'Tis the Season...

... for redcurrant jelly! At least here, above the arctic circle.

Here, long overdue (I think these photos are from july/august 2012), is my post with the excellent red currant jelly recipe I hinted at two years ago. I found the recipe in the lovely book Jam, Jelly & Relish by Ghillie James, and I'll write it in full as written in the book, for you to enjoy also.

For about 1,5 litres of Redcurrant Jelly, you'll need:

"1kg red currants, washed but kept on their stems
about 500g granulated sugar

Put the redcurrants into a pan with 500ml water and cook for 20-30 minutes, or until the fruit is soft and has burst open to release its juice. Pour into a jelly bag and leave to strain through overnight."



"Measure the strained liquid into a jug. Weigh out 450g sugar per 600ml redcurrant juice and put both into a pan. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, then increse the heat and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 15 minutes then test for a set. Continue to cook util a set is achieved, then pour into warm sterilised jars and seal."



Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the jelly in the jars, but the jelly had the most vivid red colour, and it was sweet yet tart like a good redcurrant should be. The jelly set perfectly following this recipe, and I was very pleased with myself afterwards. James' book is full of recipes for other types of preserves, including a very interesting sounding "Strawberry and Rose Petal Syrup" that I'll have to try some day. Hope you try this jelly out!

Photos taken with my Pentax MX, 35mm film, 200 iso.

All text in quotation marks are © Ghillie James.

B&W Wedding

Soundtrack: Ella Fitzgerald – (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons

Welcome September! How I've wanted you... I'm sipping some jasmine tea while listening to some '40s  blues, while the weather is trying to decide whether it should be raining as well as windy. Perfect! The rest of the day will be spent knitting and cleaning, also perfect.

This summer my boyfriend's sister got married. It was a beautiful ceremony, and the day was really lovely. I took a bunch of photos with my Pentax MX and here are some that I'd like to share with you. I'll be posting another post with colour photos soon; expect a whole lot of flowers!













We also got to meet this little one, which was every bit as cute as he looks in the photo. Holding him is his proudest cousin.

Hope you are all having lovely Septembers so far!

All photos taken with my Pentax MX, on expired 35mm B&W film, 125 iso.

quick hello

Soundtrack: Patti Smith – Going Under - Digitally Remastered, 1996

Hello again! I hope you've had a lovely summer, I have! I'm sorry I have completely neglected this blog, but I haven't been idle in the summer. I've been using my Pentax MX a lot in the summer, taking some pictures at home in Norway as well as a whole lot from a lovely wedding I was invited to. I will be developing a bunch of them any day now, so stay tuned.




My red geranium just started to blossom over again when I returned to Edinburgh. There's just something about a red geranium on the window sill... don't you agree?



I cast on a little project to get rid of my impulse-yarn. I'm not normally an impulse-yarn-buyer (only if I see something extraordinarily nice that I simply have to have in my stash, which, to be fair, happens from time to time) and I've been experiencing big trouble finding suitable projects for this Fingering/4ply yarn. It's 100% merino, but feels rather like cotton, and I'm not a huge fan. It's in a lovely shade, though, so I'll persevere. I've got a little cardigan on the needles, in the same yarn, which has knit up beautifully, so maybe it's just me being a little yarn blind at the moment?

What have you been up to in the summer? Would love to hear how you've been!


Digital photos
Canon EOS 400d

Happy New Year!

First of all, a very Happy New Year to you. And thank you so much for visiting my little blog, which contains less and less Norwegian flowers (due to the very easy fact that there are not so many Norwegian flowers in my current country of residence, Scotland), more and more knitting, but hopefully the same amount of inspiration and joy as has been its aim since I first started sharing my photography.

As I announced earlier in the summer, there will be some changes on this blog, and the first one is that I have (finally) acquired a new lens for my - ever so slightly - neglected digital SLR camera. This means that I will be able to post photos on a much more frequent basis than before, since I will be able to capture valuable, and less valuable, moments with the same equipment as my beloved Pentax MX camera has so trustingly done, sadly rather sparingly over the past few years, with my digital camera as well. But fear not, I will not stop using my analog camera, and I will try to post photos I take with my favourite old camera as regularly as I can. The changes are, as you have probably gauged, not huge, but they feel rather big to me, since I really enjoy taking pictures and love sharing them with you.

To round of this very 'wordy' post; I hope you have had a lovely and peaceful Christmas holiday, and that you're ready and happy to start a new and exciting year! I'm looking forward to getting to know my camera again, and to exploring digital photography again, even though my heart will always prefer my steadfast Pentax, that was given me by my grandfather, just because he knew I liked to photograph things.

~*~

columbines

Soundtrack: William Tyler – The Green Pastures

I took a closer look at this photograph and realised that it is kind of like a dream. The colours seem fleeting, but they are at the same time very evocative. Brings me back to late-summer days, and the smell of rain in the grass.




Expired 35mm film, 200 iso
Pentax MX

the peony incident, pt. i

Soundtrack: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms

I kept thinking any day now, any day




and then, one day, suddenly, I found they had opened




Expired 35mm film, 200 iso
Pentax MX

dover

Soundtrack: Vashti Bunyan – Trawlerman's Song

This summer I spent a few weeks in Kent. While there, I saw the white cliffs of Dover, of course, and the medieval castle that has a most magnificent view over the canal. I took some photos:




It was very windy that day.



These rolling hills and trees remind me of the ones in Postman Pat, for some reason.



Scouting for pirates.


Expired 35mm film, 200 iso
Pentax MX

rainy days

Soundtrack: The Tallest Man On Earth – Wind And Walls

When the temperature falls, and the rain starts to pour, and the wind starts to howl, I just want to do this:




Arthur, professionally modeling my inner thoughts and desires.

Expired 35mm film, 200 iso
Pentax MX

new family members

soundtrack: Simon & Garfunkel – Leaves That Are Green


This summer my grandfather built a little house, I painted said house, and then...




...these nice chickens moved in! They became my new lunch companions, and after about a week they had pretty much accepted my company, and, instead of being frightened, started to look forward to whatever I would bring them as a lunch time treat.



Potatoes are still their favourite, or so I've heard.


Expired 35mm film, 200 iso
Pentax MX

flowers galore

the first film taken outdoors with my analog pentax camera turned out pretty well. here are some of my favourite shots, at last.

soundtrack:Neil Diamond – Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - mono

sorry about this being a bit askew, my scanner is dancing

all photos by me.

Analog

Jeg tar bilder med mitt analoge speilreflekskamera som jeg fikk av bestefar, for tida. Det er så fint å vente på at en film skal bli fremkallet. Ble bildene bra, dårlige? Det å ta bilder har mistet noe av sjarmen etter at det digitale tok over. Nå kan man umiddelbart se bildene etter at de er tatt, og velge å slette dem, men med en filmrull kan man ikke se dem, og det ikke så vellykkede bildet er på papir og man må faktisk fysisk ødelegge det for å bli kvitt det.

Jeg har latt meg inspirere, og vil vise dere noen av mine favoritter:

~

I am taking pictures with my grandfathers old analog camera. I love waiting for the film to develop! Did the pictures turn out good, bad? Taking pictures has lost some of its charm after the digital cameras took over. We can look at the photo immediately after it was taken, and decide to delete it if it isn't perfect. With a film-roll we can't do that, and the not-so-perfect picture is stuck on paper, and we have to physically destroy the photo to get rid of it, and that's harder to do, right?

I've been looking for inspiration, and here's some of my favourite finds:

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