Smultronstället

This morning, right after getting up and scratching my bum while looking for mail I made a discovery. There are wild strawberries growing on the little patch of garden in front of my house! Four tiny plants right under my nose, merrily sitting under a rhododendron, taking roots and making oxygen. I wonder how they got there.
Incidentally, "Wild Strawberries" by Ingmar Bergman is also one of my favorite movies. Its orginal title is "Smultronstället". It is the story of an old, pedantic, emotionally cold and detached man, looking back on a life of work and studies. He is recalling his past while travelling from Stockholm to Lund to receive a honorary degree from Lund University. During the trip, he has nightmares and daydreams about his youth, family and impending death, forcing him to reevaluate his life in order to find peace of mind. It is a beautiful and bitter-sweet, but positive movie.
The swedish word "Smultronstället" describes a place, somewhere amidst the wilderness of the swedish forest, under birch or pine, where the sun quietly touches upon a soft mossy spot to ripen wild strawberries. It also refers to a place children treasure, where they share their secrets with their friends. Bergman uses it figuratively to describe a most private place in one's own mind, where some memories and secrets, bitter and sweet, are kept. Though the movie is black and white, it has brilliant mood and color, and some images are so beautiful, I wanted to cry.
So, I'll keep watch over these four little buggers. How could I not see them in three years?