VIKTOR DONOVAN

Monday, April 30, 2012

OCCUPY INSPIRATION FOR MAY 1ST

Unions are not what they used to be in America. When Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers in 1981, it had a chilling effect on the amount of strikes in the US. As union membership has declined the last 40 years, so has the middle class share of the aggregate income -- as the charts tell on Up With Chris Hayes. In Europe, unions are considered essential and a stabilizing force in society, often represented on the board of corporations. So it is hard for us to understand the need to get rid of them.

So with little ability to strike in America, and a low union membership level, here comes the OCCUPY WALL STREET movement to inspire people to "strike" on May 1.

"Maypole" by Katherine Anderson
This is only one of many posters

Hear OCCUPY explain their May 1st "strike" message:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Saturday, April 28, 2012

IKEA - WE'LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU !

I admire inventive IKEA for having figured out so many different ways to get other people to do the hard job.
At the IKEA restaurant in Kallered, Sweden (where they already tell us to take our dirty dishes to a designated place, and we DO) they have come up with another task for us.
They want us to wipe off the tables too. A sign says:

"An accident happens so easily. Thank you for wiping off your table !"

Clever IKEA - I wonder what they will figure out next.
Maybe we can clean the toilets too, while we are there.

(We are after all, in love with you)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

HIGH LINE PARK - AN ELEVATED EXPERIENCE

HIGH LINE PARK in New York is one of the most interesting parks in the world.

Only a city with resources like New York could pull it off - turning an abandoned, elevated railroad meandering through Manhattan, into a much loved park. Photo Wikipedia

This is the way the line used to look; trains on the elevated railway on their way to and from the "Meatpacking District". Why an elevated railway? The trains used to be on street level, but the many accidents could not be tolerated. Watch a slidedeshow of the old days.
(Here are more historical pictures)

People enjoy their walks in the new park.

Garden designer Piet Oudulf, was engaged. He likes to plant all sorts of hardy grasses and perennial, in large groups. Have a look at his work elsewhere.

Photo Karen Blumberg

All the tracks and dirt were removed and the structure, which was basically very sound (having been built for large trains), was renovated. The tracks were replaced as they had been, and walkways and plants surround them, retaining the old feeling of the railway. Very clever. Have a look at the planting process.

Photo Karen Blumberg

The railway ran close to the buildings and was very convenient to the warehouses.

To really appreciate this park, one should watch more pictures in the following slideshows:
1. Start with this one.
2. Follow with this one showing the most popular pictures.
3. And finish with all these 245 pictures.

Photo Wikipedia

More of interest:

The HIGH LINE BLOG tells of volunteers who help out.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

ICE SKATING IN AMSTERDAM

When the canals freeze in Amsterdam, there are suddenly new public spaces opening up and of course a lot of fun ice-skating.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A GARDEN IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD

If I were to give a piece of advice to someone choosing a life partner, I would say to to look for someone who likes gardening because in a gardener, there is plenty of tender loving care and energy and patience.

People find ways of gardening where they can and some have the possibility and drive to carry out larger projects.such this:

MIKE MOODY ROOF GARDEN IN TORONTO

"The roof garden began in an informal way back in 1995 through the efforts of Property Manager, Mike Moody , a plant aficionado and seasoned gardener. Already a treasured gathering space for tenants, it has evolved into a 6,500 square foot cedar deck, resplendent with flowers, vines and bushes – many of which have been grown from seed - and a lush blanket of sedum that covers close to 3,000 square feet of roof beyond the deck. There are also a number of large planters that hold trees and perennial shrubs that winter over on the roof. " Read more.

Monday, April 23, 2012

SPACE FASCINATES IN OLD RUSSIAN POSTERS

I suggested in an earlier entry that OCCUPY posters might one day become valuable. It appears that old Russian space propaganda posters are now fetching high prices according to WIRED SCIENCE, Regardless of politics, these posters certainly are very dramatic and decorative.

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)