Blog Break #2

I'm nesting at the moment.  Cleaning and writing lists and spending insane amounts of time surfing around the internet looking for "things".  Half the time I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, but it's an interesting process trying to work out what one 'needs' and what one 'wants' when welcoming a little person into your world for the first time.

One of my biggest wants was been an wall mural for the Bean's room.  We're planning on turning our currently (small) guest room into Bean's room, but are keeping the guest bed  in there so that we can still have people stay for the weekend. While the Bean is still small I figure s/he won't mind where s/he sleeps and giving up the room up for an aunty, grandparent or dear friend for a night or two won't be too much of a bother. Whether said guest will want to stay in a small apartment with a newborn is another question entirely. But I digress. The wall mural. You'd think finding a gender neutral, not too kitch and bilingual friendly wall mural wouldn't be too hard.  Ha! Guessed wrong. This task has kept me busy for far longer than I'll choose to admit and even had me thinking about designing my own English-German friendly alphabet mural myself.   That was until I stumbled across Rebecca Peragine's shop on Etsy and her website Children Inspire Design.

Rebecca creates all of her artwork from recycled magazines and prints her Number Wall Cards and Alphabet Poster in eleven languages - most of the European languages plus Chinese and Hebrew. I almost did a happy dance when I stumbled on her sight.

Her pictures are simple and cute but not too twee, I like the neutral colours and love the nature theme.  Now I just need to decide whether I should get the Alphabet in English and the Numbers in German, visa versa, the numbers in both languages... oh the possibilities are endless and will keep me nesting unproductively for a little while yet.  

If numbers, language and the alphabet aren't really your thing - Children Inspire Design also create some very cute nature and doll prints too!

Nest Doll Prints

Blog Break #1

While I'm on holidays I thought I'd do a few posts show-casing some of the wonderful Etsy photography and mixed-media/print sellers that are around the place.  First off, Anne Duflos from  the Etsy shop AnneSolfud. 

I'm a little bit smitten with Anne Duflos's work at the moment - she sells under the name of AnneSolfud on etsy and I love the way she plays with the line between painting and photography. 

Beautiful dreamy work to feed your Spring-time dreams this Monday!

All pictures are copyright of Anne Duflos.

Smitten

At this time of the year the sun is positioned just-so that it streams through our balcony windows in the morning casting the prettiest glow and shadows on our blinds. I'm smitten. It makes me what to linger over my cup of tea and drink in the light. SJ left a comment the other day talking about how much she loved the optimism of Northern Europe in the Spring. I think I agree. And I'm happy to report it's infectious. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Friday. As of today I'm officially on holidays - yippee! We're off to the ski fields near Salzburg where I'm planning on reading, sun-baking, walking and generally pampering myself while the more active and less-pregnant members of Matthias' family whoosh down the slopes. See you all next week.

Emmit Gowin

Emmit Gowin was born in 1941 in Virginia, USA.  He established himself as a prominent American photographer in the 1970s with his strong, intimate portraits of his wife, Edith, and their family. You can view some of those images here if you are interested.  

Of all of his images I've seen over the past few days, the ones that really caught my eye were these full image circle photos taken using a 4x5 lens with an 8x10 (large format) camera. There's something very appealing about the heavy vignetteing which draws your eye in. They remind me a bit of the current crop of TTV photos you see around the web.

These pictures were found on the Pace/MacGill Gallery website where you can also view some of Gowin's other work.

Pansies

I'm not much of a green thumb.  Our attempts at a little vegie garden on our balcony last year wasn't that successful. Part of the problem was a very short summer; August was cold and rainy which meant that the tomatoes didn't really ever stand a chance and I had always thought that Olives and Figs were a big ask for a northern european balcony! 

I'm keen to try again this year though - hopefully with a little more success. One of the biggest issues that I'm facing though is understanding the "planting seasons" - all those old-wives tales that I learnt growing up don't really hold here. How, for example, do you translate Plant tomatoes after Cup Day to Berlin?  Instead of doing anything clever like reading a book or consulting the internet I'm going to use the florists as a barometer.  Right now pansies and rosemary are out on display so I reckon these might be a good place to start. Now I just have to decide on the colour...

Spring Sun

Berlin has definitely decided that it's Spring.  The bikes are out, the outdoor chairs and tables are on the footpaths and everyone who is anyone has their heads firmly facing the sun absorbing the rays.

The Australian in me still feels that to be sitting outside when it's 10 degrees it a little silly, but there is a small part of me which is feeling quite European - "what a lovely day!" I hear myself thinking. "Not too cold, perhaps we could even sit outside?" Really it's still a little bit too chilly and after 30 minutes it was time to warm-up again inside with another (!) hot chocolate*. But it was bliss while it lasted. Spring and some warmer weather is definitely close!

*hot chocolate makes me smile and the Bean gets very excited too - which I've decided is a reason to indulge at least once a day.

Sunrise

I think sunrise is one of my favourite times of the day.  I don't often see it, but when I do, I relish it.  The fresh air and that special quiet "between-time" as the world seems to breath in before beginning again. There's a sense of possibility in a sunrise that I find humbling and incredibly beauitful. 

I took these pictures when I was down in Mainz a few weeks ago and I've been thinking about them a lot this week. The news from Japan, which only seem to go from bad to worse has been playing on my mind. Another afterschock, another tsunami, two - no three - nuclear reactors tinkering on the brink of meltdown. I am torn between wanting to know everything, to stay informed, and yet feel that there must be some invisible line between knowledge and voyeurism which I am at risk of dancing across.

And so I have decided to read the headlines and then turn off.  Instead of becoming engrossed in the suffering, I have decided to revel in the now and in the possibilities that another day brings. People have an amazing capacity for resilience.  I am heading into the weekend wishing that tomorrow brings some better news for those working tirelessly in Japan, grateful for everything that I have right now and confident that as certain as the sun coming up in the morning, this too shall pass.