Walking in a Winter Wonderland, part 6

In the morning of the 26th, we went for a walk in “our” woods, in the afternoon we visited my parents. I was saddened to see that some asshole had taken great pains to actually tie their plastic waste to the trees. There won’t be pics of that. We walked to the nearby fishing pond and back, bringing back childhood memories of walks with my grandparents.

sunset

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There wasn’t a lot of light that day, it was all foggy, but that pond is high enough to catch a glimpse of sunlight over the fog.

pond

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Just use a wide angle lens and low light and the Norwegian fjords can go fuck themselves.

pond

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Same pond, just from the opposite side.

pond

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The smaller pond was frozen over.

 

 

Bird of Paradise

I think that every week should start with flowers. They’re cheerful and they have the power to make you stop for a second or two and maybe even take a deep breath before heading into a new week. Our flowers on this Monday come from DavidinOz and they are indeed breathtaking.

Bird of Paradise and Sturt Desert Pea. The pea is the Floral emblem of South Australia. SA exports a lot of flowers, but we cannot sell the desert pea to Japan as the Japanese think the “eye” is watching them.

Thanks David. We all appreciate the blast of colour and cheer.

©David Brindley, all rights reserved

©David Brindley, all rights reserved

©David Brindley, all rights reserved

Walking in a Winter Wonderland, part 5

pond

©Giliell, all rights reserved

I’m not quite sure what the term for such a body of water is. It’s not a pond, but it fills quickly with water after rain.

blackbird

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The birds knew exactly that I only had the 250mm lens with me…

landscape

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And the wide angle lens.

This concludes the morning walk on the 26th, tomorrow we’ll see what we did in the afternoon.

Looking at 2018

Since it’s the time of the year to traditionally do so, and since my colleagues have mostly done so already, I’ll do my personal account of 2018.

It’s the personal, and also some of the political, and looking at all of it it would be silly to expect one year, a unit of time whose start and end us humans decided,  to be one thing. 2018 started with fraught. My teacher training was nearing its end and it almost ended my career as a teacher (it did so for a friend of mine). I scraped by a “pass” and I passed several months in a mixture of anger and despair. My family and you, my friends, always had an open ear for me and helped me to cope with the stress. Caine always had a kind word, while she herself battled with cancer.

Meanwhile, the world descended further into fascism. The Brits kept committing the suicide called Brexit, the Trump administration locked up kids in cages, and in Germany the Bavarian conservatives made refugees the one and only “problem”, despite the fact that few are still arriving

Then summer came, and things were looking up, at least on the personal front. I found a job that I really like, with all its challenges, and Caine was nearing the end of her treatment, when the news of her death knocked the feet out from under me, and all of us. How can you love a person you have never met in the flesh so much? How can you miss somebody you have never seen so fiercely? Some days I still cannot comprehend that she’s gone.

Affinity survived, it’s community survived, because especially in these times, you need your friends.

Therefore, the best thing in 2018 was friends.

Voyager, I’m so happy to have you as a friend, across that big wide pond. Your posts make me smile and your friendship means a lot to me. And thank you for the card. Yes, I noticed the tits right away.

Rq, sometimes it seems like there’s just one script for life with kids and we both follow it. I know that 2018 wasn’t an easy year for you either, family wise. I hope things will get better. I know they can. I love your music posts and how you often discover art and share it with us.

Charly, you Jack of all trades. You have so many talents and you create so many beautiful things, from living trees to hard metal. I often envy your dedication and endurance in your projects. I hope you will have a lot of time and good health to spend on these projects in 2019.

My dear friends and readers of Affinity, I won’t try to name you all, because in the end I’d miss somebody. You make this blog what it is. You keep sending us pictures and projects, let us glimpse into your lives and cultures. To all of you I give a rose in memory of things passed.

rose

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And a rosebud as a promise for things yet to come.

rosebud

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland, part 2

 

hoar frost

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A little star, caught on an invisible strand of spider silk.

hair ice

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These images show hair ice, a phenomenon that happens when very wet wood, usually colonised by fungi, freezes. I have never seen this before and man is it gorgeous. It can happen on wood lying on the ground, but also on dead twigs still attached to the tree.

hair ice

©Giliell, all rights reserved

hair ice

©Giliell, all rights reserved

hair ice

©Giliell, all rights reserved

hair ice

©Giliell, all rights reserved

hair ice

©Giliell, all rights reserved

 

Walking in a Winter Wonderland, part 1

This is going to be picture heavy and more than one post, but they’re all so magical.

