Illustration Postcards

These two Flower fairies came flying in through my door together on the same day, a couple of weeks ago - but from two different countries. One from the Netherlands, the other from the U.K. (Geranium and Narcissus - by Cecily M. Barker, 1895-1973)

Three recent Postcrossing cards:

1. A blue dragon from Japan (a so-called Gotochi-card). 

"Gotochi cards are designed and released by the Japanese Postal System. --- Gotochi cards have a couple of unique features that make them special. First of all, they are not perfect rectangles, but in fact take on the shape of their picture. Also, each card not only has a cartoon picture on it, but also the name of the place that is depicted in the image." (Source: Postcrossing blog) (not sure if the link works for non-members)

2. A different take on the Alice in Wonderland theme (role reversal between Alice and the Chesire cat). From France.

3. From Finland. An illustration by Ilona Partanen.

River Reflections

From a walk along the river on a sunny day 1½ weeks ago. 

The top photo is from where a motorway bridge crosses the river. There are always interesting shadow patterns there when the light is right! :) 

The curved building is an old factory, from back in the days when they took pride in the architecture of such buildings. (Regular followers of my blog probably recognize it by now. I walk by there a lot, but in fine weather I'm still often tempted to stop and take up the camera...)

Snowdrops

We're still having a strangely mild winter here - almost no snow at all so far, but lots of snowdrops already in bloom.

The Big Bang

It has indeed been a rough week – or at least part of it was. A few nights ago, late in the evening, there was an explosion in my neighbourhood – loud enough to be heard all over town, I have since learned.

I was sitting at my computer when it happened, just about to turn off and go to bed. Looking out of my windows I could not see anything; but decided I had better call the emergency center anyway, even if they must be getting other calls too.

Since I could not see any fire or anyone injured, I was put through to the police. Was put on hold for a while - but in such situations seconds tend to feel like minutes... By the time I did get to talk to someone, there were already ”bluelights” arriving to my street. Not until then did I begin to understand how close it was – and had a personal kind of ”aftershock”... literally trembling all over! 

I do believe there must be some British genes hidden somewhere in my DNA, because my instinct then was to brew myself some strong tea with extra sugar/honey in it... It helped! (I did not get much sleep that night, though...)

I feel this is not the place for too many details; but I learned afterwards that the explosion was caused by a large 'banger' placed at the entrance door of a tenement building. Thankfully, it caused no fire, and no people were injured. But had someone happened to be passing by just when the explosion took place, it could have been serious.

I think the police deserve credit for how they handled it so far. They arrived quickly, stayed around for hours and did not leave until an extra bomb squad had made sure there were no more explosives. They have also continued investigations in the area over the weekend, knocking on doors and interviewing people etc.

The weekend has been quiet, no more incidents, and the next couple of nights I slept okay. Have to confess I still feel a bit jumpy though. Tonight, there is a storm blowing outside, and all sorts of scary noises! (even if nothing like that explosion) I'm trying to remind myself that I'm really still living in a ”comparatively” safe corner of the world...

Friends Forever (?)

 

The other day I listened to a philosophical talkshow on Swedish Radio, discussing what to do with social media accounts after someone dies. The topic caught my interest, as I had recently had reason to wonder about that myself. 

Last year, an old childhood friend of mine died. Not a very close friend; but in later years we were also friends on Facebook. Her daughter (whom I never met) then used her mum's Facebook account to inform friends of her death and funeral. That I felt was a good idea, as I for one (living in a different city and not in touch with any other mutual old friends) probably wouldn't have heard of it otherwise, until long afterwards. 

However, just recently (some eight months or so later) I suddenly also got FB notices of greetings left for my deceased friend on her (still open) Facebook wall by friends/family on her birthday. I have to confess that felt a bit weird. ("Happy birthday" - "Thinking of you" - "Miss you") Looking at my list of friends on FB, she is also still there just as when she was still alive. I suppose I can change my own settings - but then I found myself hesitating wondering if I should completely "unfriend" her?? ... Hm, in a way I guess I understand if it's even harder for the next of kin to decide!

The radio program did not really give any answers as to a 'right' or 'wrong' way to deal with these things either; they just stated the fact that the internet has not only changed our lives, but also how we deal with death - and our memories of our dear departed ones. We used to think of people as leaving Earth and going to Heaven... Now, there is also - apparently - the possibility to just stay in the Cloud... (Pretty much like the rest of us!)

One of my own thoughts while listening was that Facebook (and similar) may be more problematic than a blog; because of the possibility often left open on FB for friends to post things to someone's "wall" as well as just commenting. With a blog, perhaps it feels more natural to just leave it? (But I've also seen examples of a wife or husband taking over and continuing.)

One speculation in the radio program was that in the future, the providers of the various internet services might set a time limit for how long accounts belonging to dead people will be stored in the Cloud  - as even digital data does actually require storage space.

Thoughts...???

(I'm thinking I should probably do some more thinking, and write some of my own thoughts on things like this down while I'm still capable of thinking...)