This morning I woke up with the distinct impression there was sun behind the curtains. And sure enough, there it was. Unfortunately, this led me to the fool-hardy decision to go outside with bare feet and nothing but my pajamas on. Here is what I learnt: sun (even when plentiful) does not equal warmth. In fact, sun can equal freezing bleedin’ cold. BUT, even though I was out there for no more than 30 seconds, I did notice a snowdrop in one of our plant pots! I think makes it official: IT IS SPRING. And thus I decided to pester Hanno into agreeing to go for a walk in the woods so I could try to get some pictures of other signs of spring slowly emerging from the ground (my first spring shoot – of the first spring shoots. Geddit?). To my great disappointment there were not any fields of bluebells – or even snowdrops for that matter – but there were still plenty of pretty things for me to practice using my macro lens with. I got it for my birthday in November and have been waiting all winter long for it to really come into its own. And today it really did. Besides, even if it had rained, I always have Amélie to chase with my camera.
It’ll be summer before you know it.
If you’ve never had a Cadbury Creme Egg, your life is not complete.
THIS is what macro lenses were made for. Clearly. I am now going to stare at myself in the mirror with disgust.
Why is it that when people come and visit us, it rains? Every. Single. Time. Well, ok, maybe not every single time, but that’s the way it was beginning to feel when Caroline and Amélie (”la Grande Amélie”) came to stay with us last weekend. I had planned a lovely walk through old Brussels or maybe a stroll in the woods, but it was SO cold and SO wet and SO windy (this was the weekend that beat both French and Belgian wind records) that all we managed in terms of fresh air was a very brisk walk round the block. Still, being with two of my favorite photographers (Caroline and Amélie are THE Caroline and Amélie of Butterfly Moments), I couldn’t quite resist the urge to pull out my camera. Actually, Caroline let me play with her 5D (with a 35mm 1.4 L lens no less!) – drool… What a treat! And we had fun despite the weather. Three mad girls chasing poor little Amélie with their big cameras… And Hanno on umbrella management duty. Hee-hee.
And you know what? On Monday, the sun came out, the sky turned blue and Spring might actually be here at long last. These may be my last wet wintry pictures of the year. Oh yes please! Caroline and Amélie – I really really enjoyed seeing you! Please come again. Soon.
Friday, February 19, 2010
This is my baby brother, Billy (yes, him, in the pictures… what? He’s nearly five years younger than me: that makes him my baby brother. Even if he is taller than me), and my baby girl making pancakes together. The recipe is as follows:
1) Pour a good glug of milk into a bowl
2) Add an egg and a pinch of salt
3) How much salt was that? Eek! Oh well… Mix in a few spoons of flour…
4) Do a bit of stirring… and a lot of laughing
5) Pull a few silly faces
6) And finish with a generous serving of love
Come and see us again soon Billybo!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
I had an urge today to do something a bit different… An urban landscape or maybe even an industrial landscape… Something I could have fun aging and adding texture to… And then I remembered some of the pictures I took in Brazil a year and a half ago. I don’t know why I never did anything with them at the time but I’m glad I managed to find them again. This particular scene really struck me: on one side you had huge cargo ships, ships as tall as buildings, hulking great things, scary things… And then right there, on the edge of the water, people living. Mothers washing their clothes, kids playing in the water. Water thick with oil and filth… I felt guilty standing there taking a picture as if the squalor of their lives (***) was some kind of tourist attraction. But I tried to be quick and I reasoned that maybe if I did something with the picture it might raise awareness. I’m not sure I’m doing that very well, but at least I’m finally posting it.
*** I say “the squalor of their lives” but that sounds wrong somehow. At least, in the sense that it seemed to me that the people I saw were doing the very best they could with the very little they had. You can even see a line of freshly washed clothes hanging in front of one of the buildings. Anyway, I hope you know what I mean.
The face-paint obsession continues. This time we did flowers in honor of the sun that finally peeked out from behind the persistent blanket of grey sky that has been with us for the last few months. And I do mean “peeked”: it was there on Saturday but gone again today. It’s teasing us. Come on spring! Get your act together! What do you mean it’s still early February? Excuses, nothing but excuses.
