The vanishing of Katharina Linden

a couple of Twitter fellows organized and declared September 7
as the National Buy A Book Day

i didn't know this until later that night
yet... on September 7 and after my visit to the bookstore
on Sunday Sept.5 i decided to go back and buy the 2nd book
that called my attention that day
I was thankful to have bought it on Sept. 7
therefore being part of the National movement of supporting
books and dying bookstores

the book is The Vanishing of Katharina Linden



this book sounds so appealing to me
i am like an old lady, and i've been like that since i was 12 years old
i loooove mysteries! and the quirkiest they are
the more i like them

i think my love with mysteries started with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
Sherlock Holmes, and also with the Edgar Allan Poe short horror stories
which i started reading around age 10
since then, my love for books has evolved, i like to read other
kind of fiction too, i love classic books, and now & then
i will grab a non-fiction book... yet...

Mysteries are my favorites!

this book sounds perfect for me, a mix of fairy tales,
a haunted German town, and school stories
also, it was many words in German, so i can practice my German
the book and writer are British but the location is in Germany
the small town of Bad Münstereifel

and love how the characters are named
Oma Kristel, Onkel Thomas, Tante Britta, etc.
ah! the kids like very much to say Scheiße!

here a video-review of the book



can't wait to read more!

day off, book in

yesterday i was off work, it was the Labor day holiday
i like these days off to have long/late breakfasts and to read!
and in spite of having so many books to read
i went on Sunday to get yet another one...

i was undecided between two books
but i made up my mind and got this one
[see photo below]
since lately i don't seem to have the time
nor the frame of mind to read a whole book
these European short stories sounded like a good deal



i've read already the 1st one
an Albanian story, hilarious and rather good
then i read the 2nd one, from Austria
rather strange dreams... even more strange literature

i am glad i am getting into the obscure though...

here a review
http://www.theworld.org/2009/12/05/world-books-review-best-european-fiction-2010/

the tea? ah! Rooibos!

pre-Labor day burgers & the fading of the Summer

i have mostly cut red meat from my diet
but when Sunday night my friend perro & his lovely wife m (m&m)
invited me to have some hamburgers, knowing perro's dedication
and detail to food, i gladly accepted...

so may the cows and pigs forgive me but i ate one of these!
delicious grilled hamburgers made of grass-fed beef
with bacon, grated Gruyere cheese, spicy guacamole,
tomatoes, and served on his own baked kaiser rolls

all made from scratch!






delicious stuff! the finished product below, before i munched it down



now the 3 day weekend is coming to an end
and that melancholy that belongs to Sunday nights
now it's here on a Monday of Labor day
i am glad to have a job, but i would love a couple of extra days off

Labor day marks the end of the Summer
although we barely had a summer here in San Diego
only a handful of days it was hot, most days were cool and some nights
were very cold, i personally prefer cool temperatures
so i was delighted, but the absence of heat made the summer fade faster

today was unusually coldish, gray, and windy, it felt
like the Autumn and having had a Holiday
i ended up thinking of Christmas!!

and to celebrate the end of my summer
which is always wasted, a lovely song
A Summer Wasting by Belle & Sebastian
from one of my most listened albums The Boy with the Arab Strap



Summer in winter,
Winter in springtime,
You heard the birds sing:
Everything will be fine.

I spent the summer wasting,
The time was passed so easily.
But if the summer's wasted
How come that I could feel so free?
I spent the summer wasting,
The sky was blue beyond compare.
A photograph of myself
Is all I have to show for
~A Summer Wasting, Belle & Sebastian

una foto y una canción: neighborhood & kettles

a photo and a song
ein Bild und ein Lied
una foto y una canción

"I am waitin’ ’til I don’t know when,
cause I’m sure it’s gonna happen then.
Time keeps creepin’ through the neighborhood,
killing old folks, wakin’ up babies just like we knew it would..."
~Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles), Arcade Fire



i love this song!
and to illustrate it
a couple of old pictures i took from my neighborhood
and my kettles....

this house is haunted

i am in love with these illustrations by
Byron Eggenschwiler

This house is haunted
diesem Haus spukt es
Esta casa está embrujada

you can more of his work here

the last Saturday of August

this past Saturday good feeling
lined up for me
i went back to yoga after almost 3 weeks...
it was great to stretch the body, the mind
and overall, the soul
later....
i had lunch at my favorite bakery
Bread & Cie, a roasted eggplant & feta cheese sandwich



i never saw the bottom of the paper bags, lovely motto!


later i went to pick up some film photos 35mm
that i took a while ago with my old Nikkormat
a 1972 Japanese camera
here a sample, even if digital cameras are so convenient
i still love the feel of a developed film, the grain
the texture, the contrasts, there are somethings that
technology cannot fool



to top my lovely Saturday, i went to the movies!
i used to go to the movies so often before
these days i watch more DVDs or movies on my computer
just like with cameras, nothing tops the rush of watching
a movie on the big screen...

