maipenquynh

May 2023

maipenquynh on 8. June 2023

Bad news: Soon it will be the longest day of the year and then we will be closer to the next Christmas than the last. Good news: summer has just begun. Summer with its hot-warm temperatures annoys me at some point, too, but I’m still very happy to get the light and warmth.

A lot of free days

But now let’s talk about May. The fifth month with its many long weekends lud zu vielem ein. Meine langen Wochenenden, aber auch die restlichen Maitage, waren gespickt mit Menschen treffen, unterwegs sein und miteinander Zeit verbringen. Die hessische Landeshauptstadt Wiesbaden habe ich erstmalig besucht und in Hamburg tanzten wir bis tief in die Nacht. Freund:innen habe ich im neuen Zuhause willkommen geheißen.

The vines in this region are happily greening up and I have already discovered the first fruits. But I wonder when the plants exploded. The vines were only branches not too long ago?

Besides a little bike ride between the vines and the river, in May I also learned why every few row of vines has a rose planted in front of it: roses serve as an early warning system since they need similar conditions to vines but are more susceptible. If the rose is doing badly then you still have some time to react for the vines, so to speak.

Something with Photo

My battery compartment is intact, again so I was able to get the film completed in May after all *yeah*. In the end, most importantly I wanted to get the film full, so I didn’t want to wait for the subjects to come to me. But finding motifs ad hoc is not yet my strength. I photographed a gummi bear box and my scrunchy; while the gummi bears seem very random, my scrunchy was quite interesting. I was particularly excited about the portrait photos I took of my friends.

I sent off the film and got the scans within a week (I was so happy that the owner of the photo lab had developed and scanned the film before he went on holiday!). I was quite content with the portrait photos, hihi. But I haven’t yet decided (and accordingly haven’t asked) whether I want to show them on the blog.

The next film is already in and I will definitely continue with portrait photos. I’m also thinking about giving my films names so I can tell them apart (haha).

Scanner focus

The dino was finished on time and the friend who the present was for was very happy, which in turn made me very happy. I even got the next order but I have to recover from all the small parts of the dino first (e.g., prongs and such).

There was one spontaneous, intense sock-darning-day (again, I want to give the projects names for identification!) but that’s it, nothing more.

At the end of the month, I was very interested in another topic: Making my own elderflower syrup!I started putting the flowers in the water in May but bottling didn’t happen in June. Therefore: Stay tuned!

Schrammsteine | Between pixel and grain

maipenquynh on 24. May 2023

„Schrammsteine“, that’s a rock formation in Saxon Switzerland (a national park). Not far from where I used to live. As often is the case when you live in a place and the beautiful thing is only a stone’s throw away, you postpone visiting this beauties until later. Until later suddenly means „goodbye“ and beauty is at least 10 stone’s throw away. And so I am writing this text with some kind of nostalgia.

Most probably I remember the name of this rock formation because I took a photo of it. I was very excited about the picture – more excited than I usually am anyways – because this was the first film I developed by myself. I can’t describe it very well but I’ll put it this way: How happyyyyy I was when I hung the developed film up to dry and then discovered „die kleinen Schrammsteine“ on the negative. Joy oh joy!

And even if the photo itself is okay and the motif is not special, the photo is a nice reminder of „I was here!“ And also of those days when I called Dresden my home and Saxon Switzerland was just a stone’s throw away.

Camera + lens: Olympus XA2
Film: Agfaphoto APX 100 (probably; my film is still in the photo lab for scanning)
Developement: self developped (2022#1)
Scan: Charlie Engel Lab 2.0

April 2023

maipenquynh on 12. May 2023

In fact, there was not only little, but zero going on on the blog. On the other hand, I’ve made good progress with the furnishing of the new four walls *yey*.

Memorable first times

Culinary beginning of the month: I already toldyou that I took the train from Mainz to Düsseldorf on the last day of March. Düsseldorf was eventually the destination as we tried out a few Japanese restaurants, on the spot. We were very happy afterwards 😀
For the first time I visited the Palmengarten in Frankfurt/Main. When I was researching botanical gardens in Germany, this garden in particular was commented on several times and described as very beautiful. Did the Palmengarten convince me? Yes, as a matter of fact it did. There wasn’t much going on in the outdoor area yet but the Palmengarten in Frankfurt has a lot to offer, so it was easy to have a good time there. By the way, the Palmengarten is not the botanical garden of the city of Frankfurt. They are two different gardens, as I just learned on my research 😀 (Note to self: visit the Botanical Garden in Frankfurt, too).
A friend took me to a cabaret event where we laughed heartily.

Something with Photo

The black and white film has become fuller: Friends posed for portrait photos which I really appreciate. Still, it felt a bit awkward to shoot people officially and also consciously. Actually, I already knew that it would be awkward and I could have prepared myself a bit for the situation but that’s not what happened. So I jumped in at the deep end and practiced learning by doing.

Unfortunately, I can’t get the film full at the moment because I managed to break the battery compartment of the camera so badly that it won’t hold anymore. So it’s hard to use the camera at the moment and I’m really sad about that. But I haven’t found an adequate solution yet 🙁

Scanner focus: handicraft

Although I put a lot of things on hold I couldn’t keep my fingers off the handicraft. It felt like compensation work for planning and thinking about the interior for the new home.

Very trendy handicraft this month: Darning socks socks socks! I’ll spare us the photos of darned socks today. Which doesn’t mean they won’t come because I do think my darned socks are pretty cool and I’m always super proud when I can wear socks (more) carefree

I also had a special project: I fulfilled a friend’s wish and started crocheting her a dino (first time I did something like this).

In summary, it was very interesting to see what happens when I prioritise a project/activity so highly in my private life: I’ve managed to get a lot done by my standards. With all my other ongoing (micro)projects as a scanner, it wouldn’t have been as effective. But I also notice that it has somehow … „drained“ me. I couldn’t really resist and did other things on the side eventually. Just not as many as usual höhö

I’m just recovering from the very busy month of April and wish you a wonderful rest of May!