (fingers crossed) the new equipment will replace the completely archaic and slow system we have now. The "future" has been delayed for several years - when I started working there three years ago, I was told we were going to get our new computers "soon" - but on Tuesday slow is no more! By the way, speaking of slow IT, as I'm writing this on my parents' super-slow computer I'm not able to upload any photos to go with the post :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Have You Met Ahmed?

Boring Angel

Only 20% evil. Not sure I should be happy or sad?! One of the questions/statements was interesting: "You don't believe in God". I guess that means that any person who doesn't believe in God is evil, at least according to whoever made the test.

You Are 20% Evil

You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm. Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!

How Evil Are You?

The Enlightenment Missed a Few People

The USA can be a pretty strange place sometimes. Here's an article that gives a very good picture of the evolution v. "intelligent design" debate and science teaching in the US and shows that there are some excellent teachers (at least one) out there who are trying the enlighten American children! It's a very long article but you just can't miss it - read it now!!

If you don't get access to the article right away, just sign up for access, it's free and easily done!

Abstaining from the Truth

In the early days of my blogging and reading other people's blogs, back in early 2005, my friend Nonna blogged about the abstinence education in Texas that had proven unsuccessful. In a comment to Nonna I cited a Swedish article on the topic, "Living in celibacy easier said than done":

"More and more Americans promise to abstain from sex before marriage, zealously supported by President Bush. But only every tenth keeps his/her promise.

Solemn promises of a life in celibacy until your wedding day ought to be quite difficult to demand of the drinkers at the clubs in Stockholm - and of the rest of Sweden. Statistics show that young Swedes on average make their sexual debut at 16. In the USA however, there is a nation-wide movement to persuade the youngest to practise abstinence. President Bush supports the work and Congress has assigned 131 million dollar to abstinence teaching. As a rule the debated is conducted with Christian characteristics. But the problems with teenage abortion, spread of HIV, and STDs have made a great deal of people outside of church listen. Since 1993 the movement True Love Waits has alone convinced 2,4 million young Americans to sign a promise of chastity:

'As a believe that true love waits, I commit before God, myself, my family, those I date and my future partner to remain sexually untouched until the day I enter into marriage'.

The effectiveness of the abstinence model is however strongly questioned by scientists. And many sexuality specialists believe that medical arguments can make more people wait than can promises to God. Especially if the promises are not kept anyway.

A new scientific report from the University of Columbia shows that 88 % of those who have given a promise of celibacy have not kept it. The frequency of STDs among these people was just short of as high as among those who had not promised to abstain. Those who broke their promises, quickly came even with the promise-free group by having many partners in a short period of time.A study at the A&M University in Bush's homestate Texas has showed a similar result. Among teenagers who have been taught abstention, the number of people making their sexual debut following the end of the course increased, in particular among the boys. The many young people getting pregnant in the USA are petitioned more and more firmly by abortion opponents. Around the country these organisations offer free ultrasounds in order to persuade women to reassess. Spokesmen claim that up to 90 % of these women have abandoned the thought of abortion after having undergone these examinations.

The abortion advocates accuse these clinics for leading the women to continue their pregnancies. At the same time these women do no get any information about contraceptives. Instead they are encourage to - exactly - abstain from sex."

I just read another article on the subject (from October 2007), by Amanda Robb at the New York Times, titled "Abstinence 1, S-Chip 0"

"DEMOCRATIC leaders are right to contest President Bush’s veto of their bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance program. But sadly, their “bipartisan compromise” will leave millions of young Americans vulnerable to sickness and suffering of the most preventable kind.

To entice Republicans to support the bill, the House of Representatives agreed to increase money for abstinence-only sex education by $28 million, to a total of about $200 million a year. Abstinence-only courses, the only form of federally financed sex ed, teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to cause psychological and physical harm. If that were true, our health care system would be not only broken, but besieged. A 2002 survey found that 93 percent of American adults had had premarital sex by the age of 30.

In addition to provoking shame about a nearly universal activity, abstinence-only sex education is ineffective and dangerous. Last April, a 10-year study found that students who took abstinence-only courses were no more likely to abstain from sex than other students. Previous studies revealed that abstinence-only students avoid using contraception.

Programs in public schools teach patently false information like 'the chances of getting pregnant with a condom are one out of six' and H.I.V. 'may be in your body for a long time (from a few months to as long as 10 years or more) before it can be detected.'

The results are tragic. The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the developed world (about the same as Ukraine’s), and the highest abortion rate in the Western world. Sexually transmitted infections like syphilis and gonorrhea are on the rise for the first time since the 1980s, and chlamydia is being diagnosed twice as often as it was a decade ago.

Among Americans living in poverty — those who might see the $4 price of a three-pack of condoms as the take-home pay for an hour of work at minimum wage — the unintended pregnancy rate has increased 30 percent since 1994. Our teenage pregnancy and abortion rates have declined during the last decade, but research suggests this is mainly because of increased use of condoms, something young people must learn about outside of school.

By dropping the financing for abstinence-only sex ed, Congress could save enough money to insure 150,000 children a year. And it would also demonstrate much needed resolve to protect all aspects of children’s health."

I can't believe that in 2008 some people still have such old-fashioned views and are turning a blind eye to the evidence and the social reality around them. Scary.

Waffled

Today it is Annunciation or Jungfru Marie Bebådelsedag as it's called in Sweden. This "holiday" always takes place on 25 March, nine months before Christmas, to celebrate the "conception" of Jesus Christ. On this day Gabriel foretold the birth of Jesus.

Back when Annunciation used to be a holiday it was called "vårfrudagen" after "vår fru" (our madame/wife/Mrs) instead of "jungfru" (virgin) Mary. Over time Vårfrudagen has become "våffeldagen" (the waffle day), which has given rise to the customs to eat waffles on this day.

The plan today was to make savoury-style waffles for dinner followed by some sweet ones for dessert. But when the ingredients had already been purchased and I was almost home I remembered that we threw out my (inherited, bright orange, 1970s) waffle iron few months ago...

(Photo: Tasteline)

Oh well. Luckily we had lots of sauce left from last night's Thai take-away so I just threw in some new chicken (quorn actually) and some vegetables and put the rice cooker on, and voila, dinner was ready.

I still want those waffles with spinach, avocaco and bacon some day soon though.

Nonsense Pondering

Is it just me or have you ever seen Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's daughter Suri in a pram or a pushchair? They are always carrying her, everywhere. It must be some Scientology crap, just like that barley (wheat) formula babies are supposed to drink according to the Scientologists, instead of breastmilk or regular formula. It's probably good for little Suri to run around, but sometimes she'd probably like to take a nap in a comfortable pushchair instead of her mum's shoulder.