A beautiful song by Russian bard Juilii Maitus and poet Evgenii Breitigam “On the Sleigh” is for your loving ears. The painting by Ludwig Blume Siebert is for your loving eyes. And my translation is for your loving smiles.
George and Katya were amusing by themselves in the winter time.
On the sleigh they were riding from the icy big mountain.
And when the sleigh was dashingly flying, scraping through the snow,
George had whispered her quickly: “Katya, I love you.”
Katya was terribly confused and did not know how to be,
Maybe it is seemed so, because the wind could make a joke.
And she had told him timidly without looking in his eyes:
“I would like to ride this slide again…”
Oh, by the way, I have found this cake in the grocery story “Eliseevski” in Saint Petersburg for our special occasion. Please take a piece and enjoy a continuation of the story.
We all need be happy and have fun in winter time…
Once again the couple began to descend from the icy big mountain.
And when the sleigh had dashingly flew down, the moment came,
George had quietly kissed Katya.
Katya had again confused, could not understand
Maybe – she thought so, the wind had howled again.
And she had timidly told him without looking in his eyes:
“I would like to ride this slide again.”
And when the sledge had dashingly flew down again as an arrow,
George had whispered her quietly: “Katya, be my wife.”
Katya was not confused and the wind was silent,
She had blushed and laughed and said: “Ok.”
Thank You for your beautiful ears, eyes and smiles. I live for them and I love you!
Millions of emotions Valentine brings in our relationship and we are all go through the colorful wheel of feelings when we are in love. Sometimes it is exciting, sometimes it is disgusting. I am grateful for Dr. Robert Plutchik who created a wheel of emotions.
Robert Plutchik suggested 8 primary bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. Additionally, his circumplex model makes connections between the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. Like colors, primary emotions can be expressed at different intensities and can mix with one another to form different emotions.
Augustina Guerrero illustrates what exactly I feel after we have some arguments about our different approaches to something, anything. Ha-Ha!
Fear → feeling of being afraid he will never ever forever know what I feel.
Anger → feeling angry of his silence.
Sadness → feeling sad – my husband does not understand my tears.
Disgust → feeling something is wrong or nasty, of course, I am tired and you, my husband, have no idea how. Sure, many women understand what I am talking about.
Joy → feeling happy. I am happy because you kiss and hug me when you return home every evening.
Surprise → I love being unprepared for your invitation to a concert and a glass of champagne after it.
Trust → When we closed the heart-shaped lock in Paris and the key was thrown to Seine many years ago I trusted to you all my life with all my complexity of emotions and reactions and I accepted your life with all your breathes and every beats of your pulse. And you know our differences are nothing because of endless Love between us.
Anticipation → the sense of looking forward our Valentine’s tonight with candles, roses and Moonlight Sonata is super inspiring. Because of this sense you are smiling and reading my words.
“Letting go, letting go
Telling you things you already know
I explode, I explode
Asking you where you want us to go” – I am singing with Melanie Martinez knowing that Valentine leads us to love each other.
Thank you for sharing with me the Valentine’s Wheel. And you know what, despite we are all different, if your heart happily sings with the other in unison – forgive an unimportant things faster and easier and remember about Love.
Thank You for Spring! With singing birds as my alarm clock and fresh aroma of coffee as my first inspiration, morning is beginning a new happy day.
Everything beautiful in our life was born in love, passion and grace. Spring brings to us these great gifts. Today I invite you in Bergamo in a sunny terrace of charming cafe “La Marianna” to share with me fantastic desert – Polenta e Osèi, the gastronomic symbol of Bergamo.
Originally, polenta, from the Latin pollen for “fine flour”, which shares a root with pulvis, meaning “dust”, is a dish of boiled cornmeal. It’s frequently eaten with meats and ragù, cheese like gorgonzola.
The origins of the sweet version of Polenta e Osèi date to 1910, the year when a local baker, Amadeo Alessio and his wife, created it for the first time.
It is interesting that Polenta e Osèi is in no way actually made of polenta. The polenta-like appearance is due to a yellow fondant covering rolled in big crystals of sugar, with a dollop of apricot jam on top. Inside, a yellow cake (pan di spagna) hides a cream center of usually hazelnut.
It seems I know the reason why Polenta e Osèi is not actually Polenta…
Amadeo Mozartti is a young and joyful baker from peasant family with happy songs creates his masterpieces in Antonio Salierri’s pastry. Salierri’s business is a heritage from 7 generations of excellent bakers. And from his first inhalation Antonio is a baker and he has dedicated himself to the service of the baking art. He is rich and he enjoys his life in baking cakes in own pastry.
