Finding silver linings

This weekend's room has a misty looking window blind:

There was a steam room too, smile. Big drops of hot water fell from the ceiling every few minutes in different places. After a bit I realised I'd better cover my eyes so I wouldn't get splashed from directly overhead.

My friend A-M came to visit and we chatted on a large sofa while a bride went up the stairs with her groom.  Candles dotted along the corridors, on all the tables. Little bridesmaid asking her father if she could go for a swim, not now, why? Tiny girl walking hand in hand with her father down another long corridor.

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Dhafer Youssef: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN0IlHz6aIU At 45:50 minutes there is a particularly lovely section.

Book stack - Songs on the A34

This is my Arabic book stack which I cart around in the car. Too much. After the photo I split it into work I need to do for the lesson and 'other'. The book at the bottom will keep me busy for months. The children's book Al Diktatur will take a while, there are so many pages. I am only on the second page of the actual story. There is a film in the stack I can share around.

The second photo is of my notes on the poem I am trying to translate. It's a start. I need to look carefully at another poem written by the poet and at its translation into English. I also need to look carefully at the inspiration text in Arabic, but at least I know the English version extremely well. The Arabic will have slightly different connotations and shift my world around a bit. Then I will be more ready to decide on the meanings I will pick on for the translation. I have been peering at my dictionary with my glasses off so I can see every letter exactly, and at the printed poem. All so tiny, these little letters.

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On my way back from the Woodstock Poetry Festival on the A34 I heard 2 lovely late night songs:

George Ezra

Snow Patrol

Then I switched off the radio so I could remember the titles and find them back at home. Not as easy as I expected.

My father's Italian photos

Well, there are ghostly bits of the pictures on the wall opposite, so these photos show more than I planned. Never mind. I am waiting for the other 2 pictures to arrive by email from my phone/camera.

There, all done. Slightly off centre and with glare from the ceiling lights. The actual photos on my wall are peaceful to have around, a permanent background to this house. Portable though: 'Picture and book remain' as Yeats wrote. I'd include 'rugs' or 'carpets' because they mean a lot to me too.

Standing on the kitchen table - Photo of the day

That's better. I have removed the mountain of papers and camera equipment from the table, put a cloth on it and reclaimed the space. When I stand on it I have to bend my head over. The children used to be able to stand upright on it. When they were really small they had to reach up with their arms to touch the ceiling. Fun times as T likes to say.