Unplanned photography

"Once upon a time she sat there drinking lemonade."

I took this photograph the other day while running an errand. Something about that vine and the worn checkerboard veranda really called to me. I do love that I always have a camera with me now that I have an iPhone and I have a lot of fun with the filters in the CameraBag app. This one I ran through the "magazine" setting to give it that warm tone. I love living in a city filled with beautiful buildings. So much of North America is just so unabashedly ugly. Cheap to build, but it doesn't make your soul sing.

Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Amsterdam bicycles

I couldn't skip posting about bicycles when talking about Amsterdam. They are everywhere. IN HUGE QUANTITIES. And it's brilliant, awesome, and so much fun. We rented bicycles for two of our days there and it was so easy to zip around. I had a wonderful postcard holiday montage moment when we were riding through a park, side by side, along a tree-lined avenue. I just felt like I was in the romanticized movie-version of my life for a moment.

Here's a few of the pictures I took featuring bicycles.


green bicycle


bicycles by the canal


lots of bicycles


cyclist controlled lights


bicycle path


study of a bicycle

If you ever visit Amsterdam, I recommend renting from the somewhat incognito black-bikes.com.


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Amsterdam architecture

A little selection of some of the architecture we saw in Amsterdam...


canal houses


buildings along a canal



rooftop in the sun


canal view with houseboats


down the canal



neat drawbridge



Amsterdam rooftops

Have you noticed what glorious weather we had during our holiday? Amsterdam is usually a very rainy city (so I hear), but it was sunny almost the entire time we were there. The web of canals through the old part of the city created many beautiful views. We spent a lot of time walking along them, looking at the infinite variety in the canal house roof shapes. And quite a bit of time sitting in little sidewalk cafes looking out at them (and all the people and bikes passing by).


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

what I did on my summer holiday

heart by the water
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
On my summer holiday, I left behind some hearts and towers made of stones.


tower of stones
Originally uploaded by allisongryski


stacked stones
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
I saw pretty wildflowers in purple ...


wildflowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
and white ...


wildflowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
and pink.


wildflowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
I watched misty sunsets across the bay.


misty sunset
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
I saw an abandoned house ...


abandoned house
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
and an old graveyard.


old graveyard
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
And now it is very decidedly Autumn, with a bit of a chill in the air and brisk breezes.

Green Week - Day Five

green books
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

The last day of green week is going to be a bit random for me. I decided to raid the bookshelf again for some delicious green books since I had a lot of fun with books during yellow week. And this morning, without even thinking about it, I tied a green ribbon in my hair. I was tidying up the tray on my dresser and rather than putting it away with the other ribbons, I decided to make a headband out of it. So in that spirit, here is an arrangement with the ribbon and some other crafty bits that were scattered about:


green inspiration
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
Some other green I saw this week, but not through my camera lens... the green copper roof of the cathedral next to my office building (It's a funny coincidence, but both offices I've worked at in downtown Montreal have had beautiful old churches next to them.), a telephone pole with a strange green hue, the pipes in the metro, and various shades of green stair railings in my neighbourhood.

I've gotten the sweetest comments from visitors to my blog this week and it has really made me smile. Thank you for making it so much fun to play along with everyone.

And I'll finish with the kind of green that I'm dreaming about ... leaves!. These are some pictures from last spring and summer...

hiding under a leaf
Originally uploaded by allisongryski


green
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Have a lovely weekend!

Fruity green

green grapes
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Fruity green for today! Not much to say, though it's having the same effect as Yellow Week did ... I'm noticing green particularly. I only wish there was some outside to notice.


vase of citrus
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
And a close-up on the luscious grapes:


green grapes (closeup)
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Little green things are everywhere

green arrangement
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Moving right along in my green house tour ... above is an arrangement of green things found in my bathroom. And below is a green birdy clip on the string of cards by the door (it's currently overloaded due to 2 birthdays and valentine's day in the last month).


green bird
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

In case you're wondering what all the green is about ... it's Green Week.

Green in different textures

green chair and wall
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
So today, I found green in my living/dining room. With a green wall, it's hard not to see green, but the chair is also pale green. And there's some peacock feathers stashed in a vase beside a bookcase... I bought them for some crafty purpose (they're a bit beat up and consequently they were extremely cheap), but the final inspiration has yet to strike. Maybe a flashy hair accesory?


peacock plume
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Squeaky Clean Green

dish soap (aka "green")
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I decided to start the week in my kitchen, at the sink. We actually call the dish soap "green" as opposed to referring to a particular brand-name. It's not "we need more dish soap", it's "we need more green". It somehow got dubbed that by some roommates in university and it's stuck ... so we wash our dishes with "green".

