Oh boy. Its been a crazy last few months. I feel like the castle was totally fake, but I guess that works for something that is usually part of a fairy tale. It was a hard goodbye but I'm glad to be back. Its interesting to see the kind of connections I made at the castle and I wonder if they will last. It is such a surreal environment because everything is so sped up. You make fast friendships and fall into a hectic whirlwind of adventure. Due to my terrible neglect of this blog I think I will jump back into things by starting with a breakdown of the main parts of my castle life, starting with the family. Kristin, Livija, Caroline, Me, Riley, Jared, Sam and David.Oh goodness, I've been looking through past fbook gems to dig up these photos. Reflection.
Anyway to put some names with faces:Sam
Riley
Livi
Kris
Jared
Caroline
Dave
In addition to the family there are a handful of other people that I hope I will continue to be friends with. It was a really good group of people in general. In the past three months I visited Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Prague. I've also consumed a lot of alcohol, explored the wilderness around Well, rode my bike, dressed up, made things and loved everything. It was truly fantastic, and yes, the trip of a lifetime. Now I am home and cleaning the house for Christine's visit on the 10th. I am going to get a new passport this afternoon (so I can sneak back into Prague) and pick up Evan from school. It should be fun to drive in my little car again. Before I came here I had a few days in Boston that were really fantastic though they were jet lagged. Kallie has been using the living room of the Nancy Drew house as a concert venue and I went to a show there on Friday night that featured three bands that were all really good. I really like that whole group of people in general really and with live music it just makes it all the better. Anyway, I suppose I should get back to finishing my little projects around the house. I am baking raspberry bars while I finish cleaning.
I guess I go through phases of being really into blogging and then phases of forgetting. I feel like I should be documenting at least a bit of my Europe experience and having just had the most amazing time in Ireland I figured I would go into that rather than doing my work. Riley's uncle's mother (I believe) has a small little funky place on the coast of Ireland. It is in a building that used to be for the coastguard that now houses several different little duplex like places. It was old and funky but had an amazing book collection and lots of blankets and such. We made a lot of food, including a pie and had Bailey's in our coffee. The main draw of the place was the location. We got in late on Thursday night and after having a brief interaction with a sketchy crazy guy who tried to sell me a airplane safety vest from the inner pocket of his jacket. The place was outside Arklo and we made a pit stop there to run in and buy groceries. We got very lost on the way there due to it being dark and in a out of the way place but eventually, suddenly we were there. It was too dark to really see around but looking out I could see water and knew we were very close to the ocean. I got very exited. We made our way into the right house after a scavenger hunt for the key through the rain. Having made some ruckus getting into the house and activating the alarm by trying to disengage it, we soon met our neighbor Patrick. He proved to be an extremely nice Irish man and we later discovered that he is a pro golfer. The next morning we woke up and ran around throwing open curtains and getting more and more excited at our surroundings. We could see the waves crashing on the cliffs, rolling green hills, a ruin and beach. We were right at the end of a little peninsula, a jetty out into the ocean, we were surrounded on three sides by the water. After making pancakes from scratch we journeyed out to explore, first walking along the cliffs before climbing onto them to watch the water crash and make things out of the flat black stone that came off the rock face in chunks. Eventually we scampered up to the green vegetation and ran along hills that we covered in thick patches of springy grass. The hills looked like a giant fuzzy animal and the ground was soft due to the tufts. We explored the crumbling buildings we called "the fort" and after climbing on the rocks and sitting in the rooms we continued on a path that led to a long stretch of sandy beach. There were sand dunes along the sides that we ran up and jumped down until we settled on a spot of sand and listened to the waves crash and the quiet that comes without other people. We had the entire beach to ourselves and starting digging in the sand and making figures of dinosaurs, rocket ships, Saturn and a sea turtle out of damp sand and the flat smooth rocks that lay everywhere. I "traced" Riley's body by putting flat stones around his outline and when we counted to see how many stones he was, he was 100. We went back for dinner and pie and tied pillow cases around our heads and lit a fire in the fireplace while listening to music and playing cards. The next day we explored the other beach and watched dolphins on the rocks. We took blankets outside in the afternoon to sit in the cool dusk and draw while the boys played with Patrick's dog Gromit. The dog was amazing and could fetch multiple sticks (he would always end up with four in his mouth) and weed and jump. Patrick came out to show us some of his tricks. Kristin and I made invitations to the time traveling party, it was daylight savings. Once we ventured inside Sam made spaghetti sauce while we boiled pasta and mingled about. It was earth hour so at 8:30 we lit a bunch of white candles and placed them about the house and used candle light for the rest of the night. Later that night Patrick came by three times in a row to bring us trash bags, wood and coal, and a half bottle of Bacardi that they were not going to drink "I'm sorry to bother you but you kids look thirsty..." It started an endless stream of "I'm sorry to bother you but... (my dog just had puppies, do you all want one?)" jokes in our Irish accent impersonations. We ended the night by going to the beach and drinking a bottle of wine while taking long exposure photos on Sam's camera. It was truly amazing and beautiful. Also, I have been into this song lately. Along with the Broken Bells album that was recently released.
