I'm still here

I'm still here. The Bean is still kicking around inside me. I'm smiling, Matthias is smiling and the Bean (I believe) is also smiling. Everything is just moving a little slower than it used to and the absence of posts of late is that something had to give. Between work, baby beaurocracy**, doctor's appointments, birthdays, prenatal classes and an unforgiving need to enjoy Berlin's blissful weather I haven't had time to post. The good news is that I have two days left of work before I start maternity leave which means more time for me and hopefully more time for this space.

** At some stage I might consider writing a post on the legal degree that is required to navigate the paperwork involved in having a baby in Germany when you are Australian and your partner is Austrian. There was a moment when we considered getting a lawyer to help us. Many, many hours later I think I understand what we need to do to ensure that the Bean is not left citizenship-less nor becomes an illegal immigrant at the tender age of 6 months. And no I'm not exagerating, the Bean will have a passport and a visa entitling him/her to live in Germany.

Alice takes a Sunday Snooze

I had quite a few people comment on the last photo that I posted on Monday so today I thought I'd show a few more of the photos that I took of the her dozing in the park. She was quite captivating and posed for me (unintentionally and unawares) quite beautifully over the space of about 5 minutes. I'm naming her Alice, because she somehow reminded me a little of Alice from Alice in Wonderland. And the weather on Sunday was very Alice in Wonderland like with a cool-ish breeze and warming sun.

The last is my absolute favourite of all four photos. There's something about the light, the green of the grass and the way her limbs drape over each other. What do you think?


And I'm linking up to Lisa's Creative Exchange again this week, two weeks in a row. It's almost a record!

weekend-ing

We had plans to visit one of Berlin's lakes this weekend but once all was said and done we instead decided on a rather smaller expedition to our local park. The lack of water didn't distract from the experience at all. We ate. We slept, read, knit and slept some more. I'm not sure what it is, but there's something about picnics which always makes the food taste so much better. The tomatoes were the best of the season so far. The cherries were the juiciest. Even the baguette, which had somehow got wet, didn't distract from the deliciousness of our little feast. I'm tempted to say that it was almost the perfect way to spend an early-summer Sunday in Berlin. Except that I'm not going to - because that might jinx the weather - and I'm hoping for lots more days like this to come.

Chairs

I'm a little consumed by creating collections of photographs at the moment. You might remember that a couple of weeks ago I talked about how this month I'm experimenting with 'relaxation'. While that little collection is slowly forming I thought I'd go back through my archives and see what else I could rustle up. These photos are all from last summer - taken on a walk past some of the cafes in Prenzlauerberg. I love the different personality of all the different chairs; the cool regularity of the Berlin cafe chair, the fun infused into the American Diner and what I think is the quiet elegance of the Parisian wicker chair in the photo above. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. They are just chairs. Or maybe not.

What I do know is that this last photo refused to be changed into a duller, slightly more sophisticated, black and white version of itself. No sir-ee, it was staying bright and cheerful no matter my coaxing and pleading. And I kinda like it that way too. Hope your weekend is as happy and full of relaxation as this swinging chair with it's friendly bucket of flowers.

little stitches

Teeny, tiny stitches is where I am at the moment. The weather hasn't been that inspirational, photo-taking wise, and if I'm being perfectly honest, even when the sun is shining after a day at work I'm more than  happy to sit on the couch with my magical meditation sticks (knitting needles to some) and knit a few more rows of this or that. Clickity-clack go my needles and thumb, thumb goes the bump. Both make me smile and with legs the size of elephants and a head full of hayfever this is pretty much as good as it gets. 

The end result of all of this sitting, meditating and cosmic nourishing has been a lovely little 'take home' outfit. I've knit the jacket pattern a few times before - it's Twinkle, Vintage Cardigan if anyone is interested in that kind of thing. And the little hat is the Lotus Hat. It's a pain to start but the teeny tiny stitches blossom (no pun intended) beautifully after blocking, so much so that I'm thinking of knitting up another one in white.

Edit: And in a spot of internet organisation that has been missing around these parts of late, I'm linking up to Lisa's Creative Exchange today. Yippee!

weekend-ing

It's been a bit quiet around these parts the last few days. Plenty of slow and steady pottering about. Lots of time spent on the couch with my feet up and my eyes closed. Relaxing evenings cooking this risotto and this delicious rhubarb recipe. I have this on the needles, destined for someone's little one, although if these websites are correct then it won't be mine as all signs are pointing to a wee little fella coming this July. What did you get up to this weekend, anything exciting?

Fairytale Wedding

I think I am perhaps the most dreadful wedding photographer around. I carry my camera around in my hand but forget almost completely to take any pictures. I get caught up in the moment, want to throw rose petals and cheer and hug and tell everyone how beautiful the bride is and how it's just like a fairytale English wedding. You know, like the ones you read about or see in the movies? Because it was; even down to the country village church, "Bride's friends on the left, Groom's on the right, family in the middle" and complete with a reception in a 19th century castle. But you'll have to take my word for it because I forgot to take many photos.