He is proud of his high standards. Of course, the Queen personally byes sophisticated cakes here, in Salerri! But it is the question here. The Queen loves Mozartti’s deserts. Secretly, however, Salleri is jealous of Mozartti’s works because he recognizes their superior quality, especially given what he sees in him as a simple peasant.
Soprano’s family is the richest in Verona. Father of Sopranos is going to Bergamo to expand their business and the best way to do it is … family-arranged wedding! He has a daughter Giulietta Soprano. The only child, she is a gift from heaven.
“Sallieri is a good choice for my Giulietta”, thinks Soprano. “He is rich. He has connection with the Queen”. “Oh, yes, I will marry. Sopranos is my chance!”, Sallierri dreams. Of course, his interest in her is primarily based on her social standing and her family’s vast wealth, in contrast to her youthful beauty.
The meeting Giulietta Soprano with Antonio Sallierri was arranged in Antonio’s pastry. Amadeo Mozartti secretly glanced on Giulietta is fallen in love with her endlessly at the first sight. He can not handle the feeling but what he can do? How he can tell her “I love you!”?
Happy loving hands of grandmother Amadeo feels on his hot forehead and the only world “Polenta” he listens in the dreams at the night before the day when meeting with Giulietta is possible. “Polenta? It sounds ridiculous. This dish is for poor peasants”, Amadeo desperately cries, “I will try any way. It is matter of life or death. I will chose the finest ingredients for my wordless love confession”.
He runs to the kitchen: “White chocolate, dark chocolate, butter, of course, ground almonds, instead of corns! What a relief!” Amadeo happily singing again creates his masterpiece.
“Marzipan bird is on the apricot confiture pillow happily resting in the golden nest not from a metal but from sunshine and my favourite corn. Dear Giulietta, you are the bird and my love is the golden nest. I will keep it for the end of my days,” Giulietta recognised Amadeo’s heart and read the message from it.
Sallieri did not poison Mozartti. Amadeo was simply fired. Father Soprano accepted the choice of his child’s heart. All Bergamo was dancing on their wedding. Happy End!
We can join celebrating Spring and Love with a beautiful dance “La Bergamesca” by Marco Uccellini.
Thank you for your hand I am feeling in the dance by beating of our hearts. Your eyes are incredible. You are beautiful. You are my Spring Bird!
Thank You for Christmas. It does not matter how old we are, we are becoming children now because to believe in Miracle is natural for little heart.
Sergey Anisimov, a photographer, gives us this unique possibility to touch fantastic North world where Christmas fairy tale is born.
Three little Stars playfully turning in the comets are gently laying on your face as a snowflakes. Joy, Love and Hope are their names. They hurry, they bring three golden keys to a New Life.
We are all from the cradle. We all have met three little Stars with three golden keys. Your eye lids feels their coolness and the crystals help us to remember something very important. Why we are here? We are here to open the doors by the golden keys we are all gifted.
The First Door is the World as a Big Friend. Our inner child always feel and know about friendful World. Look and feel around – we are breathing by friendly oxygen effortlessly, our body always carefully wrapped by soft brocade knitted from wind and breeze, rain and snow, light of Sun and Moon. Please remember Joy is the key and you have it in your pocket!
The second door is Endless Beauty. You are the declaration of Perfection and the Key of Love opens the door. With your first inhaling and crying you are in a hands of love. Do you remember your first inhaling after the moment when you first dived in Love? You heart remembers – “Beauty is around, beauty is inside. Life is a flower I bring to your heart”. I love your smile, I love your eyes. You are beautiful.
The key of Hope opens the third door of Happiness. To be optimistic is your naturally installed feature, and your heart knows it. We are all here on the journey of limited time. With every beat of heart we feel the moment as a precious. Listen to your heart and happily smile. Remember the key of Hope is yours and you know where the door.
The golden keys we are all gifted by three Stars open the doors of Prosperity. Big Fish is in our hands. We have life! What’s the chance!
From my heart please catch the snowball of Joy, Love, Hope, Beauty, Happiness, Prosperity ! The snowball is so enormous that in one moment you will turn in a big snowman! Let’s play and celebrate!
The song is joyful and about love! “I’ll take you away, away to tundra, I’ll wrap your shoulders in the bright arctic lights…”
Thank You for an enormous ways for making our wishes come true.
Yesterday I with my daughter were conductors of one from billions those ways. We were responsible for the Wall of Wishes in the park where New School Year celebration was hold. Children were suggested to write on a paper palm their wishes and dreams for coming year.
Children were active because of believing in the magic Wall we declared.
Close your eyes. Make a wish. Write it on a colourful palm and put in on the Wall. Kind and powerful wizards, enchanters, charmers from all possible and impossible worlds are gathered here for to come true your wishes and dreams .
