Mellan katter, blommor och gräsmattor

 

Krispigheten i luften, explotionen av grönska i olika nyanser  kombinerat med det trolska kvällsljuset är verkligen något alldeles över det vanliga.    

Det känns trots allt skönt att komma hem till svensk sensommar och vi konstaterar att det är fullt möjligt att älska flera platser samtidigt. 

Trädgården har dock hunnit bli rejält eftersatt under de veckor som vi har varit borta och det kändes galet befriande att frissera det mer än decimeterhöga gräset med Rufus, vår handtrimmer. 

Vad gäller de vildvuxna rabatterna så får vi trösta oss med att de är ett paradis för insekter som humlor och bin. 

Det är svårt att låta bli att arbete när bollar börjar rulla kring fötterna. 

En artikel om lärares professionella seende med fokus mot mobbning har precis blivit accepterad men behöver några mindre justeringar, och boken om Det didaktiska seendet behöver komma framåt.    

Bryggan mellan mina världar är fantasi och Hannah Arendt är en av mina favoriter. 

Jag håller just nu på att läsa antologin Judgment, Imagination, and Politics: Themes from Kant and Arendt redigerad av Jennifer Nedelsky och Ronald Beiner.

"Judgment, Imagination, and Politics brings together for the first time leading essays on the nature of judgment. Drawing from themes in Kant's Critique of Judgment and Hannah Arendt's discussion of judgment from Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy, these essays deal with: the role of imagination in judgment; judgment as a distinct human faculty; the nature of judgment in law and politics; and the many puzzles that arise from the "enlarged mentality," the capacity to consider the perspectives of others that aren't in Kant treated as essential to judgment."

Arendt skriver återkommande om hur viktig fantasin är för att kunna tänka bortanför det vi har framför näsan och för att kunna få en idé om hur andra ser och förstår världen. 

Hon skriver till exempel  i Life of the mind från 1978: 

"Hence, critical thinking while still a solitary business has not cut itself off from ‘all others’…[By] force of imagination it makes the others present and thus moves potentially in a space which is public, open to all sides; in other words, it adopts the position of Kant’s world citizen. To think with the enlarged mentality—that means you train your imagination to go visiting." (257).

Skönlitteraturen är ett viktigt medel för att träna vår fantasi - att få den att gå på upptäcksfärd och besöka människor, känslor, tankar och platser som annars skulle vara förlorade för oss.  

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Det är inte bara barnen som har saknat oss utan även våra kissar. 

Aslan den store, vars päls har blivit tovigare än en fårtackas, har lufsat efter oss hela dagen idag och passat på att vila i närheten av våra fötter, som en tvättäkta hund, närhelst vi har slagit oss ner någonstans.  

Lille grå är däremot fortfarande skruttig. 

Den tidigare, lite rundlagda missen ser ut som ett vandrande skelett.

Oftast ligger han på vår säng, men titt som tätt tassar han ut och lägger sig bredvid oss för att tanka närhet. 

Han blev rejält undersökt hos veterinären idag och det visade sig att han har gått ner ytterligare några gram. 

Vågen visade på 2,5 kg. 

Det framkom även att han har fått någon form av inflammation och går just nu på antibiotika och extra vätsketillförsel. Tydligen så är inflammation vanligt när katter har en överproduktion på hormoner  (hypertyroid). 

Mozart ska tillbaka till veterinären om några dagar - vi hoppas att kuren med antibiotika får honom på rätt köl igen. 

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Vi har en Emma på besök och hon berättade levande och engagerat om olika erfarenheter som hennes kollegor på Gustavianum har haft under sina guidade turer på andra museum:

"Where can I find the vikings? Do you have them in reservations like our Indians?"

Guest: "Where is the Royal Castle?

Guide: "You are standing in it". 

"Can you say something in European?"  

https://silviaedling.com/

Despite everything...

...it feels good to come home to late summer in Sweden.

The crispness in the air, the explosion of greenery in different shades combined with the magical evening light is truly something out of the ordinary. We are grateful to have been embraced by a little summer warmth before work starts in earnest.

However, the garden has been seriously neglected during the weeks we have been away, and it felt liberating to trim the grass, which was several inches high, with Rufus, our hand trimmer.

As for the overgrown flower beds, we can console ourselves with the fact that they are a paradise for insects such as bumblebees and bees.

It's hard to resist working when balls start rolling around my feet.

An article on teachers' professional vision with a focus on bullying has just been accepted but needs a few minor adjustments, and the book on Det didaktiska seendet (The Didactic Vision) needs to move forward.

The bridge between my worlds is imagination, and Hannah Arendt is one of my favourites. I am currently reading the anthology Judgment, Imagination, and Politics: Themes from Kant and Arendt

edited by Jennifer Nedelsky and Ronald Beiner.

"Judgment, Imagination, and Politics brings together for the first time leading essays on the nature of judgment. Drawing from themes in Kant's Critique of Judgment and Hannah Arendt's discussion of judgment from Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy, these essays deal with: the role of imagination in judgment; judgment as a distinct human faculty; the nature of judgment in law and politics; and the many puzzles that arise from the “enlarged mentality,” the capacity to consider the perspectives of others that aren't in Kant treated as essential to judgment."

Arendt repeatedly writes about how important imagination is for thinking beyond what is right in front of us and for gaining an idea of how others see and understand the world. For example, she writes in Life of the Mind from 1978:

‘Hence, critical thinking, while still a solitary business, has not cut itself off from “all others”... [By] force of imagination, it makes the others present and thus moves potentially in a space that is public, open to all sides; in other words, it adopts the position of Kant's world citizen. To think with the enlarged mentality—that means you train your imagination to go visiting.’ (257).

Fiction is an important means of training our imagination to go on voyages of discovery and visit people, feelings, thoughts and places that would otherwise be lost to us.

It is not only the children who have missed us, but also our cats.

Aslan the yellow one, whose fur has become shaggier than a sheep's fleece, has been following us around all day today and taking the opportunity to rest near our feet like a genuine dog whenever we have settled down somewhere.

Little Grey, on the other hand, is still in poor health.

The formerly plump little cat looks like a walking skeleton.

He usually lies on our bed, but every now and then he wanders out and lies down next to us to get some closeness.

He had a thorough check-up at the vet today and it turns out he has lost a few more grams.

The scales showed 2.5 kg.

It also emerged that he has some kind of inflammation and is currently on antibiotics and extra fluids. Apparently, inflammation is common when cats have an overproduction of hormones (hyperthyroidism).

Mozart will return to the vet in a few days – we hope that the antibiotics will get him back on track.

We have a visitor, Emma, who gave a lively and engaging account of various experiences her colleagues at Gustavianum have had during their guided tours:

‘Where can I find the Vikings? Do you have them in reservations like our Indians?’

Guest: ‘Where is the Royal Castle?

Guide: ’You are standing in it‘.

’Can you say something in European?‘

’https://silviaedling.com/