Tired of waiting...

I am a very patient, if not extraordinarily patient, penpal... I might send a 'how have you been' message once and again to remind a particular someone of my existance, but I will never bug anyone about writing... it doesn't mean that I don't care whether I'll get a letter or not, but I know that things get in the way sometimes and there are moments when you don't even feel like sitting down and writing... I can relate to that kind of feeling, been through that before... I can understand... I don't require anyone to write more than twice a year, because with the most people, I know that the letter writing frequency is not what makes our friendship work... but sometimes I get tired of waiting too...

~ when a letter takes months to reach a neighbour country
~ when they keep a letter at the customs for weeks while the envelope doesn't contain anything other than paper
~ when people say 'I'll write you soon' every other day and never actually do
~ when people say that they've lost interest in writing letters... taking a break and collecting strength for new challenges in your life is one thing, giving up on 'the hobby' is another... I can't help feeling betrayed when somebody offers to 'stay friends' on facebook or messengers. This is not what I agreed on in the beginning, this has never been the deal! Then there are people who remember about the deal and still send me stuff on paper, but you can't even call it a letter anymore, because it's rather a string of trivial sentences that don't have much to do with me or the person I enjoyed talking to... this is a situation that just drags on and on and I live on the hope that things will get better eventually ~ but this is when I feel tired of waiting all the time and I know I won't be able to wait forever...

By the way, during the months of January (its very end) and March, I've got two letters from people who asked me to be pals and who promised to write their first letter...

... in September!!! I feel somewhat sorry that their final effort won't be rewarded, but seriously?? The first letter? The one and only chance to make a good impression? When I think I've seen all the miracles of the penpalling world, it stills gives me a surprise...

But on to beautiful things...

My amazing Maura ~ always drop-dead gorgeous... another angle from which her face looks perfect and oh that hair of a goddess... And that guy can touch it every day... awwww... envious *.* There are other fans who dislike people talking about Maura's hair or boobs for some reason, but this is my blog, so hair hair hair and boobs boobs boobs ^0^ 

I went shopping... for something totally different and ended up buying all those tapes!! 

 I just couldn't resist the ornament ones! Good quality, 10 tapes for 13 euros, hello??? at some shops they sell one for 5 +.+

 here is some illustration cuteness à l'allemande ~ Janosch with his cute book characters on the new stamps and Die Maus ('the mouse' in German, nobody wants the cute little animal to die ^^) from a children's TV show... I even bought that sucky 58 cents value and printed a bunch of 2 cents stamps on the machine, so that I can show those internationally ^^

 since a few of my penpals are fond of German football teams, they will probably be glad to see that tape ^^  and those who don't care for football will find it cute anyway... 

 letters from  my little Chinese friends ^^ 

 the letter in the back is quite a wonder  ~ it's a reply to a letter written by me in a swapbot swap!! usually, nobody ever writes back, but this girl did and the letter was such a delight! 

 some more cool mailart ~ from... uhm... the great state of Texas, obviously  ^.^

 an outgoing envelope from a while back...

 a card for swapbot ~ we were supposed to draw something that represents luck and since my partner has been married for decades, I wrote that people who have a great partner to spend their life with are truly lucky... those Mandarin ducks also spend their life with the same partner, so this is why they're a symbol for a great relationship ^^

 made an attempt to draw sweets and turned those pix into birthday cards ^^ these here are raspberry tartelettes ^.^ (when it comes to cards where you write your wishes for someone, I totally lose all my ability to express myself and mostly stick to set phrases, terrible, I know)

 

 berry cake ^^

 

and macarons ^0^ 

Lately I realized that all that I draw or paint will eventually go out and live in someone else's home... so I've bought a Moleskine watercolour book and started art journaling ^^ well, journaling is a matter of definition, same as 'art', but it will contain projects I'll try to do, pictures I suddenly see in my mind and illustrations of something that has a place in my heart... and most of all, it will stay with me ^.^ 

let's blog again?