I dream about little dog. I dream about little sister. I wish my grandfather is well. My team is the best and we will win the season. Our teachers are kind. My papers have excellent marks. All tests I will pass brilliantly. Prestigious University is waiting for me. I wish peace and everything the best for everyone.
The rainbow cover of children’s wishes and dreams fulfilled The Wall of Wishes very fast. I invite you to join us. Close your eyes, make a wish and touch the Wall on the screen you see now. Who knows – there are enormous ways, perhaps this is the one.
And I am singing for you my favourite song “Dream Big” by Ryan Shupe:
“And when you dream, dream big,
As big as the ocean, blue.
Cause when you dream it might come true.
For when you dream, dream big.”
Thank you for your smiling eyes and your cordial dream you are thinking about now touching our Wall of Wishes.
Please, remember, every night before falling asleep, stare at the sky, and keep your dream alive!
Thank You for today. The 1st of September is Day of Knowledge we are celebrating with a bouquet of flowers for a teachers and a bottle of champagne for parents. New school year has just begun!
My daughter goes to class of third graders. She likes her pen and has just created poem about it:
“My Master Pen, You look like on Magic Wand. Sometimes my letters are dancing as ballerinas, sometimes as hippopotamuses”. I tell you a secret mostly hippopotamuses are in her papers.
Today I have introduced my daughter with Jake Weidmann and I am happy to share with you his fantastic calligraphy.
Jake Weidmann is the 11th Master Penman in the world!
“I took it upon myself to really work obsessively on my handwriting everybody else in school had their laptops out in there are typing away and I had a pen in a pad of paper.
I practice a lot of different art forms but I particularly mix calligraphy into my artwork to give both the words and the pictures more life and a stronger message”, Jake says.
Researchers have shown that children who know how to write by hand learn to read faster. “When we write, a unique neural circuit is automatically activated,” neuroscientists say.
“Handwriting is a movement skill. Try writing your name and address with eyes closed, most people are able to do it quite easily, this is because the movements of your hand when writing are firmly established in your movement memory because you have made them so often.. This is why children need to practise handwriting movements correctly and often” educators from Cambridge University say.
Dear Pen, Master Pen! Be my friend! Be my helper!
Teach me the joy of taking you to paper.
I write my soul by you. I express ballet of letters in my papers with you…
Hello God!
Thank You for Summer. Despite most of my Summertime I spent in my heavy caterpillar form on the beach I was lucky to find and read fantastic book “The Game” by Terry Schott.
According to the book life on Earth is not real. It is a very real virtual reality simulation created to replace the government school system on the planet Tygon. You, me and every person and thing in the cosmos are actually characters in giant supercomputer game.
In line of our calendar, today is the last day of Summer. But we all have enormous power to choose and enjoy Summer in every moment as we wish, because we live in holographic simulation. Even Elon Musk supports the idea about our life as video game with great graphics. I love Summer on the paintings by Helena Salnikova and I invite you to play with me in our big sandbox.
Whirlpool of my imagination are mixing quotations from the “The Game” with snowman’s fantasies about summer from “Frozen”.
“This game we play is full of contrasts. It has to be. Being warm is much better if you have known what it is to be cold. The light is a welcome break from being surrounded by darkness. Earth is contrast. Nothing is bad nor good; things are just on one end of the spectrum or the other. Some periods in a person’s life are full of confusion, peril, and pain”, explains Terry Schott.
Bee’s they buzz, kids’ll blow dandelion fuzz
And I’ll be doing whatever snow does in summer.
A drink in my hand, my snow up against the burning sand
Prob’ly getting gorgeously tanned in summer. – Snowman sings.
“Other periods are filled with times of clarity, safety and pleasure. I advise you to slow down and enjoy yourself when things are good. It can go on for years, but don’t waste one precious moment of the good times. Because the bad times come, and if you haven’t built up your reserves during the good times, you may not make it through the bad and into the next session of good”.
I’ll finally see a summer breeze, blow away a winter storm.
And find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm!
And I can’t wait to see, what my buddies all think of me.
Just imagine how much cooler I’ll be in summer.
“Each day in each person’s life is filled with some good, some bad, and lots of filler. I think the secret to a happy life is to focus on the good, forget the bad, and move calmly through the filler without getting too bored.”
The hot and the cold are both so intense,
Put ’em together it just makes sense!
“When you find yourself travelling through the filler, search earnestly for the happy moments.Realize that it is in the filler moments where both the happy and the bad float around, waiting to be noticed by whoever chooses to focus on them.”
Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle,
But put me in summer and I’ll be a – happy snowman!
