Monday, February 21, 2011

P52/8: Technology - Friend or Foe?

This week’s challenge is thought provoking. Coming from Germany it is not actually about technology, but the term ‘Technik’, which shockingly does not even have an English translation. The root of the word comes from ancient Greek τέχνη (téchnē) meaning skill, art and labor/trade. Consequently I need to define the challenge for me as this is a huge area and almost anything could be part of it, like cutting parsley with a sharp knife. If I consider the question in its most basic idea, the answer would have to be that technology is our friend, because that is what makes us human: the making and use of tools? Looking at weaponry and other tools of evil points the other way though. Tough question it is!

* click for big!

Therefore, I have decided to interpret technology in regards to this challenge as man made tools with a concrete purpose and use and also being very complex in their built. So narrowing it down like this I conclude in line with my typical juxtapositional mindset, that the answer is both. I associate technology with pollution, noise and other annoyances, dehumanizing our lives with mechanical and electronic means, pushing us further away from the basics of life. Then again, I am an early adopter and embrace technology left and right as walking though the house shows clearly.

We have a house full of tools that help with cooking, cleaning, wood work and regulate temperature and humidity. They freeze, boil, melt, cut, move, print and even curl hair. My studio has a as many gadgets as the kitchen or the work shop. Looking further we get to computers, ipods and digital cameras (making me wish we had more Apple stock and at least some Canon). We use technology to be entertained, to stay in virtual touch or arrange for real socializing, to be creative and to be not creative, to make time and to kill time, to help us make a mess in the kitchen and to help us clean it up again. It helps us move faster or slower and even tells us where to go, it makes our world brighter and louder. It makes life easier and it makes life harder. (I’d like to meet the person that has not yelled at a piece of technology out of frustration.)

We all take the harder and the frustration for the reward, video chatting with friends on the other side of the world, picture sharing and critique through blogging and watching BBC’s Robin Hood streaming through the marvel called Wii. And when we are without power - something rather routine in this part of the world - we just as happily sit by the fire, read books, play boardgames, write with ink and take our instruments and make music. So yes, technology is a friend, but we are okay with an occasional leave of absence.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

P52/7: All Red


If there would be a color to describe the relationship of my girls with each other, it would be red. Red because they love each other and red because they hate each other - all red! Click to see it in all its glory.

Isn't it often that what looks easy and straightforward needs us to have second look and deeper thought? This weeks photo challenge had the title 'All Red' and I did not want to run out and just take a picture of something red without a thought behind it, because I love when I look at other people's contributions and find myself completely surprised by the way they find their own individual way of interpreting the topic.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Alphabet Soup - letter S


S is for steering wheel. Instead of basking in the sunshine on this calm Sunday afternoon, Peter was in peril yet again, having been hoisted onto the steering wheel, expected to do the driving. 495 North was busy as ever and it took all his concentration for happy thoughts and depleted the remaining stash of faery dust at his disposal.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

P52/6: Tea Party

click the pictures to see them big :)



Our feud with the faeries reached its high when they hijacked our tea party this week. It all started with the collapse of their faery houses under the weight of snow and ice and their decision to move into our house. We are very understanding people, especially when it comes to magic folks, but living with them was next to impossible. Tripping over tiny horses again and again, getting hurt by out of control unicorns and our cats would chase the faeries with the pegasus hard on their heels. Our house turned into a mad house. Instead of helping to solve the mystery of disappearing socks, they were dancing on the piano keys to make very unsettling twelve tone music and forcefully evicted all Playmobil people from their houses in a wicked ploy to move in themselves. Now we had those folks running about as well.

We called a summit of their leaders with the CEO of our household, but diplomacy failed and war was declared when I called them faeries and not elves. Apparently when you bestow the Franco-Anglican term onto Germanic magic folks, you are a fool and thus the feud began. In their clever and cunning ways, they started playing tricks on us, switching salt and sugar, leaning ‘purely by accident’ onto the Wii power button when we were about to get a first place, putting cayenne pepper into our wine glasses when we were not looking, lighting matches directly under the smoke alarms in the middle of the night, dousing the cats in expensive perfume, hiding car keys in the pastry flour and eating all our chocolate.



It proofed impossible to catch them all for a return to nature and I was tired of surprises like finding the floor covered in glue in the morning or children missing the school bus, because the wee ones had knotted up all shoelaces incredibly tight. To provide a little rest from this mess, we decided to have a little tea party. We had barely sat down when the wee folk descended onto our party like ants onto sugar cubes. In our favor and some kind of cosmic justice though, their last mischievous deed turned around unto them.




First, Feya the oldest burnt her feet landing on a teapot and Surah’s parrot drowned in a pot of milk. Yasira got stuck in the lemon bars and feared for the life, since Eyela & Ophira were devouring one after the other and showed no signs of slowing down. Tinuveel unknowingly had a piece of salmon sandwich and went into anaphylactic shock due to allergies. Apricum was mortified when his love Feya the third dove head first into the sugar cubes, he tried to hide in the creamer because he did not like to watch her flying on a sugar rush. Oleana, the smallest and youngest, ate a whole rum infused cherry and passed out, just like Falaroy, who slurped tea with rum and was drunk as a skunk. Arelan overdid it with the cucumber sandwiches, which gave him never ending hiccups while Sera II was stuck to the orange marmalade she was trying to get for her twin Sera I and the scones. Nimsay and Lindariel ate too many berries, resulting a belly aches.



