Hollow tree

Not far from where I work is a very unusual tree:

It's hollow from the inside and open on two sides, so you can see right through it!

The inside of the tree is scorched, so I'm guessing some juveniles lit a fire in there. The tree doesn't seem to mind and neither do the mushrooms that live inside it. Such a lovely diorama!

Bag Lady

Gnomes are not unlike other girls. We like shiny stuff. And bags. And shoes. The shoes are iffy. Gnomes have relatively big feet, so it's kind of difficult to find shiny shoes. We tend to (over)compensate with the bags. At least I do. Having a shiny camera that needs safekeeping is a wonderful excuse to buy bags. Also my better half had no inspiration for a Xmas present. Plus it was Black Friday Sale. As if one excuse wasn't enough! So I went through the Tool of Torture once more and designed myself another camera bag. This time I went for the large model. The medium bag is perfect for taking with me every day, but I felt the need for a bigger bag that could hold all my random bits and pieces when I have a full day of shooting.

Once again the service from PorteenGear was superb*. I had chosen a really lovely fabric, but the suggested cut seemed a bit ehm... let's say 'suggestive'. Ah well, see for yourself in the preview from Porteens Bag Builder:

So I asked if they could use that particular fabric, but with a different cut. This turned out to be no problem and the seamstress even matched the two fabric panels on the inside with my preferred cut. It's so pretty!

I was a bit skeptical about the size, because on paper the difference with the medium bag seemed minimal (2-3 cm.). In practice however this results in *loads* more bag space. It easily holds my DSLR + 24-70 lens + tripod quick release plate, combined with my 70-200 zoom lens, a portrait lens, external flash and tablet (invisible behind the fabric panel). And this still leaves plenty of room for my wallet, a notebook + pen, mini tripod, my phone and a pouch (included!) with random bits and bobs like flashlight, remote, cleaning cloths, spare battery and memory cards. And there's still room left!

So knowing myself this will inevitably result in overstuffing it and ending up with a bag that feels like a ton of bricks. Good thing the large bag comes with a padded shoulder strap (utterly brilliant, wish they all had that!) and an extra carrying strap that is a lot shorter, ideal for lifting it in and out of the car.

As with the previous bags: everything is very well made and designed. The dividers are flexible so I can use the interior the way I want it and there are several smaller compartments for loose bits. So the big bag is now my holdall, which I can bring to serious outings. For everyday use, when I don't need everything with me, I just take out whatever I need and put it in one of the smaller bags.


During the Black Friday sale I may have splashed out on a shopping tote as well. I'm still very much in love with the fabric from my convertible bag, so when PorteenGear were having a sale on these bags, I had to ask if I could order one in this fabric. Which means I now have a matching set! It's a really convenient bag. It not only looks good, but since it's entirely made of fabric, I can just fold it up and take it with me when I go shopping and have plenty of storage space available when needed!

If these bags are ever on sale again, I'm going to ask Robyn Porteen if she can make me a tote to match my medium sized bag.

This fabric is so incredibly pretty, but the small piece on the medium bag just doesn't do it justice. I'd love to see it in full glory on a tote! Wait, am I seriously pondering about what the next bag might look like? Time to hide the credit card!

*No, I am not affiliated with, nor sponsored or endorsed by PorteenGear, just a happy customer!

Battery-powered deer?

During a visit to a nature reservation this afternoon, I found something quite unexpected:

What on earth is a charging station for electrical vehicles doing in the middle of nowhere? The deer tracks around it suggest the deer in the reservation are possibly fake and require recharging over night, once all the visitors have gone. I wonder if this applies to reindeer as well. That might explain Rudolph's red nose: it's actually a battery life indicator!

Additions to the family

Earlier, I introduced you to some of my fellow gnomes. Our family happens to be way bigger than that though, so I proudly introduce to you two more sisters: Anna and Vanellope, as well as our cousin Sergeant Calhoun.

Anna is the star from the well-known movie Frozen. The clip below embodies everything we gnomes stand for: a terrific sense of humour with just the right amount of drama.

She's also very imaginative. It was her request to build a snowman that gave life to the much loved character Olaf:

Who also happens to be a gnome, albeit unrelated.

The other gnome I'd like you to meet is Vanellope. She plays a major part in the movie Wreck-It Ralph and is the supreme ruler of the arcade game Sugar Rush, a racing kart game made entirely out of candy. Well, that would be enough to draw in any gnome, wouldn't it?

She and I get along great, at family picnics you can usually find us together in a corner, talking about cars.

To outsiders she's a bit of an acquired taste, or in context-appropriated lingo: a tough cookie. But once you get to know her and discover that this little lady is actually a princess, it turns out she's quite sweet. Apart from the execution bit.

From the same movie comes another tough cookie, but her toughness is of an entirely different caliber.

Her name is Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun and she's from the game Heroe's Duty (that's pronounced 'djuteh', not 'doody').

She is tough as nails. If Captain Janeway were a gnome, this would be her.

The pitter-patter of little feet

No, this is not a pregnancy announcement. It's a story about seachickens. Not a very long story, but still. I grew up far from the shore, meaning that seachickens were quite rare in our village. So when I moved to my current home, I was quite unfamiliar with their sounds and habits. Occasionally I saw them on the sides of the road, trampling the grass as if they were tapdancing before an invisible audience.

Better half explained to me why they did this: the worms in the ground confuse the vibrations caused by the chickens feet with falling raindrops. This makes them crawl upwards and if the chicken is lucky, the slippery little bastards will poke their heads out of the ground and end up in its stomach. So there it was in the morning sun, trampling as fast as it could. I guess the early bird does get the worm!