Review of my Week

Around the main train station of Zurich

Another week of travelling has passed.
Lots of photos were taken, way to much food was eaten, time spent with friends, new ideas formed, inspirations found, new details discovered.
My nomade heart is rather content. I could do this for another few months without a thought of missing home.... (sigh I so wish I could!)

I will upload more photos this week. And I've sort of made a plan for my future blogging. So that it's a slight bit more structured. Back to normal very soon.
Happy Monday,
xo

Reflections

Last week I noticed that to my utter shock I had no obsession for months- no creative ones anyhow... well, I also haven't been very productive for the last 3 months. Sure I have been knitting a bit here and there, but I done no sketching, no jewellery design and not even much photography.
So I have been thinking on my may walks along the Promenade what the reason could be....

It has been a rather taxing time for me- lots of social engagements and evens attended and organised, a miscarriage and being rather sick took their toll on me physically but also emotionally. In fact much more than I would care to admit. And my recovery of it all took what seems a life time.
Pondering upon those months I also noticed my lack of creativity-- and promptly started questioning my abilities in this field... at this I am still grinning- since I think that it is a sign that I am back to being my good old self again. And I think that isn't too bad, actually.
So was it just the difficulties that blocked me? Honestly , I don't think so, because usually I find solace in being creative. While I do thin that it certainly didn't help me- I am aware that there were other issues too...namely I feel creatively scattered-- Being a jack of all trades has gotten to me. And while thinking on what I should focus-- I seem to be unable to do things.
There I found myself blocked by myself again- not really sure how to get our of this rut... and then I stumbled upon this book at The Book Lounge on Saturday-- oh it is so wonderful so inspiring so-{sigh}... just amazing and on top of my wish list!-- and I realised that that's it! All I really want is to make beautiful things- be an Artisan, do the best I can do, learn and discover while doing it!

So I set myself back on this discovery journey of creativity - and suddenly I am thinking of things to do and planing new projects...but I do still wonder: Is it possible to somehow bring those different aspects of my creative doings together under one umbrella? Or is it possible to be this diverse Artisan and still be of interest to others?
I guess this is the food of my thoughts for this weeks--- since those questions got me started on pondering about my blog....should it be more structured or limited? Meaning should I blog only about a certain things on a certain day? Or chose one subject and just blog about that? ...Oh there are so many question in my head now - I shall ponder over them on my walk...

So tell me..... what do you think?

Food for Thought

Lately I have been ponder over this space and my creative doings.

It all started with my Ravelry account, actually. At that time one did ask for an invited and it took a few weeks till one got an email of acceptance- I got mine on my birthday three years ago. I stated reading several knitting blogs- and upon advice of several knitters I stared my own. It so happened that I just got totally inspired by the rock pools in False Bay. To document this I used my little Nikon Coolpix- which was the beginning of my discovery journey of photography.
So here I am three years later. I started knitting since then, bought a better camera, taken thousands of photos, still making jewellery and finding my inspirations from my surroundings. But also I am wondering where to go from here....
My biggest problem I always encountered is that I am fairly alright in many things but not exceedingly good in anything. Since I can think I have been searching for the thing I am good in- until a few years ago that is. I had told a friend about my dilemma and she laughed and said- but we all like that it is only the very few who are exceedingly good at one thing, they called geniuses.... So I just went with the flow.
The flow brought me amazingly new skills and discoveries. And left me with some question marks.
Is it ok not to have a completely marked out carrier? Where do I go next? Can one somehow unite all these different skills or bring the somehow together?
For now I have decided to make a little list with some resolutions and goals. And more importantly to simply accept the fact that I am a little jack-of-all-trades and enjoy my creative goings not matter what.
Now coming to the subject of my blog... it is a total reflection of me creatively. So a jack-of-all-trades. I tried to bring some more structure into it...but every time I do, I feel rather stuck. My question: is it interesting that I blog about photos, food, colours,knitting, jewellery and who knows what?! A blog with the only aim to document what inspires me and what is happening creatively at the moment? Still pondering about the blogging thing... let me know what you think!
xo

Reviewing

Looks like my Internet is finally working again. PHEW!
While I missed the whole online world- I would have had total withdrawal symptoms were it not for the handy invention of smart phones...instagram, twitter and the new phone app for pinterest!- I desperately needed some time to focus on me. I have been a wee bit in the rain lately. Not quite sure why, and not quite sure what can do about it. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on many aspects of my life and started to list a few new (small) goals. I think for the first time in my life I don't know what I want. Being in a 'not so sure' bubble is rather a new and very odd experience to me. So it is one step at the time for now, one mini goal after the other-- and hopefully back into the sun.

Reflections on a sunny Sunday

On Sunday I went with a friend for to visit Stellenberg Gardens. It is only open for one weekend of the year, and I try not to miss it. So we wandered the gorgeous gardens, enjoyed the sun, admired the incredible details of the plants, talked about gardening, were amazed by the design and gardening techniques, had tea and cake, met the gardeners, bought a few plants and took photos.

Well, I took lots and lots of photos, only to discover I am not very good at taking photos while talking allot and making others wait. Mr.O is so used to my camera antics now that he just sits down on a bench until I am done or keeps himself busy in some (honestly) to me unknown way. As I was editing the photos- well, most of them just went straight to the bin - I was astonished how many bad photos I took, how many were ok, but just that little bit off, they could have been nice, but I missed it somehow. Simply by not concentrating enough.

Photography relaxes me, it helps me focus and discover beauty and interestingness around me. It has always been a very private thing though, a moment of how I see the world, an attempt to capture that moment at least. And I often do it alone, always quietly. When I take photos its just what I see and feel, nothing else. That moment, the light, the smells, the colours - the miracle of that moment.


Hope your weekend was sunny, too!
xo

Reflections

Yesterday while browsing in a book store I stumbled over this book. The thing that drew me to it was its cover, more than its title: The Last Letter from your Lover. (For a great review visit here)

Letters.
It made me smile. I have told two of my friends to write love letters in the last few months - Not that I have ever written one myself- I just think that sometimes sitting down and writing ones feelings down is easier and also makes it some how more solid. It was written after all. Also thinking about it & taking the time to write it, makes things more clear to one self, one can re-read and edit it, until it says exactly what one feels.
Writing letters is such a joy, choosing the paper, pondering over the words, writing it, putting it in an envelope, posting it. I love to lick the postal stamps- always am disappointed if they just stamp the letter rather than putting on colourful different stamps.
Oh even better is to receive a letter, the anticipation , wondering what it says. The sound of opening it, then finally holding it open and the joy of reading it! Ah- I miss letters.While emails sort of do the same, you can't hold them. Well, beat me- but it is not the same.
I miss letters, I used to write tons of them. I used to have pen pals all over the world and used to write post cards to my friends from my holidays or write my girlfriends just because. Now I very rarely do write one- I live so far away, that it seems to take forever for it to arrive. And email is so much faster. Thanks to the Moleskin Exchange I get a envelope every few weeks and spend some time at the post office, it gives me a little compensation for the near letter-less life of mine. But seeing the book reminded me, I miss Letters, and you?
So if you would like to get a letter, email me your address and I shall write you one...

xo