title: we are all going a bit mad here

i am a hotheaded person. i am rough around the edges. i lose my temper easily, and my cool easier still. it's not as if i don't try to be patient. i always aim at temperance. but controlling it is not so easy as just "not doing". nathan will always put up with my explosions, implosions, and general coarseness. he will step right into the line of fire and take the abuse, he will get right at me and say some silly thing that was exactly what i needed to hear. he can create calm from chaos. i wish i could be so consistent and gentle with him. the best i can create is the simulacrum of calm.one picks up where the other leaves off. wasn't that cute.

title: finally we awaken

an appeal to all the senses to come out slowly.

title: bruges: the simple

if you have ever seen the movie in bruges, you will know that colin farrell spends nearly the entire thing making fun of how boring bruges is. let me halfheartedly apologize for referencing this movie in my post. i know it's all bruges is known for and that it's so cliche to use it as a jumping-off point. if that bothers you, you should probably go away. there is a reason that said film is the only thing in bruges that people talk about. let me allow colin to explain:

"if i grew up on a farm, and was retarded, bruges might impress me; but i didn't, so it doesn't."

yeah, that's pretty much true. it's a lovely old city, really, but everything is super expensive and everyone is old. old and cranky. all the museums ad cathedrals are under construction, so they're either not worth seeing or closed. they don't let you see jesus' blood for some reason, so even that small novelty is out the window. plus everything smells like groty egg farts, all the time. this first photo is an extremely typical street-shot of bruges.
what are you going to do? pay 4 euro for a bottled beer and feel sorry for yourself, then go to ghent.

title: la nourriture

so, i have given up on doing things in any kind of realistic order. the pictures i took on a recent trip to nijmegen accidentally went back to the u.s. with my mom when she left paris this weekend, so instead i'll just skip right forward to paris. all that matters is that i'm updating! i have so many photos from paris that i have decided to split them into several smaller, themed posts. this one is all the photos i have of food. i spent the majority of my time there (4 of the 5 days) staying in an apartment with my mom and aunt on rue mariotte (of which there will be pictures later!). down the street from us was a regional farmers' market which set up every day of the week except monday. the vegetables there were so fresh and beautiful, i've never seen anything like them:
this woman sold roasted beets at her stand, which was such a wonderful idea. the last night's dinner was just 2 big fat beet and a huge hunk of crusty bread.
but with dinner must come dessert, and there is plenty of that in paris. my mom and aunt had heard about this "chocolate exposition" that was going on, so we went to that. you pretty much just pay the €12 admission price and walk around sampling the finest chocolates france (and other countries, like italy and even japan) has to offer. this was fun. i ate so much chocolate, and brought home so much more. as we speak, my dad, brother, cousins, and uncle are probably gorging themselves on the treats my aunt and mom brought back. i was also able to visit laduree bakery, which was one of the only places i had on my mind from the beginning of the trip. it was packed full of tourists, having made a name for itself not only because of its age but because its pastry chefs were responsible for the desserts featured in marie antoinette. the macarons and religeuse (violet flavored, no less!) i got were so out of this world. hooray for the french! coming up next in the paris series is the view from the streets! stay tuned!

... p.s., check this out:it was so good.

title: the surroundings of kasteel well on a sunny day

so, i have yet to accurately capture the image of the castle in its entirety. a friend of mine by the name of nicole has done an exceedingly wonderful job at that, however, and you can see her work on her flickr. for now, i have to show you what meager things i have managed to snap--a lot of plants and flowers, as seems to be my tendency.
i took a trip to nijmegen yesterday, and will be putting those photos up later tonight after i sort through them. so much has been going on, sometimes there isn't even time for a camera. imagine such a thing!

title: sept 3

i got a new lens!! i got a new lens!!! aaahhhh!!
this is a really big deal for me. it's like a photography rite of passage (is it for other people, or am i just being silly?). it's a 55-200mm lens, which allows me to get closer shots of things that usually run away, like this bee! now all i have to do is get used to changing the lens. i have been neurotically cleaning every part of my camera with canned air today.

title: august, round two

my mom's side of the family recently came up for my grandmother's memorial service. we planted two sugar maples at the main entrance to the stony brook millstone watershed center, one for her and one for my grandfather. this corresponded with the weekend of the watershed's butterfly festival. here are some of the celebrated lepidoptera:
we also rode in the back of my uncle's pickup truck. such are the joys of moving fast during the summer:
tomorrow my dad goes back to work (which is also back to school. imagine that double header.). he and i went on a walk at swinging bridges (behind the insitute of advanced study in princeton). the bridge is awesome! it was super muddy, and we both came very close to taking some major spills.
august is royally and officially over. most of my time is devoted to alternatively worrying about and being excited for my trip to the netherlands. it's all about planning weekend trips and stuff--i wonder if there is a single person on this trip who is thinking about the schoolwork?here's to summer as a big kid.

title: how august feels

title: memories of colonial williamsburg

so, remember that girl who used to update this blog? no? well, allow me to introduce myself...

the pictures from colonial williamsburg have been sitting on my computer for quite a while. there aren't very many of them, because much of the time i was trying to fit in and look historical. clara and i looked so good. we took that town by storm. we were in at least ten vacation photos (meaning people actually posed with us!!), and got some very suspicious looks from the real colonial williamsburg staff. it was really fun! we didn't last very long camping--it turns out that the mosquitos in virginia have giant fangs that can pierce everything you might try to use to keep them from your blood. we spent one night at that campground, packed up, and checked in to the days inn across the street. i spent most of the time with my camera in my basket, because it was really fun to pretend we worked there. we were definitely living out a fantasy. clara doubly so, because she looked like felicity.one of the things i was most enamored with was the brightness and variety of the wallpapers and fabrics that people (mostly the wealthy, actually) decorated with in the 18th century. i guess with all the stoic portraits we see in school it's easy to believe that everything looked that way. not so! i present to you a few of the textiles of colonial williamsburg:
all in all, colonial williamsburg is a beautiful place. it's worth a trip, but even more so in costume. you feel like royalty, even if you dress like a peasent or a middle class person. everyone says hello to you, and little girls will freeze in their spot and begin to drool on sight.
i have a lot of catching up to do with my photos. keep your eyes peeled all week!!