Autumn dreams

Het lijkt wel of de herfst dit jaar nog mooier is dan normaal. Zou het zijn omdat we zo'n lange en warme nazomer hebben gehad? Dat alle bomen tegelijk het sein herfst kregen? Onze straat is nu een gele en oranje zee. Gisteren zijn de blaadjes opgeruimd door de gemeente (met een enorme stofzuigwagen) wat wel jammer is maar fijn dat ze niet allemaal in mijn tuin waaien. De foto hierboven is een week oud en toen was bijna alles nog groen. Nu is echt alles geel en oranje. Ik geniet met volle teugen. Het is nu ook eindelijk koud, het heeft vannacht voor het eerst gevroren. In deze tijd van het jaar wil ik zoveel mogelijk buiten zijn, zolang het nog kan en vooral zolang het nog licht is. Over een week of 2 is het zover, dan vertrek ik in het donker en kom ik thuis in het donker. Bah. Dan wordt het aftellen naar de kortste dag. En dan nog januari doorkomen. 

Autumn this year is more beautiful than I can remember. We've had an unseasonably warm and gentle October and it seems that all the trees have waited for the drop in temperature. All the trees in our neighbourhood are yellow and orange, all at the same time. Yesterday the council came with a vacuum truck to suck up al the renegade leaves. A part of me wishes they were still there, the giant piles of leaves. For children to play with and for me to look at. But I am glad they won't fly into my garden when the winds come! The above picture was taken only a week ago and almost all the trees were still green then. All those trees are in full autumnal colours now! 
And now we've had the first night with below 0 temperatures and I could see my breath this morning. I want to be outside as much as possible,to enjoy the colours but mostly to enjoy the light while it fades. In 2 weeks I will leave for work in the dark and come back in the dark, a time of year I don't enjoy at all. The countdown for the shortest day will start soon. And then we'll have to conquer Januari, most depressing month of all.

This week

Watching: Mythbusters, season one and enjoying every recycled minute of it

Reading: I finished 'dit kan niet waar zijn' van Joris Luyendijck en just started reading Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King. It has a grip on me!

Listening: The Fall of Hearts by Katatonia

Making: A big scarf/shawl for cold nights in Norway

Eating: Cake, boterkoek and an awful lot of strawberries, apricots and wild peaches. Oh June, how I love you.

Wearing: Flip-Flops inside, raincoat outside

Weather: Miserable. Rain, rain and more rain. And when it's not raining it's bleak and depressing outside. Today was the only slighty ok day but when I approached my picknick table the weather went to shit again...

Feeling: Well, sort of meh. The weather sucks big time, the husband has an annoying cold so we both don't sleep very well, it seems the virus has descended upon my own weak freaking system so I'm next and the end of the schoolyear depresses the fuck out of me. So much stupid stuff to do, so litte time. 

Thinking: I need to switch careers badly. 
And I need to find an allotment where there aren't 60 gazillion trees and an equal amount of hungry snails and slugs. This week was the end of the vegetable patch in my garden. I cried when I saw 4 missing basil plants, one eaten tomato plant, 17 dead stalks where I planted 18 beans, no more broad beans and so on. One night I removed 680 grams of slugs. I am done. They have won. Three years of working my butt of (with pleasure, but still) and crying over no plants left in June. I am done!

Enjoying: Presents! For It's my birthday tomorrow. And going with my brother-in law and 2 nieces to the dolfinarium. The faces of the little ones when they saw jumping dolphins made my whole freaking week!

Currently obsessed with:

Never heard of this band before, but they've been rocking my world this past month. Have been listening to the last album basically everywhere and during everything I do. I love it in the car, while I'm doing the dreaded housework, at work (with headphones firmly in place), while studying and like I said, anytime, anyplace, anywhere :).

Cobalt - Slow Forever on Spotify
Cobalt on Last.fm

The other albums are not on spotify but they are on youtube. I don't really like listening to music on youtube, being a last.fm junkie and all, but from what I've heard, they're epic too.

Not for the faint of hearted and sort of in your face. It has the tribal rhythms that I like, and it is genre defying. 

An afternoon at the zoo

Last weekend the sun finally came out again. I was torn between staying in my garden all day and doing something fun outside the house. In the end we did both. The morning was spent in the garden and late in the afternoon we went to diergaarde blijdorp. We both have a season pass so we can go whenever we want, but most importantly; we can go for a short time without feeling like we need to stay longer to get our money's worth. Sometimes we only go in to have lunch :). 

Going to the zoo late in the afternoon on a sunny day has one major advantage: most children are already tired from a long day and are going home. It was still quite busy but it was manageable :)

 

I'm still a litte doe eyed when it comes to photography

Saturday we went to the 'Amsterdamse waterleiding duinen'. My husband kept telling me about this place (loads of foxes) and with my new camera (I need to shoot a damned fox this year!) we really had to go. 
First stop: Finally picking up a second hand chair so we have a set of four instead of 3 and a plastic fold chair. Ikea stopped making them and all the second hand ones were hours away. So when we found four of them right next to the dunes where we wanted to go we had a done deal. And 3 spare chairs... No idea what we'll do with them, but I'm sure we'll find a use. 

Of course we did not see any foxes but we did see a lot of fallow deer. I really liked them, especially their colours which was quite unexpected. Having my camera with me was nice, but I need to practise a lot before I'll be totally happy with my pictures. The four below are my favourites of the day.

We have come up with a plan to choose one forest this year (I think this one will be it) and visit it every season. We'll be back anyway, they have free guided walks in the forest and dunes.

I like new beginnings

With the purchase of a new camera starts a new hobby. Or, according to my husband: With great gear comes great responsibility. Funny is, in the last few days I have only used the camera to make pictures of my other hobbies and projects.
I have a feeling that's a trend that will continue for some time :). 

 Hopefully we'll get out soon and I get to shoot some cute animals. Last year I was on the lookout for a squirrel (failed, squirrels in England don't count, it had to be a proper Dutch squirrel), so this year I'm upping the ante and I'm aiming to shoot (hehe) a proper fox. And of course the squirrel. Since it's only February I have high hopes for this year! And now I can make my own pictures, which is way better.

I finally finished my dad's Christmas present. A bit late, but his feet won't be a lot warmer than they were in December, so better late than never. I do hate second sock syndrome though. And the five needles become really boring too, so I bought the cutest smallest circular needle I have ever seen (must make a picture!). I really want to try the two socks on one circular, but I'd have to buy that one too and practise and I have to finish the next pair by March. Wishful thinking and all.

In the little Ikea cups from left to right: Broad bean (growing like crazy!), Parsley and Sugar Snaps. I almost finished my big pots in the garden to put them in and today I finalised the plans for the front garden. I hope this year I will put all my wonderful plans in to action... We'll see how far I'll come.

 But I did just make soy milk :)

And to finish, my best picture so far:

Now just 3 more rows on my Sunny Log Cabin Blanket and off to bed.