11 Lilac Time

smelling lilac
Originally uploaded by francessa_Rich.

Is this a botanical blog, or what?

Well,it's lilac time over here, can you smell it??
BTW - speaking of lilac reminds me of of a very fine album: "Keep Going" by Stephen Duffy and the lilac times - 13 sparsely but nicely arranged songs, rather reflective lyrics, like:

And at the time, I was a young boy,
Barely 42
I didn't know only love could break your heart, I didn't know what love could do
So when the phone went dead in the livingroom
In the sunshine over Gramercy
And when the tears fell and the sky went dark
And on the peace march we wrote poetry
Give me something to believe in
Oh God, give me something to believe in
... (from "Oh God")..

I'm off to the airport
Nice WE!

Ten - Wetland-Birds

waterbirds
Originally uploaded by francessa_Rich.

Well - now here is the promised photo. There's lots more,of course, in flickr.

Nine - Rieselfelder

A pleasant area in the vicinity of Muenster are the "Rieselfelder" - wetlands, and an important breeding and staging site for thousands of waterbirds.We walked the area around the biological station, climbed a lookout-point and indulged in the soft afternoon air. Pictures will follow - but since flickr seems to be a litte unrelaxed at the moment, views will have to wait.

Eight - Violets und Music

Violets
Originally uploaded by francessa_Rich.

Weekend in Muenster - €“ enjoyable and swell as always - has very often to do with one of the most interesting bands of the last years: Belle & Sebastian, a Scottish pop collective. Among their best work are the albums "The Boy With the Arab Strap"€ and "Dear Catastrophe Waitress"€ - complex arrangements, manifold tunes, strong, catchy melodies supported by guitars, orchestre, percussion, with great attention to carefully and beautifully arranged details Stuart Lee Murdoch, the main songwriter and singer delivers in his sometimes sleepy, sometimes fresh, always gentle voice. Lyrics are about loneliness, sadness, frustration, but always with a touch of humour. Add to this a non-commercial-behaviour (rarely interviews, if any at all, no conventional band photo and the like). Endearing. Smart music.

Seven - Canterbury Tales

April 1 – makes me think of Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales:

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour

It was awe-inspiring when our professor of Middle English recited the tales, because we recognized and understood so many words from the sole knowledge of German, especially when vocalized in German pronunciation.

And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages ...

Yes, that’s it ... off for another weekend to sundry lands ... cu