Dr. Filomena

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Photo by dr. Fil, taken on Mt. Triglav

In Italy, Corriere della Sera published news of a beauty pageant  for… Catholic nuns. The pageant is open to all nuns between the ages of 18 and 40.

Italian nuns will be able to show the world God’s gift of beauty by sending their photos to priest Antonio Rungi (southern Italian diocese of Modragone) who will publish the photos online and visitors to his blog can vote on the photos.”Miss Sister Italy”, the first beauty pageant of its type to take place in Rome, aims to challenge the stereotype of old and sad nuns. Father Rungi said it was the nun’s idea and that he expects about 1,000 contestants. “Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God,” priest Rungi told a daily Italian newspaper. He continued explaining how beauty is not restricted to what we see on television and that young and vital foreign nuns will be participating. (source)

I shall hereby apply self-censorship and not say exactly what I think about this particular contest. Humm, I wonder if it will contribute to an increase in eating disorders in nunneries. Oh wait… silly me!

Romance Sonambulo
Federico García Lorca

Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.
Con la sombra en la cintura
ella sueña en su baranda,
verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Bajo la luna gitana,
las cosas la están mirando
y ella no puede mirarlas.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Grandes estrellas de escarcha
vienen con el pez de sombra
que abre el camino del alba.
La higuera frota su viento
con la lija de sus ramas,
y el monte, gato garduño,
eriza sus pitas agrias.
¿Pero quién vendra? ¿Y por dónde…?
Ella sigue en su baranda,
Verde came, pelo verde,
soñando en la mar amarga.
–Compadre, quiero cambiar
mi caballo por su casa,
mi montura por su espejo,
mi cuchillo per su manta.
Compadre, vengo sangrando,
desde los puertos de Cabra.
–Si yo pudiera, mocito,
este trato se cerraba.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.
–Compadre, quiero morir
decentemente en mi cama.
De acero, si puede ser,
con las sábanas de holanda.
¿No ves la herida que tengo
desde el pecho a la garganta?
–Trescientas rosas morenas
lleva tu pechera blanca.
Tu sangre rezuma y huele
alrededor de tu faja.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.
–Dejadme subir al menos
hasta las altas barandas;
¡dejadme subir!, dejadme,
hasta las verdes barandas.
Barandales de la luna
por donde retumba el agua.
Ya suben los dos compadres
hacia las altas barandas.
Dejando un rastro de sangre.
Dejando un rastro de lágrimas.
Temblaban en los tejados
farolillos de hojalata.
Mil panderos de cristal
herían la madrugada.
Verde que te quiero verde,
verde viento, verdes ramas.
Los dos compadres subieron.
El largo viento dejaba
en la boca un raro gusto
de hiel, de menta y de albahaca.
¡Compadre! ¿Donde está, díme?
¿Donde está tu niña amarga?
¡Cuántas veces te esperó!
¡Cuántas veces te esperara,
cara fresca, negro pelo,
en esta verde baranda!
Sobre el rostro del aljibe
se mecía la gitana.
Verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Un carámbano de luna
la sostiene sobre el agua.
La noche se puso íntima
como una pequeña plaza.
Guardias civiles borrachos
en la puerta golpeaban.
Verde que te qinero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar.
Y el caballo en la montaña.

We’ve been waiting for you, little one.

Welcome to the world!

Love from auntie Fil

Ljubim zeleno
In belo
In ljubim sonce, ki razbija
Oblake
Ljubim njo
Ki se skriva za njimi
In me pozdravlja v sanjah

Ljubljana Lights

Every now and then it really feels good to simply take a walk. If you happen to be in a great town like Ljubljana, even better for you! So after just another fun-filled day at work (BTW, the website is being refurbished completely by a great angelically devilish team as we speak) and an uplifting cup of coffee with my beloved sister, I decided to take a stroll downtown that had just been lit up with a zillion colourful lights and extras, a cheerful reminder of the shopping season that spreads love and wrapping paper all around us.

Exhibition at Mestni muzej

So as not to succumb to the shopping spree completely (whoops, one does require a certain type of paper for that purpose… or plastique plastic), a visit to the museums seemed in order. The artefacts above were excavated at the site of the museum, from the Roman period when this city went by the name of Emona.

Copper Age; style truly is timeless, eh?

Mestni muzej (City Museum) has interesting exhibitions year-round and one of the amazing rooms, at least to me, is the one featuring some of the objects found in the Ljubljana area going all the way back to the period of the so-called pile dwellings (mostišča) at Ljubljana marshes during the late stone age and the copper age (4,500 - 1,800 B.C.), such as the one pictured above.

The many faces of Ljubljana

One does tend to discover many interesting bits and pieces… and people at museums, but one’s uncle is rarely among them. My eye caught a familiar pace and when the monk on the wall projection turned around and gave me that big all-knowing smile, my jaw dropped so low I had to struggle to pick it up. I wasn’t sure if it was just my eyes playing games with my brains on account of the delicious mulled wine I’d just consumed at one of the stands at the Three Bridges as part of the December tradition… Confirmed with a follow-up phone call, yep, that’s my uncle up there, featuring as one of the “many faces of Ljubljana” through the ages. Also re-confirmed, he never really was a monk. Phew.

The new exhibition at the School Museum

Desperately in need of some enlightenment, I swiftly entered not the school, but the next best thing. The Slovenian School Museum where a new exhibition was just presented. With lots of wine available, but in view of the as yet unconfirmed sighting of uncle at the other museum, I decided to pass on that particular temptation. The exhibition “The Teacher in a New Social Reality between 1945 and 1963″ makes for an interesting addition to the regular pieces.

We build schools, we build knowledge, we build socialism
(replace with an -ism of your choice any time)

One inscription that stuck was that “any system, anywhere, always wants to claim the society’s children”. Kids, you’re all we’ve got, guys!

Hey, it was time to get some more fresh air.

The festive Three Bridges

What better way to finish a day than to hang out with interesting people. I think the guy in whose honour admission to museums was free of charge yesterday would have approved. Especially if he’d had a chance to share a glass of wine with us. Mulled or otherwise.

Fetalij, the star blogger

Fetalij showing off (ok, so I sorta forced him to) with his own image in the very first printed blogger publication in Slovenia, Blogorola. Grayscale photo per his request

Happy birthday, Dr. Fig!

My own Pumpkin Face alter ego on a bad hair day

(Live, March 2007)

You with the sad eyes… Don’t be discouraged
Oh I realize it’s hard to take courage
In a world full of people you can lose sight of it all
and the darkness inside you can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors shining through
I see your true colors and that’s why I love you
So don’t be afraid to let them show your true colors
True colors are beautiful, like a rainbow

Show me a smile then, don’t be unhappy,
can’t remember when I last saw you laughing

If this world makes you crazy and you’ve taken all you can bear
you call me up because you know I’ll be there

And I’ll see your true colors shining through
I see your true colors and that’s why I love you
So don’t be afraid to let them show your true colors

True colors are beautiful, like a rainbow

This is how I feel right now. Don’t come close!
Can anyone guess where the photo was taken? It’s a very central location…

Binula and Dr. Fil

Some of my very favourite people seem to have their birthdays very close to one another, so it’s been a sort of a birthday season lately. You guys, I love you just the way you are.

Happy birthday!