It was not a catastrophy for all involved, Bilara and Iloris who had nurtured a thorough dislike of the other for a long time, noticed that they shared the same dream of bathing in whipped cream and small tendrils of friendship grew. Only Nuray and Turag, who had already maximized their daily weight watchers points, refrained from joining the feast, as well as Marween, who was content to listen to the mayhem from her perch and Feya the youngest, who took a foot bath in tepid Earl Grey.




Were we upset to have out tea party hijacked like this? At first yes, but when we woke up the next morning to find our house devoid of tricks and rather quiet, we realized that the faery-elves had left. They must have felt that it was impossible to be mischievous with us after being so thoroughly embarrassed by their own bad behavior. Come spring, we shall put some lemon bars in the vicinity of their dwellings, as a sign of peace.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

P52/5: In & Out


I am going in & out of the house all day long and therefore I am in & out of my clogs constantly. In the past many decades clogs have been in & out repeatedly, but I never cared and have worn them happily all my life.

This was a tough topic for me and after a week of juggling different ideas, I went back to my very first one, clogs. If this topic would have been English based, it would have been easy, however in German it refers to fashion - picture Heidi Klum on Project Runway saying it and you get the picture. I am not a person who cares much about what is in and out, I think a lot of creative beings have more of a focus on their individuality and march to their own drum, if anything they might be trend setters and not followers.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Alphabet Soup - letter J


Jurassic Park - this is not how Peter had imagined it when he booked his vacation. How could he have known that it was a real, real like Neverland? Maybe he should have consulted a more reputable travel agency, because this was worse than dealing with Capt'n Hook. Hopefully Tinkerbell was coming shortly to help him out of this.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

P52/4: "when I was little"


When I was little I would lay on the carpet for hours on end, listening to stories. I would listen to the same ones over and over again, knowing every voice by heart, mouthing the dialogue in unison with the speakers and anticipating every crackle and hiss from the worn old records.

staying warm

This has been a record year for snow and there is no end in sight. Couple that with very cold temperatures and it feels like exceptional circumstances and not like ordinary workdays. Even though I should work on my two major to do items - which would be working on my stories and organizing the house - I seem to be more inclined to work on staying warm and comfortable. So this is how I spent my day on arctic Monday: make a fire - put on thick, woolen socks - read under a blanket - make a pot of rooibush - bake a bread - eat said bread with a freshly made spelt & onion soup - drink delicious, piping hot and überheatlhy elderberry juice - take a bath.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic - Smooth Criminal



Absolutely incredible, I keep going back to watch it again and again. It's a nice change after listening to my cello beginner every afternoon, though I am sure there was a time when these guys sounded the same. I would love to see these guys live.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

P52/3: favorite color

Determining one favorite of anything is a very difficult thing for me, in no way can I narrow it ever down to one. When it comes to colors, it really depends on the circumstances and situations, though two colors stand out: Aqua and orange. If I would poll all my friends, I am sure most of them would answer orange and being a democrat at heart, that's what I went with. The sun obviously agreed with my choice and delivered a stunning sunset over Newburyport Mass, when I took a stroll on the winter beach of Plum Island yesterday.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

P52/2: Winterwonderland

Whereas most people in the old world were struggling with finding snow for this topic (and due to that a lot got very creative and inventive), the new world has more snow than we can ever use. The streets have turned into snow canyons and the backyard is slowly going up in altitude. I like winter and its wonderland landscapes, very magical.

Friday, January 21, 2011

P52/1: snapshot

A photo challenge and a snapshot usually don't live in the same category, so the more interesting to start this challenge with exactly that. Most of my pictures are made with a purpose or idea, but snapshots somehow seem to come from a different angle. They are a spur of the moment raw slice of life. I think that is actually their strength, they capture a fleeting moment without a composition and perfect light, they convey emotions and memories. While visiting a friend's house, the youngest was 'flying' from one sofa to the other with such speed and energy, the blur does it justice.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Projekt 52

Projekt 52 is another German photo challenge, was born out of the 365 challenge of taking a picture a day and is asking for a photograph a week. The impetus is to constantly work creatively. Every week a new topic or theme is chosen and there are two groups of people participating. One group uses the same figure, doll or manikin in every picture - much like the alphabet soup challenge - and the other group works freely. I decided on the latter, since I already work with lovely Peter Pan on the other challenge. This came late to me, I am already behind and the revelation of the next topic is looming, but it sounds like fun and I am amazed by the strong networking of German bloggers, they are really active and social.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Alphabet Soup - letter N

N for Noodles - Silly Peter, doesn't he know to be careful what to wish for? He said he was so hungry, that he could eat a whole pool of noodles, but was not aware of the consequences when his wish was spontaneously granted by higher powers.

