like a pea in a pod...


... it's a small ceramic vase in a vintage glass one.

this is not a steam train gathering

where bikes are not tolerated, walkers may cruise. that’s what the train guard laughed about. she said, are you gathering here for the steam train? i thought, fancy that, and no, but i did hear the locomotive engine shrieking all over downtown. saying that, lessines probably doesn’t have a downtown. what it will always have though is rené magritte’s birth house. the house is simple, it breathes bureaucracy. a far cry from surrealism, if anything. i think mr. rené would be in awe for the sorry state of his native town. do not visit lessines when skies are grey. do visit rené magritte’s museum when in brussels. it is worth the effort.

twitter-ee-dee


birds wake up early, just like me. they twitter about, across the street. they pick on spring time. on bare branches they hop, from bottom to top. they visit me occasionally. they dare sit at my table. i offer them water, and tofu (recipe/recept). they fall silent.

mobile n° 2, to do

when in doubt ...

... try their point of view. two of my all time favourites united in one film. oh yes, ofcourse, two years after release; you’ve all seen it already! but i just cannot easily face that film theater, it feels like somebody’s blowing out my light when i’m hoping for the best, and expecting the worst. it feels like an unorthodox trial, yes.

tik tok


... and the mobile n°1, it is swaying and it is swinging to-and-fro, it just won’t hang still while being photographed. mesmerizing though it is, putting a true spell on me notwithstanding, it’s giving me a pain in the neck already, for looking up through the lens of my camera. endlessly. my aim is making a good few (of these mobiles).

quite amazing

step 'almost there'


after letting go of the fact i would nowhere near find my treasured thin rods too soon, and consoling myself with the reality i was going to make do with thin wooden sticks (that break like twigs), i found light iron plant sticks at a local garden centre, and then i found some more in a crafts shop nearby. i bought their entire stock. i can make mobiles now till i die. or drop.

zottegem (belgium)


and so it is, sometimes. this a one got away. the truck still running, the (wo)man though disappeared. maybe traveling into terlingua. who could blame the runner, terrible racket out there...

orchid glare of morning

orchid light of midday * * * same orchid

paisley inspired

[backgrounds 1&2 : duncan grant] ... like little pear drops they look, rather. it's because i haven't mastered the perfect paisley shape. i don't think i will either. a little free spirit goes a long way. they will eventually end up, felted and all, in a decorative mobile. that is, if ever i can track down the proper metal rods to hang the babies from. after burning the w3 highway yesterday, i will try a few live shops today. who knows. it may not rain.

fanny-in', are you?


"we dispense with niceties, we avoid irrelevance, disregard herrings, red or otherwise, and above all, we do not fanny about!" - not my words, they're not ... inspector grim's getting in edgeways, between late winter and early spring, when the void is upon us and our patience is tried. let him in, crack up on laughter, and above all - "you nick 'em, you lock 'em up and you throw away the door!"

w e l c o m e


welcome, welcome. woolfenbell are planning a trip pretty soon. keeping your eyes peeled is the message.

mmmmmmmmhmushrooms


cutting up mushrooms is so predictable. to surprise myself today i cut them up crosswise and was thoroughly pleased with the design. they almost tasted differently.

spring shuffle


on my latest walk, my eyes opened right up again. the hesitating sun, the threatening cloud. my godfather took me out for coffee, and while i was sitting across the table from him, that sweet sun hit a balding patch of skin on top of his head. he was sitting quietly, peacefully, nonetheless talking excitedly. a mottle of people was shifting by.

the lure of terlingua


whenever the mood grabs us, we head for paris, texas. the walk doesn't ever disappoint, it puts the dots right back on the i's.

maton


the tarte au maton/mattentaart has a whiff of buttermilk inside, sits happily in a puff pastry case, and proofs quite tricky to make. so! living in the place where the pie is supposed to originate from is a true delight. if you like, you can give it a try. enclosed in the recipe/recept you will find a crumb of history.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


bell opens shop in the fall, in an up and coming suburb of brussels. it is hard to say what it is going to look like at this point. she is working away at it, beaver style. she is a master in lettering. [at] number 17, that is. woolfenbell is a brand w o o l f uses for hand made goodness, mainly crochet and fabric. but we also do cards. our best advice is to stop by regularly, and revel. once again.

our castle and our keep


04/03/10 - this is a room in a house that will be turned into our home, in the middle of our street, over the next coming months. woolf and son will be living there, a stone's throw away from son's dad. it is an exciting project. son and i will talk about it and show it off. bear with us.

always somewhere


one of woolfenbell's favourite places to visit is london. they travel together, or separately thither. that doesn't rule out their passion for paris, berlin, amsterdam, geneva, wallony or even their own back yard. bell's living in the cathedral's shadows, while woolf likes to think she's permanently on vacation.

celery 'afrodi'


Jane Grigson writes passionately about food in the everyday kitchen, thus making it the place to be in the home. In VEGETABLE COOKERY BOOK she adds personal preferences and variations on a theme, elaborating on long forgotten greens and trendy new vegetables. If I want to learn about a new way of preparing an all time favourite, like say celery, I pour over the pages of history and anecdote, and add my own irresistable twist. Celery soup with dill (english recipe/nederlandstalig recept) tastes bitter sweet and succulent.