on the young side of the old people now

as of today, i embark on a new decade. it was a great day. colleagues offering congratulations all day, good wishes pouring in on facebook and instagram and via text and email, a gathering for drinks & snacks at the end of the day that ended in thoughtful gifts, some kinda crazy gifts and much laughter. a big bouquet from husband. and a trip to louisiana, that landmark of modern art, with a friend in the evening. it was a great start to this new phase. my friend mentioned a colleague who said he was super happy when he turned 50 because he was a youngster again - being on the young side of the old people now, rather than on the old side of the middle. i like that thought. another friend said, "if you haven't grown up yet, now you don't have to." i like that as well. i'm weirdly ok with it. it's the next logical step. i started a new project today as well - i'm going to do a daily video for a whole year and put them together, one second each, thereby having a video record of my 50th year. the child gave me the idea. i think it's going to be interesting to think in video. i'll continue my daily photos as well, as that's now completely ingrained in my way of being. happy birthday to me.

well-rested

today's gonna be a good day, today's gonna be a good, good day....monday, tuesday, wednesday... (loosely adapted from the black eyed peas)

good things that happened today:

:: waking up from a really good night's sleep.

:: a surprise in the mail from the lovely tracy. she sent me this ceramic starbucks mug that looks just like the real take-away ones, but is reusable! thank you so much, tracy!!!

:: an energizing conversation with a friend and soon-to-be business partner. i am consistently amazed by the ways that we complement one another.

:: an invitation to sell handmade goods at a market in april!

:: another collaboration in the works with another friend - this one very near and dear to my heart (and which will potentially keep me on the straight and narrow where it concerns all of that consumerism).

:: at the grocery store, i ran into an old colleague and had a hug and a nice chat.

:: coming across these charming stories of travel.

just a small collection of things, but altogether, they added up to a very good and energizing day. it's good to be in flow, or maybe it was yesterday's wish?  or perhaps arianna huffington is right and it's all about a good night's sleep.

a failure to complain

what we have going on here on this gorgeous, sunny saturday is a complete and utter failure to complain. there can be no complaining about anything when the day is full of sunshine and...

riding lessons

this time on milton

tho' i'm not keen on how he carries his tail

however, this is about not complaining

and it's not like he's OUR horse, he's a lesson horse

tulips & apple blossoms from the garden

doesn't the shockingly dirty window behind give a nice monet-like effect?

a walk in the woods

husband capturing me capturing macros of little woodland worlds

it's good to have two cameras

wonderful surprises from another hemisphere

thank you so much molly for the unexpected treat!!

i'm already inspired!!

and now, to top it off, we're making posh burgers on the grill (like #8 here).

it's pretty much been a perfect day.

hope your day was/is perfect too!

a perfect day

the sun was shining brightly on the white cliffs of møn's klint

i took the pooka with me and let her use the D60

she shows promise as a budding photographer

this is one of hers

we took along a few friends to show off their new tails in their native habitat

and a couple of their friends

from resurrection fern 

and one from geninne 

it felt like there was some kind of poetry

in a stone from mexico meeting the baltic seashore

doesn't it look strikingly at home?

and there's somehow even more poetry in

geninne's stone meeting margie's stones on this shore.

and i felt somehow poetic for being the link between them.

the whole group got together on a rather eyeball looking treetrunk

see?

you know i couldn't resist.

we took along this friend too.

isn't he sweet?

sabin made him at her afterschool program.

i spotted a few more seeing stones (thanks jules!)

a few of them may have accompanied me home

i loved wearing my wellies...

and sabin had on hers too.

they're our only matching accessory.

more tomorrow about this...

see if you can guess what it is

gorgeous summer evening

i'm not supposed to type, i know, but the keyboard is elevated now, which i think will help. and i couldn't resist sharing pictures from this absolutely gorgeous summer evening. i made husband take my picture with the nikon while i took his picture with the diana+. we'll have to wait to see how the diana pix turn out.

it was a lovely evening for a balloon ride, as these people no doubt experienced..floating across from our house in a balloon made to look like the dannebrog, the danish flag. we could hear them firing the gas, it was so still and clear.

and one lovely dandelion-like flower. i don't think this is a dandelion, it was taller and sturdier, but i'm no good with plants, so i'm not sure what to call it. i just had to try to capture the waning hours of golden sunshine on its gossamer seeds.

pretty papers

most of my pretty papers have come. and still my favorite one, the one that aligns all of my molecules and makes them hum in perfect pitch, is the one that's behind our new banner on our common blog (just know where you are...) basic grey's biology. i love that one.

it was a lovely day today. valentine's day, perhaps that's why it just generally feels good. went to the national museum with sabin. although all of the other people there were either aggressively perfect families (2.5 children, bright blue eyes, long lashes, the right clothes) or single moms out with their kids and their new boyfriends (who were trying valiantly to pretend it was ok with the snot-nosed brats who were crawling in among the mummies) or the grandparents who were near the end of their ropes, entertaining 5-year-old oliver for the 5th day in row...we had a great day. sabin fell madly for the sun chariot, an artifact from 1500 BC (or something like that), found in a field in Denmark here at the beginning of the last century. she asked questions and then didn't want to see any more of the museum, but wanted to go sit in the cafe and try to draw it in her new art notepad (who could argue with that?)

eventually, we came home and made gorgeous filet mignons for dinner, along with some of those yummy green beans i make with bacon, onion and almonds. we had a salad of spinach and mango (that makes us talk SILLY) to go with. and then the gorgeous (i can't make that look spelled right) chocolates husband brought home for valentine's day (along with flowers). with a bottle of south african pinotage (spiers, of course, we've been there!). it was a great evening.

anyway, back to the pretty papers...i'm sure the second to last one will come tomorrow. it just has to!! :-)