more winter sun

Just before it drops below the trees.


Just a few more weeks and these fields will be lush and green again.

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winter walk

Winter has returned but this time with lots of sun and minus the snow.




After enjoying the crisp air and sunshine, tea and cake seemed a good idea. I think I’ll do a food post soon.


I’ve been feeling a bit tired lately, so there’s not a whole lot going on during the week except working and sleeping and eating. I think it’s a mixed result of days with little light and still coming to terms with last year and all the changes that happened. Though it is all good now I find it does take quite some time to work through all of that both mentally and physically. And my preferred way to rest has always been sleeping, so that is what I’ve been doing 🙂

embracing

dark clear winter nights.

The biting, icy wind blew away any trace of stress. Though most of it had been good to begin with, it was just what I needed.

snow and family

We’ve had very heavy snowfalls again in the last few days. I can’t remember a winter when we had continous snow on the ground for weeks before christmas.
Since it is dark both when I go to work and when I leave again I hadn’t been able to take any photos of it at all, so yesterday I made the most of my time (that is, the time that I didn’t spend sewing).

It really does look like winter wonderland around here.


Despite the snow we went and visited my grandma, who lives alone now. My mom hadn’t been to her house since my parents split up more than 15 years ago. In a way, my grandpa’s death has brought us all closer together again and my grandma was so happy to have us there and especially to get to talk to my mom again after all those years. We agreed on the way back that we would be doing this more often in the future.
My grandma’s house hasn’t changed one bit, it looks exactly like it did when I was a kid. We joke about that, but it’s kind of nice really. There is so little constancy in our busy lives as it is.


I bullied my brother into letting me take his picture. It’s the kind of big sister I am.

And my aunt’s doggy had no choice in the matter anyway. That resigned look? I get that a lot 😉

first snow

I’m days behind with posting, these are from early in the week.
I can’t even remember when we last had heavy snows in November. We usually don’t get “real” snow that stays on the ground until January.

It has stayed for the whole week and if the weather forcasts hold true will stay on for a good while. It sure looks like this winter will be a long one.

photo shoot by the creek

I am very lucky to have friends spontaneous enough to jump into a cold creek so I can take photos:


Sundays seem to be the days for impromptu photo shoots around here. I am loving the look of these, almost 1940ish to me. Isn’t she stunning?

My favourite, maybe my favourite image ever taken.

The light down at the creek was very tricky and I found myself wishing I had taken my Olympus OM2…film would probably have been better in dealing with it than digital.

This is almost an outtake, but one that I really love:

Thanks Dana, I really hope you didn’t catch cold and are fit for our next adventure, old school western camp next weekend 😉

ameland part 3

Okay, I vaguely remember promising sunset photos 😉 So here comes the third installment of Ameland photos.
First of all, some wildlife: there are thousands of birds on the island, mostly sea-gulls. Large areas of the island serve as nature reserve and are pretty much left alone.

While the days were sunny, the dew in the morning made for some nice photos too (this one was taken with my Macro Snap-on lens Raynox DCR-250):

The island was so deserted that we hardly met any people at all. It is amazing how fast you get used to this quiet. When we even went to a beach cafe where there were people and especially on the way home on the highway it was a total culture shock!

This buddy lived at the place where we were staying (highly recommendable by the way) and made it very clear he was used to coming inside and treated like a Prince. This is his ‘Are you thick? Go on open the door’ look.

Ok, here’s the sunset photos at last! I took so many and it was hard to narrow them down. I still cannot decide which of these two would be better for the shop? I’d love to hear your suggestions on that!
number 1

or number 2?

The technical data for these are: Canon 450d, 50mm 1.4, f22, ISO100, manual metering, shutter speed between 1.3 and 2 seconds and I used a tripod (obviously).
After the sunset we hurried up to the dunes to photograph the lighthouse. It actually gets dark very quickly once the sun has set and when you’re standing on an empty beach all alone and the lights on your bike don’t work it’s kinda creepy. We pretty much hurried home after a few shots.

