Thoughts

Oct

2016

Pink interiors, no thanks

Pinks for pink interiors. Image borrowed from the internet.

Pink interiors anyone? This autumn the color pink seems to be THE color in interiors. You see it everywhere (see my previous post about terrible colors for yet another image with a pink kitchen).

There are plenty of different shades of pink around. Some are more red than pink. Other are more brown than pink, or more to the lilac.

Pink lilacs, spring 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I never liked pink interiors. Not now and not when I was younger and not when I was a little girl either. As a little girl I loved blue in all shades. I still do.

Pink interiors in a pink livingroom. Image borrowed from the internet.

I would never feel comfortable in a pink livingroom. I would want to turn around and get out of it as soon as possible.

Pink interiors, pink sofa. Image borrowed from the internet.

I wouldn’t even want just one pink object around in my interiors. Pink sofa? Shudder… One pink pillow then? Maybe, but no… please.

Pink interiors, pink wallpaper. Image borrowed from photowall.se.

Having a wallpaper with pink in is no better.

Pink in interiors used to be something that was used in the rooms of little girls or babies. Then it became THE color for a girls room, up to around the age of approximately 12 or so. Now the color pink has spread into all areas of living and interiors. Kitchens, bathrooms, carpets, walls, livingrooms… Look at any magazine or website about interior design. Pink is there.

Hollyhock, summer 2016. Photo ©nini.tjader.2016

Will it stay? I doubt it. I can accept a pink t-shirt, and I find pink flowers in nature beautiful. Let the color pink stay in nature. Leave it out of the interiors please. I know I don’t have to use it because it is in fashion presently, but I don’t want to see it everywhere either.

Pink interiors. Image borrowed from the internet.

Baby pink in the livingroom? No thanks. Even this faded pink would make me wonder about the personality of the owner of the home. The images above are worse though.

Pinkflowering bush. Photo ©nini.tjader.2016

Pink plants and flowers then? Yes please, those are nice. The above is a bush at my neighbors which get large flowers. It is by the way flowering again right now in mid October. I’ve forgotten the name of the bush.

Pink interiors, pink wall. Image borrowed from the internet.

One pale pink wall then? No thanks. It is better but… well, it is still pink.

But in nature and in flowers it is a nice color. I just don’t like pink interiors. Let it stay in the nature on flowers.

Pink pelargonia. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Oct

2016

Terrible Colors

Kitchen. Image from ELLE Decoration.

There are terrible colors and there are colors.

There is this very colorful flat featured at ELLE Decoration presently. It is also featured in their Instagram-account.

I find it awful…
A kitchen with pink cupboards and teal colored floors…
I would personally turn back out from that kitchen immediately. Definitely doesn’t get me in the mood to cook or anything else you usually do in the kitchen. These colors… According to ELLE Decoration those are beautiful colors… I couldn’t disagree more.

Livingroom. Image from ELLE Decoration.

And the livingroom isn’t one bit better. Sofa with different shades of green in the sofa cushions, paired with lilac walls and a red carpet on a dark-blue floor… No thanks. I think the sofa opposite to the green one is pink… It is just too much. Makes me nauseous.

That many colors, in those combinations, only makes me want to immediately turn my back and get out of it. That is, if I was in that house… There is no rest in that house (feng-shui someone?). How can you relax with these colors and color-combinations?

I actually like colors.
But not like this.
And not combined liked this.

How an interior decoration magazine like ELLE Decoration actually can find it beautiful is beyond my comprehension. This hurts my eyes and makes me sea-sick.

The flat is located in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sep

2016

9/11 – already fifteen years ago

Tedy Knitel, 1991 Photo: ©nini.tjader.1991

9/11 In memory of Tedy Knitel who passed away on this day fifteen years ago in Tel Aviv.

He will always be in my memories and in my heart.

May

2016

Recycling books

Books going out. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I never throw away books. As I see it, that is very disrespectful to the authors. I either give them away to somebody else or give them to a charity organization for them to recycle. I still prefer reading printed books. I don’t enjoy reading on a computer screen or iPad (not to mention iPhone).

