Morning Rhyme

 How do you want this day to unfold, my sweet?

How do  you want it to go?

With ease and grace,

And with feeling of love

Running through depth of my core.

"Listening to the News..."

Words, words, words

  A little bit of linguistic exploration brought in by my Qigong teacher. 

 I said in Italian, “Vorrei di fermare questo”. (I want to stop this) referring to my habit of negative thinking. 

 She corrected me, “No fermare – trasformare, c’e un differenza.” (Not stop – transform). 

It stayed with me not only as a beautiful observation but as a bit of linguistic magic as well. Simply by adding the prefix tras, she changed the only possible action into infinite possibilities: "fermare" into "trasformare". When we stay “stop” we evoke prohibition, and don’t leave any opportunity for discussion or a choice. When we transform something - an open endlessness comes into play, and there are multiple choices. So, I have been thinking about it and the little illustration in drawings was born… 

Note: Italian isn’t my first language – I just happen to live in Rome. Of course, English isn’t my native language either – I just happen to exist in it.

Exercise in Translating - because why not?

One of my friends posted on FB a quote from Italian song "Per il resto tutto bene" by Eros Ramazzotti. I kept returning to its lyrics in my head; and ended up doing a very loose translation of it. It is an interesting contradiction between the lyrics of the song and somewhat upbeat music. .Eros Ramazzotti Per il resto tutto bene

All is well aside from the things that are broken. Except for the sky that is pregnant with rain, Except for the fact that the rain drops start falling, Aside for indifference spreading away, And light force keeps losing to forces of evil. The rest is just fine, the rest is just fine. Aside from the world that is ready for changes That bares its teeth as a mad hungry dog. It seems like the peace broke down in pieces. The things that familiar don’t exist anymore. Aside from the fact that we are all separated, And each of us does what serves us the best. The things are all well, the ones that not broken. The rest is just fine, the rest is just fine. There are billions of people who live on the planet. All voice the opinions but not many think. There is always another war conflict in making, The news seize being the news by the end of the day. If you ask me how I am doing I most certainly say that I am all right But the truth is right here and can’t hide any longer: The things are just fine, but the rest is all right.

A parte il cielo che minaccia sempre pioggia A parte il fatto che è caduta già una goccia E non riesco a sopportare l'indifferenza generale E che il bene perda sempre troppo spesso contro il male A parte un mondo da rifare Che mostra sempre i denti come un cane Che non si sa mai controllare, Che ha sempre troppa fame Ho come l'impressione che tutto vada a pezzi E che tutti tra un momento non saremo più gli stessi La sensazione che... A parte il fatto che nessuno sta più insieme E che ognuno fa quello che gli conviene Per il resto tutto bene, per il resto tutto bene Sette miliardi di persone sulla terra Tutti parlano e nessuno pensa. C'è sempre un'altra guerra per la sopravvivenza, E dietro ad ogni storia c'è una data di scadenza. Se mi chiedi come va Ti rispondo tutto bene Anche se la verità È tutta quanta da vedere A parte quello che non va È che non riesco più a tacere Per il resto tutto bene, per il resto tutto bene

Word of the Day

While we are waiting on which path Ms.Maria (a new hurricane brooding nearby) will decide, I am entertaining myself with a new book "Why Fonts Matter" by Sarah Hyndman.

There I found an interesting word "signage". Such an elegant construction:  the root "sign" that holds numerous meanings + suffix "age". And, this splendid little suffix indicates a mass or a grouping of something especially in the words coming from French as in "foliage", "collage""assemblage" "entourage" or even "language".

Webster's dictionary defines signage as “signs, as used for display, advertisement, etc." It is a bit boring, isn’t? Because its overall meaning is so much more – it is a science of decoding ones surroundings (physical or emotional) – figuring out where you are, how well are you, and so on.

Words are such interesting creatures!

Too Little, Too Late

Why is it a witty repartee or even a correct answer often comes up too late? It is awfully frustrating. Today I was asked what the word “foist” meant and though I looked it up yesterday in connection with my son’s spelling homework, my mind went blank. It just plainly refused to offer me an answer. It juggled the rhyming words around – “foist, moist, hoist, joist, voiced, rejoiced” - ignoring my request for information. As if by magic, all other people present couldn’t come up with the meaning of the word also and the dictionary was nowhere to be found. So, with “foist”, “moist”, “hoist”, “joist”, and “voiced” I left the school. An hour later while I was sitting at the dentist - stark light in my eyes, the drill pulsating in my tooth, fists clutched in anticipation of pain - the answer, loud and clear, came to me, “foist – a) to force another to accept something ; b) to pass something off as genuine.” “Oh, goodie,” rejoiced my conciseness, “now, how will you say it in your native Russian?” “No can do”, was the answer, and my mind went blank.

World of Words

Busy schedule of the land of Doldrums:

“At 8 o’clock we get up, and then we spend
“From 8 to 9 daydreaming.
“From 9 to 9:30 we take our early midmorning nap.
“From 9:30 to 10:30 we dawdle and delay.
“From 10:30 to 11:30 we take our late early morning nap.
“From 11:30 to 12:00 we bide out time and then eat lunch.
“From 1:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter.
“From 2:00 to 2:30 we take our early afternoon nap.
“From 2:30 to 3:30 we put off for tomorrow what we could have done today.
“From 3:30 to 4:00 we take our early late afternoon nap.
“From 4:00 to 5:00 we loaf and lounge until dinner.
“From 6:00 to 7:00 we dillydally.
“From 7:00 to 8:00 we take our early evening nap, and then for an hour before we go to bed at 9:00 we waste time.
“As you can see, that leaves almost no time for brooding, lagging, plodding or procrastinating....”

