spring

Of Easter, God and cured salmon

Today is Good Friday. When I was a child, this qualified as the looooongest day in the year – potentially with the day before Christmas as the single contender. In difference to the day before Christmas, Good Friday was a rather gloomy day. The music on the radio was anything but upbeat. What movies were …

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Quae Mutatio Rerum – or how things have changed (or not)

Very many years ago, on this exact date, I was sitting in our large dining room with my mother. It was only us. My father was out in the Amazon somewhere for business purposes and our house in Lima felt very large without him. My sister was still a baby, asleep upstairs. The maid had …

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Waiting for the annual miracle

The wagtail has arrived. Five days late, but still. (And yes, the wagtail tends to be very exact, showing up on April 6th. Not so this year) Over the newly ploughed fields the lapwings dip and wheel, the wrens and sparrows are squabbling in the shrubs and the willow is in full, if muted, flower, …

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In praise of spring and the returning light

Welcome to Sweden, staunch home of the Lutheran church as is displayed by the relatively large number of religious red letter days in our calendar. Not that Swedes are particularly religious – not these days. Neither are we pagan, but some rituals are hard to kill, and no matter Anselm (our apostle) no matter the …

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