I beg your pardon...

... I never promised you a rose garden. But if I did, it would be the "Rosengarten" (sorry, no English version of the site yet) in Bad Langensalza where you can find:

roses (obviously):






but also delphinium:

unmanned


and manned


and even lavender:


And that's a German rosegarden for you - no flower would dare to break ranks ;-)


An interesting technical aspect about these photos: I accidentally took my 100 mm macro lens only and left the tripod head at home, so I was limited to that focal length and tripodless shooting. I'm not showing you the misses but I still think I nevertheless managed quite a few hits :-).

How do you know you're in...

... Hessen? Simple, just look out for the clues.

The sauce is always green and consists of exactly seven regional herbs:


The cheese is full of music:


The apple wine is called "fabric"*:


.. and its monuments hang high above the streets:


And you can be absolutely certain when you hear the Hessian "anthem".

* Stöffche is the diminutive of Stoff = fabric

All that glitters

Since I was a young child, my parents used to call me a magpie - attracted to everything shiny. It has not gotten better with time, on the contrary, now I'm making my own shiny things. As much jewellery as I make, there is only a number of pieces that I actually wear regularly and I would like to show you some now, all made from polymer clay and something.

Faux turquoise necklace with crystal beads:



Art sheet earrings on sterling silver earwires:


Faux jade necklace with supposedly my name in ancient Chinese characters:



Flower bracelet with renaissance pearls:


PS: I take custom orders, too :-).

Berlin.... du bist so wunderbar, Berlin...*

I was visiting friends in Berlin last weekend and was surprised to hear that they're not rejoicing the fact that they're here every waking moment ;-).

Here some impressions.

The Quadriga on top of the Brandenburg Gate:


Underneath this monument, several epochs come together:


Remains of the Berlin Wall:


Reichstag:


And while walking around the Reichstag in the blistering heat, I was seriously considering this arrangement:


In case you didn't know, Berlin is broke - but in style:


and nevertheless isn't losing its colourfulness:

*And the title "Berlin.. you are so wonderful, Berlin" is at the same time the soundtrack to the post.

The big world of small things

Part One: Blossoms

The new generation

Children are kinda interesting, especially when they feel unwatched:

Give me a sign

..or what about a whole lot of them? These are some of the most original, funny, weird or otherwise remarkable (to me) signs I saw during my England-Scotland-tour:

Just like in the musicals..

And since I've been so lazy and you all have been so patient and I just came back from my England/Scotland trip, here is the first mini-series, showing some of the musicians and other artists I came across:

Scarborough:



Edinburgh:



York:

Back with a(nother) new concept

I just noticed that my last post dated from January! Shame on me and dirt and small stones ;-)

So now I have a new plan that will probably be strict enough to make me stick to it but not so strict that I will crumble under the pressure of picking out suitable pictures each time:

I will post something new every week. Not every day as it used to be but not once per quarter either. The perfect day for it is Tuesday I think because then I have the morning off now and not a horrible lot to do in the afternoon either. And here is where you come in: by Sunday evening (my time) you can choose a theme for the week. Sometimes I might offer choices, mostly however, I will just leave it to your imagination.

So there you go, let your creative juices flow and I will come up with the matching photos

Ray Wilson And Acoustic Band

Almost a year ago, C., M. and I went to a concert in Rodgau, the first one where I took photos. I didn't know the rules, I partly made it difficult for the musicians, partly for myself, and I want to think that I have improved since then.

But be that as it may, we enjoyed big time - thank you,

Ray Wilson and acoustic band!!!

Singer Ray Wilson




Keyboardist Filip Wałcerz

Guitarist Ali Ferguson


Guitarist Steve Wilson


My favourite song of the night? Hard to say but this one was certainly one of them.