Fernweh

This week's theme for 52 of Twenty Eleven is "Vanishing Point". I spend a lot of time in trains, commuting almost four hours every day, so the railway tracks at the station close to where I work seemed to be perfect. There are three tracks but only one is used and there are only about 4 trains an hour, so it is quite safe to take pictures. It was a cold and frosty and also rather hazy morning, providing the right kind of light for the theme.

I was looking for a quote to go with this and in my quote's book found this one by American poet James Oppenheim (1882-1932):

the foolish person seeks happiness in the distance;
the wise person grows it under his feet

I should probably pin this quote to my fridge and read it every day and adopt is my mantra or something like that. I've been dreaming about moving abroad for ages but haven't managed yet to take the steps and more and more I think/fear that it will never actually happen. I must admit that I do tend to believe that my life would be better if I was living somehwere else, that I would be happier. That I would somehow be a different person, better able to be happy. And there are times when I feel that I spend my life in some sort of transit zone, forever waiting for the time when finally everything changes, when my life finally begins for good. But this is probably just a big delusion. We all know (in theory) that happiness comes from within, that it is a state of mind rather than a number of external factors. If we always wait for happiness to come to us from outside, and, even worse, rely on others to make us happy, we'll never really be happy. It's within us and it's up to us. Sounds so simple - but I find it one of the hardest things in the world to achieve.

There's a perfect German word which really sums up this feeling of longing to be in some other place: Fernweh. It's one of these words for which there doesn't really seem to exist an equivalent in English. When looking it up, I found another German term as "translation": wanderlust. Others are itchy feet and the travel bug. But these don't really fit. They all have a positive connotation; a pleasant anticipation of going on holiday, on a journey, to see the world. Something you plan, and then actually do - and return home from happy and content. Fernweh on the other hand has a more melancholic connotation. It's the feeling of longing to be somewhere else but not necessarily ever getting there. It's the opposite of Heimweh - homesickness, though in German, it's not a "sickness" but an "ache". It's this lump in your heart you feel, of something missing, an unfulfilled dream. Which might always remain just that. But it's up to us, if we allow those lumps to get us down or if we choose to be happy despite them.

I'm working on it...

Light & Shadows

~ there are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast (charles dickens) ~

Photography is a great medium to take a different look at things and put them into perspective. I took this image for the Flickr group 52 of Twenty Eleven for this week's theme Shadows.

Some recurring health issues are casting a shadow over my general state of wellbeing at times. The bright side to it is that it could be worse (but hopefully never will be).

But that's life: full of lights and shadows. And at the end, it is really mainly a question of attitude and the point of view you choose to adopt. (Says a born pessimist and expert prophet of doom and gloom... ;.) )

Textures by borealnz

Stories & Memories

3*52 of Twenty Eleven: "Memories"   /   Picture Winter, Day 19: "A Different Kind of Story"

I had in mind and took this image for the 52 of Twenty Eleven group for this week's prompt "Memories". But when I saw yesterday's prompt for Picture Winter I knew that it would just be perfect for that as well. So this will have to serve both and considering that I spent almost three hours last night with taking and processing this, I simply wouldn't have had the time to take another shot anyway :-).

If only this inkstand could talk! How I would love to listen to its stories! It does indeed tell many stories.

One of them is my own, of my father's childhood and why I was born in the country where I live today. Of "Aunt Emily", who is only a vague childhood memory of mine but lives on in the beautiful objects that are now in my possession and among my most cherished ones (as this inkstand) and about whom I only learnt much later that she wasn't actually my or any of my parents real aunt, not even a relative.

But this inkstand holds many more stories and memories about which I'll never know. About the person who owned it (Aunt Emily's father?) and who stopped using it on 24 August 1943. What happened on that 24 of August in the middle of the Second World War? Did the person die? And why has never anyone used it again or removed the calendar and replaced it with a new one? These stories I will never know.

One sentence in the assingment for Day 19 for Picture Winter says: "Capture something that will give us a glimpse into your world". My Mum often tells me that I live too much in the past. In the books I read (basically everything before mid 20th century), the music I listen to (I have a passion for 1920/30s Dance Band Orchestras and early jazz), the way I live (old furniture and vintage pieces - I persuade my mum to let me have the old pieces and she replaces them with modern furniture in their home :-) ) etc. etc. I think she's got a point. But I like it that way. This is my world, a world full of stories and memories and voices from the past, and the inkstand is a part of this my world. And as long as it is in my possession, it will always show the 24 August 1943.

The picture in the background, by the way, is my (real) aunt and uncle's wedding photo. They're in their early 80s now and have been married for almost 60 years. They also have a lot of stories to tell, though their stories and memories of 1943 certainly are a lot different than those of the owner of this inkstand were, as they did not live through the war in relatively safe Switzerland.

Textures by Shadowhouse Creations and Kim Klassen.

{Day 14} ~ Beyond the Chill

Prompt for Day 14 for Picture Winter: "Beyond the Chill"

These bright pink blossoms are everywhere at the moment, bringing a splash of cheerful colour into the rather dull and snowless winter days at the moment.

Texture by Kim Klassen

{Day 23} ~ Life Is Sweet

Prompt for Day 23 for Picture the Holidays: "Life Is Sweet"

These are the English Christmas pralines I bought the other day for our "A Touch of British" Christmas. It wasn't easy to resist the tempation to eat them before I had the shot taken. I didn't dare touch them until I had downloaded them all, but now, that the shot is posted, there's no holidng back :-)

Not quite sure about the processing, especially how the background turned out. But I like the lacy traditional old style café feeling :-)

Texture by SkeletalMess / Shadowhouse Creations and Kim Klassen