There is one positive thing on winter - it will one day end.

looks lovely with the ferns

Thank you, Sticki. Here they (roses) are notoriously arranged with either long grass or ferns. Did you have a rest after weekend sleepless night? Today is Full Moon, isn´t. Maybe another sleepless night...

oh, that's a thought ~ i forgot about that, i have slept better since, thanks kat ~ nice warm bath with new bubble bath helped too, also i was so tired it was easy to sleep!

I had today Scottish showers (:))) and massage. Hope I will sleep well, too. These weeks I have had very good nights. Started yoga for spine. That makes me tired every day.

Thank you for reminding us of that, Katarina.

We have just watched a very interesting programme about art depicting winter. Apparently Breugel was the first painter to show a snowy landscape. There were some very erudite comments, and examples of photographs as well as paintings. It certainly made me look forward to Spring, though!

that sounds interesting melchi, i like breugel ~ the ones where the children are playing games have so many fascinating details.

kat ~ what is a scottish shower? that yoga sounds good, i ought to go to something like that but i have trouble concentrating in a group ~ i would get the giggles

Thank you, Melchi. Yes, Brueghel is great fantasy painter and even winter fantasy painter. But, I am very careful when somebody says "he was/she was the first". Who knows?
What about this story? :))http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/the-greatest-snowman-ever/

Well - I think it was the first known picture. It was painted in the 16th century. It is "Hunters in the Snow".

That is a good story about Michaelangelo - but the comment did specify "painting". After that, artists began to depict winter quite often.

I have also recently watched a programme about sculptures, and the history of the "figleaf" which censored them. Again, very interesting.

is it BBC History channel?

No. I think it was BBC 4 - not entirely sure now. We had recorded it and sometimes the detail gets lost that way. Not as simple as when we saw a programme and watched it as it was broadcast. Much easier to see just what one wants, though!

I like BBC History Channel very much. I wonder how many similar channels you have in your TV. If I lived in the UK I would start to watch TV again for sure. Now I am mostly listening to radio and reading books. Our TV programs are very simple, lot of blood, violence and simple soap operas.

This document is very interesting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=880fHP1dz0w

we have lots of programs like the history channel kat, i think we are lucky.
we also have really good wildlife programs, etc etc

Yes, I know, I adore it.

you might like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKbFZIpNK10

I will have a look on it. Thank you.

Oh, Sticki, I just now noticed your question on Scottish shower. If you didn´t find the answer on internet, here it is according to Wikipedia:
"A Scottish shower consists in alternating application of hot and cold water during a shower session. In the most reduced form, it may consist only of one alternation, that is, applying cold water after a usual hot water shower. It is thought that the alternation of heat and cold improves blood circulation, that is beneficial for instance in rheumatic disorders."
It is very refreshing and makes you feel warm and fine for hours, even in a cold weather. Here they use thermal water, so itś positive effect on muscles and ligaments is even better.

Oh, thank you kat, I had no idea that was called a Scottish shower! I'm sure it is good to kick start or rev up the circulation, I think I would be shivering at the thought of that cold shower.

No. It is done simultaneously - cold and warm jets are applied simultaneously. So it is more refreshing then unpleasant.

I can imagine it feels good.

I watched that YouTube link and found it really interesting, it's David Hockney explaining things he found out about paintings, there is a part two which I may watch today?

Caravaggio was very popular here, as he was associated somehow with Blood Countess, a real historical personality from this region, once called Upper Hungary. She was, legend says, Caravaggio´s mistress.
Here is the trailer of the Czech-Slovak-Hungarian film. Funny is that the main hero is English actress there and Franco Nero as Hungarian King :))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLpzlXF8WjY
http://www.gabriellefaust.com/archives/2721

thanks katarina, i will have a look at those,

after a week of deep snow we have had one night of rain and it has all gone ~ it almost seems strange looking out on green instead of white!

We still have snow. It hasn´t snow for a week, but there are frosts for a weeek. Today a blackbird arrived to my window and when he saw me, started to do strange movements with head and beak. Very funny, as if he wanted to tell me there is no corn in the bird feeder. And in fact there wasn, t! LOl.

my sister had a blackbird that tapped on the window ~ it wanted more raisins!