Dear friends, I can offer no better explanation than I have had a lot of things going on in my head and hands at the moment, hence my very laid back approach to blogging.
Well, here are some pictures from a most glorious trip to Hampstead Heath last Bank Holiday.
the Heath is full of excellent trees and birds, this wondrous oak had a least two renegade green parakeets living in it
a splendid time was had by all since we were fortunate to hang out with good people and bright young things who was fond of climbing trees
there were also numerous happy dogs out for walks who said hello to us as we left the park a small but quite pleasant spring rain came to wish us farewell and to come again soon
I'm quite fortunate to have a great neighbour, who though they refuse to dance they'll oblige you with a spot of "Jazz Hands" through the mailbox -if asked nicely.
yes, we are now stepping back in time slightly...all the way back to Sunday May the 17th A.D. 2005 when I met up with the one and only Carina to go see a preview screening of O'Horten.
then followed nutrients & refreshments at Maison Bertaux: tea for two twice and of course some scrumptious cakes to go with.
= how to spend a Sunday!
O'Horten opens tomorrow in theatres across the UK and America so if you feel like watching something with beautiful old Norwegians in a really sweet picture - this is just the ticket.
Earlier in the year I was very happy to be the recipient of SWEA-London scholarship 2009 for a personal project* that I'm working on. I was asked to write a piece in their bi-annual magazine about the project which arrived in the mailbox at the start of this week. Later the same day in another magazine discovered an interview with the SWEA London president where suddenly I read my own name in the same sentence as "young" and "highly skilled ". Thank you! This kinda made my Monday -especially the "young" part :)
* A brief outline of the project: Working title "Hemmahamn" is about how our perceptions of ourselves, and our nationality can change by making a new home abroad. And also how our roots, traditions and cultural references are transformed by what we encounter in the new place called home. I'll show some work eventually but for now I somehow feel I need to keep it under wraps for a bit longer...
Them Elks favorite Hillbilly commissioned us to do a couple of embroideries for some of his "fierce birder" members of his family.
10x10 inches, mouliné yarn on satin fabric
(I really like this material combo but it's near impossible to get a true-to-life photo...)
Well, it's been a very, very enjoyable job do and now it's completed! A week ago or so, I finished the last of the two, which is now on it's way across the waters. And I hope to post a picture of that too after it has arrived at the Hillbilly Mansion :)
This is the picture of Saturday but since I have yet to figure out how to make my new mobile camera take pictures in low light I can't show you Kerry in her GORGEOUS swan print dress, nor Cara twirling like a dervish in her stripey lined swing skirt, so you're going to have to trust me when I tell you they looked smashing! - What you do get to see is a tiny bit of St. Paul's Cathedral instead. Well, there you go.
On the Sunday afternoon I went for my constitutional walk and passed by what most of last year used to be giant dust mounds after demolished flats. You can't see what's going on so much now. I am hoping that it's going to turn into a small patch of palm tree woods. Yes, this would be so NICE.
Just outside the local self-proclaimed retailer of "These olives are the best in the market! -The BEST* in the market, these olives." , a pimped to the roof Arsenal car drove passed by. White and red leather interiors and the stereo played the Arsenal tunes on LOUD. The boyz were of course clad in supporter gear and sported red cheeks from what seemed to be their eternal sing-along Sunday drive time.
quick re-cap of the days gone passed starting with Friday
the ever-cutie Cara & I met up for a short but sweet coffee at Fortnum's
and then we skipped down the road to St James's Church to listen to a marvellous concert with the Corinthian Chamber Orchestra -check out the programme my friends, one beautiful gem after another!
St James's a good looking church, with large and wondrous windows and wood carvings and I got completely blown away by this Pieta. (hm, that much blown away in fact that I somehow didn't note down the artist & after a some intergalactic web trawling I have come up with nothing, sorry! )
later in the evening I stumbled across this new bizarre tourist trap about to open soon
"Transform yourself in less than 10 minutes and travel back in time to the WILD WEST". For those of you who are interested -head to the Haymarket side of Piccadilly Circus...yes, looks even tackier IRL.
the ride back home on nr.19 could be filed under "interesting". Favorite bit of remembered over-heard conversation was one man (loudly) on his mobile phone: Well, some one basically cast Voodoo on my last relationship...uhum,yes...yes...and he admitted to it...well that's what he does...but let's not talk about it now because I think it might DISTURB some of the people on this bus. So, anyways -let's talk about YOU...
today was a very good day filled with them little things that make you happy, and so I decided to make a short list as a Thank-you! to the powers that be:
1. the UPS delivery man turned up while I was in. 2. I got a latte on the house from our local favorite coffee place 3. I discovered we have some Lilies of the Valley in the front garden 4.Fortunately I had a camera in the bag and Lo!- I could take a picture of the pretty tiny beauties.
5. While photographing I heard the familiar sound of a growl that seemed to get closer. Could it be...yes -INDEED it was the elusive local wonder a.k.a the Growler, walking down the street! 6. I already had my camera in hand so I could discretely* take a snap shot to show you he actually exists.
*For those of you who aren't familiar with the Growler here follows a brief explanation of the wonder. The Growler has a few very unreliable sort of charms; he growls A LOT and talks to everyone in a very dark growling style but not necessarily with an aggressive manner. He usually wears an "inspired" outfit often which often incorporates a hat and he's never without a pair of shades (a couple of weeks ago I ran in to him wearing tiny 50ies shades of the cat-eyed model, he looked AWESOME). The Growler has a gift to make you happy by being "himself" and yet you always err on the side of caution meeting him because you never know if he will or won't bite your head of. Yes, he's a true enigma and it's too hard to describe to make him justice...you kinda have to see him in action. But believe it, he ALWAYS makes people smile where ever he goes in spite of/thanks to of his gruff communication skillz. Also the other day we found out that he is of Irish decent, which made us extremely happy to hear :)
Oh, and to round off tonight's ramblings: here's a musical tribute to today's happy news item: a Danish woman on her way to Norway journeying up the Swedish West coast on her mule wagon with "accompanied by a Rottweiler".
today Them Elks had a charming visit from Cara and this is what happened:
if you click you can see Cara's version of "Big Bad John"
One hour was spent with a little quick-draw game* under PLENTY of laughter. And since it was Walpurgis Eve and no nearby bonfire, we welcomed Spring and banished evil-worshiping with G&Ts instead.
then we went to the RCA to look at the Oberon Illustration Awards
this is how the walls look next door, pretty lovely eh?
how skylines look in South Kensington: v. NICE
and this is how they decorate side entrances to one of all them royal colleges around there
"the Highest, bestest, top-deck you'll ever see", "Birds colliding mid-air" and "Lindy Hop with extremely tall and extremely short folks"
then after a few more hours of exploring the Royal Borough I came back to my "masterpieces" :)
*THEM QUICK-DRAW RULES:
write a short description of a made up subject on small pieces of paper
fold it up and place in a bowl, decide on a short time limit (2min or so)
pick a piece of paper randomly from bowl.
unfold and read the description to your fellow player.
start the clock and draw said subject - don't even think about stifling giggles/silly remarks
when the bell sounds put down your pencil and compare your results and laugh some more .
pick a new subject from the bowl and repeat until the bowl is empty.
This is a sketchbook of various bits and pieces I am working on. In amongst the drawings there'll be things that I find inspiring. All sorts, some else and more.
the Heath is full of excellent trees and birds, this wondrous
a splendid time was had by all since we were fortunate to hang out with
there were also numerous happy dogs out for walks who said hello to us
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