we are all animals

I think I found my happy place

2011-07-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

After I calmed down I figured I could as well write a few applications and -ta dah!- I'm having a job-intervew on wednesday. Please keep your fingers crossed for me, because this job would be supersweet.
In high spirits I mounted my bike and pedalled away. About 1 hour later I found myself on the outskirts of Berlin, where I found horses, pugs and birds. My personal adventure theme park!

To top it all off, there also was this gentleman with his 6 (!! in letters: s - i - x!) pug pals.

Stamp-Rage

2011-07-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes things tend to go from annoying to downright wanky. Although I was told otherwise on the phone, my educational endowment has been axed. Now I need to find a job or I won't be able to pay next months bills. How deligthfully inconvenient! I carved this stamp in commemoration of my special friend at the office of student services. I loved talking to you, honestly.

We are the Sleepyheads II

2011-07-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

We are the Sleepyheads

2011-07-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Soaking wet

2011-06-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Tapirs. Need I say anything more?! If you are not enarmoured with them yet, there is a good deal of reasons you should be - here are a few:

they have a snout
they love a good belly-rub
they can sit like a dog
they love water

they like to eat figs (amongst other fruits)
their skin is very soft
they can swim like little submarines
they don't show off their buttcheeks in public

Don't give me that look, sweetheart

2011-06-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

We recently met this young bloke at the zoo. He was enjoying himself in the bushes, near the footpath. But he obviously was not in the mood to philander with us.
Uh oh, do you notice the growing expression of annoyance in his eyes?

"Bugger off, girls, or I'm calling the cops. I'm serious!"

2011-05-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Before he gets lost in my overall chaos: have this bird.

Made of China

2011-05-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed, that her head is a lot more delicate than her brother Ludwigs? Sometimes she seems so fragile as if you were looking into the face of a porcelain figurine.

2011-05-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

I noticed that Milla has so far been underrepresented in this blog. This is about to change.

Floral Bouquet

2011-05-16T06:02:00.000-07:00

I've never come to terms with flowers. I would buy them, they would die silently after suffering from alternately thirst or inundation. It never worked out with us. That's why I know nothing about plants. But I recently discovered that they look quite lovely as long as they are entrusted to somebody elses care.
As long as I'm only taking photographs of other peoples flowers nobody (and no plant) will get hurt. Yet I am able to decorate my own home with flowers. As well as my blog.

Hobby #1

2011-05-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Going hunting

2011-05-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

This is me on every other sunday, raiding the fleamarkets.
You can tell by the smug smile on my face that I'm dead familiar with these hunting grounds, always on the prowl for the next quarry (animal books, that is).

What's on your wardrobe?

2011-04-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

On the balcony

2011-04-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

Good as goat

2011-03-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

Urgent Message

2011-03-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

These last days brought devastating news from Japan. Many people have to bemoan the loss of loved ones, as well as their homes and belongings, basically everything that had mattered was torn apart within one single hour. I find myself staring at the pictures on my screen, completely bewildered and adrift. A lot of trivial things stopped to make sense anymore (like fancy clothes or eating out). Maybe I'm experiencing kind of an emotional shock, because all I can focus on is that I want to help. This is getting more urgent with every minute because the ones that survived between all of the debris need to be found and taken care of! I'm also speaking of animal survivors, of course.

Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support have set out to help the animals that are roaming the disaster-struck venue. We are speaking of traumatized, injured and hungry pets, that have been washed away by the flood or burried under rubble, others had to be abandoned, when their owners were evacuated. There must be thousands of them.

Maybe we can't help the Rescue Teams efforts with our own hands, but we can make sure they can help as many animals as possible by donating. Even the smallest amount will make a difference!

A great article on 6 ways to help animals in Japan from Huffington Post.

Please, if you haven't done this yet, also consider a donation towards popular relief organisations, like the Red Cross, that are providing people with medical treatment, food and shelter.

For an overview on organisations that are taking donations I recommend this article on National Geographic (it also inlcudes additional animal relief efforts).

Keep your head up, Japan!

がんばってください日本！

My Superhero

2011-03-05T08:38:00.000-08:00

You might have known him as your average cat, but once trapped in a plastic bag he becomes Speckflash. Running in circles! Clawing your flooring! Protecting you from the evils!

Spring is at your doorstep

2011-03-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

While browsing through yesterdays pictures of advanced spring-proceedings I noticed that I must have accidentally deleted about 200 pictures from february that I kept on my memory card. Now I can't get over the feeling that amongst those pictures lost were some of the most decent ones I've taken so far. I really need to overcome this fear (however I know that there certainly were first-rate goat pictures).
I will make sure to retake them (after all it is semester break), once I have recovered from my current state of backpain-usually-only-80-year-olds-suffer. I feel like my own grandmother. I sure enough talked a lot about the weather already.

Hello there

2011-02-08T03:22:00.000-08:00

Head of ungulate department

2011-01-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

I finally paid this years first visit to the zoo, that I've missed for so long. And everytime I go there, which is quite frequently, I still find something new and captivating. Today I saw two cuddling aardvarks, slow slow loris, cheeky hippo-children and the topmost ibex.