I have three reasons to recycle books.
1. Book is hopelessly outdated, like the below ones in the picture.
2. I don’t like the story in the book.
3. I need more space in the bookcases (to be able to add new books).

Books going out. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

I recently started a box for books for recycling. The above ones I found in one of my bookcases and have placed in the box. Hopelessly outdated technical/computer books. So these are going out, and if anyone wants them, be my guest. Adobe GoLive CS? Application has been discontinued long ago. Adobe Dreamweaver CS3? We are now in version CC2015. Learn HTML? A lot has happened with html since that book was published. Mac OS X Leopard? Well, that was long ago. There are more in that bookcase that I need to get rid of.

Going out… Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

And then there is the above one… Found it in my bookcase for un-read books the other day and thought I’d read it out in the sun. I have no idea where I got it from. I cannot possible have paid for it? Can I? 28 pages and 4 chapters in I closed the book and decided not to read it. So “simple” both in language, ideas, story, expressions, and builds on pre-conceived ideas about how people think and act. Really bad. Took me less time than usual to disregard this book. “A romantical comedy” as it says on the cover… Definitely not my cup of tea. I do not read romantical comedies…

Sunbed in the garden. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Instead of that book I switched to one by Peter Robinson, “Piece of my heart” to read in the sun. He is good. All his books are good. Love his books.

The exceptional summer weather with loads of sun and warmth is now over and we are back to grey and rain and much colder weather, so I can also go back to blogging… Who wants to sit inside in front of the computer when there is sun and warmth outside?

Nov

2015

Bye, bye HP – Welcome Samsung

My old HP ColorLaser Printer. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I am finally saying bye bye HP to my old, defect HP color laser printer, and welcome to a brand new Samsung printer.

HP Color Laser Jet 2600n. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I got that HP color LaserJet 2600n for FREE from my last employer (the big daily newspaper) where I worked at the support department. It was going to be thrown out and exchanged for other printers that could be run only by identifying yourself with your card of access to the offices. It was used at the newspaper for a couple of years and have served me well for at lest some seven years or so.

The innards of my old HP color laser printer. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

For quite some time now it has been leaking toner onto the printers innards. This time CYAN. It has happened before, but then it was the YELLOW. I then got a new toner cartridge from the toner suppliers. This time I just gave up. I didn’t want to throw more money after this old printer. Especially as the the HP toners are quite expensive and I have to pay them myself. The toners aren’t even all that good. They are re-filled, re-used ones. I decided already a couple of month ago, when the printer started printing with blue stripes all over the paper, that I would not buy any more toners for it when it would be unusable. (I still wonder though where in the printer it keeps the surplus toner that all lasers produce, the wasted toner powder that is… never found that out).

So I began looking for a new color laser printer. A current one, with features like copy, scan, wi-fi (to be able to print from iPhone and iPad) etc. And it had to be a laser and had to be color. I looked at several ones. In the end the choice stood between a Brother and a Samsung. In the end I choose a new model from Samsung.

My new Samsung color laser printer. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Friday I went with my neighbor (who has a car) to the nearest Netonnet shop and bought a Samsung SL-C480 color laser printer. Welcome Samsung.

So. Now begins that painful period of getting to know all the quirks of this printer… And quirks there are.

Samsung laser color printer. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I’ve always downloaded the latest drivers from provider instead of using the ones provided on an installation CD/DVD. Normally those are newer/updated than on the installation CD/DVDs. So I did this time as well. And then it wouldn’t print anything but gibberish… An occasional page of real print, but most of the time gibberish. Wasted lots of paper on that. Today I uninstalled the printer drivers and installed from the CD instead. Same problem. One page printed, then gibberish on lots of papers before I managed to cancel the printing.

Then I found a trick. Quit the Samsung printer application after one successful print. Start the next print-job. That automatically starts the printer and the print application. And it prints as supposed to, one print-job at the time. Hm.

At least now I can print again and it prints beautifully both in black and color. I don’t know if the printing problems have something to do with my operating system (El Capitan10.11.1) or the Samsung drivers.

