two days at the beach in the rain

Two weeks off work have come and gone with us mainly hunkering down at home, preparing for autumn and generally not doing many blog-worthy things.
We did get away for two days to the beach in the Netherlands though.



Unfortunately the weather really didn’t cooperate and it rained pretty much the whole time we were there.



Now I’m usually pretty hardy when it comes to weather but while being soaked through once or twice is quite the adventure… by the time you lose count how many times you’ve gotten wet and everything is just dripping and cold it really stops being fun. We just tried to make the best of it.

And while we’re at this being a bit of a rant, I’ll say that the week after didn’t fare much better with me having headaches and a stomache-ache for most of it in addition to not being able to sit very well (old injury from a fall off the pony which decided to make itself known again), culminating in the worst, head-splitting headache yesterday. I’ll be so glad to see the end of this week. Sorry, just needed out today.
And I promise my next post will be more cheerful because I have some sewing to share as soon as I am recovered enough to take photos 🙂

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no news

Way to start a blog post, right?
Truth is, I feel like writing but there isn’t anything to tell.

We’re still apartment hunting.

It’s still wet and cool and rainy with a few rare bits of sunshine in between. It has been raining so incessantly that I haven’t been able to take photos of my sewing.


After so many days of it, it seems there’s no place for the water to go, the plants and ground just can’t take anymore of it.
So the moisture just hangs in the air like a fine mist, making everything damp and clammy.



Still, better than the heat wave most of the US has been having, for me at least.

rainy summer days

Our unusually hot spring has been followed by a cold, rainy summer. For days we’ve had fog and drizzle and heavy rains with only few bits of sunshine in between. And the forecast says much of the same is to follow in the next days and weeks.

I’m not complaining.

Living in a top floor apartment, hot summers can be hell. We had some unbearably hot weeks last year . I actually like a fresh wind and though I could do without constant rain, I don’t really mind that much. I have a good rain coat and on barn days both the pony and I are much more eager to work when it’s cool.

Other than that we’ve been lying low at the weekends, sleeping a lot and trying to catch up on emails and friends and ideas (oh, the ideas…). By the way, I got on Pinterest and now I’m hooked. And so inspired. More and more ideas.



This is the best tea I’ve had in years: Fresh peppermint leaves, fresh ginger or ginger syrup, limes, honey and candy sugar. Heaven.

I couldn’t resist another photo of the kitties. So sweet those two.

foggy

But at least no more snow and ice.

Truth is, I don’t really mind bad weather all too much. Sure, a heavy rain on a cold day is never nice, but foggy with a soft drizzle is still beautiful to me. I actually stopped three times on my way to the barn this weekend to take pictures.

With a fulltime office job in winter I only really get outside on sundays and I relish every minute of being out in the light (however dull the day) and the fresh air.
And the funny thing is, that the duller the day the brighter the little flecks of color still left everywhere appear to be. We went out riding in the woods and there was all shades of brown and bright mossy green and I regretted not taking my camera.

You see so much when you start looking.

grey

Has been the predominant color around here for days. Even more so now that the snow has turned to rain.

I don’t mind it much during the week when I am cooped up in an office anyway. But at the weekend, some little sunshine would be so nice.

Maybe next weekend.

evening out

at the barn

I honestly couldn’t think of a fitting title and I didn’t want to call this post ‘even more Holga photos’. But that’s what they are basically, more Holga photos and I am really loving them. The Holga is the camera I take to work (I couldn’t not take a camera, I feel naked without at least one camera in my bag), because it is so lightweight and inconspicious. I have a half hour lunch break during the day, but as I am actually eating lunch during work I can just wander around Cologne in that time. You’ll probably get lots of Holga city shots on here in the coming weeks 😉
Ok, enough rambling, here are the pics, developed at home again:

The barn is one of my favourite places in the world, I can’t even explain why. Some more western shots of my friend:


And a last one that wasn’t actually taken at the barn, but I really like it (it’s called ‘Rainy days call for pretty shoes’):

Today is a bank holiday in Germany, which is why I had time to write this post in the first place. Planned for today is: sewing, horseriding, taking photos and barbecuing, all in bright sunshine 🙂
Hoping you are all having a nice day too!

patterndrafting adventures

Wow, has the weekend flown by! Can’t believe it’s already over again. I had planned to finally tackle Cal Patch’s wonderful book “Design-it-yourself-clothes” and make a top pattern for a dress. For one I am totally in love with the gorgeous dress Anna did based on that book and also I need a paririe dress for a charity event which is planned at the barn in June (1880’s country fair). I haven’t got any fabric for it yet but figured I could already draft the pattern and make a muslin on Saturday morning.

Two days and three handbasted muslins later (thank goodness for all of those old Ikea pillow cases, or I wouldn’t have had enough cheap fabric!) I was getting pretty frustrated because it just wouldn’t fit and the armhole was making me cry. My boyfriend said ‘Well, you didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you? Why did you think nobody does it anymore these days?’ to which I stammered ‘I thought people were just being lazy’.
Fast forward to a fourth draft and muslin and things are looking a whole lot better. Still not super duper perfect but good enough to be a satisfying finish to the weekend.

Totally unrelated but we’ve also been having a terrible storm today and all the way to the barn the streets were littered with branches and leaves. I took the highway on the way back but even there it was pretty scary with the sudden strong gusts of wind…I was glad to be home again and watch the rest of the storm from my cozy living room!