Hippo Ballerina

From 7 February - 31 July 2017, Dante Park, across from the Lincoln Center in New York City, is the temporary home of a beautiful statue, named: Hippo Ballerina. She is part of an art installation by Danish sculptor Bjorn Okholm Skaarup. She is over 15 feet tall (4.57 m), weighs 2.5 tons, and is made of bronze and copper.  

I have been people watching for a while, sitting on one of the chairs, very close to the statue. It was so nice to see people interact and react. Most people started to smile right away when spotting her. Something I understand oh so well :-).

Photo and information credit: Smithsonian Mag

Hippo Spoon

It is always hard to leave friends behind, every time we move. And it is equally hard when friends move, and we are the ones left behind. But luckily this cloud has a silver lining, in the form of being able to visit friends all over the world. So when my husband had to go to Zimbabwe for work, he made some time to visit our friends, who moved there a few years ago. It is always nice to catch up and be able to experience a country as a local. As local as you can become as an expat that is. And in exchange for some goodies from the US, he brought back a lovely hippo-gift. Another first. My fist hippo spoon. I have not used it yet. Maybe I should. Dear Inge, thank you so much for arranging this lovely gift. Zimbabwe is still on my bucket list, hopefully, when we have the chance to tick that off our list, you will still be there.

Hippos for Lien

Today's post is about the "shared hippo-happiness" I mention in the introduction of my blog. Once in a while, I receive messages directly or via my husband or friends, with the subject title: Hippos for Lien. One of my friends even has a special folder on her phone to store all the hippo related stuff, her family and friends think I should see.

So this post is for all of you, to thank you for thinking about me, and making my day when sharing your finds. Below are some very lovely examples from last year. Keep (hippo) happy and above all, please keep sharing :-) HHHLL

I saw this hippo on Saturday (Attaching for Lien) (text and photo credit: Amy Wickham)

 Attaching some more hippo love (from Kariba and the Zambezi) (text and photo credit: Amy Wickham)

I was on the shores of lake Leman in Switzerland last weekend and found this baby hippo. Not in the lake, but in the display of a bronze artists' shop. In case you would like to diversify your collection from ceramics to bronze. See attached, photographed in Vevey.

(text and photo credit: Jo Cadilhon)