Secret forest: March 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Books N' Roses

>> Wednesday, 31 March 2010

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No Weeping Allowed

>> Monday, 29 March 2010

Bloggers really rock. The Ranting Willow has left Entrecard (like many others have...) but before that decided to say thanks to some Entrecarders and give them credits. I have been given some of these credits, and I really appreciate it. I am so sad that Willow quit from Entrecard, but hey, no weeping allowed. I hope you will visit Willow's blog, it is worth it!

Sant Jordi

>> Thursday, 25 March 2010

It is time to explain what happens every 23rd April, St. George's Day, in my land.

St. George fountain at the cloister of the cathedral of Barcelona. By Txema, Flickr.

St. George's Day is a festive and popular event in which book stands, roses and especially floods of people take the streets in all areas of Catalonia. It is difficult to explain to someone who does not know it, but it can not be more simple, actually. The event involves going for a walk, and buying a rose, a book, or both, to give to the loved ones, family and friends. That's it. Despite not being an official holiday in Catalonia, streets and squares burst with people and it has become a true national holiday celebrated from morning until evening on a weekday.

The origin of this event is a mixture of traditions and customs of different periods. First, St. George is the patron saint of Catalonia, as in some other countries. Secondly, since the fifteenth century, it has been held a Rose or "Lovers" Fair in St. George's day, initially related to the nobility of Barcelona and then increasingly become more and more popular. Finally, in 1926 it was established throughout Spain the Book Day on April 23rd (the day that Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died in 1616). Book Day soon almost disappeared in the rest of the state, but took root in Catalonia because it mixed with the two previous festivities.

The result of all this, then, is that on Sant Jordi day, in Catalonia we celebrate the Day of the Book and the Rose. To give you an idea, purchasing and giving a book and a rose on St. George's day in Catalonia is the same as watching fireworks on Independence Day in America: people just do it. I will stick with this theme because there is so much to explain. For instance: can you imagine how exciting and crazy is this time of the year for any Catalan publishing house like ours, and, needless to say, for florists?...

Wordless Wednesday: Stalls

>> Wednesday, 24 March 2010

A week ago I posted a photo of a crowded Catalan street, on April 23rd 2009. Let's have a closer look at that people who took the streets to buy roses and books (photos gathered from the net):

Tomorrow I will explain what it is all about!

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10 Things That Make Me Happy

>> Friday, 19 March 2010

Here is the Happy Blog Award, given to blogs that make you happy. I was incredibly lucky to receive it from C. JoyBell C. She's precisely one of the bloggers that have made me more happy with her thoughtful, funny, and inspiring posts and comments. Thank you so much, Charity, and best wishes on your book!

Now I have to list down 10 things that make me happy:

• My nephew

• Music
• A family meal
• Some poetry books
• To be creative
• Choosing and giving gifts
• Writing
• Drawing
• Some elusive, almost unnoticed little things
• Bloggers

I am supposed to pass this award on to 10 other bloggers who make me happy. I'm sure that some of them have already received it, if not all of them!

Carmen, from Carmen's Chronicles.
Lidian, from The Virtual Dime Museum and Kitchen Retro.
Ann, from Ann's Snap Edit & Scrap.
Karen, from WillOaks Studio.
James, from Vault of Story and Zeitheist.
Holly, from earth to holly.
Dex, from Diary of a Technophobe.
Emm, from Emm in London.
Pat, from Sicily Scene.
Joanne, from Poetic Shutterbug.

Reading Efforts

>> Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Soon I will bring more details about my previous post, but now it is time to read and, hopefully, to write some lines worth these readings — well, it is just my good will! In fact, this is a busy week at our publishing house and there is not much time left for my own writings. It seems like on Friday night, I will be too much stooped again, because on Fridays my center of gravity is in my eyes after editing all those books. Since I can not do much to help my transitory hump, I try to focus on taking care of my sight. I have already talked in other posts about my efforts to buy a good pair of eye glasses, which I am happy to say I have finally achieved without problem, and there are also some home remedies for bookworms like me that I would like to share here. It is sort of practical: has anyone tried to calm the eyes at the end of the day with chamomile? This is my main eyes treatment when everything else does not work, and I have heard that applying two simple cold tea bags will be good enough. Well, I have also heard of eight hours of sleep being the best remedy... Do you know other home remedies for tired eyes? There is one interested in them here; so much books waiting out there!

Wordless Wednesday: Crowded

April, 23rd, 2009. All this people took the streets of Barcelona with two purposes: to buy roses and books (I'll bring you more info shortly).

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Open Collections

>> Sunday, 14 March 2010

I have just found this online collection drawn from unique materials from Harvard's libraries and archives. You can find there a lot of interesting and historical books; here you have the link. Let me show you two little treasures I saw there while browsing. Firstly, the works by Shakespeare owned by John Keats:

And The Natural History of the Sperm Whale including marginalia by Herman Melville: he noted down that there was "some sort of mistake in the drawing of Fig. 2" (oops). This note, as we can read in the Open Collection site, found its way into Moby Dick, Chapter 56: "I know of only four published outlines of the great Sperm Whale (...) by great odds, Beale's is the best. All Beale's drawings of this whale are good, excepting the middle figure in the picture of three whales in various attitudes, capping his second chapter." (oops again). I can't read the rest of the note, except from the last words: "The head is good" (phew!).

Wordless Wednesday: Human Castle At Frankfurt

>> Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Castellers at Frankfurt Book Fair 2007, when Catalonia was the special foreign guest. That of the castellers is an old Catalan tradition. There are several groups, distinguished by the colour of shirts, that compete in local festivals to build the best castles, and to undo them without trouble.

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International Women's Day With A Motto

>> Tuesday, 9 March 2010

An official poster to celebrate International Women's Day - 8th of March (I'm a bit late).

And a poem written by a Catalan author — I already talked about her in this post —:

Motto
I am grateful to fate for three gifts: to have been born a woman,
from the working class and an oppressed nation.
And the turbid azure of being three times a rebel.

Maria-Mercè MARÇAL
Translation by Sam Abrams

Our Poetry Festival

>> Friday, 5 March 2010

This is joy —to be a bird, to cross
a sky in which the storm has left a deep peace.

Màrius TORRES
Translation by Andrew Langdon-Davies

Above there is the poster for an annual international poetry festival held these days in my city, Lleida. There have been book presentations, musical events, public readings... It's been a nice week here.

When I first saw the poster, I realized that the silhouette in the middle can not be identified unless you know Lleida, in fact one could think that it is just a stain, a vertical one, and not even well centered. It is amazing how, in my city, we can identify ourselves with that simple stain, with no need of further explanations. Moreover, that sort of green blur can symbolize the poet to whom is dedicated the festival this year, Màrius Torres. He was the poet of the forgotten cities, the fog, the sound of distant bells... And Mahalta is the name of one of his literary dames.

I thought I should post a photo to explain the poster. Below you can see what is that long silhouette: it is just our cathedral. It is named la Seu Vella (the Old See) but we call it the Castle. Placed on the top of the city, it was started in 1203 and finished in 1431. You can also see the contrast between the Romanesque apse, with a round rose window, and the newer Gothic bell tower and cloister, with pointy long windows and pinnacles.