VIKTOR DONOVAN: February 2012

Saturday, February 25, 2012

ESTELLE FOR STAR -- A SWEDISH PRINCESS IS BORN

It was reported yesterday that the newborn child to the Swedish Crown princess Victoria will be named ESTELLE BERNADOTTE. She will not be the first Estelle Bernadotte however.

Check out American born Estelle Manville-Bernadotte who no doubt inspired the choice of the name. She married Folke Bernadotte.

This picture is from this very interesting site:

http://libertyladybook.com/

This Picture from Wikipedia

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

MITT ROMNEY: CHARACTER-DEFINING MOMENTS

"Tell me how you treat your dog, and I will tell you who you are"

The story lives on, the one where Mitt Romney transported his large Irish Setter on top of the family station wagon one summer day from Massachusetts to Canada, a 12 hour drive. There were five kids in the car plus packing and Romney decided, not to put the packing on top of the car roof, but chose instead to place the dog in a travel crate which somehow was secured on the car roof with some sort of wind protection. Rachel Maddow (see below) dug into this incidence in more detail and specifically brings up the two-part aspect of this character-defining moment in Mitt Romney's life.The decision to put the dog on top was bad enough she points out, but when the dog covered the car with a brown liquid (the dog ovbiously did not fare well) Romney stopped at a service station, got a water hose and rinsed off both the dog and the car, and continued with the wet dog on top of the car to their destination.

New York Times journalist, Gail Collins, never fails to mention this incident whenever she writes about Mitt Romney. Today Salon.com had an article (by Joan Walsh) and provided a picture from David Axelrod's Twitter feed of the president and his dog: "How loving owners transport their dogs".

"How loving owners transport their dogs" From Salon.com

This crate is suitable to transport a large dog. Was it a crate like this Romney used on the car? A male Irish Setter is a VERY large dog. And if so, how on earth can you secure a crate like this, with a dog inside, on top of a car - and be safe on the road? The dog might be in danger, but so are other motorists should the crate fall of when driving.
This photo from: http://www.animaltransportation.com/custom-crates/

RACHEL MADDOW very interesting reporting.
(Choose "options" and Full Screen)

A male Irish setter is a LARGE dog

http://www.animaltransportation.com/custom-crates/

Here is another crate suitable for a large dog. It is also very top heavy and not easy to secure on top of an ordinary station wagon.

Logistics: That dog was no doubt heavy -- was the crate first tied and secured on top of the car and the dog then lifted and pushed inside? Otherwise, at least two people would have had to lift the crate with the dog inside in, on to the roof of the car. One wonders what type of securing material was used?

EMPATHY: Did the Romney family worry about the dog? According to Maddow, one of the Romney children had the task of sitting in the back of the car to be on the lookout in case....Did they think that the crate might fall of? And then what?

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NEW BOOK!

Much of human activity is centered around food. We think of food whether we’re hungry or not. We spend a great deal of time buying it. We take hours preparing it (well, some do). We talk about it. We read about it in cook books. We watch television when chefs talk about it (sometimes to excess). When we socialize, it is often centered around the communal intake of it. We give it as gifts. Food, we can’t escape it! Some people become keenly interested in preparing food for themselves and others; many have become what we call “good cooks”. Usually a degree of creativity is involved together with a keen interest to entertain and a need to take care of others, to be a good host. It is such people that one remembers, and that is how I got started on Food & Folk, remembering, for example that excellent couple, Beatrice and Clayburn La Force on their ranch in Alpine California. After that I just kept going.

MY HOMETOWN GOTHENBURG

A series of closeups (224 photos) of Gothenburg, Sweden. Language: English and Swedish.----- This book consists of a series of closeups of Gothenburg. It is no history book but, hopefully, it will generate some curiosity about our city. When you walk in a city like London you are struck by Britain’s colonial past and its enormous wealth which manifests itself in buildings and institutions all over the city. When you walk in “Little London” as Gothenburg is often called, one is keenly aware of its importance as the best fortified city in Northern Europe. Two forts still watch over it. Remnants of the seventeenth century wall, and the meandering moat are a reminder of the city’s military past. Positioned on the West coast of Sweden, Gothenburg was once a world leader in ship building and shipping and evolved naturally into a merchant’s city. The English and Scottish heritage here is very important. There are clues and traces everywhere. One has only to look.

A GARDEN IN MY HOMETOWN

A book in English and Swedish about the Garden Society of Gothenburg--TRÄDGÅRDSFÖRENINGEN -----The Garden Society of Gothenburg is one of the best preserved early 19th century parks in Europe. It is situated directly downtown, offering lovely walks in the park or in the shaded woodland areas along the canal/moat, waterfront. The garden recently went through a major renovation under the auspices of Ulf Nordfjell, the internationally known landscape designer. The aim was to bring the garden back to its old nineteenth century glory. Carpet bedding returned and five new woodland areas were designed by five international garden designers. A superb new rose park was added, a successful blending of historical roses and perennials.

Love letters from my Swedish grandfather Folke to my American grandmother Olga 1909 - 1961

My American grandmother, Olga, met my Swedish grandfather, Folke Jonsson, in Brussels in 1909. Olga was 18 and Folke, 23. They settled in Gothenburg and Särö, Sweden. Olga, being American, had her family in Florida, and Folke soon came to realize that if you marry a woman from another continent, and this woman is charmingly independent, innovative and brave, and has her own means to boot, she is bound to want to visit her native country some time -- or several times -- or more than several times. To Folke, a sensitive soul, the long separations were quite painful and he suffered till his darling Olga returned. He “talked” to her in his frequent letters. Olga saved all his letters, in their original envelopes, in neat little bundles held together with different coloured ribbons. They were a treasured lifelong testament of his love. Olga and Folke corresponded in English as Olga was American and preferred writing in English. Had my grandfather Folke married a Swedish woman who had stayed at home, there would not be this stack of his letters today. He never intended the letters to be shown to others, but more than one hundred years have passed since Folke wrote them to his darling Olga. I have enjoyed getting to know my grandfather in this manner and I think others, not only relatives, should also share that privilege.

A pictorial Companion to the letters in the book above: 150 pictures of Olga & Folke 1909-1978

NEW BOOK BY DONOVAN O'MALLEY

REVIEW: "...O'Malley continues to prove that he is one of the more important writers around, a writer who with every book brings into our lives some very strange, often exceedingly humorous, and now, frequently very lonely people. His ability to create language for each of his characters is sharp, well studied and written, and without belittling anyone he, in language, shows the difference between class, and education, and exposure. Likely that comes from his experience in writing plays where characters are alive and moving, but with his considerable literary skills he makes his written page people morph into real life folks. He is in top form here ... " Grady Harp, June 12 (Hall of Fame reviewer)