Hedgehog Love

When I was a little girl, I spent a few summers in a seaside cottage complete with a vineyard and vegetable patches. A family of hedgehogs were frequent visitors. It's amazing how our childhood experiences shape our tastes. I never got over my adoration of these little prickly guys.

via phrenophile

via BlueLunarRose

Look at those Dumbo ears!

via HyperViper

via Cuteoverload

via BlueLunarRose
This one looks like he came out of an Arthur Rackham illustration,
with those Elf ears and sharp little claws.

I'm Back!

This blog has been sadly neglected for a whole year! How time does fly by! There's so much I wanted to share and post about here, but then life got in the way.
Keeping up two blogs turned out to be more of an effort than I bargained for.
Still, I have a soft spot for this blog and though I've been neglecting it for a whole year, I would like to try and revive it. Big emphasis on "TRY".
I wish I could tell you that I spent a year being fabulously creative, productive and accomplished, but unfortunately that wouldn't be accurate. Somewhere between trying to scrape up a living, getting kids ready for school, doing laundry, nursing colds and flu among other ailments, making dinners (stop laughing), doing homework with kids, browsing the Internet and nagging husband, I have failed to evolve into that amazing, infinitely creative and awe inspiring individual I have hoped to become.
Maybe this year will be better than the last...?

My gratitude to my one remaining reader for staying loyal.

Enjoy them while they're little

Every morning when my five year old son gets on the school bus, he quickly makes his way to the window so he can see me wave to him. Enthusiastically and without any reserve or inhibitions he waves back to me till the bus drives out of site.
My son is pretty independent and likes to be in control and do as much as he can by himself. He also has very little patience for physical displays of affection. However, when it comes to leaving me for a couple of hours, suddenly he becomes affectionate.
Every day when I wave back to him, I get emotional, thinking that it won't be long till he will be embarrassed to wave to his mommy from a school bus window.

Parents, enjoy your kids while they're still yours! Develop a relationship with them while they still trust you and love you unconditionally. Then maybe, if you're lucky, your kids will have a little soft spot for you when they pass those cute years.

Winter Wonder

Winterscapes by Uriy Ivukin

Winter morning

by Alexander Pushkin

Translated into English by Mikhail Kneller

Cold frost and sunshine: a day of wonder!

     But you, my friend, are still in slumber--
Wake up, my beauty, time belies:
You dormant eyes, I beg you, broaden
Toward the northerly Aurora,
As though a northern star arise!

Recall last night, the snow was whirling,
Across the sky, the haze was twirling,
The moon, as though a pale dye,
Emerged with yellow through faint clouds.
And there you sat, immersed in doubts,
And now, -- just take a look outside:

The snow below the bluish skies,
Like a majestic carpet lies,
And in the light of day it shimmers.
The woods are dusky. Through the frost
The greenish fir-trees are exposed;
And under ice, a river glitters.

The room is lit with amber light.
And bursting, popping in delight
Hot stove still rattles in a fray.
While it is nice to hear its clatter,
Perhaps, we should command to saddle
A fervent mare into the sleight?

And sliding on the morning snow
Dear friend, we'll let our worries go,
And with the zealous mare we'll flee.
We'll visit empty ranges, thence,
The woods, which used to be so dense
And then the shore, so dear to me.

Aleksander Repin

Vladimir Krulov

Vladimir Zhdanov

In the Army

As I was passing through the kids room, my son's toys he had set up for a game, caught my attention. I was so amused I just had to take these pictures. Apparently the kid was one man short and so Cinderella (borrowed from my daughter) was recruited. I love how my son has no inhibitions about a woman in an evening gown driving a tank.

Doesn't she look empowered?

City Folk on the Farm

Us city folk take immense pleasure in all kinds of "uncity-like" activities like going to a farm where we can remember what air minus exhaust fumes smells like, hear the cows moo and the sheep bleat and partake in wholesome activities such as picking peaches,

(Peaches grow on trees? Whoah!)

Climbing trees,

Climbing the haystack pyramid,

Climbing fences ( it seems a lot of climbing is involved)

Watching a goat climb a bench (this naughty goat belonged on the other side of the fence).

I hear they call it Gourmet

Lately husband and I got into trying new breads and cheeses. It all went ok until husband brought home olive bread and herb de provence munstarella cheese (what the heck is munstarella? Is it muenster cheese mixed with mozzarella? Can they do that or is it breaking some cheesy code of ethics?).
The only word I can think of to describe the smell and taste of olive bread is FUNKY. I found that the taste improved if I held my breath before taking a bite. Now the cheese.....
Have you ever contemplated what that piece of unidentified food left in the fridge for months might taste like? Well, kinda like that with an aftertaste of rosemary (no I don't taste unidentified spoilage from our fridge, I just have a good imagination). Now slapped on top of the olive bread...gulp, I believe this is what they call gourmet. Water please?

Creepy Photography at it's Best

Some more provoking and totally creepy photography from Eugenio Recuenco.
I'm so obsessed with his photography, I think I'll keep posting it bit by bit until I'll exhaust his entire portfolio.

Looking Back on Summer

This morning I woke up feeling chilled and with a stiff neck. I looked at the window and there was no sun shining through the curtains. As I tried to claim a little more of the blanket from husband, I heard my son sneezing in the next room. Suddenly the depressing realization sank in. It's not summer anymore! I mean I knew it wasn't but I think due to mostly pleasant weather up to now I tried to be in denial of the fact. I know cold weather will come, it comes every year. And every year I bitch about it and lament the passing of summer. Beautiful, colorful, bright, warm summer. Some people complain about the heat. Not me. I will take heat over cold any day. Of course if I had a choice it would be 75 F all year round, but Summer, I will take you any way you are!
I love summer for so many reasons. Summer means freedom, fun, adventure and best of all - Water! Water always makes me happy. Looking at it, listening to it, swimming in it. Just show me some blue water and you're guaranteed to see a great big blissful smile on my face.

Experimenting On With Kids

Farmer's Market

Why is it that Farmer's Market veggies and fruits are always more appealing than store-bought produce? I love walking between the stands at a Farmers Market where veggies are displayed in baskets and burlap sacks and are so vibrant and tasty looking. Did I mention fresh?
Somehow the dormant cook in me always emerges when I touch and smell the produce at the farmers market and I start coming up with all kinds of healthful and elaborate menus these veggies can contribute to. I fantasize about one day having my own little vegetable patch in my back yard of a house I don't yet own. I can see my kids walking around with big watering cans, feeling important and delighted at being given a part in the food growing process. Aaah fantasies. For now I'll content myself with the colors, smells and tastes of the Farmer's Market.

Practicing my Stitches

I've come to a point in my life where I started trying new things. Anything and everything that I've always been putting on hold because I was either too busy or the new task intimidated me. Maybe it's turning thirty (eeek) that had this effect on me. I began feeling that time is flying by so fast and there's so much I want to do. What am I waiting for?
I've been meaning to take up embroidery as it's something I always wanted to learn. I liked embroidery for aesthetic reasons, but it never occurred to me how therapeutic the process of embroidering is, until I tried it. I got Doodle Stitching and Woolly Embroidery and was surprised how easy it was to learn different techniques from these books. I love the process of embroidering! It calms me down, which for me is reason enough to keep doing it and in the end I have the good feeling of having made something with my own hands.
My two kids watched me embroider and wanted to try it too, so I got them blunt tapestry needles and their own embroidery hoops. There's something very endearing about a four year old boy embroidering in bed in his pajamas, his face scrunched up in concentration.
So now I have one thing scratched off my "Just do it" list, but the list is still so long...