now it's Monday and i had to work
the memories of that lovely day are just that
memories, and a post on the blog now... ah sighs...

i choose Christopher Nolan's Inception
as i wrote on Facebook:
from the strange, brilliant, and confusing mind of Christopher Nolan, i watched Inception tonight... as i tweeted, you'll either love it or will get a strong headache... if you like Christopher Nolan films, watch Following, his 1st film, noir noir and probably still the best one, Inception is pretty close too, i personally liked it

today today today

so many things have happened since my latest posts
tangible life seems to run faster than the virtual blogs

i went to a great bbq celebrating the wedding of m&m
then i got sick
then i recovered
then i got busy
then i got free
then i got sick again
then i recovered

and then i am here again...
eBabbling

maybe not much to say
while there are about 2,872 ideas
of what to write about
floating in my head
nothing consolidates
but hey!
at least i have some photos from today!

me, the summer 2010 version
leaving work happy for once



Herr Gato doing his nightly routes outside the house



Frau Kitty climbing the screen door
chasing birds shadows
[OK this photo is from yesterday, but she's so adorably crazy!]



it's been so hot here in San Diego the past
couple of days, tonight feels a little cooler
and so my brain and soul seem to be cooling off too

good times some to be on their way again

friends, birds, international mail, and other lovely matters

last week i got a wonderful package on the mail
it came all the way from England!!
courtesy of my eFriend nellyb from 23hqcom
the goodies she sent me where designed by
fishink, his designs are so lovely!
i got some notebooks, stickers, and a stamp
all very cool
it's so nice to find out artist still feel love
for our beloved feathered friends

and hey! i was even featured on the blog
http://fishinkblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/fishink-birds-flew-to-san-diego/

here the photos i took of the lovely goodies,
thank you Helen and Craig!

the strangeness of life

as i rejoice many days on life's beauty
i immerse on life's strangeness and seemingly unfairness
many times too

times at work haven't been fine
internal unfairness mixed with deadlines
extra working hours, etc. etc. etc.

and as i whine and complain like a little girl
in a rush to make it to my yoga class
feed cats, feed birds, and try to find a corner of peace
i fell from the two steps outside my house

a swollen knee, with a deadline at work
mixed with some anger, not such a good deal...



and i hear myself saying out loud: "life is so unfair"

i seat, turn on the TV, the news...
the Pakistan floods
and i feel so unfairly stupid for whining before

i have a job
i have a life
i have a swollen knee
but i am alive and haven't lost my life
and little properties, and family
to a flooding

life is not unfair for me
i am only too used to be OK
in spite of all my physical little maladies
i am OK

i am not sure why i've been thinking of mortality lately
maybe 'cause of the stress
but also, as i approach the end of this project that has
been taking me too long
i morbidly thought as i drove home back from work:

what if i die today?
even if it's an easy project
nobody really knows where all my files are
nobody would really finish it, i know it!
such is the nature of my office
probably it will forgotten
over the little ceremony of my death
probably nobody will push to finish it

and then i started thinking
so when somebody who lives alone, like me, dies
who empties their refrigerator?
who takes out the trash?
who goes through your sock & underwear drawer?
who waters your plants?
who feeds your cats?
(i have plans and a life insurance for them, but still...)
who checks your e-mails and replies that you are dead?
who updates your blog?!!??

i guess that's why the call death
the great unfetter from this world
'cause i guess, then, you don't really care
about these little details that some mornings
seem like a blessing, and some others like a challenge

as much as death might seem like freedom some days
i really enjoy being alive
having the possibility to be mad at people at work
and at lousy drivers who don't use their blinkers to change lanes
i love to be able to breath even if to find out that
my head hurts again

strange life events
thoughts over dead people socks' drawers
and work stress
i guess they all come with life
so i type here tonight
instead of bending my heart and my body
at my yoga class
'cause on the rushed way to relaxing
i fell

another day

the faraway sound of cars passing by
fade out
as the sun, and the daylight

another day lived
another day dies

fears, feelings, sounds, words, movements
all, with the night, seems to calm down
fade out

and my mind wonders
as before, as every night
who am i?

tonight, even if i know i need to improve
i go to bed, with a smile

i might be wrong
but at least i know that i've tried

Thirty-four, Tao Te Ching

The great Tao flows everywhere, both to the left and to the right.
The ten thousand things depend upon it; it holds nothing back.
It fulfills its purpose silently and makes no claim.

It nourishes the ten thousand things,
And yet is not their lord.
It has no aim; it is very small.

The ten thousand things return to it,
Yet it is not their lord.
It is very great.

It does not show greatness,
And is therefore truly great.