Black and White

The last days I have been working on a double portrait of a black and a white kitten featuring The Investigator and The Inapproachable. I took the photographs when they were looking through the window from outside awaiting their breakfast.

Black And White - Black 2009

I like the dust and scratches of the window which let the portrait of the black one look very picturesque. The white one is looking through a fly screen which I used to boost the soft tone of the image.

Black And White - White 2009

Under Siege

I couldn´t have imagined to write about cats one day even in my wildest dreams. Formative experiences with yowling and wounded cats in my childhood got me to forgo this particularly popular species.

Later on I often noticed people adopting cats or dogs in case the partner refused to start a family. Furthermore, watching lonely cats looking out of appartment windows almost bring me to burst into tears. No desirable examples to emulate as well.

At the moment I am watching a female person studying diet plans and social behaviour of feral domestic cats, lurking around in the backyard to check the stools of four kittens and getting annoyed when being attacked by a bunch of hungry wannabee tigers.

Being fed about three days a week, and being left to their own resources the remaining days, they decided to stay anyway and to reside in front of our door.



They love the warmed-up stairs and have learned that food comes out of that green door.



Now the kittens are about four month old and have grown distinctive characters.

The Inapproachable

She is the most experienced one especially in climbing up high trees and hunting. She loves to be on her own and seems to look down on human beings.





In the morning she enjoys sunbathing at the top of our shortened apricot tree.

The Philosopher

You never know what this calm little black one is thinking about. He behaves like an odd man out and mostly surprises us with a ruminant look.

The Companionable

This little tabby seems to be full of sunshine and was the first one who sometimes allowed us to touch her. Being convinced that she is a tomcat, I had to learn that I was wrong with that. But I am still not sure.

The Investigator

For some month he was the smallest and the most shy one of the kittens. Maybe being a good eater encouraged him to act in the line of fire at breakfast, lunch and dinner time. Jumping on the door, pacing up and down in front of the window together with striking meowing and a piercing glance let him stand out in the meantime.

The Mommy

The kittens couldn´t have asked for a better mother. Waiting next to the feeding bowl until the babies have finished their meal, she is satisfied with what they have left. Or speeding them up to go on excursions by jumping and behaving like a kitten herself, are just a few qualities of that mysterious creature. Looking after them for such a long time she now disappears more frequently. At the moment we see her rarely - will she leave us alone with the kittens?

Lost

Primarily the four kittens have got another brother or sister which is unfortunately lost since a month. She was so cute and extremely shy, watching us all the time, whatever she did. Can´t think of what might have happened to her. In the picture above she´s playing with her brothers and sisters.

We still aren´t sure about the sex of "our" kittens. As they are not used to get handled or touched, we found out a feasible manner to inspect them: when fed by their mother you can do whatever you want, they don´t care, even if a human being is lying on the floor to lift their tails. Not experienced with investigations like that, we consistently mistrust our results : - )

Shades Of Green

Today Pam from alwaysartistic included one of my photographs in her treasury displaying works by POE (Photographers of Etsy Street Team) members. The photographs are featuring different shades of green. It´s quite a gorgeous selection all around. Congrats Pam and many thanks for including Glassy Landscape!

Growing Our Own Food II - Apricots

It´s a shame. Last weekend my husband has shortened our one and only apricot tree by more than a half without taking a picture of it as a whole before (to be honest, this should have been my job). After yielding large crops of delicous apricots for a couple of years, we had to come to that sad decision. The tall tree had been pollarded lengthwise by a severe storm just after we had moved in. Gale-force winds are blowing frequently in this area, and it was to be expected that the remaining half of the beautiful tree would fell as a whole some time. Furthermore it already had got too high to pick the fruits. Falling on the ground most of them got damaged and had to be cooked at once.



We met the challenge and got rather busy with cooking apricot dumplings, cakes, jam, chutney, sirup and something special called "Marillenröster" (Marillen = apricots). We also experimented with air-drying apricots in the sun. A bold and funny venture: my husband climbed a ladder every morning to place the baking sheets with the apricots on the roof of the house and removed them again in the evening or when rain was emerging.



The effort payed off: I never ate dried apricots with such phantastic flavor.



Have I whetted your appetite? Then I will betray to you how to cook this special something called Marillenröster, a traditional Austrian kind of stewed fruit which tastes delicous when mixed with natural yoghurt, the perfect stuff on hot summer days:

Wash the apricots, cut them in half, remove the kernels and put them in a large cooking pot. Add a bit of water and bring to the boil. Stir occasionally. Simmer until the peel of the apricots gets puckered. Skim any foam or scum off the top (you can eat it, it tastes like jam). Add sugar (300 to 400 g for 1000 g of fruits) and let it simmer shortly until the liquid gets limpid. If you like, add some fresh mint. Leave to cool a little, then pour into clean jam jars and cover them.



If you want to eat it within one week, allow to cool completely and place the jars in the fridge. If you want keep it for a longer time you have to sterilize - don´t be afraid, it´s quite simple: Put the jars in a large cooking pot filled with cool water (the jars should be almost covered with water). Bring to boil slowly and simmer for about 10 minutes at 70 to 80 degrees. That´s it! The Marillenröster will keep for about a year, but will be long gone before then!

