Here it is.

Muumi forgot the track and continued slowly on his way, looking towards the light. Until at last he saw that it was an ordinary candle, thrust steadily upright in the snow. Around it stood a small sugar-loaf of a house, built of round snowballs. They looked transparent and slightly orange-yellow, like the shade of the night-lamp at home.
On the other side of the lamp someone had dug herself a cosy hole, someone who lay looking up at the serene winter sky and whistling very sofly to herself.

"What song is that?" asked Muumi.

"It's a song of myself,' someone answered from the pit. "A song of Too-ticki who built a snow lantern, but the refrain is about wholly other things."

"I see," Muumi said and seated himself in the snow.

"No, you don't," replied Too-ticki genially and rose up enough to show her red and white sweater. "Because the refrain is about the things one can't understand. I'm thinking about the aurora borealis. You can't tell if it really does exist or if it just looks like existing. All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured."

(Tove Jansson)

Free Burma

"Libertà va cercando, ch'è sí cara,
come sa chi per lei vita rifiuta."*

-- Dante Alighieri


Please have a look at this:
http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/ and take action.

Per favore, firmate l'appello di Amnesty.

*: "He seeketh Liberty, which is so dear,
As knoweth he who life for her refuses".

Uhm (Incoooooome!).

I am still around. I just need some more time to understand what is going on around and inside me.

In the meanwhile, there are always my photos, or some websites I find... interesting, basically for the CSS solutions implemented:
- Studio Lodrini: Engineers!
- Laura Lenti Restauri: Old Ceramics and Glasses.
- Officine SOM: Shotgun ribs in Brescia
- Limpe Seminars: A Medical Congress.

Then... what else. Oh yes, perhaps I'm moving. Possibly abroad. Stay tuned. I promise I'll come back soon.

Pia

Dànno la via meravigliati i boschi
non usi a contemplar tanta bellezza
l'ora natia di quei roveti foschi
di scherzarle fra il crin prende vaghezza.
Ma il venticel che vien dal mar de' Toschi
piange mentre passando la carezza.
Quasi fosse il sospir della Natura
antiveggente la di lei sciagura.
Tutta questa meraviglia non ci fa, non ci si piglia!
Tutta questa meraviglia che nell'aria torna
Tanto dolce sospirare, quel parlare non parlare
questo gemere del mare che nell'aria sale.

-- Gianna Nannini, "Meravigliati i Boschi"

Slowly, but

Low speed, but ahead.

364

The Morning after Wo -
'Tis frequently the Way -
Surpasses all that rose before -
For utter Jubilee -

As Nature did not care -
And piled her Blossoms on -
And further to parade a Joy
Her Victim stared upon -

The Birds declaim their Tunes -
Pronouncing every word
Like Hammers - Did they know they fell
Like Litanies of Lead -

On here and there - a creature -
They'd modify the Glee
To fit some Crucifixal Clef -
Some Key of Calvary -

(E.D.)

Oh, the title

It seems I cannot take good photos anymore.
And no, I don't care if others like them. I know what I'm saying, it's me and my personal satisfaction. I take hundreds of shots, but none of them satisfies me. Photography was a good way to express myself, to say what I wanted to say. Not great photos of course, but they were enough for me.
At first I thought it was something related to the equipment: perhaps a brand new lens could bring new life to my inspiration! I often think at what I could do with a super wide-angle lens, like the Canon 10-22 or the cheaper Sigma 10-20. A good tele, perhaps? Like the Canon 100-400! That would be a little too much for my budget, but who knows...
Then I thought it was something about technique. I'm obviously an amateur, not a pro, and I would need a lot of practice and study to get better results. I just take dozens of shots, hoping to find something interesting among them. Such a naive approach.
No, no. It's not the equipment, nor the technique. It's the photographer.
I think I'm unsatisfied with my photos because I don't really have anything new to say now. My life is getting stale. I've read all the book many times, I even studied the index, the notes, the didascalies. But now I must go on and choose another book.
I need to move, to find another job, to escape from this town, its pollution and its stupid, greedy people. I can see it clearly even when I'm with some of my friends: we (I) often don't know what to say, which is rather sad. I know I've said this thing many times, but who knows, perhaps this will be the right time.
A new life, not a new lens, then.
Well, maybe both. :)

森林浴

Shinrin-yoku, bathing in the forest air.