Showing posts with label raven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raven. Show all posts

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Ravens.


And then for something completely different - ravens. It's officially spring now that they're all gathering up in groups instead of fighting each other off of their designated areas (the old ones do that, young ravens spend their first years in unkindnesses), preparing to leave for the summer. They'll return come autumn.

I of course took lots of photos! Ravens in general don't like being photographed but at this time of the year they're well used to being around humans so they don't mind as much. Without further ado, here's my catch!













Monday, 7 October 2013

All the Breiðholt banners.

Inspired by a comment I figured it would be a good time to look back at the short-ish history of Breiðholt the Blog by that Random Finnish Immigrant and see just how many headers I've gone through so far. I found both more and less than I though - more than I remembered having, but less in the sense that I seem to remember some that I could not find. Most likely they have a file name that's not related to them being a header and therefore lost somewhere in the depths of my laptop - but I digress. Here are the ones I did find, possibly in order of appearance (although I'm not making any promises).


The first Breiðholt banner ever to appear was this one. It was short-lived because it looked so messy and unorganized, as in "would I myself want to read a blog with a header like this? HELL NAH" -kind of way. Somehow seeing it now makes me feel really nostalgic though, all those feelings of having a brand new blog and not quite knowing which direction I should take it.

(In the end I chose photospammy + nonsense, in my opinion this was a wise choice.)


The second one that was around for a good deal longer. Definitely an improvement in terms of design and tidiness but still somehow really impersonal. Eventually it began to feel like just the top decoration instead of the first invitation on browsing more of the blog that it should be, so I kept the raven theme and changed it to -


this one. This is the first Bholt banner that featured my own mug (from an interesting photoshoot we did somewhere I did not know where, only I knew there were lava fields and it was a short drive away)(Hafnarfjörður?). In the background picture you can see Kronkku and Raakku, two Breiðholt ravens that I keep seeing here every year. Kronkku is very easy to tell because he's HUGE. Tall and fat, and he sings in a slow KRONK... KRONK... KRONK... voice. 

Kronkku once tried to steal our bin bag that I had left outside for one effing minute while I turned back to get something else. By the time I returned he had successfully dragged the bag across our front yard already.

Hmmm, come to think of it I haven't seen them yet this year. It's about time they make their appearance!


The thing that usually prompts me to change the banner is a seasonal change. It would feel weird to have a summer-y banner in the autumn/winter and vice versa. I stuck with this one for a long time too, though.


Continuing on the theme - I just realized it would be easy to time these based on the photos I've used in them, although sometimes I do use older material too. I could still say though that this banner cannot be younger than year XYZÖ because that's when I bought that Lady Sloth JSK and the Mrs Parker's Millinery & Mercantile bonnet.


Mwahahaha I remember when I took this photo! I was wearing a corset, extra amount of petticoats (I wear any number of petticoats between one and four depending on the outfit and how much support it needs - they're all quite thin though and in my own coords I prefer A-line to cupcake any time) and tall heels and taking photos on carpeted floor. In short, I could not bend my back or see my feet and took a majestic fall right as the self timer went off. :D

Not upside-down of course. Some things will always be GIMP shoppery. Many things, in fact.



Another banner that I felt I had had for forever, but I can see why. It's quite a good one - simple, all the info's there and an inoffensive colour combo. I have no idea who the Alf in that photo is, I found the pic glued to a lamp post and took a photo of it.

All of a sudden I realized that it was already early summer and did I really want to have a winter coat in the banner - NO.


THIS is what I wanted for a summer. A summer that, in essence, turned out to be only two days of sunshine or something of the sort. Old Icelandic grandmas are saying the last summer that we had, boy, that was one bad weather summer and no mistake, the news sites state it was the worst in... 17 years if memory serves. Anyway, awful, awful summer. Wish I had been in Finland instead.

At least I could get that summer feeling for the banner, so I chose one yukata photo that looked suitable and ran with it. 


And so we have come to the current one. Again prompted by the changing season because I also don't want to have a yukata banner for cold seasons. By cold I mean seasons that are and should be cold, not summers that just are cold to annoy you. D:( We'll see how long this one lasts - could be autumn, could be until spring, could be until summer - could be until December. No promises, even when I decide on a schedule such as "change the banner once a season" I can never hold onto them. :3

Monday, 23 September 2013

Nyoro-nyoro!



A recent kitsuke with my new hattifattener obidome. 

One thing I love about autumn is all the colours of it. In Iceland this period is very short, so I always feel like it's important to enjoy it to the full. Take photos of the most beautiful colours, stop and admire them, wear something that resembles the surroundings - little, meaningless things, but if I missed them I'd feel like I just missed the best part of a whole season.


Btw I'm also wearing Moomin socks. :3

Admittedly though to me the idea of "the best part of the season"does not follow strict four season code. I'd say it goes more like this:

Start of the year - best thing: EXPLOSIONS FIREWORKS YES YES YES.
Late winter - best thing: air smells like melting snow.
Spring - best thing: walking with the winter coat open.
Early summer - best thing: bringing out all the light coloured thin cotton summer clothes, packing away the wool.
Summer - best thing: a really hot and dry day, the smell of hot asphalt.
Late summer - best thing: the nights that are cooling down, although they're still warm.
Early autumn - best thing: the colours!
Autumn - best thing: wool clothes, knitting, turning into a hermit indoors.
Early winter - best thing: mulled wine. :3


Here's a close-up on the obidome.

Currently we're living the part where leaves have just begun to turn colour. I'll have about two weeks time now to enjoy them, bring out the rest of my winter clothes, pack away the summer ones since they're hardly useful from now on (besides I love to change the entire wardrobe based on the season) and watch as the seagulls leave and the ravens arrive to towns. Time also to start preparing spiced vodka, since some spices take a month to properly leave their flavour. Looking forward to you, autumn!

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Just a few more ravens.


Bear with me please, it's almost spring! Ravens are already singing in that spring-style and flying in couples. It means that they'll soon leave the cities to appear the next time at the beginning of the autumn. During the summers the cities belong to seagulls, ravens take the mountains.


That means I'm going to have to enjoy them to the maxx while they're still here. :3


The ravens themselves don't like my camera any more than usual though.


Zoooooooooooooooooooom.

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Ravens again!


Meet Kronkku and Raakku's youngling who has not a name yet! I haven't named him/her due to failure in imagination so feel free to come up with a suggestion if you like. :D


As you see, it is a bit of a silly tit for a raven. Just sitting there all prosh while someone's creeping underneath it to take photos of it!


"Muuuuuuummm...!"


"Korp?"


"Korp."


Heeeeeee it let me so close!

Alas, Kronkku/Raakku (didn't see which one it was) was not as happy to let me pay all that attention to the bebe. Right after I had taken the tree photos I heard - and felt - a strong WHUMPH right above my head. I took that as my final warning and ran for dear life. Those birds are BOBDAMN HUEG and strong and have strong beaks and a nasty character!


The rest of the photos are of the parents. They do not like to be photographed.


It's uncanny how they always realize I'm about to take a photo and then this is all I get...


Rare treats. Raakku on a lamp post.


"So long suckerrrrr."