the day of the potato

well hooray! yesterday i harvested my very first potatoes in the garden. last night, i had new potatoes with butter, today potato salad for lunch. now, i'll have a little potato break - but how good this felt! like digging for gold, pardon the clichée.

i also ran into a garden neighbour whom i hadn't seen in a while, and we both said that we had gone for the garden project to find out whether it was for us. and guess what--. i will definitely have an allotment, or a little garden outside the city as soon as i can make it happen. and until then, i'll stick to garden schemes like this one, pre-planted or not.

i sometimes think that we know much better what is for us than we think we do. i don't know about you, but i tend to agonise over decisions. just think how much time i could have saved in the past by listening to what i know in my heart of hearts. i need more courage to trust my instincts.

p.s.: this photo was taken on a weekend by the sea last year. in an old garden, with lots of old apple trees.

and another thought: sylee reminded me of this post, which i had completely forgotten about. i couldn't help but thinking, gosh, my writing has gone rather downhill in the past months. it's what too much work and utilitarian thinking does to you, i guess. but i do know, there'll be other times ahead.

just quickly

i'm über-busy but fine. could do with a bit more sleep and a bit less pressure. but life is good.

the cat's always busy too, as you can see (and if she isn't busy playing or watching the street from the window sill, she's busy sleeping. as you do. - these pictures were taken with my praktica ages ago.)

oh, and i'm looking for recipes for preserving fruit and vegetables, for chutneys etc. i've already found some contenders for a fig and balsamic chutney and a rhubarb chutney, but i'm grateful for any tips, book recommendations and links.

happy weekend everyone!

seven things

i've been asked to tell you seven things about myself a couple of times before, and it always makes me think and take stock a little. most recently i was tagged by elizabeth (of primoeza), and had written a post, all ready to go, when blogger had that glitch the other day. some of it was saved as a draft, but only a small part. now, even more has disappeared, so i might as well start over.

here's the latest edition of seven things then (thanks to elizabeth, and my other friends who recently tagged me to do this, i wish i had gotten round to it earlier.)

1 //
i've been through some difficult times recently, and i'm so glad to have friends who were most patient in listening when i had the umpteenth meltdown. (i'm much better now!)

2 //
i wouldn't have thought that a new hair cut can be such a catalyst. oh dear, i'm such a cliché.

3//
i love gardening even more than i thought. this weekend, i'm going to plant some more flowers (cosmos, delphinium, dahlias) and support the peas and beans with found sticks. (a little garden series is coming up!)

4//
i had forgotten how much i love going to the theatre and concerts. (thanks a million to sylee who heard about last-minute tickets for the sufjan stevens show, wohoo!)

5//
i hate testiness and sulking in people, and yet put up with it so often, wanting to please everybody. not anymore.

6//
i love making plans. and making them happen.

7//
i feel at a crossroads with my photography, at a point where i feel i'm caught in set ways. more and more often, i'm ever so bored with my own pictures. i don't know, what's next. but i'm curious.

feel free to play along if you like, and let us know in the comments if you do!

p.s.: these are two photos from my archives, taken with my praktica in 2009, in venice and at home.

random

overheard in the museum:

-- (woman walking past on heels) "you've seen those shoes there? they are really expensive. when they've got red soles, they are really expensive." -- "oh, like 100 euros?"

-- "excuse me, sir? which is the way to the cats?" -- "just past the stones and up the stairs." -- "thank you."
(which really means: where is the cory arcangel video of the piano playing cats? past beuys' the end of the 20th century.)

have a random and happy week!

*

my own small corner of the planet feels like it's upside down. please bear with me while i take a break.

+++ regarding japan: if you consider donating, an easy way is through your national red cross. +++

+++ p.s.: i have long admired shigeru ban's work and his tireless effort to devise temporary shelters and housing in cooperation with the refugee council of the united nations. currently, he and his team are working on simple partitions to be used in existing emergency shelters in north japan to give those hundreds of thousands a minimum of privacy. you can contribute to their efforts here +++

japan

such heart-breaking news from so many places recently. and now japan. my thoughts and prayers go out to them.

i was so glad to hear hiki as well as natsumi, their families and friends are safe.