Well, except for photos of the kids. I fell in love with my friends' kids.

Mobiles

It's been a little while since I posted any crafty things around here. It's not for lack of action. I've been prolific at beginnings. Knitting cardigans, continuing this blanket, sewing baby pants and the latest... an Origami mobile. The problem is that I haven't been very good at finishing anything. Anyway, because I'm still really at a wedding Leeds, I thought I'd post about my current obsession with Origami and Kusudama.

I started this last weekend with Matthias. He quickly declared that Oragami was not his thing and left me to make my Cheery Blossom Kusudama. I like it, but it's a little big for the tiny little space I've carved out in our apartment as the Baby's space. So before trying again I've stalked the pages of Etsy and come up with a delicious selection of Origami mobiles to base my "in the making" mobile on. I'm thinking about some kind of combination of #2 and #3, although I'm still in love with the idea of a Kusudama featuring somewhere.  Like I said, it's a work in progress. And if all else fails, I can always just buy one that's already been made by one of these crafty ladies.

1. Rachel Schell  2. Spare Bedroom Studio 3. MamaX2 4. Gin and Rummy

Kick, Push

30 weeks and this baby of mine (for it really now seems too big to be calling a Bean) has reached my ribs. I'm at once thrilled and a little upset about the development as it seems to have coincided with a doubling in leg strength.

I also appear to have misplaced my brain. Sentence construction has become a problem. I said this the other morning and unfortunately this is not an exageration; "I'm going this way. Although I could have gone that way before. I mean I'm not going with you, I need to go here". A-ha?!? Thankfully Matthias is an understanding chap with an amazing ability to filter and interpret what I actually mean and usually only with a small smirk on his face.

And he painted my toenails for me last night. Yep. He even reminded me that I had asked him to do it a few days ago but we hadn't had time yet! You see, I'm off to a wedding this weekend and open toed shoes are the order of the day. The only problem is that I can't really comfortably touch my toes anymore. And so Matthias painted them for me. Sweet, sweet man.

On the pregnancy and motherhood front (for it is nearly Mothers Day afterall), I stumbled across this poetry from Hollie McNish and was immediately struck by it. It is a wonderful portrayal of pregnancy and early motherhood and is refreshingly honest. If you're a new-ish Mum, pregnant or just like interesting prose, have a listen. It somehow seems a fitting way to go into my very last Mothers Day as a non-mother.

Something New

You may or may not remember that my word for this year is 'Rhythm'. Well, rhythm has been a little lacking lately, there have been a lot of comings and goings and rhythm doesn't really seem to be something that gels particularly well with pregnancy and I assume, even less with the weeks and months that come after a baby arrives. In hindsight perhaps it wasn't such a great word to choose. Or maybe it was. Who knows, regardless, I'm still committed to trying to incorporate aspects of rhythm into my life here in Berlin.  

That, my friends, was a rather long-winded way to announce that I'm starting something new at Pampelmuse and Me. Every month I'm going to select a word at random and create a photography series around that word.  This month the word is Relaxation. The photo above is one of a few I've taken so far around the theme. At the end of the month I'll be posting my series of five photos here on the blog. 

I'm not really sure where I'm going yet with my series - at the moment I'm playing with the idea of exploring how people use parks and outside spaces to relax, but it may change. I think that's the beauty of having a month. I'm sure this idea will grow and develop and morph as I continue to add to my pool of photographs.

I'd love for other people to join me in this little challenge of mine. I'm not fussy about the camera or the photographic style - iphone, film, your trusty point and shoot or a whizz-bang SLR - it's all the same to me. What I'm most interested in is how different people interpret the theme and the process of creating a series of photographs. If you think this is something you'd like to do too, then get your thinking caps on and start exploring the idea of relaxation. We can all join back up together at the end of the month and see what we've all come up with.

Pampelmuse and Me has had a facelift! 

Over the weekend I put the final touches on my new blog page. The old one had been with me for a little while and I was feeling in need of a bit of sprucing.  If you read my blog in your reader, pop over and check out the new design.

The re-design also gave me the opportunity to have a bit of a play around with 'css code'. One of my long-term goals is to become internet and computer literate, which includes knowing some basics about html and css code. Many youtube and blog tutorials later and I'm a few steps closer to my goal.  I want to thank one person particularly, and that's Katrina at Pugley Pixel and Powered by Pastries. Katrina is a bit of a computer-whizz and has some awesome internet tutorials on her blog as well as lots of freebie fonts, graphics and little pieces of internet wisdom. She also has two free blogger designs available for everyone to use - I ended up combining the two, deleting a few things and adding a few more to come up with my final design. Thanks Katrina!

There are still a few things that need working on - the blogroll and archives pages are still works in progress and I'll slowly be adding to them over the next few weeks but right now I'm feeling prety proud of my internet wizardry.