This entry is going to be of a somewhat philosophical nature, a blog on blogging if you will.

As you’ve probably noticed, I haven’t updated much recently. I don’t feel as compelled to write, to share my daily bits and bobs. I feel like I’ve lost focus a bit, by doing many enjoyable, intriguing things at once, but none of them very regularly. It’s the price I’m quite happily paying for a life filled with family, friends, exercise, creativity, delectable homecooked food, and travel in the real world and down the fascinating roads into foreign lands that books have to offer, but it means that my record keeping on this website, for the first time in six years, has fallen by the wayside.

My previous concept of writing about daily adventures has suffered a little now that daily adventures consist mainly of work – which I don’t write about as a rule – and evenings, which are too dark for photography at this time of year.

Winter is as good a time as any to go back into hibernation and work out where to go from there. I’m considering various angles. A blog focused mainly on things I can photograph during lunch at work, or weekly photography with small stories? An outlet for Illustration Friday entries? A history of culinary experiments? Entries on my favourite books?

For now, I’m going back to the drawing board. I’ll be back, but probably not until the new year. I’m giving myself a nice long Christmas holiday to recuperate. I may occasionally update my Flickr, but again, with winter’s darkness descending upon us for the foreseeable future, I can’t do as much as I’d like in that respect.

In the mean time, I hope the holiday season treats you well, and wish you all the best for 2012! As always, thank you for reading.

I got a new toy!

My trusty old Panasonic DMC-FZ7 (that I raved about when I bought it in 2006) can’t quite keep up anymore these days, and my lovely SLR is too bulky to carry with me everywhere I go.

I’ve been suffering from serious camera lust (for the Canon S95), but had so far managed to contain myself. However, the Canon S100 has just come out, meaning the price for the S95 has come down a fair bit. So I caved. It’s portable and sturdy, and it even has RAW!

This is a quick photo (using the auto settings) of the ingredients for the equally quick stirfry I cooked up tonight (cabbage, courgette, shallots, portobello mushroom, leek – stirfry, add soy sauce and lemon juice, mix with (sweet potato & buckwheat) noodles).

It was dark by the time I got home from work, so I’ve had to try out the camera indoors and with artificial lightning. I’m really looking forward to carrying this one around with me.

PS. I filled the front cabbage leaf with water, hence the bubbles and highlights. The combination of cabbage and water always seems a little magical to me – it’s like a safe form of playing with mercury.

The Londoner and I were making our way up the stairs at South Kensington tube station, as part of a crowd of people that flowed like a giant caterpillar: slowly, and in waves.

Suddenly, I heard shouting. “Jason!” “Jason, come here!” I looked to my right and saw the tiniest little toddler trying to reach the arm rail on the side of the stairs. He stretched out his entire little body, dark curls going everywhere, and jerked back. In a reflex I stretched out my arm in case he fell back, on his way to hitting his head on the concrete. He didn’t fall, but suddenly turned and looked up at me with huge brown eyes.

And then his little left arm came up and he grabbed my hand. Looking at his serious, determined little face, tinged with the slightest bit of wide-eyed amazement at what was going on around him, how could I not give him a hand? It seemed he’d worked out how to get to the man yelling his name. I was going to help him up the stairs, surely? So we set off.

He can’t have been older than three – he was still at the stage where he needed two human steps for every step of the stairs. He was lost in a bustle of people so tall he couldn’t see his dad anymore; yet he was quietly confident, an amazing little boy.

Once we got close to the top, a man came the wrong way down a one-way crowd and grabbed Jason’s right hand, trying to take him off me and thanking me for going through the trouble. I told him not to worry, my pleasure. But Jason wouldn’t let go of my hand. He didn’t smile or change expression in any way. He just stared up at me and quietly held my hand. So his dad and I guarded his flanks as he made the last couple of steps to where the man had been waiting with a pram and another child.

Poor little Jason had so clearly been trying to be a good boy, following his dad who had limited resources and too many children and assorted children’s apparel to deal with. But the handrail was too tall and he just couldn’t get up the stairs unaided.

When we got to the top, his father, worry still in his voice, said, “Say thank you now, Jason!” I smiled a wide grin at him and waved, and sure enough, out came a little voice. “Thank you,” Jason said.

And then I melted into a puddle of goo. God he was cute.

They say eating different colours of food at each meal is healthy, due to the different healthful properties present in different vegetables.

I’m not sure whoever they are take it quite this seriously though.

On the right, the vivid red tomato sauce I made for a pizza I made last week. On the right, my very yellow almost pumpkin soup.

Ah yes, almost pumpkin soup. It was meant to be full on pumpkin soup. I was eager to try out this recipe, especially since I bought some curry powder at Borough Market in London over the weekend.

Unfortunately the two pumpkins from my vegetable box didn’t nearly add up to 1kg, it was more like half that. I supplemented with 500g carrots, and the end result wasn’t at all orange like in the picture with the recipe, but distinctly yellow. A bit of a surprise, given the red lentils (which are really orange), carrots and pumpkin that went into it. They’re all beaten by the turmeric in the curry powder.