But I am finally going to post a blog entry. First, it is always interesting negotiating the interwebs in Dutch. For instance, just a moment ago I clicked something that took me to a page that said "account maaken" or something. So that was wrong... haha. Anyway. Sam just came in to share what he had discovered about his new camera that we found at a flea market in Brussels. It is a Olympus EES-2. It takes half frame photos like the Diana mini! So awesome. It is also super cute and looks very 60s. I've learned that Afbeeldingen means images through google.Dutch is so weird. Bekijk de afbeelding op ware grootte. It is just a bunch of letters that look all weird and mixed up and silly. They like double vowels and weird noises too. Overall I am just very amused. They speak French in Brussels though, and it made me want to learn it even more. I'm considering moving somewhere in France for a while to see if I could pick it up at some point in my life. It is something I always toy with or think of. So maybe it will happen. In addition to the awesome Pen camera (oh and check out this blog to see examples of the photos slash other good photography: click) I found a old photo album with photos from 1915 to 1950. It is absolutely amazing. I love it. There are great photos including one of a tank coming down a street. I still have to figure out how to get the pics I take with this little web-cam in my new baby computer... so I can't post them now... My mac's hard drive crashed so I ended up getting a little net book that is super cute. I call it the baby mostly. Last night I covered it in fake wood paneling so now it looks awesome! Thank you Kris and Livi for your extras. Okay. Well I will be back when I have more time.
I have been doing one of my little cut out sessions. Every now and then I go through magazines and such and chop things out that I like for whatever reason. I have also been making little things like postcards that are art pieces of torn things and crumpled tissue paper with rubber cement. I always end up in these half circles with things displayed around in front of me. The postcards:I am also listening to the fantastic mix that Janine made for me. I really enjoyed getting to listen to it the first time. It is interesting to explore. I rather like the lyrics from the Joseph Arthur song "A Smile That Explodes":
Too young to fall For a light I think I see Can't say for sure The plants have died, My hair has grown From the thought of you Coming home
Cuz it ain't easier Waking up at dawn To find I lost my crown If I found you there With flowers in your hair
I'd hold you in my arms Till we came back down A smile that explodes I could never understand
My room too small To get by without the help of alcohol Pin my arm to the wall Now I'm too gone to fight Not afraid to fall
Cuz it ain't easier Waking up at dawn To find I lost my crown If I found you there With flowers in your hair
I' d hold you in my arms Until we came back down A smile that explodes I could never understand
I write one more Letter I won't send Except for across the floor
Now I am listening to this lovely song:
Also. This is super cute and I would like to do it. Hehe. My mom just called up to tell me that there is American Idol in Boston.
Okay, what else to share. I think just this... which is a film two I worked on. I was first AC. It came out pretty well, especially from the camera side of things. There is the one shot of the car driving... I rigged the camera to hang from the roof (in the inside) of the Uhaul with bungee cords and a sheet. Then we drove around with the doors bungee corded back so they would stay open. I also came up with an interesting rig for the glass shattering with a c-stand, apple boxes and bungee cords.
So I have been looking into Polaroid things again. I wish I had unlimited money to spend on cameras and film. But here are two interesting videos on the matter. First, Lady Gaga has been made the creative director of Polaroid. Her hair makes for an interesting hat.
And, the people of the Impossible project have a video about new products and such. IMPOSSIBLE
They also have a fantastic website that is selling old and new film, and cool wonderful cameras such as the Holgaroid. I want some of their artistic SX 70 film soooo bad.
In other instant film news, I need to get some Instax film that fits my camera and figure out what to do with the wide format my mother gave me for xmas along with my Diana back (!!!) I also have to make two self portraits for my History of Photo class next semester. It seems like it will be an interactive class which is good and fun. Brian McNeil teaches a chunk of the class on Polaroid in Boston so I hope the castle class has a bit about it too. I also have a good chunk of Polaroids to scan.
I am also thinking about this girl who likes animals and camping and singing and fun fun times and the last time I left in early morning hazy sun rising grog as happy as can be smiling while my chin whiskers turned to tens of tiny icicles
on the ride home
[ well I called Hanna today and she was in a valley somewhere, obviously.]
Kristin, Livija, Caroline, Me, Riley, Jared, Sam and David.
Oh goodness, I've been looking through past fbook gems to dig up these photos. Reflection.
Sam
Riley
Livi
Kris
Jared
Caroline 
Sam
Riley
Livi
Kris
Jared
Caroline 
Dave
