what an entrance

the japanese cherries at the end of the street.

some wild garlic (ramps, or ramson) is sitting on my kitchen counter. looking for ways to cook it, or use it raw. ideas so far: wild garlic pesto or risotto, wild garlic butter. possibly in a vinaigrette, to dress green asparagus with. what do you use it for?

it's madly snowing out there as i type. we also had some rain, some sun and quite a bit of hail today. what an entrance, april.

happy easter!
happy passover!

endings and beginnings

two-thousand eleven

the closeness of friends
the growing-pains of moving forward
the stiffness of neck of desk-bound work
the excitement of each new project
the bliss of doing nothing, in the sun
the joy of shared meals
the challenge of seeing and recording
the need for rest
the taking of breath
the looking forward to things unforeseeable

here's to good-byeing an eventful year--
thank you so much for keeping me company, in so many different ways,
and see you in 2012!

(p.s.: the pics were not taken at my house, we had breakfast at my friends' most beautiful place.)

merry merry

christmas dinner with friends from the bookshop was so wonderfully good. m and k had us round at their place, like before, and i wish i had taken another roll of film.

now it's only such a little while to christmas, and the list of things to do, errands to run, must-not-forgets, is so, so, so long. i wonder whether there is a correlation between increasing age and decreasing prepared-ness. but i bet you are all totally on top of things. right?

well, i'm off for a little while then - spending christmas with friends in berlin, and very much looking forward to the quietness 'between the years'.

so, everyone who is celebrating: merry merry, friends!

(the little poem on the slip of paper up there reads: 'i know not every wish comes true, but i continue wishing, for it is wonderful')

//

november so far has brought mysterious fog, cold air and sunny days too. i like the mist in the trees.

there is so much going on at the moment that i have to be a bit easier on myself. and that's why 'five words' will have to go on a little break.

i'm aware that i'm turning almost monosyllabic when there's too much preoccupying me. but there'll be other times, promise.

wishing you a good sunday and a kind start to the new week.

(i've taken out the old praktica. the viewfinder is very dark and it's all manual, but i like using it again.)

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?

the pool

let's go to the pool, shall we? (back in berlin, outside my window people are walking past in woolly hats, which is worrying. in my mind, though, i can go back to the pool side whenever i want.)

p.s.: first two frames colour negative film, all others taken on slide.

corbusier

well, i had to go. and of course, marion took me. to the unité d'habitation in marseille, one of le corbusier's most seminal buildings.

it's hard to put into words how connected i felt to this place. maybe you can guess from the photos i took.

p.s.: a new post here, with some news.

thinking

since last november life was moving so fast it felt suffocating. the scales were just tipping far too much. not in the way of having to work the odd extra hour, but in the sense of an all-encompassing state of working, where there was no time to even leave the house when the sun was - so rarely - shining, or to see a friend for a chat. occasionally there were precious hour-long breaks to meet someone, or chances to cycle to the garden, but even that was mostly impossible by the time june and july came around.

being away from it all for two weeks, staying in the south of france, two long weeks of hot summer days, days that were finally entirely unplanned and truly free, gave me time to think.

i don't want a life that feels like a race i can't win. time is a precious gift, not a string of numbered days. i will make space for shared hours, shared thoughts and ideas. because as much as i love my work, living and creating, and caring and be cared about, are infinitely closer to my heart. first things first.

going for a stroll

going for a stroll in marseille. what a fascinating city. and i've only seen a tiny fraction of it in 1 1/2 short days.

what you can't see is how hot it was. we simply had to go inside the shops because they were air-conditioned, you see. no other reason, of course.

of friends and places

it may not be the best way of travelling to marseille, on a very hot day in august on just 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep. but then there was marion, who met me at the station and took me to la caravelle for lunch. she is the best city guide, and it was so good seeing her again. the food was delicious - even though i couldn't eat the snails - the tender fish and soft boiled egg with new potatoes, haricots verts and aioli were wonderful. afterwards we went to the corbusier house, but that's another story...

p.s.: when looking at the old port, i can't get this reference out of my head. give me seventies movies any day.

de retour

je suis de retour, mes amis, i'm back home again. i'm full of memories and sunshine, and feel incrediby energised.

more images to follow. how have you been?

p.s.: you may have noticed: doing a marion in the second frame.