It looks like I made an Indian korma!

Given that it tastes delicious, I’m not going to pretend I mind.

Occasionally, a song grabs my attention.

I’m a faithfull BBC Radio 2 listener on my commute. I don’t think I’m exactly a part of their target audience, if Chris Evan’s reaction was anything to go by after the annual listener figures were released and someone in their twenties sent him a message. “We’ve even got a 26 year old!” he gleefully exclaimed on national radio, as I drove my 25-year-old self to work.

Anyway. Radio 2, because the chatter is clever and fun, and the music often very good.

They’ve recently been playing this gem by Glen Campbell a lot, called “Any Trouble“.

You know I don’t stand a chance with lyrics like Don’t pin your hopes, don’t pin your dreams, on misanthropes and guys like me. Don’t pin your hair, let it hang down; don’t go to any trouble on my account“. He used the word misanthrope, in a song lyric, and he used a nice bit of internal rhyme to higlight it. My stylistic heart is beating proud.

Go listen. You know you want to. It’s a very pretty little song.

Look what I spotted as I got in the car this morning!

It is time to dig up the winter gear. October! It seems so soon. However, with the down and feather jacket I bought a few weeks ago, I come prepared.

Note that it was 4 degrees Celsius still – apparently the Ford Focus is a big girls’ blouse.

I’ve been trying out a new mindset recently. See, I’m quite the magpie – I love collecting things, and being Dutch, I love a good bargain.

But then someone pointed out that bargains are only money savers if you’re buying something you wanted/needed anyway. Two for one? Only if you actually need two. Cheaper? Sure, but how much is five pounds when you blatantly like the more expensive option better?

I’m trying to apply it as much as I can, restricting myself to buy things that I really like (and not settle for something OK out of impatience or Calvinism), taking more time and care with my purchases.

I bought a large, cute purse in spring, but unfortunately the very print that made it so adorable rubbed off within weeks. It was very disappointing but I vowed to get at least a couple of months use out of it. In the mean time, I kept my eye out for a new purse. I had my eye on Radley, because they do quality leather bags and purses, but I didn’t like any of their styles for spring and summer.

And so it happened, armed with this new mindset, that after months of looking for a replacement purse, I stumbled across the perfect one at the airport two weekends ago. Radley, as initially expected. A convenient size, the texture and smell of quality leather, and a good bit of quirkiness to suit me. It’s even got a peony (only my favourite flower ever) to accompany the cute Radley dog; and the colour is called “marsupial grey” (to echo my Aussie adventures). Isn’t it pretty?

Even better – I could afford to purchase it because I hadn’t spent my money on nearly-there’s, and I could buy it guilt-free because I actually still needed one. It wasn’t cheap, no. But it’s quality, a small bit of luxury that will last, and I really, truly love taking it out of my handbag to pay for my groceries.

This mindset and I? I think we’re onto something.

While it really isn’t as big as I had imagined it to be, Stonehenge is a little bigger than it appears in this photo! It’s all a matter of perspective.

The stone circle suddenly pops up on the right side of a busy through road (that we were on on our way to Devon). I hadn’t made a conscious decision about whether to visit beforehand, because the drive from Cambridge to Devon is a loooong one, but as soon as I laid eyes on it I knew I had to turn off. This required closer inspection.

By the time I took this shot, I’d taken photos of the stone circle from all angles, and just on the way back, I noticed the little flowers growing in the grass next to the path. I was itching to try something different. There were some purple ones I’d have loved to have got a shot of, but they were too far away from the path (and no walking on the grass). I settled for this pretty yellow one.

There are two more (traditional) Stonehenge photos on my Flickr account here. I hope it’ll give you a chance to experience it a little, wherever you are reading this. It’s a gorgeous place. The timescale, the knowledge that this big mystery was built by people, all that time ago… It works magic in terms of shrinking your sense of self-importance and putting daily worries into perspective.

I will be away at my annual crazy police football tournament this week, with no internet access, so there will be no updates. I’ll report back next week!

I took these two photos only ten minutes apart. Misty skies in one direction – then bright sunny blue!

I was very fortunate the weather was amazing while we were in Devon. The first day of October was apparently the hottest day of the year! I really didn’t need the wind- and waterproof coat I bought especially. Had I not bought it, I suspect it would have rained incessantly. Which it’s bound to do any day now, so I’m glad I bought the coat.

What? Oh, photos. Focus, Leonie.

The Londoner and I spotted the mysterious distant mist at the same time. I immediately pulled over, grabbed the camera bag and tried to get a shot. Not easy because the lens I use on my DSLR doesn’t zoom in all that far. I’m quite pleased with the end result though.

At the next crazy stop (literally – I pulled off rather abruptly when I spotted the ponies), I met this little foal. Ever so friendly, keen to nibble on my hands and beg for a scratch, and not afraid to pull out a big smile for the camera!