hello from sunday evening

it was one of those days where time stretched.

expanded.

became exactly how much we needed.

the cows are as curious as ever.

the farmers in the neighborhood are harvesting their wheat and rye and barley.

sophus (formerly known as sophia) escaped and ran around outside the cage.

we rode the horse and bonded with the cat.

husband has started another building project.

a deluxe pig shed. with an attic.

it's right next to the chickens.

and they think he's just hanging out, keeping them company.

i'm personally thinking of squeezing them, to make them lay some eggs.

it's hard waiting for them to begin.

there was time to paint a snail -

with rather a modern feel.

raspberries were picked and preserved (with homemade vanilla).

and rosehip syrup was made -

for those vitamin c hits we'll need next winter.

homework is done.
everyone's bathed.
we've had a dose of kitchen inspiration.
we're ready to face a new week.

* * *

so cool: lost library project
baking for bunnies.
loving these thoughts on inspiration and breaking with old ways of being.
and feeling inspired by thoughts of a place like this.

what are you looking at?

here's what i'm looking at:

this beautiful blog. 

and this one.

and the new skinny laminx catalog.

and i'm also...

coveting this magical mushroom.

reading the elegance of the hedgehog

(because we have a hedgehog.)

(tho' oddly there hasn't been a hedgehog in the story yet.)

(but it's beautiful anyway. i'm underlining every other line. in the library's book.)

dreaming about crocheting one of these.

* * *

hope you're spending your weekend wisely.

the return of molly moo

molly moo came back last evening. we love that heart-shaped white patch on her head and her big brown eyes.

i woke up with a headache and it's once again grey and dreary, so i'll just wish you all a happy weekend and let you look at the pretty pictures of molly moo.

on collecting IV: metal bits

some of the collections we have are something that husband and i began to collect after we met. mechanical counters are one collection - the one on the far right being the first one we acquired at a little antique place on gilbert street in iowa city. it began as a fascination husband has with things mechanical.  others followed as we ran across them in various antique places, mostly in the US, but also a couple here in denmark. once you have spotted a certain object, others have a way of popping up. they also somehow begin to tell you their stories...i imagined that original counter on the gate of a fairgrounds or baseball field somewhere in iowa, counting attendees in its day.

children can be found winding them forward, synchronizing them. i can see that the one shows 7272, which means that my sister must have spent some time on it, combinations of 7s and 2s are her thing. i once, in a devilish fit, made them all show rows of 6s when my parents were going to be visiting - since i'm pretty sure they have moments of worrying about my soul.  i guess i wanted to silently confirm them in their worries. but i don't think anyone even noticed.

from mechanical counters, it wasn't a big leap to heavy, ornate padlocks from the mediterranean region. the one on the lower left was the first one we found in morocco and has a rather ingenious key that opens it lying in front of it. all of them work and can actually be used. i suppose that if he'd thought about it (they're currently packed away - these photos are from the old house), husband would have incorporated one into the chicken coop. perhaps he still will.

with these collections, i think the pleasure is in the looking for the next item. you never know where you'll spot one...in a quiet little shop in bergama, turkey or a dusty roadside market in afghanistan (we have locks from both places). such objects come laden somehow with the stories of the doors and perhaps chests they've held safe from intruders. it feels a bit, in handling them, like it might be possible to unlock their stories with a twist of the key.

i suppose what they have in common is brass and a similar heaviness - so tho' locks and counting mechanisms are different, they complement one another somehow. these adorned either end of a long shelf in our old dining room and they will again, even tho' they are tucked away in boxes at the moment.  and we'll undoubtedly run onto more of both and keep adding to our collection over the years - the pleasure being most definitely in the finding.

bodies

from a film i took back in february(!!) at the bodies exhibition at experimentarium in copenhagen. there was quite a lot of controversy, because it was very graphic and experimentarium is a kind of science museum aimed at children and they actually included a sex scene. plus, the bodies were real, not models. real people who donated their bodies to be exhibited around the world. at once both horrible and intimate and fascinating and graphic and educational and just too much.

i should really dust off my scanner, don't you think?

collecting III: the fabric stash

probably my most extensive collection is of fabrics. it's gotten a bit better since i began to focus on organic cottons with bee charmer, but still, it's pretty crazy. i have repurposed the wooden boxes our weekly organic food delivery comes in and they make great storage. plus, they bring a new one every week, so i can keep adding to the stash and always have enough storage.

some months back, my mom expressed disbelief that i had all that fabric without knowing what i was going to make of it. but i don't need to have something in particular in mind. i choose colors and prints that i love, and feel a nearly giddy happiness just looking at it and knowing that whenever inspiration strikes, it's there, waiting for me.

at the moment, i'm totally enamored of the cloud9 fabrics that i made the dresses out of. and i'm working on that big cut out & keep quilt again. i wasn't happy with some of it, so i uncharacteristically spent a lot of time taking out some seams and rearranging a bit and now it's getting there.

being surrounded by beautiful fabric makes me happy. i can sense a nearly audible hum in the air...the hum of potential. and at times, i swear the fabrics whisper to me and tell me what i should make of them. so it would be crazy not to have plenty of their little voices at hand. right? right?  ok, i do realize this makes me sound like some kind of crazy lady, but still, the stash makes me happy. and it begins to be evident that happiness is what's at the heart of all of this collecting.

on collecting II: bobbaloos

back in january, i discovered kit lane's adorable little creations - the jacabunnies. she writes clever descriptions of them and they all have individual names and characters that make them special. we very quickly realized that one would never be enough. so we've got 17 (the little pirate one refused to line up for the group shot today - but that's how pirates are and you can see him from a previous shoot below). 17 is less than pia and possibly also less than dahnstarr, tho' she's pleading the fifth as to how many she's got.

since i'm down on etsy, i'm on a self-imposed moritorium on buying any more at the moment. tho' it doesn't stop me from WANTING to buy more. luckily, they disappear so quickly from kit's shop that one doesn't have long to hover over the buy button before they're gone, along with the temptation.

always included in her descriptions is a line about how much the bobbaloos loathe the barn kitties. so today, i set out to dispel that myth. here's the whole gang, hanging out with woody, barn cat extraordinaire. check out how he's even hugging the one that looks like samba.

and speaking of samba...we commissioned likenesses of him and solskin, our real bunnies, at the height of our bobbaloo mania (and i keep saying we, because this collection belongs to both me and sabin). we'll have to see if kit can do sophus (formerly known as sophia) and mira as well. commissioning needle felted bunnies that are the colors of your real bunnies is, i admit, very nearly taking it a step too far.

when i think about what is so appealing about the 'bobs, i have to say that it's simply that they're joy-inducing.  their sweet faces, even sweeter little bums and the way they really do each have their own personality, dependent on the set of their ears and eyes is just too much to resist. the fact that they have clever little stories that go with them only adds to their appeal.

it's also about quality workmanship and possessing an object that's unique. and about supporting an artist that's doing some truly special and unique. i keep trying to convince kit to move her shop over to big cartel so we can once again begin adding to our collection.