Wednesday 19 January 2011

Signs of improvement

I don't like January much.  It's cold and damp.  It holds bad memories of losing my dad.  The fun and lightness of Christmas and New Year already seem a long time ago.  My husband leaves for work in the mornings and it's dark, and when he comes home in the evening it's dark.  On a bad day that is the same for me {and I finish at 4pm!}.  So when I pulled the blinds this morning to wave goodbye to him, it was such an unexpected pleasure to see the beautiful colours in the sky as the sun rose behind the clouds. 
Today I plan to do some more work to the little album I am making using the photos from our trip to Cologne. I got the album from A Trip Down Memory Lane.  I bought one last year in blue for my Portuguese album and loved it so much I bought another for this project in black. 

I've done a couple of pages already and even altered some page protectors so that they make extra inserts to display more pictures.  The next pages I want to do will be featuring a bar we found near the markets.  It was the most fascinating place.  The lighting was subdued and the walls were full of Victorian style games and machines.  Like 'What the Butler saw', Bagatelle and Fortune telling machines.  Not to mention one of those scary Laughing Sailors that sits all quietly for ages then suddenly springs into action and bursts into hysterical laughter.  We spent quite a while in there gradually defrosting from the cold of walking around the markets and thawed out whilst sampling a glass of their finest gluwein.  They had an old fashioned juke box in there, which was linked up to these
They kind of gave me the creeps to be honest.  When you chose your song, they would rise up from a sitting position and 'play' the music.  Their fingers moved and their cheeks blew in and out and the spooky one on the left with the crossed eyes moved his eyebrows up and down.  It was kind of traditional old German 'oompah' music but playing modern songs.  Totally bizarre but one of those memories that stick in your mind.  I know that whenever I look in that album in the future and see this photo, I will be transported back to that little booth in the corner of a traditional German Bierhaus.

10 comments:

Jennifer Grace said...

Great photo of the sky, what a beautiful colour.
I would not be able to sit near those music playing dummies - they're really creepy looking! x

Sian said...

You have packed a lot of interesting thoughts in today :) I hope we get to see the album when it's finished because it sounds like a great one.

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Hey, you're right about your lovely sky! I like that it makes you feel closer to me, even though you are on the other side of the planet from me. :o) At least we look at the same moon too, eh?

I feel the same way about January, Deb, and am always glad to see February roll around.

Can't wait to see your album completed. I'd say that this post is already a great start for the journaling!

alexa said...

Great memories to banish the Janaury blues with - though those dummies give me a bit of a shiver!

scrappyjacky said...

Don't like January [or February] either....they both seem very dark, gloomy months to me.
And those dummy things are really spooky....don't think I'd want to be near them at all.

Anonymous said...

Hope you are feeling better and what a stunning sky photo.xxx

Amy said...

The sky looks beautiful over there Deb :-) I'm looking forward to seeing the finished album as well - you always have such great stories to tell!

Denise said...

Beautiful photo of that pink sky and that cross eyed man is spooooky! Your album's going to be fab x

Cheri said...

Love your sky shot - and I honestly have little use for the entire first quarter of the year. Cold, dark, grey... I long for sunshine, warmth, the ocean breeze... I'm starting to think "Calgon, take me away!" Okay old commercial, don't know if you even got it in the UK.

humel said...

That is a lovely sky - a real bonus :-) And the album looks lovely! Can't wait to see what you do with it!