Complaints choir Malmö

The complaints choirs started in Finland but as complaining is a universal phenomenon the project could be organized in any city around the world. Birmingham was first and then came Helsinki and now complaints choirs have been initiated all around the globe.The concept is the same all over the world. Community members send in their complaints and a text are made and the words put to music. The choir is allowed only to practice 5 times before their performance.

Do you remember the complaints choir I sang in last summer? No? Well, you can read more about it here if you like. I promised to tell you when the performance was out on youtube and tadah.....drumroll....here it is





I sang together with my daughter and we had great fun. If a complaints choir ever comes your way - join it! What better thing to do with your anger, frustrations and general hang ups than to SING it out loud! It makes you feel so much better afterwards!

Go for it!

Genie in a bottle?

The toothfairy lives on the other side of my block.....or maybe it`s the genie. You know, the one that lives in a bottle? Here I sat thinking about a beautiful bag that Anna had made and Poof it suddenly lay in my letterbox. Now isn`t that amazing? Someone has magical powers!

Must be Anna!

Thank you dear blogfriend. You made my day!

Jeanette

Creative at last....

My dear blogfriend Val wanted to see some of my wet feltings......had it been yesterday I wouldn`t have been able to oblige.....but today.....EUREKA! I have been creative! At last....

I have started to prepare my exhibition ( planed for March next year) and I have decided that I will not only show my photographs but some feltings as well. Maybe a few of my recycled items too. I wanted to do a really big felting and this is what it looks like so far.

The black wool is a sort of pre felted fabric that I buy from a supplier. It measure 150 x 150 cm. I had to use my kitchen table.....

The rest of the wool in place and the image is built up.....


Now I have to attach it to the black wool. You can`t imagine how much water I had on the floor! What we do for art eh?

All wet....and my socks too

I usually work the felt in my kitchen sink but this felting was way to large so I had to try something new. I rolled it in a cotton sheet, tied it up with strings and trew it in the spin dryer....

The finished result! Now it measures 60 X 90 centimeters so it shrank more than I thought.

I am going to work further on it with some embroidery and needle felting. A photograph of poppies inspired me. I am trying to chose between two alternatives:

1. Cut it into tiny inches and mount it on black wool again - something like this.

This a smaller version that I did last year and it measures 15 X 15 centimeters.

or

2. Keep it as big as it is with the added embroidery and needle felt of course.

What do you think?

Take care

Jeanette

PS Do pay Val a visit. She makes the most wonderfully creative stuff. One really creative lady that it!

Blog envy

When I surf around in Blogland I often get blog envy. All the blogs out there are much better than mine, has more visitors than mine and the posts have way more comments. Yesterday I sort of “woke up” and did a reality check! Do I want 50 comments to every post? YES my envious mind screamed at first but then I thought about it a bit more and the answer was NO I don’t. Because if you read some of the 50 or more comments the “famous” bloggers get on their posts they seem to be of the cut and paste variety written by someone that only want a return visit to his or her own blog. I on the other hand feel that I have blog friends who take an interest in my life and write very personal and lovely comments. And that is worth so much more!

After coming to that conclusion a weight sort of lifted from my shoulders and I felt free! Why? I wondered. The answer is that I am very good at pushing myself and to question my own abilities and I very seldom allow myself to feel content. So I did with my blog as I do with so much more – I made it into something I had to succeed in and then the fun almost went out of it. I love writing and I love taking photographs and through my blog I have an opportunity to do just that! It was why I started in the first place but along the way I sort of lost my bearings and it became something else. A competion. Trough my blog I have met some truly wonderful persons that mean a lot to me. The live near and far – some much nearer than you think. ( Anna happened to live on the other side of my block….) but they all feel just as close.

So now I am back on track! I write for the fun of it!

And I raise my glass to my dear Blog friends in Sweden, Australia, UK, the Netherlands and the States and thank you from the bottom of my heart for the lovely comments and mail you keep sending me! And the award that Lili gave me.....

.........I give to you all!

Take care
Jeanette

Crayfish party – Swedish traditions part 2

Do you remember I told you about the Midsummer festivities? Well the crayfish party is basically yet another opportunity for the Swedes to drink aquavit and sing obscure songs. The difference is that this time we don`t do it around the maypole but decorate our houses with paper lanterns and wear silly hats. As you can see I am especially fond of the silly hats part…..

