special day

my niece on her birthday last year.

i'm swamped with work, so it will be a bit quieter hereabouts.

p.s.: i haven't miraculously acquired a medium format camera. these are simply cropped.

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.

a special day

i'm sharing my birthday with one of my nieces, so early october, for the past few years, has always brought visits from them and a joint little celebration. i remember the year when she turned one, and we had japanese green tea and patisserie at a little place near my house, she was holding on to the benches, trying to make her first steps. this year, she turned six. and started off her birthday with a night at the emergency room, coming down with pneumonia. she found it very exciting, and while the adults were seriously worried, she chatted away. in the morning, after medication was bought at the pharmacy, we had breakfast with a cake with pink icing (a dash of cherry juice will do that, magic effect!). phew.

so here's to a new year full of goodness.

p.s.: wow, you threw me - in the best possible way - with all your comments on my last post. seems like you like the idea. i seriously hope i'll manage to live up to the expectation! i've got my work cut out... looking forward to it!

images are a little sneak preview for a post coming up on my berlin blog shortly.

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 good life

no time to wander around with the camera at the moment, feeling very rushed and restless, so it's back to the archives. this is my mum, back in the early 1960s, enjoying some time off (which was rare enough). makes me want to go to the sea, or for a good hike. she does look happy on the first one, no?

p.s.: love seeing so many of you over on pininterest. yay! let me know if you need an invite to join, i still have a couple.

how to catch that rare beast

these photographs were taken by my mum in the early 1960s, when she was spending her holiday on the lago maggiore, northern italy. she took such wonderful pictures with her simple little agfa camera. and, judging by the second photo, which a friend must have taken, she had the perfect time. coffee on the terrace, with perlagoniums and a view anyone?

i myself, meanwhile, am feeling truly uninspired. i haven't shot film in weeks. i miss it terribly, but the light is bad. very bad. so how can i catch that rare beast: inspiration?

p.s.: we could start a whole discussion about the notion of inspiration here, i suppose. do we need inspiration, or do we overrate it? is being creative 90% commitment to just doing things, i.e. 'work', rather than something almost magical and therefore elusive? -- and: is pressure counter-productive?

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those were the days

just look at them. my mum and dad, back in the sixties. they look so cool, and so happy. and then my brother and i came along (that's me on the right, i was wearing my hair very short those days). looking at these family pictures made me smile this morning and so i thought i might share them.

last week was very busy, the weekend still is. a highlight was trading a bread with malin elmlid - her bread is the most delicious sourdough i've ever tasted. it was a close call, as i was running late because of the still icy bike paths. luckily malin waited for me even though she was in a real rush. thank you! (read more about malin's bread exchange here.) ++ since mandy mentioned it, here's the link to freunde von freunden, featuring malin's home. it will get you into a right summer mood, i promise! ++

happy sunday and a good start to your week!

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to ben

welcome to this world, ben! you weren't easily convinced it's a good place to come into and took your time. but just look at your beautiful parents: it was a good decision to join them after all, right? (and just think about all the aunts and uncles you get as well. they can be a nuisance of course, but you'll see, they are nice to be around.)

last night, in the wee hours, my nephew ben mattis was born. congratulations, daniel and judith! we are happy as can be about this new addition to the family.

across the lake

in the end, we didn't make it to the pfaueninsel. instead we took the ferry across wannsee. one of my favourite day trips in berlin.

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mornings

when you visit berlin and you're getting up early, you can tiptoe across the hallway to your aunt's bedroom, sneak in, have a little chat with her and watch the cat. then you make your aunt give you some much too big socks and her favourite sweater and sit in the kitchen. you get to do some colouring and have some chocolate milk. not a bad start to your day.

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well

family was here this past weekend. it kind of feels very quiet now they've gone. the nieces were great and it felt good to be the top-of-the-list to sit next to or to have one's hair brushed and a ponytail made, or a story read to. also, i'm now rated a top-notch stick finder. says l (5) to her sister a (3): 'she finds the best sticks, and she'll find one for you too'. which she did. the sticks, of course, immediately turned into horses. its 'front name' being angel, its 'behind-name' suzie. if you ask her nicely, she'll run round and round in a circle.

p.s.: hope to have some film shots from the weekend soon and perhaps a couple to share.

p.p.s.: what's your motto for this week?

p.p.p.s.: i've just decided mine is 'don't chicken out!'

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happy sixty-five

my mother turned sixty-five last week. she is quite an amazing woman. the eldest of six siblings, she raised six children herself. she continually is there for us - keeping in touch by phone, sending letters or parcels. she is one of the strongest personalities i know, extremely caring, very stylish, a very special woman indeed.

looking through her photo albums, i can't believe how fast time seems to have flown by. here she is twelve, swinging in a hammock, laughing. at thirteen, with a new petticoat. then at fifteen, short hair for the first time. and then, at sixteen, with friends on spiekeroog, a small island in the north sea, where she worked for a summer, before she started her training as a nurse in hamburg.

i have loved these albums since i was a child. how lucky am i, not just for having a great mother, but also for having a mother who loved taking pictures and didn't mind having her picture taken.

happy birthday, mum!