Yesterday I went to the museum, and let me guided through
the exhibition of a forgotten artist. Her work is stunning and
her life is so sad - somehow I could feel for her.

Afterwards I went to the Cathedral - up to the tower for the
first time. The view is amazing, even if it was still cloudy
when I was up there. Here are some of the pics I took and
you could see more here.

Back home I was hungry, but didn't got anything to cook
quickly, as I planned to get my hands on soba. Thus my
hunger has to wait. Making soba is not as it looks like (I
read some instructions and watched a few videos the night
before). The mixing part is not the problem, as I am used to
kneed my noodle dough with my hands, but the rolling and
cutting parts are tricky. I tried to roll it out using the pasta
machine, but I was afraid, that it'd break, so I went back
to do it by hand. As the result my soba was all short and
thick ^_^

In my soba:

180g buckwheat flour

20g corn starch

300ml hot water (or 250ml? add little by little)

a pinch of salt (normally, it doesn't belong to soba, I think)

a pinch of matcha powder

I just couldn't help it - each of those fabrics on the left photo
were calling my name :-P Only at home I got some vague
ideas, how to assemble one with another. Now I need to
overcome myself and draft some patterns...



Last week I went to our local "city potter" to see her current
work. She had a lovely cup - matte black on the outside and
white glaze on the inside -, but I was actually looking for a
big cup. She did have some big cups, but not in the right
colors. I wanted white/bright inner glaze (I love to see the
color of the tea I drink). She then offered me to make a big
cup in a similar design as the small cup. She told me it's a
500 ml cup (but I can actually even pour 750 ml liquid in).

It's really HUGE, but it's perfect for me. So practical!
No longer making (too much) tea in a teapot (and forget
about it for a while, that it's already cold when I want to
fill my cup in) from now on *huge grin*

these days

Some of you might have noticed, that my jewelry shop
is back alive again. Just re-filled them with my expired
stock, but as I announced on my profile, I will start adding
new items in June. Even without any sales yet, it feels good
to be back in business.



Tomorrow I'm going to take photos of the first items for
my art shop and list them one by one. The past days I found
myself often stuck in bookkeeping the ideas instead of creating
itself. Sometimes creativity flow could be almost as bad as
creativity drain, no? I haven't got any idea yet, how to
photograph them, so I'll play around to figure it out. And the
packaging stuff haven't arrived yet. But I don't want to wait
any longer. I'm way excited and curious of the reactions (if
there are any LOL - it's hard to stand out on Etsy nowadays)
and alone this feeling is worth to open a fresh new shop IMO.

*

BTW.. for those of you who live in Germany, pull out your
(knit) needles and materials and be part of this action.

*

Last night I pulled out Epi's CD, which I bought three years
ago. My favorite song is the Great Eagle Dance. You could
listen to it on the right menu bar, but if you had a chance to
watch him, go for it - the music is enchanting.

*

Thank you for the peeps, who welcomes me back by putting
my items in their treasuries!
It's the little things... by wavyshell
... blue sky, bright sun ... by SoFino
Into The Forest by StemDesigns
Treasury time by tricotaria
Sunray by JKphotography

Haven't got the time to make new treasuries myself. Hopefully
in June :)

music meets theater

I watched them last Sunday in the theater. Nice play with
great actors (as well as musicians and singers in persons -
really great voices!).



Two of them have another performance this Sunday. Too bad, I
won't make it - hopefully next time.

tragedy

Today is a sad day for my city. We lost one of the
historical houses in the middle of the city. This morning
I saw the fire department and police working there and
the pedestrian area was closed spaciously, but I didn't
see fire or smoke (the sky was pretty foggy since last
evening). So, I was shocked to see (from the end of the
street) that the house on the corner (where I used to buy
shoes for my son) was already collapsed, when I looked
at that closed area after work in the afternoon. This and
any other tragedies always remind me to be grateful for
what I have.

Hope, you all stay safe and healthy! *hugs*

next week...

On Tuesday Dec 21st, 2010 on 8 pm we have a gig
with another choir at the Theater. You can have a peek
of what we're going to sing (but without the band) on
YouTube now.

a dance

I've uploaded some more videos of the Indonesian
Night on YouTube. This one is my favorite dance ever
since I was a child. It's called Tari Saman, originally
from Aceh.

a medley

After hesitating for a while, I finally made an account
on YouTube. I'm not a video maker and my equipment
is pretty poor (it's only my digital camera with low res).
But I want to share some highlights of the Malam
Indonesia (Indonesian Night) with others, as I think,
the students, their tutors and all other participants
have done a fabulous work in a short time.

This is the first video I've uploaded. It's the final medley
of Sigulempong (Nord Sumatra) and Yamko Rambe Yamko
(Papua). I've missed a bit of the beginning, but I hope
you enjoy.


