Wishlist, an update.

I look forward to unfamiliar/original/genuine lines of reassurance and confort, inspiration, enlightment, the upcoming short vacation we will have in Finland, the begining of a sucessful academic year, healthy, kind and loving adolescents (compatible if they really try hard!), the wooden terrace J. has been planning to build, visits from family, relatives and friends, and spare cash to visit home asap. I know I can´t ever own a katsushita Hokusai painting but can get an iMac if I just wait a while longer. I have given up the idea of living in a huge hacienda or a Medieval castle (for practical reasons, mainly but not only) but still ponder over the possibilities to find a suitable manor house, better yet if with a patio in the middle.

Katsushita Hokusai

Donegal castle. Ireland.

Palmse Manor House, Estonia

Ahhh, and I would love to find Persepolis, the movie in Spanish!

VERY HAPPY

I just received a call from someone I was looking forward to contact for a long time! I have not seen Laura Cordoba in 17 or 18 years approximately and still talking to this old friend made my day. She is in Norway, well, satisfied with her life and very successful. I will put my energy now that we are in touch in convincing her to come and visit me in Estonia! I hope I do not have to wait that long this time!

Whatever happens this weekend

Raining or shining, the Estonian song festival will take place, and this family will attend.

Picture taken by OLIW: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliver1/685995331/

This is a picture of the choir that performed in 2007. This year, the general festival is held and during two consecutive days thousands of Estonians sing and dance in traditional dresses. It is difficult to calculate how many people are singing in here at the time, 30.000, maybe?

Mas de lo mismo

Afiches de propaganda política sovietica y fotos de contraste
(Free copyright)

Solo hace falta que la imagen tenga otra cara. La egolatría, el populismo, la tiranía, la paranoia, lo rojo y las masas que ignorantes o hipócritas celebran a esta personalidad parecen las mismas...También la pose de amigarse con lideres del mismo tipo o en todo caso que estén "en contra".

Restatement

What to do with an old laptop? How to reuse it or recycle it in a crafty way? I still keep it somewhere handy just in case a good idea comes by.
I wish I could revive it at all for the kids to be resourceful with it, actually the best scenario would be that Emil figured something like this, or this and turn the device into a running equipment.

These pictures are the remainings of the legacy of a socialist, popular, devastating revolution, followed by the occupation by the Soviets to Eastern European countries. Most are still trying to rebuild and repair the damages after 50 years of "everything belonging to everybody," or rather to NONE, so why to care? The heroes of many Latin American current leaders (or so they say) turned a dozen of countries into trash receptacles (just to mention the most visible, almost trivial part of the tragedy of a totalitarian socialist regime). Is that what the population of Latin America is really looking forward to experience? We would be much better with the Socialist propaganda off these outdated politicians´ repertoire for good.

Below: A typical Soviet poster and few images of an apartment building in the Easternmost part of Estonia, very near to the Russian border, occupied mainly by labourers living just as they have been used to even before coming into this country (Soviet colonization policies). The building is not abandoned and it is in the very centre of the a town. Mostly Russian families/ordinary people live in!

Detalles

El fin de semana lo pasamos en Ida Virumaa, ayudando a Kersti con el jardín de la finca(Nada que ver u oír desde que radios y televisión por todo el mundo rinden interminables tributos a Michael Jackson). En verano Estonia parece el país mas lindo del mundo. Todo se ve y huele bien. Esta semana contrasta estruendosamente con el invierno: +29 grados centígrados a la sombra!

En mi casa, una planta que creíamos muerta de repente floreció y esta así hace 2 semanas!

Emil y Juulia, cada uno en los suyo. Purtse, finca de Kersti, Ida Virumaa, Estonia.

Las plantas se tomaron el patio de la finca!

Detalles: Flores silvestres, malezas y cebollas!

