Autumn Faces

I've taken up clay again, and here is the first batch of faces, still unpainted and not quite dry yet.

Just love this earthy warm colour. My hands were all red, though, and good-bye manicure!

Lecte ;)



Stained

Making Halloween cards is a dirty business :)

Lecte ;)

Hot and Spicy

I've been looking for some pictures to illustrate the phrase "I am dancing" for my 7-graders. We are reviewing some tenses, you see :)

...And then I encountered my long-forgotten love, and spent twice as much time as was actually necessary, just browsing through the photos of all these amazing Flamenco dancers.

I've never danced myself, but I love/lovelove this dance of the flames.

So here are some photos and a video from the Riverdance performance.

None of these belong to me, the pictures and video have been found on the Internet.
Lecte ;)

Misty October

Autumn colours are so gorgeous and overwhelming, I don't seem to have enough eyesight, enough breath and soul to take all this beauty in, and just keep wondering around, like a lunatic, wide-eyed and staring.

It was a moist, foggy day, with so much water in the air, we seemed to be floating it a small aquarium, decorated with gold leaves.

 SOme of the last flowers, sof and soggy, with delicate, almost transparent petals.

Orange and ochre filled the air, as we we were floating slowly towards home with warm cats and hot coffee.

Lecte ;)

Not as hard as it seems

It is an interesting phase I seem to be going through.

Have you ever noticed, that when hardly pressed, you are capable of much, much more than you could have ever expected of yourself?

The amount of work which  Ihave to do (work in a very broad sense), the number of responsibilities has definitely become smaller, and yet - it seems to demand all of my time and strength.

 - The kids at school are, actually, angels, The worst things I've encountered so far is loud talk, which can not even begin to be compared to the belching contest or bringing knives and Cannabis to the class, which used to be part of everyday curriculum back at the good old trade school.

So every time I get so very much upset and nervous about somebody misbehaving, I pause, sigh and ask myself: "However did I survive back then?"

- There are now much less responsibilities, or, rather, they are concentrated around myself only, so that it's only me and my cats I must take care of, and that has lifted a gread burden from my shoulders. Yeat, there always seems SO MUCH MORE to do! And there never seem to be enough hours in the day.

So every time I get this feeling that I'm not a woman but a Shire horse pulling a well-loaded cart, I pause, stretch my muscles, and ask myself: "However did I se to lift that load back then?"

- The money is there, but never too much, and not all whims can be satisfied at once. I'm still saving for that easel.

So every time I feel an excessive lightness in my wallet, I pause, and smile, and ask myself: "However did I manage to support a family back then?"

And all these questions give me confidence, because if I had been able to do something that hard once, I shouldn't feel troubled with the smaller mishaps and all these tiny inconveniences today.

But, my God, how did I ever manage?

Lecte ;)

Cascading Gold

The weather has changed so abruptly; the rain pats on my windowsills all day, both at work and at home, where I keep it away from myself by lighting rum and lime-scented candle and drinking hot tea with honey.

Me and the cats, all four of us, sleep together on my bed, a purring snuffling pile on top and under the woollen plaid.

A week ago, however, things were very different - blazing and festive, with layers and layers of golden ruffled leaves streaming down from the branches of maples, and birches, and linden trees.

 

This shot makes me think of a tiny miniature model of a world - the moss like faraway pine forsets under the fantastic golden skies.

Glorious gold was mixed with royal crimson, and all that - on the brightest azure background.

We walked to the river, lazy dense water, like molten metal, carrying the leaves into the sea.

Under our feet, the fallen leaves, brownish, some dry, some damp and rotting, smelled deliciously.

...And only the pines remained unaltered, perfectly green.

Have a cosy autumn, everyone

Lecte ;)







Shattered

 Shattered glass, shining in the october sun like so many jewels.

Bits and pieces

Some bits and pieces of this August and September, things I've just picked up on my way.

A tiny bit of the Baltic sea.

Some 19/th centiry windmills from the open/air museum. These are the original buildings, taken apart, transported from where they had originally been built, and reassembled on the territory of the museum.

Last flowers \I photographed in August, bright and strongly scented.

AUtumn apples in a bowl on my table, bright as the setting sun on a windy evening.

The tree behind my window, with the mass of its leaves heaving up like multicoloured waves. It feels like looking at a tempestuous sea sometimes.

Texture: a rustic fence. 

Texture: onions somd on the village market, where we bout honey, brean with cherries and fresh goat cheese.

Red/red/red

Leaves sptinkled with rain.

Lecte ;)

New Home

This summer's culmination was my moving into a new flat, thus ending a certain period in my life, which has lasted for almost four years.
The place seems like a dream come true: perched high above the street, the windows facing West, two balconies and no other windows immediately opposite my own, so that I haven't even got curtains yet, and feel absolutely comfortable nonetheless.
Isn't it funny how the wishes are fulfilled? This is a home I had first imagined for myself more than seven years ago, and my world was then very different. Now, all of a sudden, I get it all - quite unexpected but correct in every detail. The same principle works with other things too, I've noticed, so recently I've been trying to be as precise as possible when making wishes, meticulously discussing every detail, as if signing a contract with the World. I wonder how this works out - the other side seems to have better lawyers, all the same :)

The first two things I did after arriving at the new place, was hang the wind chimes on the balcony and light the ginger-scented candle. It seemed the right thing to do, somehow. The three cats came when everything was ready for them, terrified and meowing desperately, so that I wasn't able to get any sleep at all that first night. They are all right now, though, the fastest-adapting creatures I have ever seen.

I expected to feel sad and empty somehow, after all, this is the first time in my life when
I'm living completely alone. Instead, I feel surprisingly complacent, as if my mind has simply
turned off the emotions, which used to run excessively, like too much water. I wonder where
this will lead me.


Also, I have eventually developed an abnormal hunger for Austen's novels. Doctor, is this curable? )))

Lecte ;)