Excerpt from "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster.

If there is anybody out there who is interested in the captivating world of words and this somebody hasn’t yet read this delightful book with their kids or by himself, he should get it without delay.

Rain, Wind, Greyness.

It is a rather blustery day today. It is not only rainy but windy too, and altogether quite unpleasant. From inside it looks like a grisaille painting. Considering that glaucous moss covers the rocks in our backyard, a lonely tree in the corner has taupe trunk, and time bleached the wooden floor outside to milky-grey, this description seems fitting.

Confession - after several rounds of battle ship, gobblet and scrabble, I turned to the Roget's Thesaurus and read the entry on greyness. Quite an odd pastime but highly entertaining and relaxing. Plus, it still (loosely) connects with the article that I am working on.



And, here is our art for today:

Certain Words...

I am constantly amazed how wide-spread the usage of f –word is. You can hear it everywhere. It isn’t surprising anymore to hear if from the screen, though I noticed recently an interesting trend – in the movie where the f – word ruled, the euphemisms were used instead of the word “abortion.” Funny if to think about it, since the latter is often the result of the action described by the f--- word.

Anyway, today I heard it at first in the morning from a mouth of a ten year old. A group of school children was going on a trip, and somewhere at the back of the bus, someone happily chanted f—f—f----. Interestingly, teachers choose to ignore it.

On my way home from downtown a bunch of frustrated teenagers vented their anger by using this aforementioned word in different configurations, sort of a stylistic decoration of Icelandic language.

At Miklatun near the Kjarvalstadir the f- - - word glared at me from a huge poster, which was chosen to announce a new exhibition in the art museum.

The f*** word has became universally recognizable, even those who don’t know English know it. Its versatility is unique – I cannot think of any noun it cannot be used with. Some languages have numerous words to describe snow or rain; English language gave to the universe the word with endless meanings. It can describe a wide range of emotions and activities; it can be a noun, a verb, an adjective. Why bother with synonyms, antonyms, metaphors and such – we have a winner and it will never fail you.
Empty your mind from the excessive lexicon, no more worries – it is so....

Daniel Magnússon " So fucking peaceful", photo: courtesy of the internet

Good News

I have a bad news and a good news. Actually, I have two good news. I got an official permission to make photos at the museum's exhibition. It means that I don't need nervously hide my camera anymore and can concentrate on finding the most intersting images instead.

The second news is even better - a revised and updated Roget's International Thesaurus arrived in the mail. Peter Roget published his first "Thesaurus" in 1852 and with it a brand new principle of grouping words according to ideas. If you know a word but not sure of its meaning, you will use a dictionary. But if you have an idea but do not know, or cannot remember, the word of phrase that express it best, which often a case with me, you will be better off to use a thesaurus. For example, if I search for a word to describe a certain art technique, I will go to a visual art category and scan down the entry. It will bring me to "etching and engraving" with little 713.2 number nearby. I will follow the trace and find an array of words connected with this technique, including types of engraving. If I would hunt for a specific word to capture some sound, I can browse between "repeated sounds", "explosive noise", "sibilation", "animal sound" and so on and so far. I am thrilled and cannot stop flipping through the pages.

It is so interesting to explore all the entries that there is a danger of forgetting what you were looking for in the first place. My favourite word for today will be "pulchritudinous" - a long lost acquaintance, that was unearthed today in the evening.

Sunrise-Sunset

I didn’t realize how fast we loose daylight until I start checking this information in a newspaper. Just on Saturday the sunrise was at 9:16 with sunset at 17:06, and today, three days later, we had the sunrise at 9:32 with promised sunset at 16:50, which means that we lost full 32 minutes of daylight in less than a week. Everybody has harder time to get up in the mornings and the weather is gloomy: grey and rainy. On the bright side, it isn’t cold, the temperature haven’t dropped lower than -5 C.

With darkness creeping in everything connected with the Sun, light acquire special meaning. I found myself collecting Icelandic words with this root. Here is the word “sólaruprás”, where you can easily distinguish universal “solar” + “up” + modified but still recognizable “raise”; sunset seems to have two words “sólarlag” found in the newspaper and “sólsetur” found in the dictionary and then there is beautiful “sólarljós”, which is sunlight, with “ljós” being light, brightness. Surprisingly daylight will be “dagsbirta”, completely different root. And, the biggest surprise of all on my treasure hunt is “ljósmóðir” – a midwife, mother of light literally.

I Feel Anguished...

“I feel anguished when my Mom screams at me,” my older son wrote in his notebook in the classroom. I stare at the phrase, quickly drowning in guilt and self reproach, “ I am such a terrible mother; why I have to be so impatient; am I so bad?”, rushing through my head with crazy speed.

Anton, being a very smart 9 years old, sees humour in the situation; he suppresses his smile and goes:” Don’t get all stress out, Mom. It was just the first thing that popped in my head.” Cheeky little monkey.

Now the word “anguish” ping - pongs around our house. “Finish your homework, or I will make you feel anguished”, “Are you anguished yet?”, “I am anguished, can I have a cookie?”
You can see the young artist's work on the right.