Happy New Year

I wish you all many good moments, reflections and good health for 2014. Happy New Year!

Beautiful skies

Yesterday we went for a walk. It was a beautiful sunny day with the most amazing skies: blue and yellow skies with clouds in different colors.

The two pictures were taken at the same site: on the heath of the 'Hulshorsterzand'. The colors turn out so differently because of the different point of focus. The first picture is a more overall picture of the sky and in the second picture I zoomed in on the clouds and sun rays.

As we passed the heath and walked further we came along a fenced spot where a lot of trees were chopped. Just a few trees remained standing. They made a beautiful contrast against the sky.

 

When the sun started setting the colors of the sky contained more yellow and orange. A beautiful end of a tranquil Sunday.

Reflections on February 2013: Carnival of Venice

Obviously much of February was in the context of the Carnival of Venice. We arrived on February 6 and spent a whole week in that beautiful city. I've been to Venice a couple of times and it almost feels like a second home to me.

We walked around town and saw other people in costumes, most of them were wearing masks.

We looked at the Venetians and saw how they communicated with each other.

In little alleys and above canals we saw how they dried their laundry. 

I just loved looking at the canals and the reflections they created.

Of course we all put our costumes on to parade around town. Carnival is about having posing, about looking and to be looked at. I could recommend it to anyone having a depression: you feel like a diva when you go about Venice in a good costume. In the picture above we are having a Prosecco at the Caffè Florian on Piazza San Marco.
More pictures of the Carnival in Venice can be found on my blog:

• Back from Venice
• Venice: Color
• Venetians and Visitors

But February was more than the Carnival of Venice. It was also about clear days 

and pink morning skies.

February was also about seeing the first blossoms after a cold winter. I still remember the happiness I felt when I saw this blooming bonsai in the botanical garden of our university. It felt like Spring was finally coming.

Reflections on January 2013

I was flipping through my daily planner of 2013 and thought it would be nice to put some memorable (for me, that is) pictures per month on the blog. So today I post some pictures of January 2013.

On New Year's Day I took a walk with my friend H. The path below reminded me of a snake, 2013 was about to be the Year of the Snake.

Going through the pages of my planner I noticed much of January was spent on making my costume for the Carnival in Venice February.

 

I was also ill for about 2 weeks; I had the flue and I embellished my costume by hand in bed. I sewed on lots of little pearls alternating with naps.

On January 15, it started to snow. I made an entry in my planner, so apparently that was a big thing. I remember that we had snow for quite a long time and that I was (still am, actually) very ambivalent about it: I loved the look of snow and how it changed the world, but I tremendously disliked to cycle around through the snow especially when it was slippery. I really hope this season it is going to be an 'easy' one.

At work you could hardly look through the windows because of the condensation. In between different tasks I like to look outside and get my mind on other things for a short moment.

Also memorable are the walks around campus. Even though the environment is not that inspiring, there is always something to see. That's one thing I learned about Miksang Contemplative Photography.

Personalized daily planner 2014

I love it when I can personalize my own planner. Sometimes I buy one with beautiful photography and helpful quotes, sometimes I buy a theme planner (i.e. from Yoga Magazine). Maybe it's nice to do a blogpost about planners, I still have most of them and they contain a lot of memories.

The personalized planner for 2014: I bought the planner at the HEMA and it contains pockets in which you can put own personal photos. It's little like a portfolio.

This is what the cover looked like when I bought the planner at the HEMA.

I then made a selection of photos I wanted to put in the pockets of the planner. Since the size of the planner was rather different than regular photo sizes, I ordered the photos on a larger format so I could cut them in the right shape.

I then inserted the pictures in the pockets. This is how the front cover looks like after adding the photo.

I selected pictures that were taken during the same month of the year in which the pocket is located, i.e. these blossoms were photographed last May and I put them in the pocket of May 2014.

 

I also embellished the daily planner with stickers that I bought at the same store.

I even used the leftovers from the stickers, they gave such wonderful patterns!

So I'm ready for 2014, well organized to keep my head clear for more important matters than remembering meetings. I also carry with me fond memories of this year and I consider myself lucky to be alive and to be able to enjoy many moments, good ones and bad ones.

The day after Christmas

The day after was relaxed: my sister and the kids were still around and we went for a walk.

Today was basically a grey day with just a little sunshine so every now and then. It made these trees look really dramatic.

In spite of my family surrounding me, I noticed this wonderful pattern of circles in a fuchsia colored bench,

this well filled with water and leaves, 

and these orange berries in a vase.

We ended up at the small temporary ice rink at the Museumplein.

The ice rink was surrounded by large baubles in all different designs, above is one of my favorites. The baubles can be won: if you take an original photo and share it on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (#socialbauble) you might be in the running for winning one.

Merry Christmas

Just a short post in these busy times, to wish you all a merry Christmas.
My family is coming over tomorrow to celebrate and I've been busy doing groceries, cooking and cleaning up before they arrive. This year I don't want to be the stressed host, so I like to prepare ahead of time and enjoy the time with my family.

As my sister and her girls are staying over for a couple of nights, I won't be on the internet so much. So I would like you all to have a very merry Christmas with your loved ones! And maybe you have a second to think of all the people who are not so lucky and blessed as we are.

Mud

I walked around campus a bit yesterday, it was more like aimlessly walking around. I didn't have a goal, I didn't have a place to go to, no intention, just a walk around the science building. That doesn't sound like much fun, but there was a small building site: a guy was climbing on a huge crane and that crane stood on a row of muddy iron plates. Texture and graphic galore!

At the acupuncturist

We went to the acupuncturist last Wednesday to balance out our bodies, acupuncture is a very good method to do that. She 'reads' our wrist and feels how the energy (qi) flows in our bodies, where blockages are located, if you have a virus, etc. It's an ancient Chinese medical technique and it works fine for me. I always feel more energetic and clearer in the head when I leave. It improves my immune system and helps me to face difficult processes in life.

While I was waiting on my turn I got mesmerized by the miniature woman with all the acupuncturist points on the left and the meridians on the right side of her body. It is interesting to see how the lines are running.

Collages and apps

In continuation of yesterday's blogpost, here are some collages I made over the past six months. All of them were made with A Beautiful Mess app, except for the last image, that one was made with Instacollage. It was a lot fun for me to try these apps out. The apps offer a large variety of designs, colors, fonts and hand-drawn doodles. I like to play around  them, but my heart really is with photography.

Antique typewriter

Mango juice, India

Venice

Autumn

Women in red, streetart