on the ups and downs of flickr

just going through my draft posts...started this one clear back in march, but it actually still seems to ring true now...and i do still love the scarf.

on self-presents and belonging and not cleaning that mirror

i struggle with flickr. i go through periods of adoring it (usually in january, at the beginning of a new 365 project) and then i hit the doldrums and i begin to loathe it. there's so much pretense there. i saw someone one day who had commented on a photo, saying, "heartbreakingly beautiful, sympathetic DOF!" and i was like really? really? it was one of those rather prosaic photos of the aftermath of lunch at an outdoor café that are so in vogue. and how can depth of field possibly be sympathetic? and what purpose did that pretense really serve? but my impatience with it also tells me that i'm in one of those periods where i've gone off flickr.

i find flickr to be way more cliquish than blogging. groups there are much more defined (and by groups, i don't mean the ones you add your photos to) and it's so hard to break into them and i've tried with a couple of different circles that rejected me. i think that basically, i don't really feel that much at home on flickr. i'm just much more at home on blogger. but some part of you wants to break into certain groups and belong a little bit anyway. so i do things like buy myself this lovely scarf from the scarfshop as a little self-prezzie for my birthday, even tho' i'm not even recognized as a peripheral member of that particular flickr crowd (despite my best efforts). 

sometimes, you just want something that lets you feel you belong for a few minutes. even if only in your mind.

inspiration on a monday

images i love from this morning's visit to luberon:

rusty old french bottle carrier

old metal bed frames

rustic roof tiles

colorful tiles

what is it that's just so appealing about rust?

the spirit is willing...

....oh, ok, i admit it, the spirit is also very weak. in theory i want to live more simply, not have so much stuff, not define myself so much by the stuff. i love the IDEA of that. however, i'm trying to put together a brand new kitchen here. like the kitchen of my dreams. and that involves stuff. pretty stuff. stuff like this:

hans j. wegner's classic "y" chair

i know, we already have 4, but we need 8

we're gonna have guests!

and this tom rossau lamp was just so gorgeous.

so i heard myself say, "give me two."

oh. and one of those, please.  in red, to match my retro smeg fridge.

and i do so adore a good café latté. 

and it has that retro feel to go with the...

yes, i believe i already mentioned the smeg fridge.

what is even more worrying is the high i get from such an expedition. the sheer elation that infuses my being when i acquire (or even just order) gorgeous, high quality kitchen and dining room items (disturbingly close to the happy feeling i had last week when i bought my iMac and brought it home and just gazed upon it, caressing it ever-so-lightly). it makes me SOOOoooo happy! like jump for joy, do cartwheels right there in the middle of shop (luckily i did not, as they have a lot of breakable things), engage in insane happy dance kind of pure happiness. i will appreciate these things in my new kitchen. we will use them every day. because they are good quality, they are an investment in sabin's future as well (ok, that smacks a little bit of self-justification, I GET THAT).

as soon as the house is done, we're totally on track towards a simpler life...i'm sure of it.