Isn't she lovely ? ...

Today Claire is 20 years old ! ...

The people have seen a great light...

The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light...Arise, shine! For your light has come!...

The radical proposition: That the Creator of all is a Person who loves and cares for you, is not far away unconcerned and silent, but has spoken to us, has in fact come to be one of us, set up his tent in our camp, live among us, give God a human face, Jesus of Nazareth...The Lógos of God, the Word become flesh, blood, bone and breath, giving significance to our personhood, our bodies, our lives, our experience...He is the Light that coming into the world gives light and life to all...He is here, the Light is still here, come to us as a baby in a dark garage on some anonymous backstreet behind the motel in small-town Bethelehem...The radical idea behind Christmas, after all...

He has come and He has spoken by His birth, life, death, resurrection, spoken this: I love you and I want you back!...

He has initiated the conversation, will you respond?

Merry Christmas for real, to all you friends!

En härlig och sagolik och häpnadsväckande Jul önskar jag er alla, med oändlig frid och kärlek, att ni omges av mänsklig och himmelsk värme oavsett det blir snö eller ej!...

love, studu


PS...Just went to Julotta at Österåker Kyrka at 7 am this Christmas morning...The priest read the same passage I refer to above...She walked down the center aisle of this 400 yr old church full of well-dressed families, all golden in the light of dozens of candles, holding a bundle representing a baby, saying how even the baby Immanuel was not alone in the stable but had others, human fellowship, love and warmth...Out in the icy pre-dawn afterwards, sky turning pink in the east, I felt good...God Jul !

Funny Stuff from Frida Jonsson et al.

Lemon Squirrel

...some funny stuff from a very-talented friend of Pat's, Frida...sort of my own loopy way of wishing you a Merry Christmas!...See you here soon!...

Welcome home...

Just to say: Welcome back home, Bettan! High fives to E och C !...Montana and Seattle and probably parts of Wyoming are better now because you were there, and you are richer and wiser...Party on in Örebro then ! ...

Glass concrete light steel...

Sergels Torg mid-december...In the late afternoon from inside Kulturhuset, all is light glass steel concrete movement traffic escalators voices magazines people TV-screens urban canyon walls chrome and leather armchairs läsesalongen café smell of espresso and books...
Free lightshow Åhléns glowing three Yule trees Julmarknad new T-bana uppgång foreign newspaper with a view tattoo humans milling on black-and-white plaza paper lanterns H & M clinking of glasses laughter...
Take off my glasses I am very nearsighted so the world suddenly looks like this who needs psychedelics when you have 350/20 vision?...
Claire's favorite spot...A free ljusutställning every time...My daughter comes to Stockholm in 2 weeks, we'll meet you at the K-huset 2nd level...PS it all looks even better with snow!...... 

Coffee in the city...

Mellqvist's Caffé, Rörstrandsgatan, St. Eriksplan...On the way to work at New Life, or on the way somewhere else another day, perfect place to stop in the falling dark of end-november, for a macchiato and a warm atmosphere in this tiny café...
Rare moment when one can even see the counter beyond the small crowd of café regulars, most standing, two or three can look out the front window, we are along the dark-wood wall with our school-room tablettes, room for an elbow and my cup...
One of the best macchiatos in the city, at the best price, a great spot!...Like to read my Kultur pages in SvD or DN, see what's on, what's "inne"...I'll meet you here anytime, come in out of the (future) slush on the icy streets, espresso and conversation in 3 languages, warm bubble of light in the Big Granite... 

Here comes the jazz...

 

Jazz Hörnan: PALT and the return of the guitar...

Monday 27 November...Something a bit different at Jazz Hörnan: Jazz guitar!...Newcomers Paul, Andreas, Lars, and Thomas, from my neighborhood Åkersberga and Vaxholm, playing with Hans on piano (to spell, er, PALTH ??...)..Härligt! It was like they'd always played together, a real "synergy" as they went through classics by Miles Davis, Horace Silver, and Bill Evans, with their own unique touch...What a thrill to hear that Ibanez jazz guitar work by Andreas, the first time we've had jazz guitar at Jazz Hörnan, incredible but true...
I always wanted to be able to play jazz guitar, and so I was riveted to that sound all evening!...Fluid bass lines from Paul, caramel-tones from Thomas' tenor sax, and of course, Hans flying all over the keyboard like a samba from another planet...
Lars on drums, a real joy to listen to, some tympani-mallet solos and Manu Katché-isms on the cymbal-tops...
In the middle pause we welcomed Johan Paulsson, a post-modern troubador, who interpreted his own original songs in a style that took some of us back out onto Interstate 40 somehere in Arizona in the 1970s, on the way to the West Coast...He is inspired by images of the desert, little Calexico, little early Townes Van Zandt...His father, rather famous Swedish folk-singer Mats Paulsson, his mom, and his girlfriend Claudia came, too...His dad and I talked (I didn't know who he was...) and he said he was struck by the very warm, friendly, inviting atmosphere in this pleasant place, this unique room!...Let's hear it for good old New Life Café, y'all!...Hans and Helena and I prayed and thanked God and laughed a lot as we closed up...Around 30 people came, a number of first-time visitors...Thanks to Hanneke and Brandon and Demi for House of Fika, too...And Johannnes the Wolfmeister on sound...Jazz Hörnan is back 29 January... 

Be very afraid...

Until my next blog-entry, please enjoy The Alien Cat from the Planet Zorkon 32...