21.6.12

Delphi

IMG_1317 IMG_1328 IMG_1368 IMG_1372 IMG_1406 There are many beautiful places in the world, but Delphi - on Mount Parnassus - must be one of the most beautiful ones. It is really a place that leaves you speechless and has you think about so many things. The higher you go and the more you see, the clearer your thoughts become. No wonder the Greeks had the Apollo temple built here and that this was the site for the Oracle of Delphi, or Pythia as she also was called. An inspiring, serene place that must instill some kind of wisdom in whoever visits. I visited Delphi with a friend last weekend, and it's really a place to experience! 

All photos by me.

13.6.12

I walk out in the flowers

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I love having flowers in the living room, in the dining room, in the garden, anywhere in the house really. What I do so appreciate about Athens though, is all the flowers I pass by just by talking a little walk. I've been snapping photographs whenever I see some beautiful flowers outside. The most amazing thing is that most of these pictures where in fact taken on a walk of just about two kilometers. 

So you see, flowers are all around, and all the color and vividness they spread brings me so much joy. These eighteen instagram photographs are just some of the flowers I've captured. I have a little project going on, just for my own sake, that involves taking pictures of all the beautiful flowers I see here in Athens and in Greece in general. Just wait until I go to the islands. It'll be bliss (yes, such a word seems appropriate here!).

And, oh, if you'd like you can follow this blog on Bloglovin'.

12.6.12

Water washes away

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By coincidence I stumbled upon this tumblr, all with black and white photographs of landscapes, crushing waters and such. Even though the water can be uneasy sometimes, I always get this calm feeling staring at the crushing waves - preferably in real life, but also with photographs like these.

Images from Violentor.

11.6.12

Escapism

aigina Since the previous post I wrote about making my blog more "beautiful" and essentially more personal, I've been feeling both very inspired and uninspired all at the same time. I guess I've been more inspired general in life, and less inspired in terms of this blog. I do want to write and post though, the desire is really there. I'm not giving up on my little "project". I think I just need some time to really think about what I want to do here and how, though it isn't really that hard. It feels like I've arrived somewhere on the subject.

This weekend for instance, I "arrived" many places. Well at least two beautiful places - two islands that is. First I went with a couple of friends to Hydra, a beautiful little island a not very long boat ride from Athens. I've been there before, but every time I'm there, as was with this time, the picturesque beauty of the island strikes me. I also love that there are no cars there. This fact not only preserves the calm of the streets and the people, but it also makes the whole island the most fantastic of places to photograph. 

The photograph I've included here is not from Hydra though, but from Aegina - an island that is even closer to Athens - just a forty minute boat ride or so (and yes, I might just have but this as my profile picture). For me Aegina is the kind of island that is nice to see for just one day. You can take the early boat there, walk around in the town, see the temple of Afaia and other sights you might want to. After that you can run through the burning sand and into the glittering water, spend your day at the beach and then proceed to eat at one of the fish tavernas by the fishermen's square or maybe one of those places situated by the edge of the harbor. After this, as we did, you can scoop up some pistachio gelato (Aegina has amazing pistachios) and then catch the boat back to Athens all sun-kissed and if you are like me, rather sunburnt and exhausted. A good day on a Greek island. 

I rarely talk about my life or where I live on this blog, mainly because I feel weird about it, but also because I'm living in Athens right now, and the situation here is a highly sensitive but also a frequently talked about subject. I feel almost guilty writing about how truly amazing trips to the Greek islands can be, but at the same time I feel it a necessity to, in a sense, promote all the good things Greece, my other home country, has to offer. Because there is really so many great things about Greece, and no matter what is happening here, staring into the deep, blue sea and listening to the sound of the waves always helps. Even if just the slightest.

3.6.12

Scraped across the foam

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us The last couple of weeks, I've been thinking; what do I want to do with this place? I mean, I've gotten into a pretty steady flow of posting photographs and music, I find, but still I'm not where I want to be. I know that this is probably only of importance to me, but I do so long to make this blog, this little posting place of mine, as beautiful as can be. In actuality on a "higher" level, this is of importance to everyone. I guess most people try to or have the longing for making their lives more beautiful. I know I always have. Even when I'm alone sometimes I find myself trying to keep/make my hand gestures more beautiful, or the way I make my breakfast or drink water or the way I dress (in this particular case I'm not talking about the actual final result, but the specific act of getting dressed). Not always of course, but often, I try to think of what I do and how I do it as if I were in a beautiful movie or staring out into the beautiful, deep blue sea. Essentially I would want my life to be as beautiful as a Bon Iver song. 

Now that I've described my small-huge efforts to beautify everything, you might understand why I would want this place to be beautiful as well. Whoever this may reach, may it be only me or some few of those who check in here now and then, I now have this as my goal. To describe exactly what I mean, I will say this; there are many things I like, and many things I find beautiful and agreeable, many things I could in some ways want to post. But... I'm finding it to be too easy almost, to just post everything I like and be done with it. I want to introduce a certain mindfulness to this place, to my posts. I say mindfulness in the sense of wanting to be more careful about what I post and how I write what I write. I don't want to have it that easy. I want to struggle to make this place what I think it can be, that is - again - for me. I know in my heart that I can put more heart into what I write here and what I do here and that whatever it may mean or become to mean to me, or even someone else out there, that I actually have the ability to extend my efforts of making all things beautiful to this blog.

I am not saying in anyway that this will happen overnight, because it certainly won't. I just wanted to have said it here, so it becomes more real, so it becomes more of a promise to me and to this blog, so that I actually have to do it. If I make such efforts here, it will just add to the equilibrium of my life, and if I can go that far... my happiness? All I can say is that I will try, and I will try because I really, really want to start doing more things outside of myself. Small steps, small steps... 

The photo is a slightly edited screen cap from The Unbearable Lightness of Being.