+++ update: alexandria listed some ways to help, take a look. +++

rest

busy times. after having to skip last weekend due to work, i'm really looking forward to this one. there's still work to be done, but it will be quieter and i'll be taking a much needed rest. also hoping to take some photographs. will make an advent calendar for my man. also decorate the apartment a little, this time round with white candles, silver baubles and pine cones.

oh, and did i mention that it's officially winter now? the day before yesterday is started snowing, yesterday was probably the last day for a while that i'll be using the bike. if it can be helped, i much prefer riding my bike in temperatures below zero to sitting on the train squashed between sniffling people. but what can you do.

finally: an idea has been brewing for a while, i've been thinking about having posters made. it's still just an idea, but can i ask you a favour? when you have a minute to spare, it would be great if you could go to my flickr and leave a comment there, should you spot a pic you could see as a poster. any feed-back would be much appreciated and help me to make some decisions.

have a great weekend! (any plans?)

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short days, long nights

i don't know about you, but the fact that the days are getting increasingly shorter and nights that much longer - dusk is slowly settling from around three thirty these days - really throws me. even though it's happening year after year. so i need things to brighten those long nights, and one thing that does the trick rather nicely is cooking or baking with friends. sitting in the kitchen and taking time to clean and cut up those vegetables, stirring up a dressing for the salad, having a glass of wine and catching up. these images are from a dinner with friends last winter. (oh, and by the way, have you seen brian's black and white images recently? so good).

also loving jördis' new blog, and luisa's brand-new berlin on a platter.

what do you do to brighten up your late autumn nights? and you friends from the southern hemisphere - could you send some sunshine over?

p.s.: it just hits me: have a blogged these images before? i can't remember, life is a little fast-paced at the moment. if i did, i hope you don't mind.

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it depends on how you look at it

there's been some guerilla wallpapering going on in my neighbourhood. my favourite one is the street sign alteration. they changed 'raumerstraße' (which is a place name with no particular meaning) to 'träumerstraße' (meaning 'dreamer's street'). makes me smile.

so really, it all depends on how you look at it, right?

i'd like to see the potential in ordinary things, look at things with fresh eyes, see a chance for something else when things go haywire, turn difficult projects into something nice with the help of little things.

p.s.: last night i had the most vivid dream about a discussion with a squirrel. it was complaining about the lack of entertainment and prettyness in the forest and wanted me to do something about it. it was really quite chatty and convincing and impatient. i was trying to talk myself out of it, but no luck. then i woke up.

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funny day

i've been feeling funny all day, maybe some summer bug. better tonight though.

see that light? it's shaped like a mirror or a frame and made from wax. an artwork at a café i like. i love looking at it.

summer

to me,
summer is

sitting by the open window
wearing jeans and a men's shirt
endless days
random chats with neighbours and passers-by
watching life go by on my pavement-terrace
discovering new music
melon and rosé
feeling alive

(this is a corner view, for more of those, head on over to jane's)

p.s.: would you tell me what you're listening to these days? i think i really need a summer mix-tape.

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garden days

when we went to the baltic sea earlier this month, we stayed at a friend's house. i'm so in love with that old garden.

last weekend was full of sunshine, friends, shared food and drinks and time for catching up. what was yours like?

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pale

have you ever been to a photographer's lab, developed film and made prints? the moment when you carefully slide your print-to-be into the developer and the image starts to appear like a ghost, by and by, until you finally can make it out clearly - that's pure magic. a moment that holds everybody transfixed when they experience it. it's a mix of anticipation, impatience, excitement and wonder. films like blow-up capture this so well, that may be one of the reasons i like it so much.

and you see, sometimes life feels a bit like that too. you feel things are about to change, there's something up in the air, but you can't quite make out what it is. you're standing and you're looking, and the image is taking shape, but it's so pale you can't read it. you'll have to wait a bit longer.

when i took these tulip shots, i was worried the light might be too dim, so i chose the biggest possible aperture. now they seem like a pale vision, almost unreal. one of those happy accidents.

