Strange wet sky in Berlin

Weekend Reflections

Summer in the city

Παίζοντας στο πάρκο

Magnolia

Magnolia is an ancient genus. Having evolved before bees appeared, the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles. As a result, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are tough, to avoid damage by eating and crawling beetles. Fossilised specimens of M. acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago, and of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae dating to 95 million years ago. Another primitive aspect of Magnolias is their lack of distinct sepals or petals.

From Wikipedia

wet eye

Sky upside down

Kostas and Nikos

Vasilopita

Vasilopita (Greek: Βασιλόπιτα, Vasilópita, lit. 'king-pie' or '(St.) Basil-pie', see below) is a New Year's Day bread or cake in Greece and many other areas in eastern Europe and the Balkans which contains a hidden coin or trinket which gives good luck to the receiver. It is made of a variety of doughs, depending on regional and family tradition, including tsoureki.

It is associated with Saint Basil's day, January 1, in most of Greece, but in some regions, the traditions surrounding a cake with a hidden coin are attached to Epiphany or to Christmas.

The RitualOn New Year's Day families cut the vasilopita to bless the house and bring good luck for the new year. This is usually done at the midnight of New Year's Eve. A coin is hidden in the bread by slipping it into the dough before baking. At midnight the sign of the cross is etched with a knife across the cake. A piece of cake is sliced for each member of the family and any visitors present at the time, by order of age from eldest to youngest. Slices are also cut for various symbolicall people or groups, depending on local and family tradition. They may include the Lord, St. Basil and other saints, the poor, the household, or the Kallikantzaroi. In older times, the coin often was a valuable one, such as a gold sovereign. Nowadays there is often a prearranged gift, money, or otherwise, to be given to the coin recipient.

Many private or public institutions, such as societies, clubs, workplaces, companies, etc, cut their vasilopita at a convenient time between New Year's Day and the beginning of the Great Lent, in celebrations that range from impromptu potluck gatherings to formal receptions or balls.

Saint Basil's Feast Day is observed on January 1, the beginning of the New Year and the Epiphany season known as the Vasilopita Observance.

Scenic Snow

Snow in the City

For more see also Scenic Sunday

The first snow

Blackbird

.. from my window

Olympia Stadion Berlin

Dogs life - Σκυλίσια ζωή

Potsdamer platz Berlin

Mark di Suvero: Galileo



Mark di Suvero's works deal with the subject of the moment of movement in a symbolic sense. In contrast to their virtual stasis and centered calm, his sculptures appear to carry dynamic expressive powers which actively pervade the surrounding area. The overriding impression they give is one of merely latent and imaginary mobility, even though there are sometimes moving parts on his sculptures.


Simple Structures, Openness, Accessibility and Clarity

In the mid-sixties, the sculptor exchanged his artist's atelier and gallery for urban and natural space. His sculptures, which are made of building timber, metal supports and T-beams, now have an enormous sense of presence about them.
Both his earlier and more recent works encourage the beholder to conquer them physically, enticed by their simple structures, openness, accessibility and clarity. One likes to walk through them and around them, to look up at them or observe them from a distance, experiencing the suspense inherent in their immaterial correlations with the surrounding space.

Against Instrumental Reasoning

The dynamic quality of his work is directed against the utility shapes of the world in which we live, against a 'world of right angles'. The individual shapes of his sculptures are directed against the instrumental reasoning of our urban structures.

More Informations about Mark di Suvero