Odense

I søndags var jeg lige i Odense for at komme til sommerfest. Jeg tænker denne her skulptur er en fortolkning af H.C. Andersen? Han må finde sig i lidt af hvert! Skulpturen står lige i nærheden af Skt. Hans kirke, og jeg benyttede lejligheden til at komme med til gudstjeneste der. 

On Sunday, I went to Odense to join a summer party. I would guess that this sculpture is some kind of interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen? So many things happen to him! The sculpture is close to Skt. Hans church, and I used the visit to join the service there. 

Bagefter fik jeg frokost hos mine venner inden festen. Min veninde havde en bekendelse. For mange, mange år siden (30?) fik hun en aflægger af en kaktus som jeg havde arvet fra min fars moster. Hun har været noget bedre til at tage sig af dem end jeg har. I hvert fald måtte hun bekende at den originale kaktus hun fik var blevet så stor at hun havde givet den væk. Men hun har stadig alle dem her. 

Altså - MIN aflægger har det ikke halvt så godt, selv om den er nogenlunde stor!

Afterwards, I had lunch with my friends before the party. My friend had a confession to make. Many, many years ago (30?) she had a sprout from a cactus that I got from my fathers aunt. I guess she has been better taking care of them than I have. Because her confession was that the original cactus was so big now that she had given it to someone else. But still she has all these. 

You know - MY cactus is not doing half as good, although it's big enough!

Med lidt besvær tog jeg så en ny aflægger. En ret stor (og stikkende!) baby. Den måtte jo komme i jorden sent søndag aften, og så tænker jeg at min nevø på Bornholm skal få den. Som en aflægger af en aflægger fra hans morfars tante. 

Det er sjovt når planterne bliver i familien!

With some trouble, I took another sprout. A quite big (and prickly!) baby. So it had to get some dirt late on Sunday evening, and then I do think that my nephew in Bornholm will have it. As a descendant of a descendant from his grandfathers aunt. 

It's really fun when plants stay in the family!

For mange år siden / Many years ago

For mange, mange år siden (næsten 30 år) var jeg ung og studerende og havde ingen penge. Men fantasi havde jeg. Og en symaskine. Og jeg elskede mine brødres børn helt vildt, og jeg havde også en del mere tid end nu. 

I tider med færre penge end normalt blev det til hjemmesyede gaver (kan faktisk huske en jul hvor alle fik gaver til max. 20 kroner. Så kommer fantasien og symaskinen på arbejde!), og en eller anden gang blev det til dette her til min ældste niece - et forhæng til køjesengen så man kunne lege hule. Vinduerne havde "glas" af tyl, gardinerne kunne lukkes. Dekorationerne var rester af stof. 

Many, many years ago (almost 30 years) I was young, a student and had no money. But I had plenty of imagination. And a sewing machine. And I loved my brothers children so much, and I also had far more time than I do now. 

In times with less money than normal, gifts were home-sewn (I actually remember a Christmas when everybody had gifts costing less than 3 USD. The imagination and sewing machine really had to work!), and at some point, it turned out to be this for my oldest niece - a curtain for the bunkbed so you could play. The windows had "glass" in tulle, the curtains could be closed. The decorations were leftovers. 

I går fik jeg så det her billede: Min niece (som er på det øverste billede) har nu hængt det op til sine børn. Er det ikke bare vildt? Tænk, at det har overlevet!

So yesterday I got this picture: My niece (who is also in the top photo) now put it up for her children. Isn't that amazing? To think that it survived!

Min anden brors ældste fik også et tæppe. Han var helt tosset med riddere, så han fik et omsyet spejdertæppe med (øhm) "borglignende" vinduer. Eller noget. Og et skjold med en frit fortolket drage. 

Det var altså sjovt lige at blive mindet om det her. Tænk, hvad man kan finde på! 

My other brother's oldest boy also had a blanket. He was nuts about knights, so he had this scout-blanket sewn to have (ehm) "castle-like" windows. Or something. And a shield with a very free interpretation of a dragon. 

It's fun to be reminded about this. Can you believe what you can make up!