Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...
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Weekend bliss

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The spring is in the air! But as always when you think it is here the weather changes again. And, as usual, it seems that the best weather is during the week and when the weekend come so working people can enjoy a little bit of good weather it changes! For me, of course, it is not a problem these days when I can enjoy my walks also during the week. However, in the afternoon yesterday the rain stopped and the sun peaked out behind the clouds so my husband and I took a late afternoon walk in the forest close to us.
La Foret/Zonienwood
Another part of the forest
The forest belonged, once upon a time, to the kings and queens of Belgium. However, these days they are common grounds. The really huge forest is now divided in four parts, more or less by a 'plus' shape of highways and the ring road. On either four sides of the 'plus' the forest is available for walking, jogging, biking, riding, having a picnic or other leisurely activities. The weekends all over the year see a lot of activity since a lot of people from Brussels come out here to enjoy a little bit of greenery. Our side of the forest is an Arboretum with trees from all over the world. It is absolutely beautiful. It is also full of one of my favourite type of trees, namely, the beech. With their high, straight trunks and lovely, light green leaves it gives a magic spell to the forest when the sun shines through it. Even when it rains it is beautiful and since there are so many trees, unless it is pouring down, you hardly feel the drops.

Why does this has anything to do with books you might ask yourself? Well, you are right, not that much, BUT, in Swedish the word for book (bok) is the same as for beech (bok)! There you go! Of course the material you print books in comes from trees so trees are very important for book lovers like us. We need more forests!

On the reading front it goes very slow. As usual many books litter my surroundings and I read a little bit here and a little bit there, but I don't seem to be able to finish any books for the moment. OK, promise to finish at least some for next week. Have to keep up with my Challenges if not for anything else. And....my TBR shelves. I still have to finish one for March. Coming up is also the next meeting of our book club where we will read Harvest by Jim Crace. It didn't make it to win the Man Booker prize but, as far as I am concerned, this could mean that it is a good book! Yes, I am being cynical I know and it is Sunday and all!

Enjoy your Sunday with a nice walk or a good book!

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