Tuesday 26 May 2020

Dandelion Wine





"I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm alive, I mustn't forget it tonight or tomorrow or the day after that."
Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine 

The dandelions are in bloom en masse along the path down by the river just now... It's a short path, but I often walk from one end to the other and then turn around and walk back again - just because I like the spot. (And ignoring the apartment blocks on the other side of the river the best I can, with the camera!) 

Dandelion Wine audiobook cover art

At home, I'm currently re-reading one of my favourite books (a classic I first read in my teens or early twenties - then in Swedish translation - but have returned to several times since then). This time I'm listening to it as audio book (recently bought), narrated by David Aaron Baker.

The book is set in 1928, in a small town in Illinois, and inspired by the author's own childhood memories. "A magical timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding" (quoting the blurb). The book title, Dandelion Wine, refers to the idea (or wish) of bottling memories just like home-made wine.


Each chapter is really a short story in itself (with Douglas sometimes the main character but sometimes just witness of events). One of my favourite chapters is about a short but sweet and special friendship between a young man and a 95-year-old lady. 

"We don't seem to have much time now."
"No, but perhaps there will be another time. Time is so strange and life is twice as strange. The cogs miss, the wheels turn, and lives interlace too early or too late. I lived too long that much is certain. And you were born either too early or too late. It was a terrible bit of timing. ---"

8 comments:

  1. The pictures are lovely! They remind me of the famous poem,
    "The woods are dark and deep
    And I have miles to go before I sleep."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ginny, then I have managed to deceive you well with my photos! ;)

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  2. What a beautiful path along the dandelion meadow! No wonder you walk it over and over again.
    I think I will look for the book, it sounds very much my kind of book. Do you know "Children of Summer" by Robert Sabatier? That one is probably to me what Dandelion Wine is to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meike, I don't think I've ever heard of Robert Sabatier. (Looking him up in Wikipedia, there is also no article in Swedish, which suggests that he's not well known here.)

      Delete
  3. hard to believe this is not a country scene, good job on capture and telling us about your walk..

    ReplyDelete
  4. The bees love the flowers too. We are in hibernation here so today is going to be about movies and books.

    ReplyDelete

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