Looking Through Glass

Progress! About 1.5 million days ago this would have been unheard of. 

I stood in a photo exhibition in fairly dim light, and this looked like an interesting motif. So I switched on the camera, raised it, looked through the viewfinder and pressed the button. All possible thanks to glass in so many ways. The viewfinder is made of glass, the lens on the camera is made of glass, the reflection I photographed is all due to glass, and the photos hung on the wall are protected by glass. A great big cheer to glass!

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2026)

Written for Friday Writings #252: Looking Through Glass.

All true! What about the 1.5 million days? Doesn’t really sound that long ago, does it? But divide that by 365 and you get about 2000 B.C., which adds more of a perspective than a number of days. According to Wikipedia, the earliest man-made glass objects are dated to about that time.

Old town of Paliano | Wordless Wednesday

Paliano, Lazio, Italy

Leica Z2X on Lomochrome Purple film

Posted for Wordless Wednesday

Día de un Muerto

 ...

Between Zacatecas and Torreón, the train came to a stop in the middle of nowhere for hours. Rumors of an accident were circulating. Reportedly, a man had been killed when trying to jump onto the train. I walked five cars down to the spot where a crowd had gathered. I couldn’t see what had piqued their curiosity, but a few police officers in the center of the crowd were making emphatic gestures. There were also three dark-skinned figures standing there – two small and slender, one stooped and veiled.

“Kneel, señor, you must kneel!,” the veiled woman said.

“Why is she saying that, André?,” said Nicole, standing next to me.

“I don’t know. I’m just thinking: am I evil, or is she?”

“Why turn this into a question of good and evil? Let’s just assume that you’re perfectly ordinary, and she’s a bit demonic.”

“If you say so, my beauty.”

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2026)

Posted for Friday Writings #251: Halloween and Día de Muertos. This is actually an excerpt from a story originally written in the 1980s and published in German translation in 2005. I remembered it when I read today’s writing prompt because it plays in Mexico and includes several seemingly random encounters with the veiled lady that culminate in the fatal accident described in this ending part of the story.

Stuttgart Beer Festival / Wordless Wednesday

At the Cannstatter Wasen in October for the world's second largest beer festival in Stuttgart a few years ago. Posted for Wordless Wednesday.

Laundry Day | Taken on Tuesday

Hung up this morning. Today's autumn sunshine promises to dry it fast.

I explained to you exactly

why I love you.

A mushroom was growing out of your nose.

Because of the mushroom, you couldn't speak.

But you explained to me nonetheless that I hadn’t understood a thing.

Which I realized!

Where your eyes must have been, behind the ever-growing mushroom, sprigs of parsley were sprouting.

Your mouth dropped like a potato, still mouthing something as it was falling down.

Startled, I stepped back before your mushroom head could touch me or the parsley could tickle me.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2026)

Posted in response to Friday Writings #250: Memories and Dreams, this is actually the translation of a surreal dream I’d originally written down in German. The painting above by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593) would seem a good match for this vegetable-centric dream.

Love, one-sided

Here’s that black thing

attacking my nose from

the air, trying to sit down

on my arm, hand, foot,

thigh, my food – particularly

my food

Loves me so much

it can’t and won’t 

leave me alone

And here I am with

nothing but murder

in my mind

But way too slow

for execution

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2026)

Note
Once again nothing but the prosaic truth turned into poetry. This one-sided love story has been going on for four days now. Ever since this specimen flew in through an open door and simply refuses to leave.

Wordless Wednesday | Public Art

Double exposure photograph of street art found on the wall of a market in Rome. Redmi 14 with Vignette for Android.

Posted for Wordless Wednesday. 

Ghost Rider / Taken on Tuesday

If you take a good look inside the car, you can see that a ghost is riding along.

Photo taken today, on Tuesday, and the beginning of what will hopefully become a series of Tuesday photos.

Scherzo 176

Scherzo 176

One of a large series of paintings, mostly executed in gouache on paper, that are inspired by the idea of the musical scherzo – light-hearted pieces with a lively movement. This one is available as a digital collectible.