“When you encounter the happy, live in that moment for as long as you can. Smile and tuck it away in your memory to be looked at whenever needed.
When you encounter the bad, don’t live in the moment. Let it pass as quickly as it can, don’t focus on it, and whatever you do, don’t grab onto it and tuck it away in your memory.”
When life gets rough, I like to hold on to my dream,
Of relaxing in the summer sun, just lettin’ off steam.
“If that advice is too complicated to follow… just smile and laugh as much as you possibly can.”
Oh the sky will be blue, and you guys will be there too
When I finally do what frozen things do in summer!
Thank You for Kupala today. We celebrate Kupala Night or Kupalle in Belorussian, one of the oldest folk holidays dedicated to the sun and water. Kupalinka, daughter of the god Kupala and the Earth opens the door to the magic time.
It is the only time of the year when Mother Nature reveals its secrets and the only time when trees speak and even move and when witches gather. White witches, of course.
Kupalinka discovers some interesting facts about her father – Jacob Grimm in his book Teutonic Mythology (1835) notes that the word kupala describes the bonfires slavonic folk lit at the summer solstice, and records that some people explained the word as the name Kupulo, a harvest god.
Although the word kupala (or kupalo) is usually explained as “bather” (from kupat(i) ‘to bathe’). According to Russian philologists Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov, the name Kupala is derived from the same Indo-European root as the name of Cupid, Roman god of love, which means “passion” or “desire”. Kupala is Slavonic Cupid!
There is an ancient Kupala belief that the eve of Ivan Kupala is the only time of the year when ferns bloom.
Thanks to the fern flowers, which blossom for only several moments at midnight, all the buried treasures could be seen, no matter how deep they were in the ground. Prosperity, luck, discernment and power would befall on whoever finds a fern flower.
Please listen Kupalinka song and enjoy the video below where Kupala is celebrated!
Kupalinka, Kupalinka
It’s dark in the night
It’s dark in the night
Where is your daughter, Kupalinka?
My daughter is in the garden
She weeds the rose
She weeds the rose
And wounds her white hands.
She picks the flowers
She picks the flowers
And weaves garlands
She weaves garlands and sheds tears.
I wish you to find your blooming fern flower tonight, and your dearest wish will come true.
Thank you for sharing with me this very magical moment!
Thank You for the beautiful Tilia tree I am sitting under when the words are flowing from my head. Today is the last day of June and I invite you to celebrate this day with wonderful music and paintings.
I love the name “Tilia” – it sounds so musical as a tender violin’s voice. “Ti-li -a” I am singing with the accompaniment of “Bagatelles” by Dvorak. Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees commonly called lime trees, basswood and linden.
With the the sweetest perfume of millions of pale-green flowers among heart-shaped leaves I am feeling myself as Tilia’s daughter. My imagination immerses me to inside the linden tree and I am this linden tree. Anna Petrova has painted me as a loving child of Tilia – the linden or lime tree.
By the way according druid’s horoscope my sign is Linden tree.
You know, I am reading the meaning of my sign Linden or Lime tree – I am unprecedentedly charming and can use it and may turn everybody’s head. I easily adapt to any conditions. Boredom is my main enemy.
My horoscope said – “She’s full of contradictions, very hard to interpret. But one thing is undoubted about her: she’s very attractive. It’s nice and easy to associate with her, you have a feeling of psychological comfort.” I like myself as daughter of Tilia.
Sociability, observation, realism, talent for organisation is traits of those who were born under the sign of Linden or Lime. Oh, I am in really fantastic company because Louis XIV, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Albert Einstein were born under the sign of Lindan/Lime.
I am tender and loving child of Tilia, happily listening music, feeling summer breeze in every sounds of Bagatelles by Dvorak. Please enjoy!
“The linden, in the fervors of July,
Hums with a louder concert. When the wind
Sweeps the broad forest in its summer prime,
As when some master-hand exulting sweeps
The keys of some great organ, ye give forth
The music of the woodland depths, a hymn
Of gladness and of thanks.”
by William Cullen Bryant
Thank You for your smiling eyes and sharing this happy moment with me. June was great.
Hello God!
Thank You for a petals spray I am feeling now. Life is short as a life of a flower, moment by moment as a petal by a petal we are aspiring to eternity… Amy Lowell‘s poem and Fong Qi Wei‘s photos I am happy to share with you today.
Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start.
Freighted with hope,
Crimsoned with joy,
We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;
Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,
We never shall know.
And the stream as it flows
Sweeps them away,
Each one is gone
Ever beyond into infinite ways.
We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.
Arabesque 1 by Debussy is for to feel the stream of petals on your face. Please enjoy!
Thank you very much for sharing this very moment with my heart and feelings.
Glorialana Magazine 