Today Thanksgiving is celebrated in the US and Canada. A holiday that aims to think of what one is thankful for must be one of the best of reasons to have a public holiday there is. I’d happily import Thanksgiving to Europe – or at least Scandinavia. This scarcely populated area (Denmark as the exception here) with not more than 25 million people altogether (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) with a (partially) harsh climate, has managed to establish quite wealthy and prosperous societies in a way that – only 150 years ago – was quite unlikely. At the time the Scandinavian countries were very poor and undeveloped. I am thankful to all the people in the generations that contributed to this development. It is today hard to really grasp the extent of the work they did.
(Photo above from one of the beautiful areas constructed by the architect Gunnar Leche during the prosperous 50s)
I am thankful today for getting a free education at the university, for being surrounded by good and caring people, for being able to read and write and put my thoughts to paper (with a nice pen), for living in a democracy – non-perfect, but nevertheless a democracy, for living in a country that has experienced peace for 200 years, for being able to walk and make excursions in my beautiful surroundings. I am also very grateful for having had two wonderful grandparents that have passed away, but whom I carry with me in my heart. I think about them today – gone but not forgotten.
I also want to thank the kind person that unexpectedly and spontaneously offered me help with a crucial matter yesterday. Life has its happy endings and help sometimes comes from the most unexpected directions. You proved that reality always trumps fiction – in the best of senses. Thank you for reaching out and also for giving me a happy ending to remember and carry with me. It means a lot and it made me take off and look for the sky – like the wind vane below. Good things generates good things and – maybe most important of all – strengthens the belief that it is possible to make this world a little better and kinder place.
Some days one needs some extra pampering. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive or even a thing. It can be to take the time to walk in beautiful surroundings and take the time to walk a little bit slower to really enjoy the walk or make a cup of ones favourite tea, taking a long soothing bath. The tea to the right is one of my favourite teas and it is an everyday pleasure to make myself a nice cup of it and enjoy while writing or reading or talking or just being. Writing on a favourite paper (which I have yet to find) with a favourite pen with a favourite ink is another such pleasure. Sometimes I just doodle and write nonsense out of the pure joy to write. And sometimes (more seldom) I realise that some of the nonsense actually were quite interesting – or non-nonsense. Back to Ekelöf and the irrational rationality or rational irrationality. Reading poetry, listening to music or drinking a good wine just out of sheer pleasure. I think it is important to please oneself – that is not the same thing as being egocentric. Allowing one self joy makes it easier to cope with the darker paths of life (there is no need to worry that one won’t get a share of sorrows in life) and I do believe that it makes us more generous towards others. Often it is the small things that gives the greatest joy. Like finding these marguerites a cold morning a couple of weeks ago. I saw them on my way to the library and had to take a photo of these survivors.
lady dandelion 