In Sweden we drink aquavit in small shot glasses and at the crayfish parties in my younger days you had to take a “shot” for every crayfish pincer you ate! That usually left you in a blurred state very fast or had you sliding under the table. Now when I am old and very mature ( ha, ha you wish) I do a lot less sliding under tables which also means that I feel a lot better the day after. My oh my you could have the hangovers from hell in those days. Not to mention waking up with strange bumps on your forehead from hitting the floor. LOL!

Yesterday’s crayfish party was of a much calmer variety and a family affair with my parents, uncle, my sister and my brother in law. We had a great time shooting air gun at balloons (before the aquavit mind you), eating an enormous amount of crayfish, singing and drinking the occasional aquavit.

I am quite sure that there was no sliding under tables but as you can see I have passed on the silly hat thing to the younger generation .....


Take care
Jeanette

Just watching....

Have you noticed that I seldom take photos of people? It’s a bit strange since one of my favorite things to do is watching people. I make up little stories about them, who they are or where they are going. Once I went to Copenhagen airport to meet my husband coming from the States and his plane was delayed for two hours. I sat waiting and watching and the two hours felt like two minutes. I was especially interested in a young man with a gigantic bouquet of red roses. Who was he wanting for I wondered. I made up a story about a girlfriend and a quarrel ……When my husband arrived the young man was still waiting. So I talked my husband into staying so I could see who he was so patiently waiting for. And suddenly she arrived. Not the beautiful young girl I had imagined but a very old lady with a walking stick. And suddenly my head was filled with another story about a boy loosing his family in an accident and now meeting his only living relative….I almost wept – and my husband thought I was nuts!

Well that didn’t really explain why I don’t take photos of people did it? I am not quite sure in fact but I think it’s because I feel like I am intruding or something. Or maybe I am afraid of them getting angry and starting to chase me…. Flowers, animals and insects don’t usually do that. Except the bull I met last year. He definitely didn’t like having his picture taken. I take a lot of pictures of my family and friends though but that doesn’t really count.

Here are a few pictures I actually did take. Can you feel the stories coming…..

A contract killer strangeling her? Stealing her neclace? A lover? And why is she so uninterested?

Baywatch grandpa? And where are the good looking young guys? On their lunchbreak?

Why are they so tired?

A rhubarb gnome? Nope! Thats my dad acually!

Ooops it runs in the family.....

Have a great weekend!

Take care

Jeanette

Volvo issues....

I drive a Volvo. Nothing I am proud of I am afraid. You see I have Volvo issues…In Sweden we make fun of what we call the 3 V syndrome and the V stands for villa, Volvo and vovve. For you English speaking readers that probably says absolutely nothing but for a Swede…..well it says everything. Let me try and explain. Villa = terrace house, Volvo = is a Volvo of course and vovve= a doggy - or in other words – welcome to suburbia.

Not really the image I was going for. I am more of a 1970´s Corvette kind of a girl…… To be honest I would much rather live in the Batcave driving the Batmobil.

So when I bought my Volvo I bought a black one hoping it would look a bit more like the Batcar. Fat chance. So I went off and bought myself a dancing Elvis and hang him on my rear-view mirror and a bumper sticker that said “ Do I look like I give a shit”. But I still sort of hated my Volvo. Well I didn’t really hate the car, it’s a great car in fact. I just wasn’t to keen on the image it was giving me. You simply can`t be Catwoman in a Volvo!

So I decided I was going to pimp my car! We have a part of Malmö that is called Möllan. This is a melting pot of cultures - Arabic, Italian, Latin Americans, Vietnamese and Swedes living side by side. It`s a funky place and it is definitely the place to go if you want your car pimped. They have this great Arabic car dealer that’s sells lights that you mount under your car that flashes when your car stands still, and enormous sound systems that makes your feel like you are sitting inside a spin dryer and thousands and thousands of other gizmos and bling bling that makes your car look like no-one else’s. So I entered the shop ......

- Excuse me can I get my car pimped here?
- Eh, what you mean?
- Well I would like one of them flashing light kind of gizmos….. A green and purple one.
- Eh, I make your car good. Best car in the city, your car will be. Were is car?
- It’s the black Volvo right outside there.
I point him in the general direction of my car. And he goes silent.
- Hey lady are you crazy! I can`t pimp no Volvo.
- But why …..?
- I have my honour. I am good Arabic car dealer. No one pimps a Volvo.
And then he delivers the final blow by saying
- You want advice? You go buy a decent car!

So I am stuck with my Volvo looking just like a…..Volvo.

I guess it`s ....

Or I just have to hunt Batman down and marry him!

Take care
Jeanette