Collecting

This morning, LPC's posting on collecting Thingamabobs brought me to recflect upon my collector's-gene.

It did not take long and I figured out there are two collections in my household that can easily compete with High WASP-standards:

numero uno:
What we see here is a history of mankind that ended much to soon: the history of portable radios. If I added a third piece to this collection, would it have to be an I-pod?
The Panasonic lefthand was loved by my father's parents, it crowned the grey sofa-ensemble in my grandparents' living room (on the back of the sofas you had wooden shelves as part of the sofa). The "GLOBAL Transistor" to the right originates from my mother's parents. They all loved to go camping. And listen to the radio.

The second collection is dedicated to salt&pepper:

From left to right it starts with the ALESSI thingamabobs, I spoiled myself, late 90's, got some nice paychecks back then.

The pair in center (cones) come from my parents household. I was ment to inherite them but my mother is very attentive and she noticed the love I feel for them. So I may already enjoy them today.

The third pair, the two rabbits, have been a gift from Mr Paula's mum. Easter a few years ago. They are vintage and I have to admit I have no idea if they are typical Austrian or if this porcellain in the early 50's was a world-wide phenomenon. I art galleries you find them, accompanied by gooses, kittens and apes.

Short résume: The colour red suits collections really well!

In sense of collecting on purpose I own one "true" collection: Ritzenhoff's MILK glasses. They are collectibles, from the first season, sort of very limited pieces and I just want to get rid of them!
They are on their way out of the household. Maybe we will keep them and start washing them in the dishwasher (this as what they are not supposed to be) and after a few years we might just trash them when all the colour faded as it does on Nutella-glasses. :-)
Since we both drink milk, maybe it's just time to make some use of the collection! haha.

LPC, you lifted a tiny High WASP part today, by naming things and thingamabobs. I did not realize till today that I do like to collect, just not collectibles. Oh yes, another thing: collections are fun as long as they don't get too large.

Nest-Building

A few days ago I developed strong feelings for this blackbird:

Well, she is a blackbird but she is brown, because she is female.

She sat there, very very patient, waiting ...

... until HE arrived:

He, obviously the Mr.Right, Miss Blackbird had been waiting for. He arrived the very next day.

Look closer. Can you see them both? (this is the only blackbird-pic that offers a zoom-in, the others are all crops. I will borrow a tele-lens soon!)


He got so excited by her nest-building, he could not help but dancing:


I finish with 2 questions, maybe you can help me!
#1: what is it with the 10 things all over the Blogsphere? What are they?
#2: my uploaded pictures always appear in wrong order - first comes last, the last in first position. How can I fix this? Am I the only one having this small but still very annoying problem?

Because these serious questions drag down the vibe, I conclude withyesterday's exposure of Mother's Day:

You can look close and you will see a lot! There is my sister, my mum, the Gugelhupf I baked, following the Sacher-recipe and me, taking the picture!
I love this photo!

Working with Flowers - Part 1

This posting probably goes out to Vix and cotton socks, who have both fallen for tulips!
This bundle pleased me during the whole week at work. The vase stands at a colleague's desk. Everytime I go into the kitchen/toilett I walk past her place. This is so so nice.

oops. I just noticed while writing and talking to myself I started talking like Kevin from "The Office" ... "This is so so nice". scary!!

I am glad my superjapanesecompactcamera can blur the background quite decent.
a) it works best for flower-portraits as it does for any portrait
b) like that I can keep the anonymity of this room and the people inside the room.

Have a great weekend!

PS: The blackbird succeeded! Mr. Right showed up, the next thing I saw was her with straws in her mouth and him wiggling around. Really cute. Which brings this Kinderlied (really, the proper translation would be "nursery-rhyme"??) to my mind: Vogelhochzeit. Listen: MP3 (a bit faster than usual). The person who composed and texted this song must have seen what I saw.

Mild Evening and High End Porcelain

Can you sense the air of spring? A warm, mild evening out, everbody sitting under the pale-blue sky which turnes purple in the west. You can see the reflection of the sky in the windows. We deserve this!

The people who parked their bikes visited the opening-event of the summer-season in the Vienna Museum's-Quarter.

Pale blue is this cup:


I got it as a gift from a very friendly Australian couple. It is "mud". Touching this tiny cup I immediately wanted a whole set for eating, drinking and serving. With shipping it would cost $$$. Mr Paula says it is no fun using high-end porcelain because he would feel bad the moment he breaks or chips them due to careless handling.

To the readers from AUS: (going bold for the first time ;-)) Have you ever dined from mud-porcelain? Did you like it? Is it really as dish-washer-save as they say? Does it still look good in a while, when the non-glazed-outside turns "greasy"?

There are various porcelains available, Made in Austria. This one actually isn't porcelain but "earthenware": Gmundner Ceramics.
They are known for the green-striped-design. Very common in the country-side where Gugelhupf and Apfelstrudel is served in the afternoon. This year they chose the deer. Jumping around.

The Princess and the Pea

I never had a problem admitting I am the princess on the pea. The princess on the pea is probably as much misunderstood as is Miami Vice (the movie) the most underrated movie in 2006 (another story). However.

It seems as if I passed the pea-gene on to these fellows:


PS: the cussions are the remains of the Selig-sofa which had to give way after 35 yrs.

Neat Thermo-Isolation & Waiting for Mr. Right.

I am sure you like the neat thermo isolation as much as I do: in pink!


meanwhile this patient blackbird is waiting for Mr. Right:

Call me gaga but I really enjoy birdwatching. Could not believe I did not shy her away with my camera-lens and loud shutter.
She seems to be really sweet. Hope she finds him to bild a nest soon!

I love the singing of the birds in the city-center. Blackbirds acutally are anthropophilous - they followe us humans and find nearly perfect environment in cities.

I call ivy anthropophilus, too. Or rather architecturephilus?

By now I probably bore you to death with my pasison for flowers in full bloom, here you find the final tulip chapter of 2010:

The building in the back isn't a mosque but a baroque church!
It seems as if there is no place where you can't plant some tulips in this city: