TIME TO SAY GOODBYE AND THANK EVERYONE

It's summertime. It's time to have fun and joyful rest. I've enjoyed working, learning and having a peaceful ending to a long and interesting professional job. Just like in times of Covid-19, nothing is going to be the same from now on.

I want to imagine I'll have time for myself. Time to meditate and walk, to read more and write slowly. Perhaps time to learn another language or do some kind of volunteering. Maybe I'll be able to do everything I wanted to do all my life. Maybe I'll just sit and observe. 

I'm grateful to have worked as a teacher for so many years. Now, I'm grateful to start a new journey.

EMMANUEL KELLY - COLDPLAY - IMAGINE

Emmanuel Kelly was born and abandoned into war-torn Iraq. He was raised at an orphanage before he was adopted and brought to Australia for life-changing surgery. His passion for singing, for life, and for "dreaming big" in the face of huge/big obstacles, led him to achieve his dream of becoming a singer.

LEONARD COHEN

Leonard Cohen was born on September 21, 1934, and died on November 7, 2016. He was a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, poet, novelist and painter.

THE NEW YORK TIMES - ARITZ ADURIZ

The Basque striker Aritz Aduriz has said goodbye to his 20-year career. Doctors, he said, had told him he needed a rip replacement "to go about my everyday life as normally as possible."

He is 39. His career as a striker stretches back almost two decades. Far longer than he had ever thought possible last summer he decided this would be his final season. "IT feels like closing a circle, retiring at the same place where I started out," he said. " I've been very fortunate."

A derby between the two biggest clubs in The Basque Country would be the perfect way to leave. But two weeks later, the game was postponed, indefinitely. " Football is people", he said. " It is the fans. We are nothing without the people. A game without anyone there is a different sport".

Back in August, Barcelona came to Bilbao for the first game of the Spanish season. For 87 minutes, Aduriz sat and watched from the bench. A minute later, Aduriz paused, the wily veteran proving to the young defender that sometimes stillness is as effective as speed. Stopping his run bought the space he needed. He contorted his body, propelled himself into the air and swung his right foot.

Nine months later, Aduriz still insists he cannot adequately describe the feeling. What he remembers, from that moment, is the celebration. "It was very emotional, to see them jumping around," he said. He blew a kiss into the sky (to his family). When he returned to the changing room, his teammates stood to sing his name.

The bond between Athletic's players and its fans is an uncommon one. The club is an exception in the hyper-globalized marketplace of the world soccer in only recruiting players born or raised in The Basque Country.

Athletic was his one true love. "success is important", he said. "But it is as important that people remember you".

IMPRESSIONISM

Impressionism can be considered the first distinctly modern movement in painting. It started/developed in Paris in the 1860s and its influence spread throughout Europe and finally the United States. Its originators were artists who rejected the official exhibitions. The impressionists aimed to capture the momentary, sensory effect of a scene - the impression objects made on the eye in a fleeting instant. To achieve this effect, many Impressionist artists moved from the studio to the streets and countryside.

THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

Watch this breathtaking video and relax. Take your mind to that wonderful place and enjoy the blessings of our Mother Nature. Take a deep breath and forget about the problems you may have for over two minutes or so. Appreciate the pictures and feel the peace in you. 

(Soon coming... a new question)

A LONG-TAILED TIT BIRD

This tiny ball of fluff with an impossibly long tail, has almost doubled in numbers since the 1980s. These flying lollipops flit from one tree to the next, pause, grab an invisible insect, and then move rapidly on.

They have sociable habits: youngsters from a previous brood will often help their parents raise the next one, in what scientists call "co-operative breeding". You never see a lone long-tailed tit. One is always followed by another, then another, until a host of them are flitting around you, seemingly fearless.

BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT 2020

This Simon Cowell reality show brings another big hit for ITV. Singers, dance troupes, impressionists, performing dogs, magicians, and other variety acts audition for judges, and hoping to beat the buzzer. The best acts go through to a week of live shows, with the winner performing at the Royal Variety Show.

BACK TO SCHOOL

We start again. We are ready to work hard from home this time. It's not the same. We want to see each other. We want to walk, run, laugh, speak...We want to live and feel the spring outside, too. Anyway, soon we'll be able to enjoy an ordinary day, the usual routines...Let's do our work in a different way. Let's enjoy life anyway! 

Remember: Just for today...

Mr Blue Sky (Lyrics)

LIBERA: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

The distinctive sound of Libera has travelled the world in the last few years. Their recordings hold in top-tens alongside major artists like Bocelli. The music they produce is truly extraordinary. These are truly sounds to lift the soul. Celestial sounds for a new time.

The following song - What a Wonderful World - remembering the victims of child labour in the past and many still suffering today.

IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD TIME!

"Good Time" is a song by American electronica project Owl City and Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics. "Good Time" attained commercial success worldwide, reaching NO.1 in Canada, New Zeland, and South Korea. It was also the top ten in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and other countries.

It's a happy and lively song. It's a good song for these difficult times. Enjoy, sing and dance along with the song.

TRYING TO STUDY! TRYING TO LEARN!

This boy is trying to study Irish but his whole family seems to disturb him. It's a funny video. Does something similar happen to you?

Foils arms and Hog is an Irish sketch comedy group.

Mum wants to learn how to use a computer. Her son is busy with his homework. See what happens.