Alphabet Soup photo challenge: N wie

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Alphabet soup - letter D


D for Dominoes - Peter Pan was bravely facing the onslaught of the falling dominoes. Having the security of his magic fairy dust, falling was generally not something to be feared.

Alphabet soup - Photography challenge 'Buchstabensuppe'

'Buchstabensuppe' is German for alphabet soup and in this case refers to a photography challenge somebody in Germany came up with. The rules are as follows: she draws a letter every 2 weeks - because coincidentally there are exactly enough letters in the alphabet for every fortnight, but I don't want to go into the significance of the number 26 here. Participants pick a figure that will be in every picture taken and that is the hard thing, I have tough time deciding between a Playmobil witch, a Schleich fairy or Disney's Robin Hood. Anyway, I am lagging behind already, since the challenge already went onto the second letter, but since we are having yet another snow day here in beautiful Massachusetts, it should be done by the end of the day.

Serendipitously it was my friend Jeannette, who introduced me to this project and she is the one complaining about the lack of posts on this blog. Though I have to brag about 150 straight daily posts on the Beauty of Being!

Here is the link to the project 'Buchstabensuppe'.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

inspired by thxthxthx.com

From Leah Dieterich's blog: "There’s always something to be thankful for. From the important things like Songs You’re Embarrassed to Like, and Heavy Eyelids that Tell You When You Need to Sleep, to friends and family, love and loneliness, light and darkness, Leah Dieterich sets out to acknowledge them all. thxthxthx is her daily exercise in gratitude."


I have enjoyed Leah's daily Thank you notes and it has influenced me to look (again) at the little random things in life that I am grateful for. I say again, because it is nothing new to me, but easy to forget in the commotion of everyday life. Back in 1994, I created an aromatherapeutic bath oil for friends and called it Die Schönheit des Daseins, which translates to The Beauty of Being. And one morning at breakfast with friends - it occurred to us, how meaningful those little words are, it is almost like a philosophy, isn't it?

Life can be difficult and exhausting and frustrating, but if we stop for a moment to think, to look and to listen, life is also amazing and wonderful and funny. So come and share with me my gratitude for the beauty of being on my sort-of-gratitude blog called: The Beauty of Being. Well, yes of course, what did you think I would call it?

Friday, August 20, 2010

One thing...

... leads to another. So Spargeltarzan (meaning asparagus like tarzan = my spouse), Noergeltante (= one who whines) and Maulgesicht (= pouty face) have left for real wilderness hiking in the Berkshires and I thought I could be very, very busy and get a lot of projects done around the house. Went to the orange big box home improvement store that I loathe, but that is around the corner and varnished the bathroom vanity table, which I built from Mahogany 5 years ago. Made me notice the lights and that I have not yet finished the lights in HALF A DECADE - omg - maybe tomorrow - ... so off to the next project: shorten the barstools in the kitchen. Boy, that looks complicated, leave if for tomorrow. So I decide to do just one simple thing before sitting down by myself with a glass of wine and a chick flick.

After living for 42 years without a microwave, I can do pretty much without it. Therefore this huge appliance is annoying my sense of space in the kitchen and has to leave said space. Since a fore mentioned family members might want to use it every now and then, I thought we could put it in the laundry room, which is about the same distance to the stove in the kitchen. Off I go, get some supports for shelves - take down the mirror and what do I see? The people who started this pile of crooked wood that we call house, cut out the wall paper behind the mirror. Why? Well I have no idea why! But it kind of makes it clear that this 1971 wall paper needs to go and actually, the sink too. But if I do that, then the floor needs changing and........ I just wanted to move the microwave out of the kitchen, not do a full laundry room remodel.

So I just left the microwave where it is, closed the door to the laundry room and settled down for a nice chick flick, until the DVD player decided to be picky again and chose a different movie. I watched Premonition and thought it was quite good, surprisingly anyway and such a non Hollywood ending, maybe because the director is European? And just as a side note, if one is not hungry for dinner and then has a glass of Riesling - boy, that one glass felt like inhaling a full bottle - Good Night!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

hilarious...

... how much I am writing, isn't it? I found out that I barely breathe at night, leaving me sleep and oxygen deprived and VERY tired at all times. Now I know that it is not a tumor though, that is turning my brain to mush. I have ever oh so slowly turned into a zombie and to me it is absolutely clear, that zombies probably do not make for good writers. On the other hand, it can be fun to write about zombies... but while my brain is still in it's fried stage, I shall pour another glass of Riesling and watch some Nova or Frontline or similar smart television and wait with the tales of moose encounters, sleep studies and achievement of cosmic balance.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

twisted world of writing

Basically one of the reasons I started to blog was that I wanted to get in the habit of writing daily. Another reason was to get the 50.000 bad words out that everybody carries inside them according to my husband. The very strange thing is, since I have become really serious about writing and write regularly (and take classes), my blog has completely dried up. Twisted somehow, isn't it? I have been reading some blogs though, were people just write short little things, snippets of life, more than a facebook update, but not a full article type piece of writing that seems to be typical for me. I like that, I should try that, just throw things out there.

So there!