My birthday gifts

My birthday was 10 days ago, but I was so busy these days and I neglected my blog. I took a sick day today, in order to heal from a flue, that kept nagging me for some time now. So, I have found the time to take pictures of some of my birthday presents, of the hand made, vintage and second hand ones, my favorite kind of presents.

My friend Rodica made me these beautiful bags. The bigger one is from an interesting fabric that looks like paper.

She also made me the white blouse in this photo. The vintage Japanese yellow cardigan is also a gift from her, but form last year.

This beautiful fancy dress is also made by Rodica, initially for her sister who wore it for some special occasions. But her sister decided to give it to me, as I usually wear fancy dresses with cardigans and such in informal situations, too. I was very glad to receive it. 

My friend Maria gave me a ring for my figural jewelry collection. Also, she transformed for me a nineties troll doll without any hair or clothing. She made the hair out of a mineral and she created for the doll a cosmic dress :). She never liked troll dolls but I like them a lot, so she spend a good deal of time on it :). 

Also, she transformed the cover of a notebook that I used to have since a long time ago, but I didn’t want to use it as I was embarrassed by the colonialist map on its cover. This transformation deserves its own post, in details.

My favorite coworker gave me this set of geometric shapes used by teachers in the eighties. I wanted such a set for a very long time, but it is kind of expensive to buy online and I have never found it at the flea market. I was very happy to finally have them! They were produced in a factory from the town I grew up in. Another coworker gave me also a beautiful gift of a book she illustrated,  a tasty syrup and this soap she had made herself and wrapped in a doily. 

Oti found at a second hand shop this cute t-shirt. 

And the kids at school gave me these flowers that we have planted in our urban garden. 

It wasn’t only my birthday last week. Our dog Cici was born sometimes in October, this is the time frame our vet estimated. So, he put down in her id the same birthday as mine. We had celebrated together :).  

Pleurotus

Walking the dog yesterday morning, we saw these mushrooms. It rained a lot these days and the mushrooms were so nice and fresh. We didn’t take them of course from this polluted place, but it was nice to see them and take some quick photos. Most probably it is beautiful now in the woods and full of mushrooms, but this weekend was too busy to go there. Maybe one of these afternoons we will take the bus for a quick visit to the forest.

Last pinholes of this season

It’s too dark for pinholes these rainy days and also I’m out of chemicals, so I ended the pinhole season till next summer. I also finished this box of papers I bought 3 years ago, I think, at the flea market. I still have another box of 100 papers, but the matte kind. When I bought these boxes of very nice paper, I wasn’t sure if they will still be ok. I don’t have an expiry date on the box, but the price tag on it is in DM, so obviously they are from before 2002. They were quite expensive, too. But even if they are at least 14 years old, they are great and as the paper is always so expensive, I’m glad I’ll be able to use them for many more pinholes.

Inside

While running through the courtyard of my school in order to get from one building to the other in one of these rainy days, I had a brief realization of the fact that I am really happy. So lucky to have a job that gives me something to be glad for everyday, a job where I feel so much as my real self. Even if it is only temporary, but I try to enjoy what I have and what I am right now, against my mind’s habit of always planning the future.

As the cold days and especially the freezing nights are here, my friend moved inside the cotton plants (and other plants) from the urban garden. We hope they will survive the relocation and we will be able to re-plant them outside in spring. One of the plants bloomed in our kitchen, even if the leaves died and how the plant will cope till spring is uncertain.

Bear

This is one of the very rare toy finds in this busy time of the year. It’s from a junk store I used to like a lot, but it’s not so great anymore (too many stuff piled together and sometimes ridiculously high prices). But this old wooden bear was very cheap (around 2 Euros) and I think it’s from the twenties or thirties. It’s a nice addition to my toy collection.