Enjoying winter

It's the last day of my long, almost 3 week's Christmas holiday. It's a bit of a sad day today, as N.'s flying back to England later in the afternoon, and it's going to be a few weeks until we see each other again. But we had a great holiday together, going on walks, daytrips, taking lots of photos, and having lots of relaxing, lazy days too. And we've had a few days of snow too. Unfortunately, it's all gone again, but hopefully, there'll be some more this winter. I really do enjoy winter, the long dark nights, the cold, fresh air, and the beautiful, calm of a world covered in white.

Soar

No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings (William Blake)

Shine your light

...and sparkle

Happy Sunday!

Kunst ist schön

I found a little paper bag with a bunch of art post cards inside, which I had bought at a book shop in Vienna back in spring. The quote on the bag by the ingenious Bavarian comedian Karl Valentin just made me smile.

Art is beautiful, but takes a lot of work.

So true. But it's very rewarding work :)

In our dreams, we are free...

Sometimes, we just feel trapped in our lives. While everyone else is happily fluttering around us in our cage world, we are just not able to feel the same way, see what they see. Instead we feel like we are just in the wrong place, wishing ourselves away, to another place, another life. No matter how hard we are trying to stretch our wings and pursue our dreams and fly towards the light, we just don't seem to find the way out. And everything around us seems grey and dreary, inside and out. And all we can do is sit and wait and hold on tight to our dreams, even if at times we struggle to go on believing in them, and keep trying to stretch our wings, continually, endlessly, in the hope that one day, the fog will lift, the light will shine through, and we're finally able to take off.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. (Walt Disney)

Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages. (Terry Pratchet)

Courage and the need for a sensce of security, even if it's probably an illusion anyway, are probably the two main factors that prevent a lot of us from following our dreams... I wish I wasn't such a coward and pessimist...

I Am What I Read

Week 2 of my 52 of "Twenty Eleven Project". This week's theme is: This is me.

It is said that if you want to know what kind of person someone is, you have to take a look at their bookshelf.

Well: this is me :-)

Two of my bookshelves, there's at least one bookshelf in almost every room of the flat and piles and piles of books virtually everywhere. No matter how many bookshelves you have, it is never enough for all the books... I simply couldn't imagine a life without books.