unpacking essentials - 2

We are still unpacking and will be doing it for another while. Main problem is not so much opening the boxes, as finding a place for everything to go to. We have already found a lot of things that were managed to forget about, but haven't found some that we are specifically looking for.

Timka's soft toys were given a wash, and survived it nicely

bright day

Another bright and sunny day today. Timur's relaxing after a swim - once he is in the ocean, it is very difficult to extract him from there.

green-haired man

I don't like small fiddly things. Timur, on the other hand, loves them. When we were in local art and craft shop, he spotted those little white men and later oh-so-casually mentioned them to me ("... and, by the way, they are only one euro ninety five..."). So of course we bought one. I am pretty sure the coiffure should ideally be thicker, but Timur's happy, and so am I. Tomorrow we will give little white man a haircut with manicure scissors

wind toys

Now we have a few of those recycled-art wind toys, bought from a charming lady at the artisan market in Corralejo. Since I first saw those rotors at the market, I keep seeing them everywhere - there are trees made of them in some gardens, and a whole plantation on one of the roundabouts.

She is one dedicated lady. I saw a small article about her in one of the many free local magazines, but, in spirit of keeping clatter to minimum, I threw it into a recycling container and, of course, immediately forgot her name. I will ask next week.

Both still photo and the video taken with Lensbaby.

Lucia and Althea

My little niece had a doll with her when she was visiting here. Doll's name is Althea and here she is for you to admire. I am guessing that an extremely pink and frilly skirt that my niece made her mum to buy can be seen as a consequence of an overly prolonged admiration session.

They brought another doll with them - this one was for me. Please welcome Lucia.





Both were hand-made by my sister's neighbour. Labels say that they were made by cтудия "Мама" (Studio "Mum"), but I can't find their site - maybe they don't have one.

PS For Russian readers - name "Лючия" on the label is written in such a way that I read it as "Люша" without any hesitation whatsoever.

UPD - well, what do you know. I misread the name of the studio too! It's actually "студия Тата" (Studio Tata). And all there is at the moment is an email - kyklatata@gmail.com

Somerset, old cottage - bit of brekky

Cottage we stayed in was full of old things. Some of them were just old, like the frying pan below - it had uneven bottom, so all the eggs tended to congregate in one spot. They are not all for me, btw, in case you are wondering





Some of the stuff though were real retro-antique-what-have-you. Don't know if old books that we saw there have any monetary value, but they definitely had bags of charm



Illustrator who drew this probably never had a chance to look at a real shark, or even a good picture of a real one, but aaaah! - transparent paper covering the next illustration and the blue of the sea when it's lifted

sparkly stuff

Now, she had a dream about the king of Sweden,
He gave her things that she was needin',
He gave her a home built of gold and steel,
A diamond car with a platinum wheel.
(Cab Calloway, Minnie the Moocher)
I need a King of Sweden to give me things that I am needin'. And I don't even need a diamond car. Cheaper things of sparkly variety will do just as nicely.

I spent a few minutes yesterday in Scotsdales garden center looking though their Christmas decoration things. I like it, I just do. I don't need any of that, But I bought two branches with crystals hanging off them. I wanted to buy one, I really did. I couldn't choose. I asked for help from another shopper. He graciously agreed to choose for me. I took the branch that he choose, wandered off... Returned and took the second one as well.

I just like it

no other reason.

Continuing down the nostalgic route - close to my house in Moscow, there used to be "birds' market" - biggish marketplace dedicated to pets or all kinds. As kids we went there to look at cute puppies and kittens. There were also other things - plants and natural objects for home decorations (come to think of it, it was rather like a big pet-shop combined with garden center merchandise-wise).

Anyway, there were couple of traders there selling exotic seashells. I was convinced that they were not real shells - I just couldn't imagine that something so beautiful can just happen, surely cunning artifice came into it at some point.

By now the market was moved beyond the outer ring road of Moscow, apparently - they figured out it was not sanitary enough, or something.

feather

on our way back from the lakes yesterday we took not the most direct of routes but went for scenic instead, going along the smaller roads for large portion of the journey, including A65, which runs along south border of Yorkshire Dales

It took us past Skipton, where we stopped for some food and drinks. On our way back to the carpark I've noticed a very tasteful flower display in front of BLOEMIST florist, and went in to have a look. Inside the shop was also very nice and unusual - sort of spare and designery, not the more commonly seen chaotic floral abundance.

I bought myself this peacock feather. When I got out, both Kirill and Timur wanted to have one, and got one each. Kirill wanted it to complete a costume when they do samba drumming. Timur went for it in his usual magpie "grab a pretty thing and carry it to the nest" style.

spooky beauty

don't know about you, but for me full-face mask are always spooky, even the most beautiful venetian ones.
fortunately, the one I have is small, so it's not so scary. but when pics are taken, the scale becomes unclear, with expected effect.

It was very weird to look at people in full masks and costumes the only time I went to carnival in Venice (years ago). They would chat merrily between themselves, and laugh, and while body language will say "I am happy and relaxed and chatting with my friends", the masks will maintain that slight haughty smile that says "I am so not interested in anyone, I am the most beautiful creature for miles around"

white mask and black mirror on shutterstock

spinning top

I occasionally ask kids to throw away or give to me to give to charity or recycle a certain amount or objects from their rooms, just to decrease the clutter.

As in "find and bring here any N objects that are broken, useless or not needed any more".

Timur brought downstairs this spinning top, and said that he doesn't want it. I couldn't bring myself to give it away without taking a few pictures first.

Side note : I's much more difficult to spin it when somebody is watching, camera at the ready

mask

finall, onmy I don't know which trip to Venice, I managed to buy a small _white_ mask. On the previous visits I saw them almost the first thing I came there, and always though - I will buy later, closer to the departure, I don't want to carry it around.

Problem is, Venice is very much like Borges' book of sand - you saw something in it once, you might never see it again, and I as never able to find white mask for the second time before.

This time I made a grab for it. The shape is not quite what I wanted (the classic mask are much closer to real human face), but at least I have something

at shutterstock