morning!

morning!

last week, my niece's mornings started with hot cocoa in aunty k's kitchen. which isn't a bad start to a day. the small bol i brought back from france this summer, of course.

p.s.: normally, a cold isn't really worth mentioning, but this time it seems to be a nasty bug, which hasn't just floored my niece last week, but also a friend of mine, and now me. the kind with fevers and not being able to stay awake for too long. the latter seemed to be key: sleeping it off. it's uphill now, i can feel it.

by the sea

in early september, we all met at my parents' house for my father's birthday. one evening, the niece and i sneaked out to spend an hour at the beach. we splashed through the sea mud, did some drawing in the sand, gathered feathers and stones, and had an ice cream. walkers and horse-drawn coaches were scattered across the wide, empty ground of the sea. the tide is a magic thing.

this weekend, the niece will come for a visit, along with her sister and their parents. what are you up to?

eurovision song contest

we had so much fun at the party my friends threw for the eurovision song contest this year (some bad, bad music, lots of laughter!). we had a little barbecue on the terrace, sparkling wine and some pimm's. general jolliness and silliness. haven't had that much fun in a long time!

what kind of things do you like to organise with your friends? (in general, totally eurovision unrelated, that is...)

happiness is

shared laughter with friends
putting fresh flowers into a vase
tending the garden
hearing the birds at dusk as i cycle home
reading in bed

very expired film

a while ago, marion sent me a roll of expired kodak TMAX 100 pro as a little surprise. i was excited and curious, as i had never before used expired film. what would happen? less contrast than with fresh film? defects in the emulsion, scratches? i knew i had to take it somewhere special, so the next time i went to hamburger bahnhof (museum of contemporary art), i took some pictures of the richard long exhibition, berlin circle. his work is full of stillness and beauty. the big circular mural is painted by hand with mud from the river avon. i could look at it for hours, so much texture.

thank you, marion!

p.s.: when i looked through the roll, i found that the close-ups are mostly pretty decent in focus, while the ones showing the bigger picture seem blurry. any idea why that might be? (or is it just my eyes going funny? this is all manual focus, after all.)