In Motion

As a kid growing up in the country, I lived life outside: alpine skiing, skating, cycling, running, jumping, swiming and climbing up mountains. In my teens, that meant also playing tennis, competitive track and field as well as playing volleyball. But it was in high school, that I gravitated away from track and field and alpine skiing and I found my way into dance, a long standing wish since childhood. I spent several years attending jazz- and modern dance classes as well as pantomime.

The discipline I learned through sports pushed me to participate in new things. I always had an insatiable love for trying new things and discovered a passion for photography and filmmaking. At that time I consequentially learned to "dance" with my camera. At first with small movie cameras, later on with a photo camera I enjoyed experimenting with all kinds of movement whenever possible.

As Autumn Wanes 2008

Evanescence of life and beauty in mind I shot this portrait of a morello cherry tree by moving the camera with a long shutter speed at low light, so that the tree appears in disintegration.

When cutting a film I spend a lot of time looking closely to any single of the 24 or 25 photographic images of which one second of motion picture exists. And I get absolutely impressed with these usually unseen and often blurry jewels of film frames.

Noir 1987

Life consists of movement. If we see something wonderful or remarkable most of us like to capture it in a photo. It can be interesting to watch a picture of such a single moment where life gets "frozen", and we are able to study the details. I still remember my amazement about gazing at an ordinary bee approaching a flower.

Approach For A Landing 2008

However looking at a picture "in motion" the details of single moments become indistinct and get transformed to a bigger something. It´s somehow an illusion of visible reality and often provokes different kinds of emotion.

Momentum 2009

The picture above consists of two photographs. I took the first one during our perseverative trips between Austria and Hungary. This strip of land on the Hungarian side of the former Iron Curtain, also known as border zone, is covered with deep forests full of mystery which still remind me of all the anxiety when crossing the border to a Eastern European Country in the past. Times changed and due to the European Union we are now allowed to go to any member country without any passport control. I liked the blue and green colors of the wood passing by but also wanted to add some bright color. As you also can find yellow canola fields in this area which emanate warmth and cheerfulness, I combined these two images to create a whole new one.

The Vineyard 2009

Only some miles away, when crossing the border to Austria, you will find a totally different aspect of the same landscape. Few if any forests or trees between the huge fields, acres and vineyards. Every single square mile seems to be cultivated by human hand. Strict geometrical structures dominate and nature´s charming wilderness has already disappeared. Nonetheless I like this picture of a vineyard "in motion" very much as it corresponds to my preference for playing with geometrical structures very well.

Growing Our Own Food I - "The Grave"

First Harvest

I can´t remember how long ago I decided to prefer organic food. Being vegetarian since childhood my bill of fare for a long time was limited on mashed potatoes, rice, bread, polenta and various kinds of deep frozen vegetables. I am still horrified thinking about the times when searching the menu in a restaurant without finding anything eatable aside from cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins and apricot dumplings. Time passed by until dumplings with egg and baked mushrooms showed up on menus, on which I wasn´t keen anymore after stuffing myself with it for years. Finally I have learned that I just had to accept my fate growing up in a culture being obsessed with meat.

Lemon´s Excursion 2008

The situation turned out to become even worse when I noticed that apples didn´t taste like apples anymore, that apricots tasted like water with a whiff of bitter citron. Not really a surprise after being picked unriped and travelling hundreds and thousands of miles cooped in refrigerators. Even simple bread wasn´t made from flour, salt, leaven and water anymore. More and more bakeries converted to convenience blends.

Windfall 2008

For whatever reason it was obvious to grow our own food when we came to Hungary. And this is how we started:

"The Grave"

Whenever I am talking about animals my husband´s thoughts are focusing on how they would taste being roasted. He is confident of driving me crazy about that. Now, even though drenched in sweat, he is digging over the black and fertile but compacted soil bit by bit. It´s hard work and at the end a tiny acreage occurs, looking quite ridiculous (and also a bit like a small grave - to be honest : - ) amidst the former large acre. But it was just a modest beginning. At this time we predominantly were busy with renovating the houses. After removing a lot of junk from the compost heap the former owners had left, we cover the patch with compost soil.

Compost Heap left behind

My husband grew up on a farm and has learned much about farming in early life. But I am just a rookie and never wouldn´t have dreamed of gardening or farming. Now I hold some small bags of vegetable seeds in my hand, waiting to plant the first carrots.

Summer Travel

A cloudless blue sky,

the air shimmering over wide open spaces,
scorching heat with a gentle breeze,
a summer break.

Time to dive oneself into breaking waves and being washed ashore:

Blue 1995/2008

Time to rest at a shady and quiet place, dreaming of fresh fruits:


Italian Impressions 1995/2008

Time to have a little chat and let things pass by:


Seven Hills 1997/2008

Time to celebrate the charmingly scent of salt and of the big wide world during a walk along the beach after sunset:


Open End 1999/2008

I hope you´re having a great summer!