Happy weekend to you!

a gallery visit

Constance has several museums and even more
galleries, but I only visit one quite regularly: the
Wessenberg gallery. They show mostly different
collections, which all related to Lake Constance
(and wider surroundings) or to Wessenberg. Not
only that, many of the rooms in the gallery are
also worth a closer look.





In the gallery itself there are two rooms, which belongs
to the local art club and they often shows interesting
modern works of international artists. At the moment
(till Sept 27th) they show the work of a young Chinese
artist Zhou Jinhua. I recommend you to go to his
exhibition, if you got the chance. I really love it. It's
one of the most gorgeous exhibition I've visited there
(I've visited it twice and am considering to go there
with my son, even though the theme is quite 'brutal'
for a kid...).


On the way to the Zhou's exhibition. It reads: only the
distance allows a clear view to the society's soul.


One of his installations.


You can find it again on his painting on the wall (which
he has painted at the vernissage, the attendant has
told me).

I really enjoyed the time there. Art is food for soul!

experience, dream and fact

Saturday was a busy day for my son. In the morning
he gathered the things he'd like to sell. Then he finished
ironing all the laundry except for my skirt. Then he had
a soccer tourney. Not much time left after that. We
packed the toys and went to the city to the flea market.
Two hands full of goodies. We had to go by bus, so we
just couldn't take more with us. At 6 pm we set up his
stand - an old doormat.



First he looked a bit absent, as he was kind of unsure
(I never stayed on his stand longer than 5 minutes,
but also never away for too long ;)). After the first sales
he was motivated, in half an hour he already sold half
of his inventory and earned 25 Euro. Later on he got
bored, he told me. Nobody wanted to buy his big crane
(which would bring the biggest income). They didn't
even try to bargain, he said (he was ready for it, as he
had written a list, where he had his upper and lower
price limit). But when we packed the stuff together at
about 9:45 pm he had 32 Euro in his pocket, so he has
reached his first goal. He was over the moon. Me too :)
I'm sure, it'll be one of those unforgettable experiences
for him :)


More photos of the flea market here.

For me it was the first time in my life, that I could
happily strolling through the flea market without the
sad feeling (my son was picked up by his father, so
that I could stroll freely this morning). I hummed all
the way long. I even made jokes with some strangers.
I've found the old me again :)

And of course, I've found some treasures. Last evening
I've bought a floor lamp from the 60s with an oversized
lamp shade. I don't really like the shade, even if I like
the pleats (I'm going to make another shade - maybe in
origami style), and at home I found out that only one of
the two socket is working, but I really love the stand -
made of brass and wood). Can you imagine me in a
overcrowded bus with the lamp? I was an attraction *lol*
People were smiling at me, some were a bit irritated and
some wanted to have it themselves - I told them, I'd sell
it for 100 Euro (I got it for 1 ..hihi.. no way I'm going to
sell it!).



This morning I found a beautiful old big mirror. Actually
I wanted to find some smaller mirrors. We have one
dark corner in the kitchen. I thought, some mirrors
among some art would make the wall look brighter and
nice. But as I saw this mirror I just couldn't stand it. It
could be from the 20s (anybody knows?). It used to be
a dresser mirror, so the bottom is not so nice, but who
cares ;) I love it! One of my dreams since about 12 years
was to have either a tiffany window or a mirror at one
end of the dining table. My dream just came true today
(okay, maybe in the next days, when it's hung ;))!!

Before I went to the market again in the afternoon to
visit some friends, as I promised them (and guess what..
it's raining for the 3rd time and it rained hail again *sigh*
I was wet to the skin!), I made a few beads!! Yes, I did
it!! I was (as always) worried, when I restart again, but
luckily it all went well :)

Of course I tried the flowers in the first place - I (or
better said: my hands) haven't forgot how to do it *phew*
Now they only need some more routines. I was somehow
confused and dipped a hot glass rod in the cold water
instead of the hot tool *lol* Will show you the results
tomorrow (hope they are worth to show ;)).

konstanz

Let me show you some photos of my 'walk' (with my
bike ;)) in Konstanz yesterday.


This must be one of the most gazed houses in town, but
I never care about that. My eyes normally go straight
to the right: the balconies. Such a beautiful place!!!


An unremarkable back side, but.. what a house with so
many lovely details. No wonder they call this part of the
city Paradies (paradise).




There were another flea market on Sunday on a city
part, where I've never been before. It was just next to
the border line to the Switzerland. So idyllic and rural.


You can find old and new side by side - even on a house.


On the way back home.

Wishing you a happy, fresh week!

march

March is almost over. Did you notice, that I was VERY
chatty this month? 31 posts including this one - my
record!! So, I'll try to keep it short this time ;)

I wanna show you the video taken by my boy at the open
studio day we've visited last Saturday. He was attracted
by the feet :)


More photos are to be found here and here

I didn't take any photos of the inside of the studios, but
I do wanna share my most fave artists there:
Dale C. Schaefer (too bad his website is still empty),
Matthias Holländer and Susanne Kiebler. You can see
some photos taken by another visitor here.