Yellow

2011-01-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

2011 New Year's resolutions

2011-01-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

One year in barely 4 minutes

2010-12-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

How do you do? I hope you've spend your christmas amongst the loveliest people far and wide. I certainly did! Christmas time does not only provide various occasions to overeat, but (finally) the time to do things I had to put on my shelf for far too long.

This year is about to be over in only a few days time. But it sure enough was one of the best I have experienced so far. I don't want to bore you with personal talk so let's get to the good stuff: a video of all pictures I've taken with my Nikon D90 in the past year. Hence I bought it in May, this does not cover the first 4 months - I might add them later on.

Weather Forecast (in great detail)

2010-12-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

Let's face it: outdoor season is over. The first snow has fallen and it sounds like there is a lot more to be expected within the next days. Right now I feel like building up stocks in my hibernation-den is the only appropriate occupation. However there are a few positive aspects I don't want to ignore: super puffy fluffy cats, eating candy (+ increasing fat storage), a pile of nice books, tea (a lot of it), beeing lazy and blaming it on the weather.

A dashing fellow

2010-10-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Take a deep look into these eyes (and don't even get me started on his well-groomed appearance)! It's instant love. Keep breathing, girls!

Less sometimes is more

2010-10-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

Two days ago we went to Eberswalde Zoo (don't judge me, for once it wasn't my idea in the first place) and let me get straight to the point: this place is heaven on earth. I'm talking about a zoo refraining from locking up animals! Deer, kangaroos, marmots, lemurs - they are gallivanting around the zoo, receiving treats from the visitors, frolicing in the sun or simply resting in their animal-only areas, where they're not pestered by human eyes. Thrilled by the sight of this heavenly place I got into something that might be described as a photographing frenzy, be prepared!

Most certainly not every single photo will be posted here, but if you're longing for the whole experience, then please forward to my flickr.

Autumn stroll

2010-10-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

I figured now that it gradually is getting autumn and my constant stream of complaints won't keep the winter at bay, I might as well come to terms with it. Turns out that autumn is not (yet) all about dying and withering. Quite contrary to the autumn I've know for years, growing up in an area almost exclusively covered in perennial conifers, this season turns out to be bright and -well- thriving! Who would have thought it?

These pictures are not edited (except for resizing) because I thought the colours turned out perfectly fine.

In bed with Ludwig von Speck

2010-09-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

common sense has left the building

2010-09-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

The prospect of returning to a life characterized by a curriculum, spending my time in moot seminars and on papers (eek!), barely remembering anything from 2 years ago that I should be knowing by october is stressing me out. So much it even made me draw again. Horses. The world was a better place when I was 9 years old: I would spend my days at the pony club and my nights drawing horses until I fell asleep.

2010-08-25T05:47:00.000-07:00

2010-08-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

I ended up baking my first bread today, instead of staying in bed as I originally promised.

there is no place like home

2010-08-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

..and this is where I will be spending tomorrow. I am refusing to make any appointments, no exceptions!

these will be memories soon

2010-08-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

I noticed that I have gotten more and more moody in the past weeks. With autumn also the unavoidable time of winter is drawing nearer and the outlook of this seasonal change somehow upsets me to an extend I would not have thought possible. However I still enjoy my job, spend quite a lot of quality time with the lovely people I am entitled to call my friends and - finally - found a place, that is my home, I feel extra-lousy for holding such a sour disposition at the moment. To get rid of all those brilliantly irrational ideas I have come up with so far I am taking long walks into all cardinal directions. More pictures are about to come, or else.

I'm still here

2010-08-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

2010-07-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

WIWT • 16.07.2010

2010-07-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

It's the perfect outfit for hot days with iced coffee and stepping into broken glass.

WIWT • 11.07.2010

2010-07-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

In detail: underpants by H&M 3€, wet vintage towel (not shown) hand-me-down

Reproaches don't work with me

2010-07-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

2010-07-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

op naar goud, oranje!

2010-07-07T00:41:00.000-07:00

Ludwig prefers the orange football players, because he thinks orange is pretty (he also thinks of it combined with golden as superb). As far as I'm concerned I'm looking forward to see whether Paul, the psychic octopus, is right.

Papergirl

2010-07-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

On saturday I went to see the exhibition of this years Papergirl Festival. The presence and the vast amount of artwork made me all shaky, resulting in only a few reasonable pictures (from top to bottom: KLINE, Alice Mrongovius and Lara Dahlmann). But, don't fear, if you can't make it to the exhibition personally the entries are available online. If you will excuse me now, I have a long list of new artists to ~~stalk~~ I mean.. "find".

Everybody, stay seated!

2010-07-05T11:02:00.001-07:00

However I always thought tumblr was a great thing (just for the record: I still do) people seem to not like the idea of a tumblr beeing more than just a scrapbook. So here I am now - to engage myself with some (more) serious blogging. I won't move my old works (unless I'm in urgent need of an update) but they can still be found at ye olde tumblr (which, by the way, will still be nourished by this blogs RSS-feed). Seen from this angle it's not that much of a change at all. So we all can keep on an even keel and try to live our lifes as if this never happened.