*Gentle September days

{Music: Drøm – Tankeflukt}

September went by far too quickly. I finished another crochet project, worked with clay again and dedicated my time especially to reading lots of book, as it seems just the perfect time for it. When the days are rainy and it starts to become more and more cozy inside and the air smells fresh and clear, then it is time to lit the first candles and welcome those moody autumn days.

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*black bird with a key

This bird was the first thing I painted after my long break. I did not bring it to paper, because I felt like painting so strongly, but because this image was sitting in my head for so long and it was good to let it go in this way. I have painted another picture since then, but still do not feel the inner motivation to paint again which is sometimes hard to accept. Art is something I can not truly force, if I do for a longer time, it only happens that I get blocked even more and longer. This bird has the key in contrary to me. Maybe he will show me the way someday.

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*Everything touched by mist | part 2

The overall atmosphere in this picture series is exactly what I was longing for after this summer. On the second last photo there is this glow around my body, especially around my head which came as a surprise. The tree on the last picture was gigantic! I don't know if you can see it, but there is a swing hanging from it. Imaging having this tree in your garden or near your home! This must be truly wonderful! Whenever I see such old tree souls I think of how much better our world would be if we had more trees like this all around us. I read that there was even a time when they cut down especially very old trees, they believed it would be something good to do, but later they found out how stupid it was. Healthy trees of several hundred of years age!

Yesterday in the early morning hours I was leaving the house again for making a long walk in the mist, this time the sun did not come out though and it was drizzling a bit. I saw several deers, they were very close and a curious little bird followed me along my way for some time. I did not meet a single human soul out there, they probably were still sleeping or enjoying their Saturday morning coffee.

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*Everything touched by mist | part 1

I can not repeat myself often enough, a truly magical time of the year has started and it inspires me much more than in summer to take my camera out, leave the house in the very early morning hours to play in the mist and to wait for the moment when the first sunbeams are starting to touch the trillions of dew drops that are glittering like little crystals on the wild grasses, flowers and spider webs. Sometimes the sun hangs like a moon in the misty sky over the dark conifer tree tops and the day seem never to really start. But today the sun came out and I was catching some moments with my camera. Those analogue pictures though have been from our little getaway, you might recognize the beautiful landscape already form my last movie. Some more will follow soon!

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*Into the mist we disappeared

{Music: I lied (Lord Huron cover) – Ocie Elliott}

At the beginning of September we broke out into the wilderness of northern Austria. The weather was very moody and it rained a lot – one day we woke up to this beautiful blanket of mist that kept me under a charm immediately and it was clear that a new time of the year has started.

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*home is where the flowers grow and your hands are busy

After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

And company doesn’t mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

And presents aren’t promises,

And you begin to accept your defeats

With your head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today

Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn…

That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure…

That you really are strong

And you really do have worth…

And you learn and learn…

With every good-bye you learn.

{Jorge Luis Borges}

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*summer memories

Just some fleeting summer memories –

dried flowers,

the scent of warm air on the fields,

soap bubbles all around,

lifting secret dreams up to the sky.

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*late summer in garden & greenhouse

Every time when I recently picked a cucumber I thought it was the last one and then suddenly I spot a new one to my surprise. Even when summer was super hot, the warm season was too short to bring all my tomatoes to ripen. I wish for some more to turn red, but the temperatures dropped quite low already, last Friday we had ice on the car, so it won't be ideal anymore I guess. Also I always have trouble to get seeds from certain plants as it freezes too early. The zinnias are still blooming like there is no tomorrow, very much to my amazement! And also the cosmos flowers, but the rainstorms broke many of them off, so I had to remove those. 

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*more ceramic pieces

Some more high-fire pieces that I have not showed here yet. I like how they turned out, especially the little bowls with the flower painting and the snail. What do you think? It is really tricky to paint thin lines on raw pottery, the paint is so thick and the surface soaks it up so quickly, but somehow it is a nice challenge! Also you never know how the colors react in the kiln, I had a really pretty set of little plates with bird paintings where the colors faded too much in the high temperatures which was a pity!

Anyway, September is coming to an end already, it went by incredible fast! Yesterday packed my clay out for the first time in months and made a vase, maybe I can make some more pieces today, but the garden is also waiting and a bunch of other responsibilities.

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*fluffy seeds in the wind

Softness and harshness

are so close to each other in nature.

I often think about that.

Like with this thistle: 

So full of thorns,

but when it starts to develop seeds

it turns into this incredible soft ball

which is so nice to touch,

like a fluffy bunny tail.

On that day I took out the bike for the first time after months, the sunflowers were already withered and the old farmer that I met on my way showed me his wonderment that I wanted to take pictures of them when they were not "pretty" anymore. I had a hard time explaining him that I like this advanced stage of sunflowers and he also thought that I'm going to build up a tent when I got my tripod out of the bag which was really funny. I can see how the tripod has similarities to the rods of a tent though.

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