A place in the rain

Turn off the TV and turn off the light
Turn off the street lamps as well
Turn off the billboards that scream through the night
And dream the policemen to Hell
Close all the windows and close all the doors
Close all the shutters and blinds
Close down the churches and pray to the whores
Lay down and then close your eyes
It's amazing what comes into view
As we're finally breaking the chains
When the temperature rises
We'll go to our place in the rain
Take down the pictures and take out the trash
Take up the tattered old rugs
Take up the mattress and count all the cash
And laugh with the last of the drugs
Burn all the papers and burn all the wood
Burn what we can't understand
Run up a flag for the old neighbourhood
Sit back and then take my hand
It's amazing what lovers can do
With just a kiss and a glass of champagne
When the rivers run dry
We can go to our place in the rain
Pay off the piper and pay all the bills
Pay for the getaway car
Blow out the candles and head for the hills
Pray that we make it that far
Run from the poison and run from the flames
Run from the maddening crowd
Laugh at the whispers of who'll take the blame
And sing all the sinners out loud
It's amazing what crazy can do
When every good citizen's sane
When heaven's a desert
We'll go to our place in the rain
It's amazing what comes into view
When you just connect your heart back to your brain
When heaven's a desert
We'll go to our place in the rain

"A place in the rain", Joe Jackson from the album RAIN

January 20th, 2009

... inauguration day of Obama! The world is watching... And so will we!
But also: Daddy's birthday!! Double hurray!


The girls have been really busy in anticipation of their Daddy's birthday. Last week they've secretly made this banner, a tradition by now in our household. I love the little details. Did you see the glasses? A little inside joke, as K. has been complaining about his sight lately. They found it hilarious when he couldn't read the instructions on a package of rice noodles last week. Hence, the glasses!



Also last week, they've made this painting. Together, we browsed through "The weekend artist"-book to find the concept. They decided to use the stamping method, using a plastic yogurt cup and an empty spice jar. M. came up with the idea of adding crosses -- kisses! -- in the center. Doesn't it look great? I only helped them painting the background. Everything else is theirs - including the choice of colors! Of course, they couldn't wait giving it, excited as they were, so he got the painting over the weekend, as an early gift.

Me, however, I didn't come up with anything yet, I'm afraid...Bad planning, again!

So, what about lunch today? Just the two of us...


Update: I did find something! Cool, isn't it! Thanks to One Pretty Thing I discovered the Obamicon.me site where you can create these. Check it out!

Happy birthday!
Love
xo

The Shaka-train :: revisited

I didn't just have my beach pictures printed at MOO's (see previous post, see for promotional code also) but I also ordered a couple of postcards with the Shaka-train on it. This afternoon I sewed a little pouch to put these and some of the beach postcards in -- everything is ready to be sent off tomorrow to a dear friend in California.
For the print on the front, I played around a little with the original photo (revert the colors, mirror image in order to do the transfer, ...) and then transferred it onto some transparent, stiff fabric I still had.

A fast and easy little project...

My MOO cards arrived...

... and I just love them! I ordered postcard prints of some of my very own beach pictures and I was very pleased with how they came out. I got a little excited, even. Nice print quality on glossy, heavy weight postcard paper. Same quality as the postcards you buy, if not better. I can highly recommend MOO for your picture projects. It was the first time I ordered through them and I will definitely do it again.
And now comes the best part: they sent me a promotional code to share with my friends. If you've never ordered with MOO you'll get 20% off on any one MOO product. But hurry up! The code expires on January 31st.
This is the code you should use: Q29RN8.

With Valentine's day just around the corner, this might be exactly what you need! Good luck!

Wilted green

I did it again. I killed it. The plant, I mean. I don't have green fingers. That's the least thing one could say. I do like plants, though, and flowers. The different shades of green...

Listing all the plants that died under my care (!??) and lawns that turned patchy and the color of rust, would be too painful.
Now, we have only one plant left. I moved it a little closer to the dinner table, so after dinner I can empty the kids' water glasses in its dirt. It didn't grow much since we got it, but it didn't die either.
The only plants that ever worked well with me were the succulents I kept on a small table near our entrance door, back in California. But then, what can go wrong with succulents?
I wonder how they're doing...

Sewing too

"What's so interesting about an apple, bread, a plate and coffee?" That was H. yesterday when she saw me taking this picture. She's right. Nothing. But that wasn't what this picture was about. I just wanted to take a picture of the napkin with the napkin ring her sister made. M. made it the night before. She'd disappeared again in her room, but not to write, read or draw this time, but to sew! And it was a present for ME! Just like that. For no reason. Though initially meant to be a bracelet, we decided to re-purpose it as a napkin ring -- I guess I have big hands. I thought it was really cute. She made it with things she found in her own stash -- the piece of fabric came with a jar of jam someone offered me, the flower she got from her aunt. She even threaded the needle herself.

I think it goes really well with the table set my mom sent me a couple of years ago for my birthday.
So, thank you M.! Thank you so much!

Weekend artist

I hesitated for a long time about posting this picture. But what the heck! I probably made a fool of myself already, anyway! So, here we go. It's there! Right in front of you.
I painted this a while back -- somewhere late November, I believe it was. Originally, I planned this painting as a Christmas gift for K. but I spilled the beans way before the holidays. I had been wanting to try something with paint for the longest time ever. And then I found this book: The Weekend Artist, by Gary Smith. The subtitle says it all: "creative inspiration, techniques and simple projects to unleash your inner artist" (hum). I discovered the use of gel medium and got a little carried away I'm afraid. I used a little (way?) too much of the stuff, I believe, so the right hand side part looks a little too shiny in my opinion and hence made it really tough to photograph. (That and poor light -- but I gave up. Lets label this under beginner's mistakes -- both the gel medium and photograph). It was actually really fun doing. A bit like frosting a cake. I didn't paint it on the weekend, though, but during the week in between cleaning sessions (allowing the paint to dry...). I got inspired by the paintings of Mariangeles Soto-Diaz, artist, friend and former neighbor. I really love her artwork. All of it! You should check it out.

And so now, for the time being, this painting is hanging right in front of where I'm sitting to write this post.
Call it one bare wall covered...