The Centenarian Who Climbed Out Through the Window and Disappeared

Jonas Jonasson wrote a bonbon of a story for the world to enjoy. It's not published here yet, but I'm reading it already, and I promise that with every page you turn your smile will get wider.
The strange title is simply a jumping board into adventure, into reflection of the futility of modern life, where sweet and bitter are balanced perfectly to never leave you with either after-taste of sugary melancholy nor bitter disappointment.
There is not a whimper of whining in this tale, despite some pretty dire circumstances along the way. It maintains a smirk as it talks matter of fact about grim events in the life of the main players. A rich, fun and generous book.

The Way

El Camino is a simple film, but that is the source of it's charm. And the scenery, of course. You follow a grieving aging father carrying the ashes of his son on a pilgrimage he never wanted to make, walking across the beautiful mountains and villages of the Pyrenees region which separates Spain and France, over 800 kilometers of it.
It made me want to travel again. I've been to that part of the world a life time ago. Every place I've loved while traveling I thought I'd be back again to spend more time, but life gets in the way of traveling, and I never have. I'll never forget driving through dense clouds and running into a band of wild horses, or the mountainside awash with lavender bushes, or the little village cheese shops, the horrendous night time, nerve wrecking drive through winding, serpentine narrow roads.

Great Read - Alice Munro

I'm in love again.
I've been reading an astoundingly beautiful book of short stories by Alice Munro, The Moons of Jupiter. It's not new, it's 30 years old now, but those stories will stay fresh as long as people keep on falling in and out of love.
"To celebrate the essential mystery", in her words, is what her writing is about. Not about solving the mysteries of life but experiencing them. And she does it with such finesse, delicacy and love that no matter who she writes about, you can't help but get drawn into her stories.
I love that she doesn't tie up loose ends at the completion of the stories, because life is all frayed at the edges, and the stories are just cut at some point, although you know that those lives, probably a mix of fictional and real characters, do go on.
And more than anything I love her language: natural, graceful, with the power to penetrate into the heart of things, and yours.

Style at all Cost

This fabulous car parked briefly by the shop yesterday. I came out just in the nick of time to document such a thing of beauty.
(Word of advice and note to self: keep your phone memory clean of outdated pictures, in case you need to take another shot of something you absolutely must have).

Some Loveliness for the New Year

This was made by Ryan Woodward. Check out more of his stuff here.

Smart Little ****head

Mother: Do you know what separates men from boys?
Son: Age.
Mother: Stumped.

I was going to say - the ability to apologize with grace, but I had to admit his answer was by far deeper.