[.a.passage.through.history.]

This weekend I sent myself far off to 1732-33, set myself onboard a Swedish sailing ship, the Fredericus Rex Sueciae, on her voyage to China. My heart pounds so heavily when a midshipman shouts "land ahoy!!" and the western tip of Java is just before our eyes. Meanwhile alot of crew are sick and finally we came to an anchor off Angra in the Straits of Sunda. Here I saw myself amused when I arrived to this passage: "Here the Javans came off in their small boats with fowls Goats, Plantans, Pumplemusses, & Guavas, & other fruits, (with some Curious Birds) &c which were very very acceptable to us, especially the fruit such as the Coco nuts and Pumplemuses which recoverd the people that were sick of the scurvy to admiration in a very little time that not one of them died of it, which very likely they had done had not they met with this Refreshment, the natives would have brought us Cows too if we would have stayd a few hours..."

All right. I have to admit. I lost myself in a book and it was my imagination playing while reading "A Passage to China, Colin Campbell's diary of the first Swedish East India Company's expedition to Canton in 1732-33". Mr Colin Campbell was the Supercargo, the first director of the Swedish East India Company. The transcript of his diary I'm reading now - in search of more information about the Swedish presence in the history of Batavia (now my dear city of Jakarta) - was thought to be lost because Mr Campbell ordered to destroy all the ship's journals when the Dutch attacked the ship in the Straits of Sunda (the strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Netherlands East Indies, now my dear country Indonesia). Somehow this diary is pretty fascinating for a girl with chronic lust for history like me. Mr Campbell reconstructed his journal upon his return to Gothenburg in Sweden, where the company sits, and now, it is a very valuable source of history. I imagine.

(reading the book, I got 'seasick', which means more or less like 'homesick') ;-)

now taking a break, back to 2008 and it's time to work on my graphics! :-)

see you soon later!

[.happy.st.patrick's.]

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Finally, yesterday, I finished retrieving all my files that were scattered in several back-up CDs into my computer, managed to reinstall most of the programs and fonts…which means starting this week I will be able to work on my graphics again! Yipppiii!

The most ‘challenging’ part was actually the reinstallation of the additional, crafty fonts…I just forgot to back-up the fonts that I had in my computer before the crash, and I simply didn’t remember the names of all those fonts…so here again I had to browse the contents of the fonts-collection CDs and some other scrapbooking and greeting cards programs which contain cute fonts. Yay! I still miss two fonts, couldn’t find them in the CDs, so I think I should improvise and try other fonts for my upcoming graphics.

Anyway, I don’t celebrate St Patrick’s Day here, but two friends of mine have their birthday today, so it is still a celebration for me in any case :-)

Here are two more sample graphics from my St Patrick Bears webtheme

[.Irish.Blessings]

Somewhere in this blog I mentioned that I was an avid subscriber of Heartwarmers, and I still am. Today they sent an Irish Blessing prior to St Patrick’s Day which is on 17 March, and it reminds me how I was tempted to subscribe to Heartwarmers at the first place a few years ago: they had an Irish Blessing in each newsletter, both traditional and ‘modern’ blessings, and there started my Irish Blessings collection. I love Irish Blessings, such inspiring phrases, sweet words that are so light yet uplifting. This is what came with the newsletter today, certainly one of my favorites.

May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

-- Irish Blessing

[.paulo.coelho.]

Ever since i read The Alchemist, I became a big fan of Mr Paulo Coelho. I admire the way he conveys the wisdom through his writings and can you imagine what a talent he must possess to do this? And he proves to be an example of somebody who makes the most out of his privileges on this earth and share it with the world. I’m addicted to his blog, where he shared valuable lessons about life in form of short stories, quotes, or question-and-answer. some of them, often, shot straight to my heart and stuck in my head forever. I’m not exaggerating you know, but it is so true :-) and that explains why I love compiling some entries that are my favorite and stick them to my personal diary. I’m thankful for the presence of Mr Coelho on this earth. And as I reflected again, I realised I’m also thankful for being given the chance to live in the time where it is possible for me to learn from Mr Coelho through his works, even on daily basis through the internet. What a privilege. And I feel good. I feel blessed.