Bye bye September

Not much leaves left already on the chestnut tree...













"For the days dwindle down
to a precious few -
September... November..."

A little useful sewing...

"There is only one reason for an individual to
side-step to the useless side: the fear of a defeat
on the useful."

(Alfred Adler)

Turtle almost finished

"What we see before us is just one tiny part of the world.
We get into the habit of thinking, this is the world, but
that's not true at all. The real world is a much darker
and deeper place than this, and much of it is occupied by
jellyfish and things."

(Haruki Murakami, borrowed at Whiskey River)

Poetry pillow

... with words from "Die Nacht/The night", a poem
by Wolfgang Borchert:

Nimm, dunkelblaue Frau, die ohne Ruhe sind, in
Deinen gnadenreichen Schoss

Take, dark blue lady, the restless ones into
your gracious lap

I´m going to sew it onto a small pillowcase I
pinched from a Lufthansa plane years ago...

Silent saturday...

A minimalistic lady

She´s wearing a tea-beetroot-iron dyed skirt
(and she somehow reminds me of Meryl Streep in
Julie & Julia...)


"Is there anything better than to be longing for
something, when you know it is within reach?"

(Greta Garbo, born September 18, 1905)

A pinker shade of grey...

The (rather fashionable it seems) combination of
greys and neutrals and a soft dull red or powdery pink
- or whatever it is - I find quite appealing...













... so I thought: why not try some DIY (beetroot peel,
black tea and an iron-pill)













... and it turned out - ha!













GREY (more or less...)

At the press of a button

Another attempt at advanced button use...
On the occasion of the felt-plus-buttons-object-brooch
from last friday Susan at ArtSpark Theatre suggested
to place buttons in a nest of washer-frayed fabrics
(which appeals to me a lot as long as others do it,
Robin at Rough around the Edges for example...)

But the nestbuilding virus had settled, a flowery nest
was constructed - and, to proof I can be brave, a little
burning of edges was done (not again, don´t think so -
what an unpleasant smell, fabric burning...)

With buttons, the thing looked coochi-poochi, so I
added some fabric bubbles (and one small old cotton
button) instead...

Big sister

The little big nosed guy from a while ago
got a big sister...















"als meine schwester den hasen
penelope nannte ihr freund in blauen
hosen sein spirriger oberkörper
nackt am stall also käfig im haus
da am kamin stand zwischen den
spillerzehen die weiche pfote
braungoldenen hasenfells hielt
einen wunsch - als da meine
schwester ganz ärztin den hund
streichelnd sagte narbe ist
was sich vom verzweifelten
zusammenwachsen
nicht dehnt
dachte da jemand
lächelnd in der backe
oh schludrige freier

als meine schwester
in blauen hosen
am kamin stand
braungoldenen hasenfells
ganz ärztin sagte
was sich vom verzweifelten
nicht dehnt
lächelnd in der backe
penelope nannte ihren freund
nackt am stall also käfig im haus
die weiche phote hielt
einen wunsch
streichelnd sagte narbe ist
zusammenwachsen
dachte da jemand
freier"

(Ulrike Draesner: penelope)

when my sister called the rabbit
penelope her friend in blue
pants his slouching torso
naked by the stall that is cage in the house
there by the fireplace stood between the
skinny toes the soft paw
golden-brown rabbit fur held
a wish — when there my
sister quite the doctor petting
the dog said scar is
what from its desparate
growing together
does not stretch

someone then thought
smiling in cheek
oh scruffy suitor

when my sister
in blue pants
stood by the fireplace
golden-brown rabbit fur
quite the doctor said
what from the desparate
does not stretch
smiling in cheek
penelope called her friend
naked by the stall that is cage in the
house
the soft paw held
a wish
petting said scar is
growing together
someone then thought
suitor

(transl. by A. Shields)

Silent saturday...

Buttoned up

What to do with all those buttons...?













Since they seem to like close company...













Whether it wants to become a brooch...













Or to be just an object, I don´t know yet...

Forgotten memories

Here´s a nice vintage patchwork-style
embroidered tablecloth I bought (for 1 €...)



























































"We do not remember days, we remember moments.
The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten."

(Cesare Pavese, born September 9, 1908)

Welcome to the autumn winds

"Nicht neu kann sein was du beginnst –
denn immer nimmst du was dir längst gegeben
und gibst es hin:
wie in der Liebe da es mir gebricht
an jeder Kenntnis: rot wie die Buchen Laub verstreun
maßlos am Wegrand wo ich schon sehr frühe ging …
und kannte nicht den Weg
und kenn ihn jetzt noch nicht
und kenne nicht das Kind des Schatten mir vorausläuft
und weiß nichts von der Sonne die ihr rotes Gold
dem Blattwerk einbrennt.
Und weiß nicht mehr den Herbst
der ernst in meinem Rücken ging und dem ich Schatten
war: stets neu entworfner Schatten ungezählter Herbste."

(Wolfgang Hilbig: Blätter und Schatten/Leaves and Shadows)

It can´t be new what you begin/ for you always take what
has been given you already/ and go on giving it away:
as in love, where I´m short of knowledge: red like the
beech-trees scatter leaves/immoderate at the roadside where
from early on I went.../ and did not know the way/and do not
know it till today/and do not know the child whose shadow
runs ahead of me/ and do not know about the sun, burning
her red gold into the foliage./ And do not know autumn
any more/ who solemnly walked behind my back and whose
shadow I have been: innumerable autums`shadow, always
sketched anew.

Silent saturday...

Beings who walk other spheres

Here´s something with one of last saturday´s
blotches, which turned out to be mostly fishbirds
and turtles...





































"The world below the brine;
Forests at the bottom of the sea — the branches and leaves,
Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds —
the thick tangle, the openings, and the pink turf,
Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white,
and gold — the play of light through the water,
Dumb swimmers there among the rocks—coral, gluten, grass,
rushes — and the aliment of the swimmers,
Sluggish existences grazing there, suspended, or slowly
crawling close to the bottom,
The sperm-whale at the surface, blowing air and spray,
or disporting with his flukes,
The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy
sea-leopard, and the sting-ray;
Passions there — wars, pursuits, tribes—sight in those
ocean-depths — breathing that thick-breathing air,
as so many do;
The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air
breathed by beings like us, who walk this sphere;
The change onward from ours, to that of beings who walk
other spheres."

(Walt Whitman: World Below the Brine)

Checkmate, again

This little thing Checkmate reminded me
that I thought of teaching myself chess
with a thrift store book and an old travel
chess set someone gave me last year...













But life seems rather tiresome as it is...













... or isn´t she yawning...?
(seen today in the Botanical Gardens)