Wall Flowers
I moved into my current apartment in October of 2010 and felt immediately at home. My place is charming (read: old) but it is full of character and large windows and a creaky, hardwood floor. It’s pretty large for a studio with separate living and dining areas (though the “dining area” is being used as headquarters for J. Winter Photography) and I had so much fun decorating it and making it my own. Once I’d settled in, there was one wall that bothered me. It’s the wall behind my bed and the design causes some problems when it comes to decorating. Because there is a little wall sticking out of one side to block the radiator, I couldn’t center my bed on the wall thus causing a problem with what to hang behind it. Do I center a photograph over the bed or on the wall? I must have stared at this 10 foot expanse for hours in the first weeks I lived here until, suddenly, about a year ago, I had a brilliant idea. Wall flowers.
The wall in question, before the flowers started to bloom
That Christmas I had crocheted hats for my sisters and found a youtube video on how to crochet flowers. Once Christmas was over and I’d returned from my January trip to Kenya I found myself with a lot of free time. My slow season. Once I got the idea for the Wall Flowers, I had a big project to work on which helped to pass last February and March. First I covered a curtain rod in white yarn and hung it over the length of the wall. I then crocheted various strings of flowers in four colors and different sizes and hung them from the rod, taking the height of my shelves and my bed into account. It was a long process and was put entirely on pause from June to December when I was too busy with photography work. The final strings weren’t hung until last month but I’m more than happy with the results!
The string for the light posed a problem because it was a black chain with a brown ball at the end. I remedied this by covering the chain with the same yarn as the rod and crocheting a tiny pouch in which to put the ball. I even added another flower to hang from the chain.
I think that this would be a really cute idea for behind a crib and am contemplating taking special orders for smaller walls. 10 feet was a lot of space to cover!
Fuego y Agua
As promised, below are several more images from the Fire and Water Show that was held at our resort during my recent trip to Mexico. It was a pretty intense show.
At the end of the show they introduced each performer including “Kara from Chicago, IL.” Of course we had to seek out this Kara from Chicago who was currently working as a fire thrower out of Playa del Carmen! After speaking with her for a few minutes we made a startling discovery… Kara is actually a distant cousin. Her uncle is my dad’s first cousin or something along those lines. Small world.
[25] Image of the Week
“Acacia at Sunset”
What with my story being featured on Bucket List Publications and my revamping of the VICDA website, I’ve been missing Kenya a lot lately. This photograph was taken during my first trip to Kenya in 2006. I was on safari at Amboseli National Park and became obsessed with this gorgeous acacia tree that was at our campsite. I have dozens of photographs of this tree, taken from different angles and at different times of day. This was taken with my trusty old Nikon D50 which I sold last week for a mere $100. It was hard to let that camera go, it was my trusty sidekick on that first trip and was the camera that helped me to become the photographer that I am today. But it had been gathering dust on my shelf for several years and I saw no reason, other than sentimentality, to keep it. I hope that its next owner will find it as inspiring as I did.
I’ve Been Crafty
I’ve been busy with my hook as of late! Possibly a new business venture? That’s so like me…
Fire on the Brown Line… and Bagels
This post is a week overdue. My apologies. The fire threw me off. Keep reading.
Last week Tami and I went to Beans and Bagels on Montrose for our weekly writing workshop. Tami had heard rave reviews about this one and we were excited to try it out. The coffee was great (Metropolis coffee again), the atmosphere was artsy and the bagels and sandwiches were fantastic. It’s a small joint but we managed to secure a decent sized table in the corer next to an outlet – a perfect set up for a day of writing. We hunkered down, opened our laptops and got to work.
Until the fire.
As you can see from the map, Beans and Bagels is located directly underneath the Montrose Brown Line stop making it convenient for commuters to grab a cup of joe and a bite before work. A large truck rolled by just as the first two mini-explosions took place, causing Tami and me to think that something had fallen off of the truck to create the loud noise. Then we saw the smoke. It’s still not totally clear what caused the fire, but it appeared to be either a walker or a bike or a shopping cart that somehow got caught on the tracks. All I know is that the tracks were raining down fiery tar onto the sidewalk below and that strip of track was ablaze. The falling ignited tar was actually quite beautiful, it reminded me of a flaming waterfall.
The six or so patrons of Beans and Bagels were all huddled around the door watching the action. Together we speculated on the cause, wondered at the delayed reaction of the Chicago Fire Department and were eager to tell new comers of what we’d witnessed. To quote my Kenyan friend, Bridgette, nothing brings a group of people together like a fire or a dead body.
Never a dull moment.
Fashionably Late
But Happy Valentine’s Day all the same!
(c) Jenn Winter, J. Winter Photography 2012
Bucket List Publications
To all of my new readers who have found me by way of my post of Bucket List Publications – Welcome! Thank you for liking my story enough to stop by and I hope that you will follow my blog and stop by again. If you would like to learn more about VICDA, the NGO that I work with in Kenya, I encourage you to visit their website. Irene serves not only as a character in many of my travel stories but she is also a dear friend who continues to inspire me with her work and devotion to her fellow Kenyans.
To all my old readers, I have exciting news! One of my favorite stories from my trip back to Kenya last year was published on Bucket List Productions, an online travel magazine started by adventurist and traveler, Lesley Carter. I’m flattered that Lesley liked my story about distributing shoes to the Dust Babies enough to publish and encouraged by the positive comments from her many readers. I encourage you to check out Lesley’s site!
I leave you with a warm Dust Baby smile to warm your heart on this chilly Sunday.
(c) Jenn Winter, 2009
[24] Image of the Week
“Fire Thrower”
One of the nights in Mexico there was a Fire and Water show on the beach at the resort. We were late in arriving to the show and were seated way in the back of the crowd but that didn’t stop me from attempting to capture a few images. The show was very impressive and has a surprise twist at the end that I will write about next week (are you intrigued?) The shooting conditions were less than ideal seeing as I was seated pretty far away and was yelled at by an old woman when I tried to stand in the back to take photos. (My brother’s response to her calling me out: “I wish it were legal to hit old people.”) Despite these hiccups, I did the best with the camera and lens I had in tow. I wish I had read this article from Jim Richardson about shooting with available light before the show, but I think I was able to hit most of the points on his list.
Nikon D300 body and Nikkor 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 VR lens : ISO 1600 – f/5.3 – 1/100