Que encarte para los que decidieron en Honduras manifestarse en contra del coletazo del huracán populista que cree liderar Hugo. Lo correcto por parte de otros países es rechazar la violencia, lo esperado, que la mayoría del pueblo Hondureño se pronuncie a favor de lo que creen que les conviene, pero que es lo que puede pasar? Restaurar el gobierno para que el circo Latinoamericano continué su esperpentica marcha quasi- socialista y de paso encarcelar a unos cuantos "valientes" (tolerando intervencionismo venezolano a la criolla, y perpetuándolo, claro esta!), o legitimar la violencia de un golpe de estado militar? La vía mas eficiente era la de educar a la población, para que nunca, nunca, se crea los cuentos de estos caudillos contemporáneos a expensas del progreso...ERA. Ya paso la hora y Latinoamerica esta en la situación mas precaria que yo pueda recordar. Ahora si que después de quejarse del imperialismo y el colonialismo ya no nos manipulan ni nos explotan los países mas grandes, mas desarrollados, mas fortalecidos, seria impensable desde el punto de vista del derecho internacional vigente, sino que nos manipulamos y nos explotamos entre nosotros mismos, sobretodo por que que diablos le importa a Hugo, o a cualquiera de sus secuaces el sistema jurídico internacional? Ellos si se dan el lujo de acabar con el continente de todas las formas imaginables y todos indolentes lo vamos dejando pasar.

Pulmon libre, buceo, snorkel, clavados...

Antiguo y clasico:

Caricaturizado(anime), ilustrado y ridiculo:

Mi interes:

El de Juulia:

Modern art

I am so terribly outdated! It took me a couple of months of devotion to things other than the Internet not to get it anymore. I do not even recognize the cozy old blogs I used to frequent. Everything happens too fast in this environment. I was annoyed to realize that last.fm is not free anylonger. I enjoyed the proyect but consistently will say no to limitations of any kind imposed in the www. This is an environment to put information at everybody´s feet, not the other way around. For MODERN ART please click the post!
Will I ever catch up?

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Graffiti

Pique made simple aka "pico de gallo!?"

This is the simplest salad one can prepare with great results does not matter the proportions used. Here in European cuisine cilantro (coriander) is not very common, I had a very hard time finding it fresh in Tallinn, imported all the way from Italy! Although it should be available in every shop, for it is an "Europeanized" herb, it is seldom so (originally from Asia, but very common in medieval cuisine since it grows wild in the southern part of the continent centuries ago). Our attempt to cultivate it at home also failed. One little bag of seeds that fill good four square meters of year round bush of cilantro in Medellin, miserably failed to even germinate this Spring. Cilantro leaves are anxyolitic and can also be used as a digestive help.

In the Americas (South, Central and North America) cilantro is used the most. It can also be found in a number of delicious Asian dishes, but the Mexicans are the sef appointed ambassadors of the product. A tortilla without pique (Col.) is not a real tortilla. Their restaurants have defnitively popularized the product. Because this family is passionate about CILANTRO, tonight I will garnish our dinner with Pico de Gallo.

Ingredients: Onion, Cilantro (fresh and only fresh), tomatoes (pear tomatoes, the riper the better), lime juice, any sort of peper (we prefer a simple paprika for it), garlic and salt to taste.

Method: Chop it all, mix it well, and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Pic-nic en Jagala Joa.

Con Yvonne y los hijos de Katrin, para que Kristian y Emil se conocieran ahora que van a comenzar juntos en el Reaalkool.

A carpenter´s workshop

This was such a nice old house that I wished I lived in Colombia to purchase one of the many run down/forgotten ones in a small town to remodel it just the way I want (and to participate in FAJARDO´s presidential campaign ). A carpenter´s workshop in an edifice of a quarter of a block in El Retiro, Antioquia. I imagine the wonderful patio it is built around and regret that I cannot have a patio of the sort in the middle of my house in Estonia. This is just not a colonial country.

This picture does not do this house any justice :(. I want a patio, a COLONIAL patio anyway:

It is late to comment on EUROVISION, but these songs were fantastic!

For the first time I see anything of worth in this silly contest.
1. The Russian efforts in putting up the greatest show ever succeeded
2. Estonia, Russia and Sweden had really good songs
3. How being cute (Is he really so cute? His looks seem rather average to me) awarded the Norwegian singer the first place?
4. Why Azerbaijan, Albania and Turkey could collect so many supporters? Their presentations were terrible ad the songs amateurish, boring, the worst of the bunch!
5. Patricia Kass was GOOD! and deserved a better place in the finals
4. Which country other than Norway could afford at this point to host an EUROVISION contest anyway?
I hope the next year the quality of the music will continue improving and the policy of patriotism is replaced by one that can take merits into account!

Please, listen to these nice melodies: The melancholic Estonian character manifest in one and the Intensity of any Slavic nation in the other. The last is the song that represented France by Patricia Kass.