And here’s the last one, another sunset on a different day and a different beach. We almost stayed home because it was cloudy and we were tired and it was freezing…but boy, was it worth it!

You can’t see it in this photo but there was a seal swimming and hunting mere meters away from us in the water! We’d see his head popping up now and then, he was probably wondering what the two girls were doing, just standing there for 45mins in the cold on a deserted beach 😉

fashion friday

I haven’t been blogging as frequently lately because there never seem to be enough hours to the day to do all I want to. Between finishing the thesis and applying for jobs and working for my dad and working on my Etsy shop the days just fly by.
This weekend I am working on the biggest shoe fair in Germany, which lasts 3 days and takes place twice a year. My dad’s been doing this trade show for about 30 years and I seriously have videos from the 1980s of me as a five-year-old crawling through the corridors and playing under display tables.
Since I started helping him out about 7 years ago I have always been looking forward to this despite the hard work and long hours, because our colleagues/boss from Italy come over and I get to talk italian for three days.
This time I caught a bad cold the day before the show so it all started off badly. It got even worse when the bus I was meaning to take didn’t show up and, after I’d made it to the train station, trains weren’t going due to an accident at another station…great. When I finally arrived at the fair 45mins late I was 100% sure the day was going to suck…badly.
Well, I should know by now I can always count on my italian friends. The minute I arrived they presented me not only with a pair of my favourite sandals from our last collection but also with a huge italian leather designer bag which they’d brought me….’just because, and your current bag’s too small for all your stuff anyway’. Need I add these are also the friends who invite me stay at their house in Italy every summer for two weeks, feed me the best italian food and make sure I have the most amazing beach vacation? Seriously, guys, you do waaay to much and I can never ever even attempt to repay you all your kindness!!!
That’s not to say I’m not in love with my gorgeous super soft new Avorio bag because I am…totally, completely in love 🙂 It easily fits my camera, a bottle of water and all the other completely necessary stuff I carry around with me all the time.

Another reason I look forward to this event is that I get to dress up for it. I have been working/studying from home for about 3 years now and I’m ashamed to admit there frequently are days I never change out of my pj’s…I know I’m not going to leave the house anyway and my cats couldn’t care less. But for those three days the fashion world turns to Duesseldorf and selling a high-end fashion label you are expected to look the part. Really good reason for shopping if you ask me!

That was the least awkward picture I could find (I am so bad in front of the camera).
And while we’re talking fashion, I did say I avoid going to the city center because it makes me spend money, right? Well, I went the other day and I just couldn’t leave those shoes be, they were calling me…

They’re off-white leather, brushed to give them a greyish-yellowish tint. The first thing my boyfriend said when I presented them proudly in the evening was: “Why would you buy dirty shoes?” to which I replied rather hysterically “they’re brushed leather, it’s called fashion!”. Duh.
While yesterday was crazy busy today it’s quieter and I even found time to write this post in between clients (yay for wi-fi).
Here’s to my wonderful friends and my dad, I’m loving you guys to bits and having a blast with you!

snow and horses

Ok, I’m strongly suspecting I’m boring y’all to death with snow and horses, but really, that’s all there is to my life these days! I can safely promise a little more diversity soon though, as I will be juggling hospital visits and business trips this week and won’t have much time for either snow or horses.
In the meantime, hope you still enjoy this:

some barn pics

Nothing spectacular today, I just shot these the other day at the barn and liked them. I wish I had taken my camera with me last thursday. The road to the barn was completely icy and I had to park a way off in the middle of nowhere and walk down (on wednesday I made the mistake of driving down and went in full panic mode when I couldn’t brake driving down the slope. I had to ask a friend to drive my car up again later, because I was too scared). Anyway, it was -5°C and the wind was blowing the snow from the fields across the road, creating snow dunes all along the way. Quite a sight really.



It has snowed over night yet again and so it’s going to be a fun ride out to the barn today…not.