POETRY

Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them (by the American poet, Charles Simic)

Vachel Lindsay was born in 1879 in Springfield, Illinois and he died in 1931. His father was a Scottish country doctor. His mother's family was from Maryland and Virginia. They wanted Lindsay to become a doctor. When he began to write poetry, he wandered for several summers throughout the country reciting his poems in return for food and shelter.

John Agard was born on 21 June 1949 in British Guiana (now Guyana). He moved to England in 1977. He lives in south-east England. He is a poet and children's writer. He was selected for the Queen Medal for Poetry, in 2012.

Clockwise by John Agard (click here to listen and read)

ANDREA BOCELLI

Andrea Angel Bocelli was born on September 22, 1958, in the small village of Stera in Tuscany. 

He is blind. He always had problems with his eyes. However, he lost his sight after a football match accident when he was 12.

He lives in Tuscany with his wife and children. 

Andrea Bocelli was discovered by Pavarotti.

In 1998 he recorded a duet with Celine Dion - "The Prayer" (one of his best moments). 

Andrea, along with his brother, has his own brand of wine made from grapes grown on his family farm. 

He also collaborated with Ed Sheeran singing in English and Italian.

TULIPS IN SPRING

Tulips brighten/lighten our days in early spring. Tulips normally begin emerging/coming out from the ground in March. they are the most colourful of all the spring flowers. They are also the easiest flowers you will ever grow. Just plant the bulbs/tubers in fall/autumn for blossoms the following spring. There are hundreds of beautiful tulips to choose from. Whether you plant them in groups of 10 to 1000, tulips always put on an impressive show. Tulip bulbs develop roots in the fall/autumn and then go dormant/asleep until early spring.

DAVID GARRETT - VIVA LA VIDA

He was born on September 4th, 1980 in Aachen, Germany. He began learning the violin at age four and enrolled in Lübeck Conservatory at age 7. He was given his first Stradivarius to use at just 11 years old. By the time he was 13, Garrett had recorded two full-length CDs of violin music.

JUST DANCE - VIVA LA VIDA

COLDPLAY - VIVA LA VIDA

Chris Martin: " I think everything we're trying to do at the moment is about not starting again so much as breaking down what we have built up before and trying to build something different and hopefully better or worse in a good way..."

Mirko and Valerio, who call themselves "little band violinists"  performed Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" on their violins during a Facebook live session while quarantined in Italy. The 12-year-old twins did such a great job they even got a "thank you" from Chris Martin.

NIGHTINGALE BIRD

It is a small bird. It is also known as the rufous or common nightingale. It belongs to a group of more terrestrial species, often called chats. The nightingale became a voice of nature. They travel long distances every year in order to migrate between the north and the south.

The nightingale is a warm brown coloured bird with greyish underside, large dark eye, and bright tail.

THESE ROMANS ARE CRAZY!

Albert Uderzo, who drew the "Asterix and Obelix" comics that delighted legions of children and adults over the past six decades, has died aged 92 (it's not linked to coronavirus). Uderzo and author René Goscinny are known as the "fathers" of the French comic series about a small village of Gauls who stand up to Roman occupiers. After Goscinny's death in 1977, Uderzo wrote and illustrated the series until he retired in 2009.

MR BEAN - AT THE DENTIST

Watch this funny video and enjoy it.

WHEN YOU FORGET THE LYRICS

Charlie Chaplin sang this song in Modern Times. It was the very first time that the world heard his voice, after two decades of silent pantomime.

Charlie writes the words of the song on his shirt cuff. It flies across the restaurant a soon as he makes his grand entrance. He dances around desperately looking for it, but the customers start complaining about the delay, so he has to make up the words.

IWD: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2020

An equal world is an enabled world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.

We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women's achievements.

Raise awareness against bias.

International Women's Day 2020 sees a number of exciting and important MISSIONS. Which are they? Read more...

CHILD LABOUR

Today, throughout the world, around 218 million children work, many full-time. They do not go to school and have little or no time to play. Many do no receive proper nutrition or care. They are denied the chance to be children. More than half of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities, as well as involvement in armed conflict.

ANTI-WAR ACTIVISM

An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start o carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts.

JOHN LENNON

John Lennon was a British singer-writer and a key member of the Beatles. After the Beatles, Lennon went to have a distinguished solo career. He was also an anti-war activist.

"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché/ (an obvious remark) that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal". 

Read more...

Imagine / lyrics (video)

Imagine - Pentatonix

WOODS WIDE WEB

Trees talk and share resources right under our feet, using a fungal network nicknamed the Woods Wide Web. Some plants use the system to support their offspring, while others hijack it to sabotage their rival.

VOCABULARY (fungal/fungus; resources; network; nickname; offspring; hijack; sabotage):

1. A person's child / The young of an animal or plant.

2. To take or take control of (something) for your own purposes.

3. To destroy or damage (something) deliberately so that it does not work correctly.

4. Relating to or caused by a fungus / Any one of a group of living things that often look like plants but have no flowers and that live on dead or decaying things.

5. A supply of something (such as money) that someone has and can use when it is needed.

6. A system of lines, wires, etc., that are connected to each other.

7. A name that is different from your real name but is what your family, friends, etc., call you them when they are talking to you or about you.

POMPEII -HISTORY

Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in Italy, has erupted more than 50 times. Its most famous eruption took place in the year 79 A.D. The volcano buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. Two thousand people died, and the city was abandoned for almost as many years. When a group of explorers rediscovered the site in 1748, they were surprised to find Pompeii was mostly intact.

Read more...

25 mind-blowing facts about the Pompeii destruction