A New Shoreline

Before I moved to Denmark I used to like the Ingrid Michaelson song "Far Away." I still like that song, actually, and while listening to it the other day this line caught my ear:

"Far away, far away, I want to go far away, to a new life on a new shoreline...."

The thing is, I think almost everyone secretly wants that, the chance to have a totally new kind of life. And I got it. I have done just exactly what this song is about. Wow.

Here's the "new shoreline," as we mostly see it in Aarhus.




It reminds me a lot of this painting by P. S. Krøyer, which I absolutely love.


The first time I saw it was in the art museum ARoS, where they have a nice big original. I liked the painting so much then that we bought a poster reproduction, which now has pride of place in our living room. Whenever Danes come over, they get very chuffed that we're also Krøyer fans. He's a really famous Danish painter, best known for his paintings of the sea and Danish seaside life. Most of his work was done up in Skagen, where he was friends with a whole bunch of other well-known painters and writers. Even though he painted at the turn of the century, Skagen still looks like it does in those paintings.



There's just something eternally appealing about ships and the sea, I think. Lately I've been listening to this folksy playlist of songs about sailing.

Longer Boats-- Cat Stevens
Greenland Whale Fisheries--Peter, Paul and Mary
Far Away--Ingrid Michaelson
Blues Run the Game--Simon and Garfunkel
The Water is Wide--John Gorka
Oh, Sail Away--The Kingston Trio
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald-- Gordon Lightfoot
Sloop John B--The Beach Boys
I Courted a Sailor--Kate Rusby
Birds and Ships-- Natalie Merchant
The Sailor's Grave on the Prairie--Leo Kottke
Traveling II (I Love, I Love)-- Dar Williams