Sunday 6 March 2011

Dreams of Spring


Promise of Spring
Blue skies and a warm late February sun
bath the tile roof of St. Stephen's Cathedal
in brilliant light, carrying promises of spring.
The verdigris of the North Tower's
Renaissance cap glims in the sun,
and the teal dormer window frame of the building
to the right, on Singerstrasse,
slowly emerges from early morning shade.

A few steps down,
at Weihburggasse, a shop window
arranged in shades of teal,
invites to stop for a cup of tea,
reading about Jane Austen's gardens or
leafing through a collection of
Pierre-Joseph Redouté's rose studies.

George Clooney
would have us brew coffee
from ground beans imprisoned
in teal aluminum pods and
drink it from pressed glass cups:
Is this meant to give
the now distilled beans one more look
from the inside out into a world
from which they disappeared
way back when picked?

Wouldn't even Sir Charming
rather sip his morning coffee
holding on to the proper handle
of a porcelain cup with gayly painted rim
in spring colours,
while looking out his window,
surveying spring's triumphant arrival
at Lake Como?

Photographed
in Vienna
24 February 2010

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Images and Text
© 2010 by Merisi

22 comments:

  1. The first daffodils are out in England!

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  2. Fabulous post, Merisi! I love your musings on coffee drinking - how could Sir Charming possibly disagree with your charmingly written suggestion and so-pretty images?!

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  3. I just read that the discarded pods are a waste problem. In any case, I will not give up my Bialetti for the world. It's easy to use, low-maintenance and it makes preparing coffee a pleasant ritual. You then compost the coffee dregs and you are ready for the next cup. Perfect, in my opinion. Love that teal tea set. Which reminds me that I need my second cup of tea. Daffodils have blossomed in my garden, but the sky has been gray for many days. It's March! And next week we are changing to daylight saving time, which is always a big thing for me.

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  4. So good looking roofs and lovely colours in this cup picture!

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  5. Merisi - is there any way you could visit that shop and find out the brand/maker of the tea set with the violets and the writing on it? And how much they are charging for it at the store? I think I just fell in love.

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  6. Those roofs look like Navaho rug patterns. How cool.

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  7. Beautiful colors and light! Gorgeous!

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  8. I am smitten with tea-set envy. How beautiful is that little symphony of teal!

    Mr. Clooney has just sunk a bit...shame on him!
    Thank you for sharing your beautiful near-spring with us.

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  9. Hello Merisi.

    I agree about the roofing patterns being very similar to those of Navajo rugs. Geometric patterns really are global, and maybe eternal.

    On to coffee. Nespresso is such a strange concept. Is the company actually successful? Can there be that many folks who do not know how to make coffee? There is a two story N emporium near where I work. It is chilly in its glassy atmosphere, and usually quite empty.

    I agree with the comments about the lovely tea cups and saucers with the delicately tinted edges. Those are truly elegant.

    Fierce rain and wind this afternoon and evening in NYC. I did not risk putting my little umbrella up against such forces, and so returned home a bit soggy. I thought I heard the umbrelly give a sigh of relief.

    xo

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  10. That teapot is simple beautiful!!

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  11. The roofing patterns are very similar to ones at the Hotel-Dieu des Hospices de Beaune in Burgundy!
    I LOVE all your colors...swooning

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  12. Thank you all, you are all incredibly kind!

    Marcheline,
    I am in the area early this morning and will walk by the store, I hope they are open already!

    A wonderful start in the week to all of you!

    Greetings from sunny Vienna,
    Merisi

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  13. I would drink my coffee from a rusty old oil can if it meant I was getting to see the spring arrive from Lake Como... sigh :') I adore that tea set!

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  14. To you and your readers - and especially to Frances :

    Nespresso has got VERY popular in France too.
    The trade has got the best ambassador in the world : G.Clooney.
    I myself have kept the old way of making coffee but I confess that their commercials are pretty good. I bet every single French girl/woman who uses Nespresso capsules hopes to tumble over George !!!
    AND every single Frenchie, either a coffee amateur or not, knows the famous "What else ?"
    Marie-Noëlle

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  15. You my dear are so creative when it comes to your image selections and then also how you place them in your series for your post. Just to creative and talented you truly are~

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  16. What an unusual roof on the cathedral!
    Oh, tea and coffee always taste better when drank from a beautiful cup.

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  17. Delightful. I am always charmed by your ability to take the simple and make it a thing of beauty.
    The tiles on the building against the different textures are stunning.

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  18. Merci beaucoup to all of you!

    I will try to get back here!
    xxx

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  19. Wandering Star,
    I am dreaming of seeing those daffodils ever since I first read Wordworth's “I wandered lonely as a cloud”!


    Karen @ PasGrand-Chose,
    good to hear that you enjoyed reading my musings! ;-)
    I admit that the urge to have sheer fun (too many times when straying from work I ought to do!) once again run away with me when I scribbled those lines.

    Simona,
    various companies are working on creating coffee pods that can more easily recycled than George Clooney's, i.e. Nespresso's.

    The Bialetti is a great little coffeemaker! I will continue to use my Alessi 9090 stovetop espresso maker dates from the 80s and is still working perfectly. I forgot it twice on the stovetop, heating it up to the red glowing just before melting stage. Would you believe that the original rubber gasket is still in good condition, after all that heat torture? ;-)

    Thilda,
    they look so tempting, aren't they?
    And I know where the store is .... ;-)

    Marcheline,
    I was there on Monday. They don't have the tea set in stock anymore.
    However, the owner was not there. On of these days I will try to ask her.

    Charles Gramlich,
    I have asked myself many a times where the roof patterns comes from!
    Navaho rug patterns, yes, that would be really cool.
    I put the question in my little black notebook. Maybe, one day, I'll find out more about the roof.

    SK Waller,
    lucky me they did not have it in stock anymore, otherwise .... ;-)

    Svet,
    dankeschön! ;-)

    ds,
    welcome to the club of “bloggers with tea-set envy”! ;-)

    Frances,
    thank you, and I agree about the patterns.

    The Nespresso stores here in Vienna look like vast wastelands (oh, hold your horses, Merisi, of course, they are very stylish and such!). What endears them to me a little bit is that they are employing artists to create wonderful window displays.

    Cathy,
    we all agree, that teapot is beautiful! ;-)

    ParisBreakfasts,
    how interesting, now I can't wait to dig into the roof question!
    (Well, there will not be time before autumn!)

    noblenourishment,
    you made me laugh out loud! ;-)
    I am with you about spring at lake Como, Sir Clooney, good coffee ...... “swoon”

    Marie-Noëlle,
    oh, the genius behind hiring Sir George for the Nespresso campaign!
    I love their commercials, even though they will not bend my iron will not to abandon my Alessi espresso maker. ;-)

    Mary,
    thank you!
    It is great fun to wiggle a blog post out of the various images.
    I like to use recent photographs and even though I usually start out with an idea and an image in mind, most of my blog posts end up being something else entirely. So much fun! ;-)

    Zosia,
    yes, a beautiful cup always enhances the content, I agree! :-)

    photowannabe,
    thank you, Sue! :-)

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  20. your life is full of pretty details!

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