Mornings and evenings

Through my phone, while going to school early mornings or heading home in one of the evenings, after a parents-teacher meeting.

After a long break

… I have finally visited the flea market again this weekend. We usually have training with our dog on Saturday lately and Sundays are the only days I can stay at home, so there didn’t seem to be a time for the flea market. I kind of missed it, even if I do have enough stuff and a break from collecting more is very useful. But this Saturday we didn’t have dog training and as winter is approaching, we thought it would be nice to have a look at the market. I have found a few very cheap things for my collections.

I have no idea what this Avios brand used to be (a quick search online shows only some flight points), but this watch keeps correct time, even if it is so scratched and seems to have been used a lot. Maybe it is from the seventies? Anyway, I really like its small size and old fashioned design, so this is the watch I’m using these days.

Two more snake pieces of jewelry. Snakes are my favorite motif, so I was glad to find these. Both are silver and old, I think. 

A new piece for my brass Art nouveau pendants and brooches collection. This is a very tiny pendant/charm.

I don’t think this bracelet is vintage, but it is nice. I gave it to my friend.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.

Pink

My eyeglass case and my new phone case I have found at the flea market today for around 1 Euro :). 

House plants

I want to take some more pinhole photos of our plants, before it gets too dark by the time I get home.

24 hours

These are very long exposures, of 24 to 30 hours. I like how the details became more clear in this images.

Back to school

School started a week and a half ago, but only these last two days began to feel like autumn. Cold, rainy and windy and so nostalgic, with the mix of regret for the lost freedom of the summer vacation and the joy of new beginnings, the mix of worries for re-found responsibilities and comfort of meeting your colleagues again.I really enjoy this time of the year and this old familiar feeling which is even nicer this school year. My childhood friend, with whom we went to school together, brings her daughter every morning to the school I teach at. So, we get to meet on the hallways again and spend some time together before the first class starts, same as many, many years ago. And same as then, in our secondary school times, we call each other in the afternoons too , to talk some more.

Cotton update :)

The next day after the cotton plant bloomed, the flower turned from pale yellow to bright pink. Till evening, when I took this photo, the flower was already fading. We really hope it was pollinated and we will have a seed. But anyway, there are other buds that will bloom soon.

Cotton

My friend Maria came up with the idea that we should try to grow cotton plants in the urban garden next to our building. I was really enthusiastic! We planed to grow the plants, harvest the cotton, spin it and weave a little piece of cotton. She ordered organic seeds from the States (unfortunately, you cannot find anywhere in Europe non-GMO cotton seeds) and she planted some of them this spring. They germinated and the little plants thrived on our windowsill for a while. She moved them outside and some of them continued growing. One of the plants have flowers now. Definitely, we won’t be able to make our own piece of cotton this year :), but the flower is really pretty. 

This summer

I had such a good summer, full of fun, work, good thoughts, serendipity, hopefulness, crafting, walking, just being, worrying much less.

Here there are some of the things I’ve done this summer:

• We found by mere coincidence a very nice trainer for our anxious dog Souris and he is so much better now. Before the training we couldn’t convince him to walk outside our neighborhood, he had aggressiveness issues and he would have panic attacks for different reasons. This past month and a half he took long walks in different parts of the city, interacted with humans and dogs and he really enjoyed it! His aggressiveness decreased, although he will always be suspicious towards humans. But his life is so much richer now and training him and meeting with other humans and dogs in training became a great hobby for us too. We look forward for every occasion to go walking and training with Souris. These photos were taken in the exact spot from where we rescued him four years ago, a former socialist chemical plant, now a ruin. Our trainer suggested this spot for different agility exercises and we liked the coincidence of going back there almost on his gotcha day.
• I took two job related exams and I was quite successful with both of them. I enrolled a master degree in textile arts (as my second specialization, I graduated painting a long time ago). But having this second degree in textile arts could be useful in my teaching and hopefully it will be interesting for me. So, I’m back to school as a student in October 🙂
• We reorganized one of our rooms that we use as a workshop and I have the pinhole photo to prove it :). It looks messy in the photo, but it is actually quite organized now. We have now a really large table for the computers, sewing machines, etc and large cupboards for our stuff. Also, we have reorganized the book shelves and now we know were to look for specific books (literature, philosophy, art, teaching related books, etc).
• Together with my friends, we published a text in an art magazine and we prepare now  another text and art work for a different art magazine.
• We have filmed a video in which we used the gardens that people organize around socialist apartment buildings as metaphors for how people negotiate/appropriate/share/fence off/etc. the public sphere. We have finally bought our first DSLR for this project and it is very nice to have a good camera (even if I’ll continue using my film cameras, too).
• We have rescued 3 little kittens and with the help of the greatest cafe that also fosters cats, they are all in their forever homes now. These two brother and sister went to the same home.
• I have embroidered, wove and drew just for the pleasure of doing colorful things. (The case in which I keep my pencils, markers and fancy journal is a vintage beaded purse, a thrift store find my friend gave me).
• I cooked creatively and that always relaxes me.
• I took care of my health, drank more water and walked a lot.

For this fall, I plan to enjoy school and being with the kids, work on some projects, go to the forest to see mushrooms and colorful leaves at least once, read, write in my diary, send out snail mail to my pen pal, add some new pieces to my mineral collection, take many photos, relax and just be.

Snake

I bought this ring online this summer to reward myself for an exam I successfully took. I looked at it for at least one year before buying it, even if it wasn’t expensive really, but somehow I couldn’t justify another ring that it’s not  a bargain. It has two mystery hallmarks, that I don’t know how to research, so I cannot be sure how old it is. Maybe it is from the seventies? Maybe older? Anyway, it is really nice and very comfortable to wear, it didn’t leave my finger since I bought it.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.