Oh yes, I've been very much absent from blogging, because, guess what, I've been writing letters... not like crazy, just in my normal happy pace... But I must admit, the letter tsunami has hit me last month! As a result, I still have 19 letters in the 'to reply'-pile... Then in February, I've only got 5 letters so far, which is quite funny, it looks like December and January totally were the Christmas-mood-exception ^^

I didn't take many pix of my incoming, because I was... uhm... overwhelmed ^.^ But I do take pix of outgoing stuff mostly, so I have a few things to show...

 I used the Happy go Lucky paper for this letter, so decided to paint the envelope similarly... 

 mail to Africa ^^

 to Russia ~ Shiro is best ^0^ 

a first letter... let's see what happens ^.^ 

 ATC swap ~ my partner probably didn't like it =.= I think it's one of my best ATCs ^.^

 

 these three were for an alphabet swap ~ I've tried my golden ink ^.^ it's really crappy quality, but if you stir it, it looks awesome ^^

 a letter and a swap ^^

 found poetry swap ~ I've cut up an abstract on the Japanese language ^^ and then drew a picture ^^ the Faber Castell pencils don't work on that watercolour paper =.= stupid me...

letter to China with Bamu & Kero

wonderful mail day ~ four letters in my mail box ^0^

 

on their way to Japan, Brunei and the Netherlands... someone might recognize the stamps ^.^ 

 

Old Apothecary swap ~ a Johnny kit for a Johnny Depp fan ^^ 'talent' looks like pieces of raw meat... haha... I'd like a Maura kit ~ but the ingredient 'Mauraness' can only be found with the original...

a papercut on its way to Russia

whenever I make a papercut. I think of Maura T.T missing her so much... well, she's probably having the time of her life on Broadway with Tom Hanks right now...I'm so proud of my pumpkin!!

oh, wait!! Today I went out to buy yeast, as I said in my previous post and I found THIS ^0^ It's a small mail holder! For just 10 euros! well, I've put some stuff inside here just to take the pic ^^ I'm going to use it for stuff that is ready to go and for letters that will be replied next... lovely ^0^

Moroccan adventure...

This post is a part of a swap with the following rules ~
*pick a recipe posted on a certain blog
*cook the dish
*take a pic of everything and post on your blog

The recipes were all from a Moroccan cuisine book... We have a small fast food corner here, where you can eat falafel, harissa and such small dishes, but apart from that, I've never tried anything Moroccan. Well, that would be a challenge, I thought... For some reason, Beghrir sounded quite nice and ~ most of all ~ manageable to me, so I planned to do this:

The recipe: I was happy about the g and ml indications! I can deal with spoons, but cups just make my brain go BANG! I never know how much a cup is and the recipes that mention cups make me want to cry... (There must be a certain amount that generally makes a cup and I imagine some of you might laugh about my confusion, but still...) All the ingredients looked perfectly reasonable too and within reach, no need to find a Moroccan grocery store (nothing wrong with that, but due to my habit to get my swaps done on the last day...), I just had to go out to buy some fresh yeast... The instructions were clear, I just had to look up some words like 'semolina', so yeah, I thought I can get started... Oh, and I took the half of everything, because the original recipe sounded like a huge load of pancakes ^.^

The ingredients

 

salt, eggs,  (granny's ^^) yeast, butter, semolina, water, oil (a little bit for the pan), milk, flour and honey to add if you wish...

First step: mix yeast and water and leave for 15 minutes

 

well, I do a lot of things with yeast, fresh or dry, but I always use milk here... then it gets all happy and bubbly and I can get on with my buns and dumplings... Here ~ nothing happened... I thought I killed the yeast first, because the water was too hot, so I tried again and checked the water three times before I decided to use it... well, still nothing... I decided to use it as it is then...

Second step: mix the rest of the stuff 

 

I decided to just take two eggs, because 1 and a half sounded too troublesome to me (though it's possible) and after I mixed all the ingredients (except the fluids), I realized that I should have added the yeast stuff later... oh well... I also didn't sift anything because my sieve is tiny and it would have taken me a million years...

Then ~ beat it!!

 

it was quite interesting to beat the dough with one hand and to take a photo with the other o.O

 

I liked what it looked like ^^

The dough: should be left under a cloth for two hours... Done that, but nothing raised... mehhh... 

















Third step: just make them pancakes

















ok, the dough looked pretty much like water, but I managed to produced something that looked like a pancake...

















