can we go steady?

On Friday night Matthias and I had an 'American date'.  We ventured to a new 1960s themed American Diner for burgers and chips and then followed it up by going bowling.  It was the perfect date for a rainy night in Berlin.  The burgers were authentic, even down to the fairly awful coleslaw on the side. The best bit by far was the delicious vanilla milkshake I had in one of those cool glass milkshake glasses. Then there was the bowling. Also authentic with disgusting bowling shoes and 1980s disco music playing in the background. I haven't been bowling for years and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't very good.  But I did manage to get 3 strikes in my last game (!) which kicked my score across the 100 mark.  The only thing left was for Matthias to give me his 'pin', or college sweat-shirt, or something...

how to be alone

I found this beautiful video on Wednesday on mati rose's blog.  I'm not usually one for sharing videos, but this is wonderful.  I've just spent two weeks alone in Berlin while Matthias was in Vienna for work.  I had a lot of time to wander the streets, visit coffee shops and become totally inspired by the thoughts and possibilties that are allowed to blossom when you have time alone to nuture your ideas and allow them to grow and morph into fully-fledged entities. It's been a little different this week rushing from one place to another and I've found hard fought ideas floating back into the recesses of my brain to be stored for "another, quieter day".  This video was a nice reminder that 'quiet time' or 'me time' should always be on the agenda and individuality is, in fact, a wonderful thing.

Have a lovely weekend.

You Capture : Busy Bees

Yesterday on my way home from work I stopped at Volkspark am Weinberg to have a look at the small flower garden there and was amazed to see how many bees were still working hard in the late afternoon sun.  I had in mind to take a few pictures of the flowers with the light at different angles. I'm trying to practice taking pictures 'lit from the back' and 'lit from the front' and understand how this changes the final image.  Flowers seem to be an appropriate subject having oodles of patience, a capacity to keep still while I slowly, slowly, slowly frame the shot and as an added bonus, they are a  reasonably interesting subject matter.  

Anyway, I got completely distracted by the bees.  So industrious.  So busy going about their pursuit for the perfect flower. I'm sure the other people in the park thought I was mad as I chased the bees from one flower to the next trying to get the perfect shot.  I felt like I was entering into some special world of theirs (the bees that is), seeing them taking flight into the breeze and hovering 'just so' until the breeze moved the flower to create the perfect landing pad. 

I have to confess that before yesterday bees and I were really just distant acquaintances who tried our best to avoid each other.  The thought of getting in their path would have had me leaping away in case I got stung and had some rather unfortunate "My Girl" incident.  Childhood movies have a lot to answer for, don't you think?  I'm not saying we're friends yet - but yesterday's introduction went a long way towards breaking down the barriers.

This last picture is my entry for 'In a Yellow House' photo challenge, which is "Animal Kingdom".  This month it's being hosted by Ashley over at Rambings and Photos.

a poem on thursday: man in orbit

This week over at Madeline Bea's 'Sunday Creative' the theme is "shapely".  Thanks to this prompt I have discovered this week that there is a whole genre of poetry that revolves around 'shaping' your poems to reflect the contents of the prose.  I like this idea and it gives the poems an extra dimension and a bit of fun.  

The image that follows is really just a bit of fun.

sketchbook project

My youngest sister is a bit of a foodie.  She has a brain built for food and remembers events based on what was eaten that night.  Want to remember what you ate at a particular restaurant a few years ago, ask and she'll probably remember.  She'll also remember if you liked it or not, which is handy if you go back and start to order the same dish - she'll fill in the gaps and see you right.  She's good like that.  


My sister was also a bit of a precocious kid - probably a product of having three older sisters.  She started walking at 10 months and learnt to ride a two-wheeler by picking up a neighbours and hopping on, just like that.  No Dad holding that back for the first few metres. Nothing.  She just got on and went. Anyway, about the same time as she learned to write she started critiquing restaurants - the food, the service, the state of the bathrooms and leaving her review on the back of a napkin for the waiter to find. 

When I saw that the Sketchbook Project had a theme entitled "things found on restaurant napkins", well, I couldn't resist.  My book arrived today and I've been leafing through the blank pages thinking about ways to fill the book with my designated theme.  I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do yet, but it's definitely going to have some kind of reference to my sister's restaurant critiques.  I have until January 2011 to fill itin and send it back.

If you're interested in participating in the Sketchbook Project it's not too late.  On their website you can also check out some of the finished books from last year's project and hear a little more about what the project is all about.

etsy love

I've been stalking a few artists on Etsy today in search of inspiration, ideas and techniques for my next mixed-media piece.  So far I've been doing all my work using photoshop, but I love the way these three artists have combined photos, paint and digital manipulation to create some wonderful pieces.  I'm slowly starting to amass quite a large collection of bits and pieces of paper from paper swaps and flea market finds.  I think the next step is to buy a canvas, or a piece of wood, and try my hand at something like this.

 

Michele Maule

Velvet Morning

Bright Day

this is who I am : for the love of photo prints

This is one of the few photos I have which is framed in our house.  We have a wall of photos in the kitchen, but they're really just happy snap-shots and quick family photos that remind us of friends and family.  I keep meaning to print out a few photos and frame them like this one - I even thought about doing it this week for Divas and Dreams Creative Challenge - but it is something that has remained on the 'to do' list.

This is a photo of my older sister and me around 1983-84, I guess.  We're sitting at my grandparents house glued to the TV.  I love everything about this photo - the light is exactly how I remember the room looking when the blinds were drawn to watch TV, the pattern on the chair brings back memories of afternoon naps curled up with a blanket and I love how my sister has her arm drapped so casually around me.  Looking at this photo brings with it sights and smells and sounds from my grandparents house in the 80s, and really that's what all good photos should do, right?