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temporarily grey

after an amazingly sunny weekend with k, complete with visits to the beer garden, lunch with papers in a street café, a daytrip to schlosspark babelsberg, where we watched the boats go by, and 'holly berries' with e on sunday, the sun has now gone into hiding again. if i had a fireplace at home, that's where i'd be sitting right now. since i don't, i'm revisiting some more photos from the famous weekend in the cotswolds. we had a fireplace there. so lovely. 

meanwhile, i'm snuggling up with a blanket on my sofa. and tomorrow it's going to be warm again!

something else entirely: i'm having a bit of crush on bloglovin'. looking good and working rather well, i you ask me. you can use it as a reader to manage your blog subscriptions (and it's looking much sleeker than other readers too). but you could also just stop by to discover new blogs or interesting posts. you can select country preferences, topics and language. very clever.

p.s.: not wanting to be a total nuisance, but: if you like the look of bloglovin' i'd really recommend you set up an account (very easy, much less info required from you than by other readers!) and subscribe to just one or two blogs as a test run. i did that for a week or so and that got me hooked. honestly, blog reading has just become more fun than it was anyway. (and no, i'm not being payed for this...)

breakfast

this was my breakfast a while ago. a perfect simple start to the day.

at the moment, i like listening to the xx.

p.s.: thank you for your kind comments on my last post. i'm trying to rethink many things.

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200: looking out

this is my two-hundredth post. for some bloggers two hundred posts happen in the blink of an eye, but for me it's been quite a journey. when i look back, a lot of things have happened since i started out. sometimes when i go through my archives, like this weekend, i'm puzzled by the fact that the first roll of film i've taken since i was a teenager dates only from march last year. how come i haven't taken analogue photogaphs for such a long time? perhaps for some things the time has to be right.

sometimes i wish i could study photography. i imagine being taught lots of things, but mostly i love the idea of having fellow students with whom to talk about pictures and projects and ways of seeing. about where the journey might lead next. playful and serious conversations about ideas or feelings of being stuck in a rut. then again, i'm sure one would have to deal with feelings of competition and possibly inadequacy, and perhaps i would even feel more confused about where the path is leading than i do now.

in any case, studying photography simply isn't an option right now. and i feel i have feedback from friends, here in berlin, and also online - here and on flickr. which means a lot. there's a lot of freedom in that too. - so, looking out: here's to lots of things to be learned, lots of rolls of film to be shot, to the journey ahead.

and who knows, maybe we could have a real photo-get-together someday. a weekend perhaps on which to share photographs and to talk about them. to give each other feedback, to share questions. i would love that.

i'd love to hear how you feel about the process of finding one's way in photography and the things you think about, the things that are your issues in photography at the moment. if you like, drop me an email.

oh, and before i forget, if you leave a comment on this post, i'll happily include you in a draw for a little surprise. i'll let you know early next week who won. have a good week!

evening walk

oh, dear, she's still going on about that weekend in the cotswolds... hope you'll bear with me. just a couple more.

one evening, we set off for a little walk through the village. so much to see. the chickens were not shy at all. and i loved that vintage car and the stout, norman tower of the church. the lichen on the old stonework was so colourful, i just had to take a picture.

have a good start to your week.

p.s.: last weekend was beautiful. even though silly old me forgot to pack the little black dress, so i ended up buying the exact same dress the morning before my cousin's wedding (i only had jeans in my bag, no other back-up clothes. duh). now i've got to figure out what to do with two of them.

corner view: garden

i wish i had a garden, but i don't. so instead i'm showing you some photos from the cottage garden in the cotswolds where i recently spend a weekend with a friend. (and if you can still take it, there are more to come over the next couple of days - it was a place i got rather snap-happy.)

for more links to corner views around the world, check out the sidebar at jane's spain daily!

the cottage

see why i love this place? who couldn't with that kind of light flooding in.

lots of light

a weekend in the countryside is hard to beat, even for a city flower like me. i went a bit wild with the aperture, it seems, the film caught a lot of light. but in a way that's quite apt. it was such a sunny day when i took these, we even got a little sunburnt, sitting in the garden all day.

oh, and does anyone know what that green plant is? i've got no idea, but i liked it. it seemed a bit tropical in the middle of the cotswolds.

p.s.: spot edward, the cat. she's (yes, it's a girl) in two of the shots.
p.p.s.: yay for floh! she's right, the mysterious plant is "wolfsmilch", english spurge (or euphorbia). there are tons of different species - i think this one is euphorbia venata.