Timothy 1:7 “For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us Power, Love, and Self-discipline.” Life is beautiful and full of so many amazing paths and sights to see and ways to learn and there is no way to know what the future will hold or what roads my fabulous journey will take me down. And if i take a different path altogether, so be it. The thing about a journey is you never know what to expect, it’s full of wonderful mysteries and to me- that’s the most amazing part. You never know what you’ll see around the corner, or who you’ll meet or the sights youll see. My earthly destination will always be home- wherever that may be, and you can bet that i plan on seeing some things before i get there. in a classical non-dysfunctional manner, so itis no surprise that she is a lovely human being. More than

Andersen's misery at his repressed bisexuality and societal isolation made for some incredible tales, not least this one. It all begs the question: whose stories are better? Happy Hans or Miserable Hans? This is the first story in the collection that I don't remember having heard before. And it is absolutely fabulous. Quite darker than the ones that preceded it as well. To call it the Danish "Rumplestiltskin" doesn't quite do it justice, and I actually think I liked it better than that famous Grimm Brothers' tale. Hans Christian Andersen's first writing projects included a play, a book of poetry and a travelogue. The promising young author then won a grant from the king, and this enabled him to travel across Europe and work on being an author. He wrote a novel about his time in Italy, which was published in 1835, the same year as he began writing his stories—called "eventyr", or "fairy tales"—and often based on ideas from folk tales that he had heard or read as a child. For me I went through the whole thought process of , I wanna go to Paris, or Switzerland, or Iceland. You now the places I’ve always wanted to travel… but then I started thinking bigger… Hans Christian Andersen may have been the illegitimate son of Crown Prince Christian Frederik, later Christian VIII, and the teenage countess Elise Ahlefeldt-Laurvig. He was born in 1805 at Broholm Castle near Odense. Both Hans Christian Andersen's official parents worked at the castle, his "mother" as a nursemaid, and his "father", a cobbler for the family. There had also been a precedent for an illegitimate daughter (Fanny) to have been adopted by another servant of the Royal family a year earlier.The beauty of life is the fact that you constantly get to grow and change and transform into the person you’re suppose to be, I never want to have a DESTINATION. I always want to have a JOURNEY. This morning I woke up to snow. SNOW!!!! after I stopped freaking out about the snow.. I headed to get some breakfast, and as I was sitting there eating breakfast at my hotel… I look outside and see a herd of elk across the street… I wish I could see that everyday… this place is so majestic and beautiful.

Designed by landscape architects, the "Magic Garden" is embedded in the cityscape of Odense and is meant to function as a publicspace. Colors, differentplantsand fragrances are intended to create "conflict between harmony and chaos." Places flooded with light are interjectedwith bizarre-lookingtrees or hedges trimmed to have sharp corners.Here, thebeautiful co-exists with the uncanny —just like in Andersen's fairy tales. A glimpse of the magic garden Image: Kengo Kuma & Associates Another of his preoccupations was to try out new places. He had a wanderlust, and an urge to flee from what he considered to be provincial life. There are echoes of this in his works. In "Five Peas in the Same Pod" all the peas are happy until one needs to explore the world outside. In "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep", the couple brave all kinds of adventures, in search of something better. There are many instances of someone "trying out their wings". Hans Christian Andersen himself travelled relentlessly, but had a morbid fear of death. Wherever he laid his head, there next to him was a coil of rope which he took everywhere with him, and a handwritten notice, saying, "I only seem dead". He was obsessed with the thought that he might lapse into a coma, and be buried before he could come round. In fact he kept this strange morbid dread of being buried alive through to the very day he died. perhaps? Ironically, at the age of fourteen, when he left home, he had predicted this outcome, "First you go through terrible suffering and then you become famous."Because we let others opinions effect us. But you have to remember… they are called opinions for a reason. Just because someone says it, doesn’t make it true. Remember that. Corinthians 12:9 ” But he said to me,”My grace is sufficient to you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power can rest on me.” Il ritmo di lettura serrato in quest’occasione non ha certo giovato ad un lavoro del genere, ma non è nemmeno andato ad incidere particolarmente su quella che comunque sarebbe stata la mia valutazione finale. Sono ben 156 i titoli all’interno del volume, eppure non mi sento così “arricchito” dopo l’esperienza. Ammetto che il mio approccio non è stato il medesimo con tutte quante le storie, le più blasonate diciamo, avevano da parte mia un occhio di riguardo in più… ma anche un’aspettativa maggiore. Per le altre è stato diverso, godevano del beneficio del dubbio ma pagavano lo scotto di essere in mezzo a tante altre che avrei dovuto leggere in un lasso di tempo così breve (per via di una gara di lettura e di una mia decisione non troppo azzeccata Inspired by the swallow in Thumbelina,VeronicaHodges has created a fantastic paper installation. Another installation artist, Brazilian Henrique Oliveira placed a massive tree installation in Odense, inspired by The Tinder Box.The artist and the short film director Timothy David Ormehascreated an animated journey into Andersen's fantasy world. Cutouts, light and shadow, a spiral staircase Image: Kengo Kuma & Associates

Hans Christian Andersen's tales seem to have universal appeal, no matter what language they are read in. His stories express themes that transcend age and nationality—often presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity. They are written in a very chatty intimate style, which won him no favours from his original literary critics, who considered this tone inappropriate. But once he found his voice, he found he could not stop writing them, saying, "They forced themselves from me". A friend once expostulated, "You're capable of writing about anything - even a darning needle!" And sure enough, the author rose to the challenge, in his story entitled "The Darning Needle". The stories are clearly cathartic, but also full of beauty, tragedy, nature, religion, artfulness, deception, betrayal, love, death, judgement and penance. And—very occasionally—one has a happy ending. This year is the year. I am taking advantage of all opportunities that come my way, i am doing what makes me happy, i am focusing on myself this year. He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him. the love between them is something special that you don’t see very often. this the kind of love that whenever this horse heard her voice, she would come to the gate and give her kisses, she would come running in from the pasture just to see this little girl because she loved her, this mare never cheated her in a barrel run, or anything else. this mare took care of this sweet little girl. these two moved as one and thought as one and you could see the love they have for eachother across the arena. these two were special together. Andersen is probably best known today for “The Little Mermaid,” usually in the sense that children who have seen the Disney film often hear, from their friends, something to the effect of, “Did you know that she actually dies in the end.” Andersen stories, more than any other traditional fairy tales, are filled with pathos and sadness, and end badly for their protagonists.Just living is not enough’, said the butterfly, ‘one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.’ Hans Christian Andersen once said, "Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale." And his life certainly was an extraordinary rags to riches story. Andersenwas inspired bytraditional Scandinavian, German and Greek stories, from ancient times to the Middle Ages. Fables, realincidentsand natural phenomena alsotriggered his imagination. In a masterful way, he wove different materials and influences to create thefairytalesthat we know today. But the storyteller, who was born into a very poor household in 1805,did not only write fairy tales. Very few people know that Andersen also wrote poems, plays, novels and travelogues and was a very talented silhouette artist. The writer's birthplace in Odense Image: H.C. Andersen House