25th January 2013: Package deal

Over Christmas, we had two furry visitors (mum and son) and although they spent a big part if their day playing rather violently - some might even call it fighting - they did not take up a lot of space while sleeping. One chair for two cats was perfectly sufficient:

24th January 2013: Pure Gold

22nd December 2012:

D: "50 years ago today, it was -18*C..."
Me, whispering sarcastically: "Well, if that's not a reason to celebrate!"
D: "... and we were going to get married."

Round of cheers and applause.

If you want to see what 50 years of marriage do to people, there you go:

23th January 2013: Cocktail Mikado

The good thing about our cocktail bar is that there is so much to see and shoot. The downside is that it's mostly too dim to take awesome pictures. So what do we do? We play around with what we have:

22th January: The human touch

For a change from all the snow, a few body parts. And as you see, the actual picture is not as gory as that sounds ... or is it? ;-)

PS: Yes, that's my hand and yes I did this myself.

21th January 2013: On the (h)edge

Snow and more snow - tell me when you've got enough. I know I nearly do:

20th January 2013: Ice curtain

Yes, January should be icey, frost should create art and it should attach right to my skylights:

19th January 2013: A sadist's toys

Going to the dentist's is one of my least favourite past-times. Even a relatively handsome dentist with a twisted sense of humour doesn't really change that and these instruments definitely don't:

18th January 2013: Out in the fields*

This is one of my work places. Ok, not the field as such but the big office building at the edge of the big city right across from it. Pretty cool, hm?

 

* And of course the title of this post is a reference to the awesome song by Gary Moore :-).

17th January 2013: Crystal Leaf

Saw this when I was rushing to work and - of course - had to stop to take a (ok, several) picture:

16th January 2013: Think

Yes, do that. Even in snow.

Psychedelic Snow

It started snowing today. I looked up on my way to work and found it really pretty against the royal blue sky, all the more under a street lamp, and decided to capture it, not expecting quite such a colourful result. And no, I didn't go nuts on special effects again, in fact, all I did was adding some contrast and sharpening for the net.

Incredible India, step one

Valid passport - check, photo - check, filled application - check, fees (do you take cards? only cash? oh! micky, you got 50 bucks for me? thanks, sweets. ok, here you go!) - check. Pick up the visa on Thursday, phase 2 (the ticket) can follow on our way to:

13th January 2013: A taste of India

On Sunday morning, after a voluntarily sleepless night, I made Idli (from a box) and my beloved Coconut Chutney (from scratch, yes yes, applause now!) for my friends and me. Both turned out pretty nicely, so I sent this picture to a bunch of Indian friends:

12th January 2013: Next stop - Cocktailbar

Whenever my friend is in town (which is about a handful times per year), we visit our favourite Australian but Indian owned cocktail bar (we went there one day and after that, never cared to try another) with our favourite barkeeper (who knows that she likes it sweet, me not so much) who makes our favourite drinks (Choco Colada for her, Bacardi Kakadu's Cocktail for me) and chats with us about India and everything. Two downsides to the pleasure: the music is generally horrible to just about bearable and the phone connection is not worth mentioning. The cocktails however ..

11th January 2013: Special Effects IV

Just like medicine, friends should come in small bottles, to take drop by drop whenever you need or miss them:

10th January 2013: Special Effects III

And another photo, processed with the fun new app. It shows my friends' little one, chewing gum ('But don't swallow it, just chew! Understood?' - 'Yes.'), right before he - of course - swallowed it ;-)

9th January 2013: Special Effects II

Am I pushing it a bit too far with this one? Maybe and I'll try to be more realistic again tomorrow but now I just want to. And in my defense: I took the original photo(s) of course.

8th January 2013: Special Effects I

This morning, I had just woken up and crawled out if bed, my friend started sending me pictures, each more fantastically processed than the previous one. I asked her the name of the app (I'll tell you, too if you like, it's free), downloaded it and went to work .. err, play. It's a fun toy and since most blig photos are coming from my phone now anyway, I thought I'd give you people a good dose of special effects.

The first one is a small castle nearby which some of you might know but in its new magic not recognise:

7th January 2013: The salt of life

When I came back from India, my friends and family would ask me what I liked best. Invariably I would say 'the people'. The people are what makes or breaks a place, an event, a day for me. So this post is dedicated to all the people who enrich my life, by the example of two of my friends and a new acquaintance who smuggled himself into the photo:

iQuarium

I was at my friends' again after a rather long time. They're Apple fanatics - iPhones, iPad etc.. you get the picture. The latest addition to their beautiful environment is a stylish little aquarium with two unusually coloured goldfish swimming about prettily. The aquarium itself goes perfectly with the whole i-ambience. Which raises the following question: When did Appple conquer the animal kingdom?