I know, I wasn't supposed to turn them, but I just wanted to make sure that they weren't raw on the one side and burnt on the other... It also turned out that my oven is a B**** because 2 was too much heat and 1,5 too little, so yeah...

















It took me like 40 minutes to make about 12 pancakes (don't be offended if I call them pancakes all the time), which reminded me why I hardly ever make pancakes... I didn't put any more butter on them than while frying, because my stomach would have cried, but I prepared honey to eat them with... And I also made my favourite lemon tea to enjoy with them ^.^

















I'm going to try them with sour cream (it does look like a white mouse sitting on beghrir, doesn't it? o.O)... wait, this is GOOD!!

In the end, I didn't manage to try honey, because they were so good with sour cream and then I was full! But there are quite a few left for later, so I hope I'll try them with honey too ^^

Desperately tired...

Can you feel what it's like? When you need to stay awake for just in case, but you want to sleep so baaaaaaad?? I will try to distract myself with this blog of mine... I've got a bunch of mail pix to show anyway...

 first a very yummy cake that I've baked for my parents...

Incoming ^0^ 

 

this is what I've found in my mailbox when I returned home after Christmas ^0^ Cards, letters and Christmas gifts ^0^

 

 the package from Romania contained this handmade marvel ~ a card that is probably 20 years old and insanely beautiful! I just had to show it off! 

another insanely beautiful thing ~ Arabic calligraphy... when those words form birds and stuff, I totally start drooling... 

something else to show off ~ Taiwan fan-stuff ^0^ so perfect for a Taiwan-fan (meeee!)... I've been wanting that tape for a while, somebody was selling it on etsy for about 5 US dollars plus shipping  ~ well, now I've got it for free and its original price is 35 NTD (a little less than a euro)... I guess my friend could read my mind ^.^ the post-its also show Taiwanese famous landmarks ^0^ 

those are some postcrossing cards, a letter that made me very happy and my order from Prinzapfel (the most terrific calendar ever, you can start envying me after clicking this link)

another postcrossing card and fantastic letters ^.^ 

a New Year card from Japan... I feel kinda bad that we never send those, not even to family... but we didn't get any apart from this one and the one in the package on the previous pic, so I guess that's ok ^^

today's mail ^0^ I just need to say it again ~ as opposed to Germany, Estonia has beautiful Christmas stamps... *grumpy* The package was from Iran, so it has spent an endless amount of time at the customs and everything, even the envelope with the letter, was ripped open... 

Somehow, this Christmas season was the time of getting in touch again! I've got letters from my awesome 'language geeks' gang (it started out as language exchange and blossomed into beautiful friendships), from my Japanese pal with whom I lost contact around the big earthquake time and the letter from Iran was a lovely new start for an old friendship... 

Now to my habit of sticking Maura everywhere ~ so missing her... She must have rehearsals with Tom Hanks now, that lucky bastard... Hope it doesn't look like this ^^

 

 

 

Now to my outgoing ^.^ 

 

that was for an ATC swap ~ Monsters in ugly holiday sweaters ^.^ 

this was a profile-based swap for someone who, well, likes Ghibli, obviously ^.^ 

another Draw this word swap ^^

silly card for a pal's birthday ^.^ it's a pun-picture, 'to wish' sounds like 'pig', 'all' sounds like 'one eggplant' and a part of 'without problems' sounds like 'chestnut' ^.^ oh, how I love puns ^.^

here I've tried lettering and I guess it's my new addiction ^.^

I share the love for rats with my pal ^.^

so, what can I say, it totally SUCKS to draw with pencils on envelopes =.= but still, Dory looks so cheerful ^^ and I still can't get over the fact that Vicky Lewis gave her her voice ^0^ she's rad!

another Shiro envelope ^^ I also like the winter stamp ^^ 

mwaha, the year of the snake... felttips are a lot more fun on envelopes, if only I had GOOD ones...

some friendly monster ^^

ah, now I'm wondering whether they'll make a fuss about the stamp being on the other side...

nekoppoi tanuki ^^

I like drawing faces on the envelopes... I think, I should practice all I can ^^

yawn...