Impressions notebook

Search This Blog

Trees in the mist

January 06, 2017

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

photography The Netherlands

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Comments

The waters of eternal youth, Donna Leon

As always I was very happy when the new book by Donna Leon was translated into Dutch last month. In The waters of eternal youth Brunetti is asked by an old friend of his mother in law to look into the accident when her granddaughter almost drowned, fifteen years ago. The young woman suffered brain damage and has the mental capacity of a seven year old and she cannot answer questions about what happened. Brunetti takes up the case but does not expect to find anything. Only when he wants to interview an eyewitness of the event, the witness gets murdered. And this alerts Brunetti that there must have been more to the accident than he first thought. The commissario Brunetti series by Donna Leon is one of my favorites. I love the atmosphere of Venice in these books, the way Guido Brunetti ponders life and the future of Venice and the way food plays a role. Are there a few cliches here and there? Yes, there are, but not in such a way it bothers you while you read it. You just kno

Nobody's boy, Hector Malot

My childhood version. The Dutch title translates as: Alone in the world When I was little, my parents had a big blue book on their bookshelves with beautiful drawings. I loved the story of the young orphan Remi who was sold by his mean stepfather when he was ten years old to a musician, Vitalis, who travelled around with Joli-Coeur the little monkey and the dogs Capi, Dolce and Zerbino. Nodoby’s boy is a beautiful story and I read it many times. Only later did I find out this was a world famous French classic, translated into many languages. The story is probably known: Remi is an orphan and that is why he does not belong to anybody. But fortunately for him he does encounter many people who help him, sometimes for a short while, but often for a longer period of time. Vitalis is a good man, but during a cold winter’s night when they could not find shelter, he dies. Gardener Alcuin takes Remi into his family, but when a heavy storm destroys the glasshouses, fat

The botanical gardens in Florence, Italy

Whenever I am on holiday I usually visit a city. And in those cities I love to walk around in parks and gardens. These are a great source of shade (not unimportant in a hot Italian city during the Summermonths), and of course plenty of benches to sit on and get some rest (not unimportant when you mostly walk everywhere). When I was in Florence in 2015, I visited the botanical gardens. These were set up in 1545 and originally provided the plants for the pharmacists to make medicines. Nowadays the gardens are part of the university of Florence. You can visit them and it is a lovely place to walk around. When I looked at the photographs (I do that sometimes, especially when the weather is cold and grey and I need a fix of 'Sun, warmth and Italy') I notice that of course the botanical gardens do not just grown plants in the garden, but also have greenhouses and have a job to preserve plants and to study rare plants. So here are a few photographs of the greenhouse in t

A Florence diary, Diana Athill

In 1947 Diana Athill travelled to Florence in Italy. She was leaving an England behind that was still recovering from the war. Of course there had also been war in Italy, but somehow the sun and the art and the wonders of a foreign country made this all seem a little less bleak. In those days there was no airplane, but you had to take the boat to France, and then several trains to finally arrive in Florence. Diana Athill travelled with her cousin Pen and together they spend two weeks in this beautiful city. They made excursions in and around Florence, climbed to San Miniato al Monte and admired the architecture, while they tried to keep to their budget, try out all the different dishes Italy had to offer, and meet some helpful men. Diana went into the San Lorenzo thinking it would not be much, only to discover the Medici chapel and falling in love with it. To make sure she would be able to tell her mother all about the trip, she kept a diary and this has recently been discove

1 plant, 3 settings, UJB June 2016

Yes, it is time for the Urban Jungle Bloggers again! This month the theme was: 1 plant in 3 settings. When I first read this, I never thought I would be able to come up with an idea. But somehow when you let it stew, ideas come up and I managed to get three different settings. The one plant I used in all three is one of my favorites, but I am afraid I have no idea what it is called in English.:-) So here are my three settings: Aristic Jungle Art and plants are always a good combination. Minimalism Sometimes all you need is one plant. Coffeetable Need I say more? Urban Jungle Bloggers (here) is an initiative from Judith (here) and Igor (here) , who show their love for plants in every way they can!

Powered by Blogger

Trees in the mist

Comments

Post a Comment