la beauté est partout

the mold moves in circles

why?

Now that I'm free I realised I wanted to travel more, on my own and by train. I decided to name these trips 'my small adventures' and my first was a one-night-stay in Königswinter, Germany. I treated self to a hotel boasting a swimming pool, so I could indulge my glorious morning routine. I chose K. because two artists whom I've been following on Instagram Zweiimdruck had an exhibition in the KunstKiosk & 9 August was the finissage. I DM'd Suki and Christine on Insta to make sure they would be there as well and so it went. 

The top photograph is one I took on my evening walk back to the hotel. There's a lovely hiking/cycling path along the Rhein in Königswinter. I noticed smoke in the distance, but no body seemed concerned, so I left it at that. Once I got back home I checked the Bonn online-news: no fire on that date in the area. 

I've written a short story in Dutch about this Small Adventure I'm afraid I have not yet felt the urge to translate it into English. So that's about all I can share for now. Suffice to say, train travel never goes according to plan and is pretty interesting!

Next Monday I'll be visiting family in Copenhagen, Denmark and you've guessed it, travelling by train. Will see how that goes.....

Meanwhile back home life continues on all kinds of levels: slow in the garden where our first raspberries ripen!

we witnessed the Sun's Eclipse on a nearby village street

HA! clever girl
there are frogs in our ditch, always too quick for me to take a snap

alas, this one did not make it Prunella modularis Dunnock I'm guessing; I found him/her in our bird bath, I don't think (s)he drowned, the water's pretty shallow, might have succumbed to the heat

Some days you find something you didn't know you were looking for. Like this old sixties/seventies sink I recently installed in our bathroom. The original taps were busted so I ended up having to handsaw them off, gggrrrrr. I then went ahead and made a new copper/brass tap, inspired by a photograph of something similar costing € 422! I was not going to spend that amount of money on taps for a sink I'd snapped up for a mere € 7,50. Took me six days, several bike rides to and from various DIY stores. Thank god I finally found a guy at a plumbery who helped me out with great advice and was able to provide the exact fittings I needed to connect my copper pipes to the water pipes (image below). Next time I decide to make a tap, I will start there. Duh, live and learn. Now the water runs pretty smoothly 😉 happy wife, happy life. Afterwards my husband said something really sweet: I knew you could do this, anything you set your mind to works out. My instant response was: except selling my artwork. He had to agree. 

Now I'm wondering why I cannot make that work. Suggestions anyone?

enormous pears dangling from the 28 year old tree, apparently it's a good pear year, despite the heat/drought we experienced this Summer

Graphosoma italicum, pyjama bug

not sure I remember having ever seen one of these in our garden, pretty cute

 

my compost heap out back

I made garden containers using old wooden planks from our neighbours garage. That's being converted into a studio and they discovered lots of planks were riddled with wood lice, so they decided to discard the tricky ones. So far I haven't spotted any creepy crawlies, who knows they might even become a food source for the birds...... I really like the structure they provide to the plot and I'm counting on them to make my gardening life a little easier. I'm using one as a compost box for all the cuttings* out back, hopefully making it nutrient rich for the pumpkins I intend to sow there next Spring. *avoiding weeds I don't need

I also want to make a tent-like structure with hazel-wooden poles for runner beans in another box; I have recently learnt beans, like clover, are great for nitrogen-storage. Seeing as there are enough crises I'm doing what I can, hahaha.

amazing how tenacious such a delicate plant can be, Ipomoea Indica Morning Glory, I have not had any luck with the flowers this year, just heart shaped leaves and tendrils to admire

One of my absolute favourites is the Dipsacus Pilosus, Small Teasel. Not sure how she got here, but she sure feels at home. She wanders about in our garden as if she owns it and attracts countless bumble bees and finches. Like the various types of clover she seems to handle the heat and drought pretty well. Another of my favourites is the Daucus Carota, wild carrot, it has spread throughout and is now contained well within several of the new boxes, am praying it will self seed!

Went to a wonderful exhibition 'Op de rug van de Schildpad' in the KunstKerk in Dordrecht yesterday together with my new neighbour friend (who btw has lived here for just over a year now, but still). We met one of the artists Marjo Postma*, in whose work the turtle appears as her alter ego. Her artwork is absolutely fascinating. We got chatting and she told us about her residency in Surinam where she has constructed a huge metal turtle sculpture together with a local welder/blacksmith Eddie Asmoredjo. It just so happened I found a turtle pendant on the platform of Köln trainstation and immediately decided it was my lucky charm for the trip. On our way back yesterday to the Dordrecht trainstation I found another teeny tiny turtle, it's a sign of sorts.....water related beings are catching my eye.

 

Nancy sent me an envelope full of wonderful images, this is my favourite, Aloka the dog from Buddhist Walk for Peace*