See that picture there in the middle, with the focus on her eye-lashes? I’ve been trying to get a picture like that for over 4 years now. And how did I get it in the end? I waited for her to be playing Super Mario Bros on her Gameboy DS: it’s the only time she actually stops moving for long enough for me to get the focus right. Sad but true.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Yesterday evening, as she was getting into bed, Amélie suddenly announced that she HAD to have a clown outfit for school today. No no no no no! I cannot make a clown outfit in an hour without any warning or any materials or… And anyway, her teacher would surely have said something. Right? No no, Amélie must been confused… But she seemed so adamant, so convinced that she absolutely had to go to school as a clown. She was distraught. It took me nearly an hour to comfort her and to convince her that I didn’t need to make a clown outfit that very moment. Phew, thought I. That was close. She’ll forget all about it by morning… “Mama, where’s my clown outfit?” These were the first words out of her mouth this morning. She hadn’t even opened her eyes yet! And we were off again. “Amélie – you do not need a clown outfit for today!” – “Yes. I. DO! Madame Sandrine said it’s clown day today! All my friends will have clown outfits!” and so on and so on… I went from confident (no way – someone would have told us) to a complete wreck (I am the worst mother in the world! My daughter will be the only one in her class without a clown outfit!). But it was too late by then to do anything about it so we got her dressed (with some difficulty) and took her to school. I was very apprehensive… But… NO CLOWN OUTFITS! Not one to be seen. Not anywhere! Yes! Not a terrible mother after all. But I was traumatised enough (pathetic, I know) to seek out her teacher for a chat. It turns out they had been drawing clowns yesterday and talking about how they would dress up for Carnaval next week. I shall repeat that: next week! Can you imagine if she had turned up with full face-makeup and over-sized shoes today?! I would have felt very very silly indeed and the teachers would finally have had their proof that I was completely insane. Haha! Anyway, Amélie was still keen this evening so we practiced the face-paints when we got home. You know, just to make sure we know what we’re doing for NEXT WEEK.
Clowns are scary. Even the sweet little ones.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
It’s winter. I want to hibernate. At least until a bit of green starts appearing in the parks. Or until I stop shivering every time I get out of bed. One or the other. Still, I did emerge from my nest today long enough to pick up my camera for the first time in a month. Hanno thinks this is a good sign. When he saw me at the computer flicking through my pictures and doing a bit of editing he grinned and gave me a big hug: “what was that for?” “you’re playing with pictures again! It’s a sign! You must be feeling better!”. Ha. Well, I’m not sure about that. I have spent most of the day hiding under a blanket but maybe he’s right. Maybe the sun will come out again soon. In the meantime, we’ve got Amélie in teenager training. Except I don’t think she needs much training…
See, she’s nearly there! Not that we’re in any hurry. It’s so much more fun being little.
My camera seems to be sulking at the moment. Or maybe it just ate too much over Christmas and is therefore finding it hard to perform to its full potential. Or maybe it’s just been so long since I picked it up that I’ve completely forgotten how to use it… Who knows. The result is, anyway, the same: no photo. So I picked up my pens and pencils instead.
After I had scanned the picture into my computer, I decided it needed a bit of colour. So I completely cheated and used the Lavender Skies texture from Flypaper’s fabulous Tex Box 2. I utterly recommend these textures by the way: they are addictive and delicious. Happy New Year everyone!
Monday, December 21, 2009
My secret-santa parcel arrived today (with a ton of other stuff – looks like the post-office might at last have realised that our postie had gone AWOL and replaced him)! We’ve been doing a secret-santa “thingy” (it’s the technical term, dontcha know) with a group of on-line friends for a couple of years now and I love it. We get to open our presies as soon as they arrive too, so it gets Christmas off to an early start! And this year, again, I have been spoilt: I got a lovely soft silky cashmery pashmina, a great book that I can’t wait to dig into and, for Amélie, the best ever tutu and a brand new copy of Where the Wild Things Are. It’s one of Han’s and my favorite books and, although we do already have a copy, it’s in French and it is so so old that it crumbles on contact and so sits out of reach and unread. I’m really excited about finally being able to introduce Amélie to it (she’s had a WTWTA poster on her wall since she was a tiny baby). So, to my Secret Santa, whoever you are (no, I have no clue!), thank you thank you thank you! You have made Amélie grin from ear-to-ear and that, all on its own, is the best gift anyone could give me.
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