Team Spirit

Team sports for children are known to be beneficial for all their life.  The popularity of girls playing ice-hockey has grown considerably in the last ten years.  Last Saturday we watched a game and admired the speed and courage the players presented. The ice rink is booked from morning to evening. Here the next team eagerly waits to play while the ice is getting cleaned.

On the other side the opposite team controls their impatience and is ready to jump on the ice to win the game.  It is encouraging to see these preteen players working as a team and enjoying each other.

So many aspects of this sport (on the ice and in the locker room) are an excellent preparation for their future as equals to boys/men.   We grandmothers understand it well and are pleased for them.

http://totalfemalehockey.com/dressing-room-drama/

Sap To Syrup

(Boston)  March in New England and I forgot the old tradition of 'milking' sugar maple trees of their sap to prepare syrup. Driving along a country road to Concord I got reminded of this first sign of Spring.

On a youtube video they demonstrate how to produce maple syrup and it sounds easy.........

A maple tree, a bucket, a nozzle but then a daily collecting and cooking down of a lot of sap for very little syrup.  At least one can understand the price for a bottle of syrup in the grocery store!

When snow is covering the ground - as it did last year - then snow candies can be made.  This year just warm syrup poured over pancakes is nice enough.

http://www.massmaple.org

Ha ha? Ha ha!

Versailles is not only a castle but the parc has large areas of grass and tree lined walkways. Le Notre (1613-1700) was the first landscape designer and all the following gardeners have to keep to the original plans.  Around the Grand and Petit Trianon is a continuous wall.  Long stretches of stone walls have some wide openings which allow one to see the inside gardens and the buildings.  

But then, ha ha, no way to cross the opening to enter the private grounds.  Clever and forbidding at the same time. No intruder can come in but at the same time no princess could escape.  Ha ha?  Too deep is the moat to be a laughing matter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-ha

Always An Inspiration

Even if there is no snow on the ground it is windy and cold in Paris.  The beauty and charme of the river, the bridges and the old buildings always inspire painters.

Creative too is to find a spot to practice without disturbing the neighbors. This musician

 played smooth scales up and down despite gloved fingers.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/travel-tips-and-articles/77204

Walk Along The Marne

Just outside of Paris to the East the Marne river flows around some Islands which kept their rual character and invites one to walk along the water.  February is still winter and the air is cold and raw.

We tried to walk fast to keep warm and return to the train back to the city.

A lone fisherman prepared his bait and to see him content and bundled up, he personified the peace and quiet of the Marne area not far from busy Paris.

http://www.parisvoice.com/travel/48-cril-island-hopping

"Kulturtanter"

The Swedish expression "kulturtant" is difficult to translate.  I tried, I asked English speaking friends and could not get a good translation.  Cultur aunt?  Cultur women? Female Cultur afficionado?   nothing expresses these important women who keep up the visitor numbers to museums, who buy books, who visit book readings, who listen to lectures, who take study trips abroad, who enjoy esthetics in their homes and in their warderobe.   Some of them accept this nickname gladly, many feel insulted by it.  

Thinking of it - I am probably called kulturtant behind my back.  Does not faze me, because I am occupied looking at a painting!

Happiness is to discover a newly opened museum in Stockholm.  Find out for yourself .....

Fashion Looks Forward

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Fashion made in Sweden is becoming more important every year.  Clean lines, perfect cut, discreet  colors and quality fabric are some of its characteristics.  An exhibition in Stockholm's Liljevalchs konsthall displays in eleven galleries new themes in connection of fashion design. Among them are sustainability, technology, gender identity and solidarity all aspects which have to be considered in the future.

Though the exhibition is focused on the future, this coat by Viktor & Rolf's 2005 collection "Hana Bedtime Story" seems desirable to wear today when the weather for the next days will be below freezing.

www.liljevalchs.se        https://vimeo.com/151660466