We didn’t get snow, but some serious hoarfrost which created the most wonderful things.

bird

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First shot is what happens when you forget to switch your camera from “artificial indoor light” to “natural light”, though I do like the blue tint it produced.

erica flowers

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Erica blooming in pink and white

hoarfrost

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hoarfrost

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frozen spiderweb

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frozen stalks

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pond

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Tummy Monday Flowers, or something, on Tuesday.

I’m sorry for missing all the regular posts, but on top of the regular holiday business, my cold came back with a vengeance.

But the cold seems to be on the way out (I hope it cannot read this. Last time I said something like that, I wanted to die the next day…), Christmas Eve is over (the big day in Germany) and from now it’s visiting relatives and having them cook.

So, first, have yourself a tree:

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Every year, people decorate trees ion the woods. We wanted to do so as well, I even bought ornaments, but sadly it was either always raining or I was sick. But we went for a short walk yesterday and brought birdseed and nuts to the birds in the woods.

As I said, the next days are for visiting relatives. A few years ago we decided that since we couldn’t visit anybody on Christmas Eve without other people being offended and feeling less loved and what have you not (because being 60+ does not mean handling your emotions like an adult), we wouldn’t leave the house and nobody was allowed to visit and that really, really improved our Christmas time dramatically.

On Christmas Day, Mr’s family visits each other. Each year, one of the siblings hosts the whole family. This year it’s my favourite aunt in law. I promised a cake.

cake

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That’s espresso infused chocolate cake. The first filling is vanilla and espresso buttercream and caramelised walnuts.

The second filling is buttercream once more with oranges that have been marinated in spiced rum and white wine for about two weeks. I also used that syrup to moisten the cake. On top there#s more oranges, some fresh, some marinated, and a few pomegranate seeds. That took most of my time yesterday morning.

Now for gifts. Charly has lamented the obligatory nature on Christmas gifts, and I fully share that sentiment. I love making gifts and I enjoy giving just as much as receiving. I don’t need Christmas for that. Nevertheless, there’s going to be a lot of resin jewellery this year, which gets me to the fuck annoying things. I’m going to give jewellery to all the ladies present today. That includes my mum in law. Who will politely thank me, but never wear it, but who would be very upset and hurt if I didn’t give her something she doesn’t like anyway, because see above.

©Giliell, all rights reserved.

Anyway, here’s all the gifts for friends and family.

I hope I’ll have time and muse for some better shots of certain things between the years, I really need to post an update.

And last but not least, temperatures dropped to December levels over night and I was greeted with ice flowers at the window.

Ice flowers

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Ice Flowers

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I hope you all get some rest, a time to breathe, and good food and time with your friends and family.

 

Flowers for Friday

It’s going to be crazy busy this weekend with all those stressed and delirious Christmas shoppers clogging up the roads and the stores. I hope all of you are prepared for whatever your holiday season involves, but in case you’re among the stressed and delirious I thought I’d give you a moment of calm with some wonderful flowers sent in by Nightjar. These are all flowers that have survived in her garden until December and I am amazed at the variety. I’m also a bit envious, but not too much because we do get to share the life-affirming beauty of flowers in winter. Thanks, Nightjar.

Fire Rose, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved

[Read more…]

The End of Australian Spring

These are the last of the Australian spring flowers sent in by DavidinOz and that makes me a bit sad. It’s been a treat for me to have so many bright, happy flowers to work with during the short gloomy days of late Canadian autumn. In 2 days time it will officially be another winter to endure Up Here, but that also means that it’s another summer to enjoy Down Under and I’m hoping that David will have a chance to share some of the flora that grows in Australia during their hottest season. Hint, hint.

Thanks for spreading so much joy, David. [Read more…]

December Light

At this time of year the days are almost at their shortest and the world can seem gloomy and dull. Nightjar has found some light, though, and she’s used it to create magic.

Still playing around with light! For me December isn’t just Christmas lights, nature can put on quite a show too and there is nothing like getting up early on a dewy December morning to fully appreciate all the magic of December light. The last photo of the ruins and olive tree is just to illustrate how lush the fields look right now, it’s not a morning shot but I liked the light in that one as well. We don’t get snow here, so that is exactly what my concept of winter is like: green.

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

[Read more…]