The bottle is a lemonade bottle that we shoved a pouring spout (from the restaurant supply store) into.


green dish scrubbies
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Yellow Week - Day 5

All week I've been noticing yellow in a way I wouldn't usually. It's a good feeling to see the world a little differently from normal. A girl walked by in bright yellow rain boots. A man in a yellow winter jacket. My pale yellow post-it notes at work. The cheery yellow toys out at a friend's house. Yellow signs and labels in the metro. The amazing number of food products that come packaged in yellow. And my daisies are slowly growing more yellow. I took a quick snap this morning.


more yellow than monday
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

And as a close to this yellow week, I pull a picture out that I took several years ago, but is so perfect.


yellow door
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Yellow Week - Day 4

Shortest little month
Wind whistles with rain and snow
Sing us into spring

-- 18 Feb 2009

It has been snowing and snowing here and it looks all pretty again! It's soft and fluffy and the good-for-snowmen type of snow. It's snow like in the movies, when it's all clean and blanket-y and quite warm out. And the world is again a lovely magical place. This impression was much helped by the sleight-of-hand of my multi-talented sweetie in making a chocolate heart wrapped in pink foil magically appear in my cardigan pocket this morning (while I was wearing it!). Such a delightful surprise.

We were out all evening having supper with some dear friends, so this is the only picture of yellow for today...


afloat on a sea of blanket
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Yellow Week - Day 3

Having to take my photos at night has encouraged me to pull out my tripod and I've been getting some good practice and sorting out what all the twiddly knobs control. Today I went looking for yellow books.....


dreaming in yellow
Originally uploaded by allisongryski


eating in yellow
Originally uploaded by allisongryski


mystery solving in yellow
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Yellow Week - Day 2

teacup and daisy
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I sure wish I could be taking my photos during the daylight as we've been having some lovely sunny days, but evening is when I have time for this little exercise...


star in wooden bowl
Originally uploaded by allisongryski


lemon with your tea?
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Yellow Week - Day 1

I'm joining in on Yellow Week and here are my first two pictures.


daisies with a touch of yellow
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
Having an assignment with limitations is always a good sort of motivator. Yellow is not on my preferred end of the spectrum, so I thought I might have a hard time finding yellow things, but carrying my camera around the house this evening (boo, no natural light for me!), I saw quite a number and already have some ideas for upcoming days. Today I went for tiny bits of yellow.


yellow pins
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Cube Unit 540: Office supplies and Pictures

(Part 3 in a series)

Through the kind offices (heh.) of a car-enabled friend, i was able to visit
Home Depot and IKEA all in one evening.

My shopping list was:
3 plants (a bamboo, a fern, and something else) from home depot
little cherry blossom lamp from ikea
fira tabletop drawers from ikea
plant holders/saucers as necessary from ikea
basket from ikea

I found just about everything I was looking for, though IKEA was out of the basket that I had in mind. Choosing plants was more tricky than I expected. Not only because home depot employees seem to avoid the plant area like the plague. We ended up commandeering one of the rolling ladders and fetching down the fern ourselves. The potted bamboo they had was rather ugly. Instead, I just bought 3 individual stalks. At home, I tied them together with some jute twine and potted it up myself with some dollar store river pebbles and a pot from IKEA. In retrospect, the third plant I chose wasn't really ideal for where I intended it to go. I wanted something for my shelf and I think I should have chosen an ivy, but I got some other leafy upright plant. I think I will place it by my cupboard instead.

While I've taken a couple things to work (the bamboo and small lamp), transporting the larger items (especially the fern) is not going to be very feasible on the busy morning metro, so I may have to take a taxi.

I still need to select which pictures I want printed and get that done. So here's the potentially fun part of this post. Which of these pictures should I choose? Please vote in the poll in the sidebar!

For the 3 pictures along the back of my cube:
a) 3 b&w (mixed)

3 b&w
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

b) 3 colour (pagodas)

3 pagodas
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

c) 3 colour (stones)

3 stones
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

For the one picture under my shelf (obviously not to duplicate one of the above set):
d)

pagoda d
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

e)

pagoda e
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

f)

pagoda f
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

g)

pagoda g
Originally uploaded by allisongryski