Fans of Flanders ... an interview with 3 New Zealanders in Belgium

Last week was an action-packed rather stress-filled week.

I did a lot, learned a lot, worried a lot.

Monday 24 September and there was a lovely film crew here at the house.  They titled the interview

Life's a Beach!

We had so much fun but I think that comes through.

We were so delighted by Lies editing too.  I imagine many will get a sense of what else might have been said during the hours of filming and conversation that went into this piece.

Thursday there was a corporate photography shoot that became huge.

Then yesterday ... Wednesday 3rd October, there was the launch of CameraJourneys.net.

In-between, a million other things too. 

There was the launch of Benny van Loon's Retro Food project. 

On Sunday, Gert's parents came over for a pavlova and coffee and conversation about Istanbul.  His mum is wandering there now ...

My Nespresso machine was finally sent off for repairs today.  The house is clean. The last of the rhubarb was picked and the plants have been 'tucked up' ready for winter.

The temperature dropped to 10 celsius in the rain today.  I froze.  Quite unprepared for it all.

Maybe that's all ... it's been a mad-busy couple of weeks though, mad-busy.

About a dog I loved ...

I left her behind when I left New Zealand 10 years ago.

She had a really good home, the 'mum' of her doggy mum.

Diana thought she might survive until I returned in December but Ellie-dog died last night ...

The Story of Being Interviewed for TV ...

This wasn't the first time, I've been interviewed for television before ...

I'm not sure if you read through the various blog pages I have on this website but I wrote the story of my recent interview experience over on my Antwerp blog page so ... just in case you missed it, it's there and not here, where I had originally intended to tell the story.

Dorianne Laux, Antilamentation

Regret none of it, not one
of the wasted days you wanted to know nothing,
when the lights from the carnival rides
were the only stars you believed in, loving them
for their uselessness, not wanting to be saved.
You’ve traveled this far on the back of every mistake,
ridden in dark-eyed and morose but calm as a house
after the TV set has been pitched out the upstairs
window. Harmless as a broken ax. Emptied
of expectation. Relax. Don’t bother remembering any of it.
Let’s stop here, under the lit sign
on the corner, and watch all the people walk by.

Dorianne Laux, an extract from her poem, Antilamentation .

It has been a truly insane week ... involving 5 intense hours with a camera crew filming me, a corporate photo-shoot and life.

Blog post to follow soon.

A new portrait series ...

Yesterday I spent some hours over at the Radiant Light Yoga Studio here in Antwerp.  These last few weeks have seen me working on a new project that involves creating a series of yoga portraits.  It's probably clear in the portrait below but I am absolutely loving this attempt of capturing the truly lovely yoga folk I find there.

Today was the day when I could no longer resist dipping my toes in the 'water' of this discipline that was causing me to relax even while I was photographing the classes.  Today I attended my first yoga class. 

My body has suffered quite some damage over the years and I was slightly concerned about how it would go, this desire to make the stiff and unbendy bits of me supple again.

I loved it and I can barely wait to return although the next few days are busy and I'll have to be patient ... so patient.

Huge thanks go to Yogalates Instructor, Lama (pictured below), for being so patient with me as she worked her way through a series of moves from her yoga practice and for permission to post her image here.

Happiness is ...

I suspect happy is a feeling that sneaks up on you just as you notice it's missing ... sometimes anyway.

It's been a rough ride of late, with much to be learnt, but good things keep happening.

And I've been invited into the world of Fans of Flanders.  Lots of nice things happening there ... although let's see if I'm still saying that after the interview is filmed.  But seriously, I'm looking forward to it.

I'm also writing a weekly blogpost over on their website.

The trip home is coming closely ... slowly.

I've been offered a couple of very interesting photography projects too.

My life is a little bit up and down and all over the place but that's normal, isn't it?

So yes, happiness is all kinds of everything perhaps.