"Tu es si petit, c'est si grand le monde..."

Il fut un temps où j'étais un avide spectateur de Samedi jeunes, qui passait à tous les samedis matin. J'ai notamment souvent regardé Nils Holgersson (que j'ai par après lu). Ce n'était pas ma série préférée, mais j'ai beaucoup aimé malgré tout, notamment la musique du générique final. Maintenant que je suis papa, je me la rechante souvent et je la chante à mon fils et les paroles prennent vraiment tout leur sens. Alors j'ai décidé de la partager avec vous ce soir, pour tous les parents et futurs parents notamment.

Wild geese flying south

There is another sure sign of autumn coming I have been witnessing these days. Or rather these evenings: for the last few evenings, I could hear and see wild geese flying from north to south. Last year I saw geese flying in September, now it is in August. And it happens with the regularity of clockwork: when the sun goes down, you can hear them coming, flying over the house, going straight south. It tried to take a picture of them on Saturday evening, but they were too fast and it was already too dark. Geese can be elusive. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside watching them, all eager to see more signs of autumn. Wild geese flying also remind me of Selma Lagerlöf's The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, which is one of the things that made me discover Sweden. You can read more about this memory of mine here. So anyway, when I see wild geese flying, I think of two things: Nils Holgersson and autumn coming. When the flock flies south of course.

Nils Holgersson (générique du début)

Depuis que j'ai vu la volée d'oies sauvages lundi dernier, ce qui m'a inspiré ce billet, j'ai la chanson du générique de Nils Holgersson en tête. Ca passait à Samedi jeunes durant mon enfance, comme bien des dessins animés. Quelqu'un d'autre se rappelle de Samedi jeunes ici? Je ne sais plus ce qu'ils offrent à Radio-Can maintenant les samedis, et sans doute est-ce la nostalgie qui parle, mais je ne pense pas que les émissions matinales sont aussi bonnes maintenant. Alors je mets ici la chanson du générique du début de Nils, rien que par esprit de nostalgie.

Wild geese and a Swedish memory

I am blogging again about another sign of autumn I witnessed before going to work on Monday morning. The day was sunny and crisp, cold as if it was the middle of October. I love days like this. And I saw and heard, flying low in the morning sky, a flock of wild geese. It was beautiful. I couldn't identify the geese, I don't think they were Canadian geese. But it was simply beautiful. Flocks of geese migrating always remind of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, or Nils Holgersson as we used to call it when we watched the Japanese anime. It made me discover Sweden. Years later, my Swedish sister bought be an abridged version (and translated in French of course) of the original novel by Selma Lagerlof. It was a nice read. I thought about it when I saw the geese flying.