Torn
Worn
Oppressed I mourn
B a d
S a d
Three-quarters mad

Money gone
Credit none
Duns at door
Half a score
Wife in lain
Twins again
Others ailing
Nurse a railing
Billy hooping
Betsy crouping
Besides poor Joe
With fester’d toe.
Come, then, my Fiddle,
Come, my time-worn friend,
With gay and brilliant sounds
Some sweet tho’ transient solace lend,
Thy polished neck in close embrace
I clasp, whilst joy illumines my face.
When o’er thy strings I draw my bow,
My drooping spirit pants to rise;
A lively strain I touch—and, lo!
I seem to mount above the skies.
There on Fancy’s wing I soar
Heedless of the duns at door;
Oblivious all, I feel my woes no more;
But skip o’er the strings,
As my old Fiddle sings,
“Cheerily oh! merrily go!
“Presto! good master,
“You very well know
“I will find Music,
“If you will find bow,
“From E, up in alto, to G, down below.”
Fatigued, I pause to change the time
For some Adagio, solemn and sublime.
With graceful action moves the sinuous arm;
My heart, responsive to the soothing charm,
Throbs equably; whilst every health-corroding care
Lies prostrate, vanquished by the soft mellifluous air.
More and more plaintive grown, my eyes with tears o’erflow,
And Resignation mild soon smooths my wrinkled brow.
Reedy Hautboy may squeak, wailing Flauto may squall,
The Serpent may grunt, and the Trombone may bawl;
But, by Poll,∗ my old Fiddle’s the prince of them all.
Could e’en Dryden return, thy praise to rehearse,
His Ode to Cecilia would seem rugged verse.
Now to thy case, in flannel warm to lie,
Till call’d again to pipe thy master’s eye.

∗Apollo.

From the Musical World of London (1834)
Quoted in Nicolas Slonimsky’s Book of Musical Anecdotes, reprinted by Schirmer, 1998

So true. Philip Roberts uses a very good analogy to explain why we are afraid to fail:

http://blog.latentflip.com/post/29820876915/rejection

I took this slightly surreal shot at the green fields where the river Elbe opens out into the North Sea. There’s a very long strip of coast, where only sheep and cows graze. On that particular day it felt a bit like summer (you know that time when it’s warmer outside than inside). Although the sheep were already sheared they were desperate for some shade and the lined up nicely for the shot .

Looks like he actually sensed I photographed him.

I was playing around with the controls in Lightroom, when it occurred to me that I could make this picture tell a story.

I’ve darkened the sky a bit and now the communist grimaces on account of the bad weather .

This road through the middle of the forest with its old cobble stones made a lasting impression on me. Left and right there were hundreds of meters of deep forest and these really high trees. I tried to reproduce the atmosphere a bit with subdued colors, a retro style effect and some vignetting.

I took this picture at the “strandleben” bar opposite of “faust”. Due to its simplicity this shot is very “orderly” and serene. I like it a lot.

To keep the salty sea at bay. No, it’s actually to prevent the grazing sheep from drowning in the sea. This is the beach east of Cuxhaven. This stretch of the coast technically still belongs to river Elbe, but it sure has some salty water…

Found this beautiful guy in the middle of a field. A stork is a really big bird and it’s amazing to see how he lifts himself up:

This guy gave the already colorful street another nice accent. Fun fact: Originally there was an ugly car at the end of the road and I removed it using the heal-”stamp” tool. Although it’s quite visible, “healing” it really saved this shot…