The printing problem (gibberish on several papers) appeared in any application I tried to print from. My MBP is still not El Capitan so will test from there when I have installed the drivers on it. I’ll wait for a while with updating the drivers again, now that I actually can print even though it requires a restart of the printing application between each print.

Also tested the copier. Nice to be able to copy in color. Works fantastic. Remains to test the wifi printing and the NFC printing… and the scanning. It installs a TWAIN driver. I thought TWAIN was dead? I didn’t buy this printer for the scanning though as I have an old Canon scanner and VueScan to run it. But I will try the scanning too.

It is nice to finally be able to print at all and not having big blue blemishes all over the print-out… The Samsung toners also cost less than the HP ones.

Samsung Color Laser Printer. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Nov

2015

TBT Work lying down

Yours truly testing the workstation lying dow.

[TBT THROW BACK THURSDAY] Lately there have been lots of images on FaceBook and other sites of a workstation for working lying down. During the period 1982-04-19 – 1989-01-09 I worked at Arbetslivscentrum, Stockholm (later Institutet för Arbetslivsforskning) as a project assistant (1 year), then administrative assistant, secretary to one of the research directors in one of the research departments. Our department researched in the areas of work organization and computers – coordinator of jobs for the assistants and assigner of jobs to the assistants, economic administration for the department. Parallell to this from December 1984 I was the main operator for the Macintosh installations in the house, responsible for three networks with a total of 70 Macintoshes. All support and installations and internal training programs.

The image above is from 1988. We were testing workstations of different kinds, among them one for working lying down, together with Ergonomi Design Gruppen (EDG). Conditions were very different in 1988 than today as there were no portables, no pads, no smartphones and no flatscreens. We used a Macintosh Plus… and hoped it wouldn’t fall down on the person sitting there testing the chair… You can easily say that we were too early with what we wanted to achieve. Conditions today are much different.

Workstation from http://altwork.com/

Above tone of the images from Altwork.com that lately has been seen in various social media and on various websites. If you visit the site, there are more images and a video about the ideas around it.

The image with me in that contraption above was what I immediately thought about when seeing the Altwork workstation. The image of me and our workstation was published in a leaflet about how to make offices better in an ergonomic and organizational way. The leaflet was called Bakom Knuten, News from Knut-Projektet, December 1988. Still today, the leaflet is interesting. Some of those ideas have since been implemented, like working and meeting more flexibly standing up for instance.

Stokke zero gravity chair. Image from the internet.

We also tested various ergonomic chairs. The one above was good for relaxing or reading, but at the time not something you could use in front of a computer. Today yes, as there are pads of various sorts. Some found it difficult to use and were a bit afraid of using it as it leans quite far backwards.

Stokke kneechair. Image from the internet.

One of them, the above kneechair from Stokke, stayed with us permanently as it turned out to be very comfortable and good to sit on and work. It was relaxing for your back. Trick was to not hang on your knees on it. I’ve missed that chair ever since… (I left that job in januari 1989 to join an Apple Center).

This was a research project. Some of it has become reality since, but not everything. Particularly the design of office furniture isn’t really there yet. Some of the more advanced ideas about how it would come to be in 2003, that were in that leaflet, seem dated today. Development on the technical side also has advanced much faster than the researchers then could foresee. It is interesting to compare the ideas from 1988 with the reality of today. To work lying down still has a long way to go though I think.

Nov

2015

Sofa styles come and go

KARLSTAD 2-seater sofa in the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Sofa styles come and go. So also in my livingroom. Presently I have a KARLSTAD sofa from IKEA. A 2-seater (or love-seat as some call them). Presently in its grayish cover. Over summer it was dressed in white.

Before that, I had a MIO sofa called Coffee, that MIO still sell. A 3-seater. That one was way too big for the present livingroom. And I didn’t like its rounded look. I much prefer the straight and simple look that KARLSTAD has. The MIO sofa actually could be ordered with differently styled ends, not all that rounded as the one I then choose.

The previous sofa. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I gave the MIO sofa away for free when I bought the new, smaller KARLSTAD sofa. First tried to sell it on Blocket.se… None existent market. Too many sofas there. One of my neighbors got it for free (new it costed SEK 10.000…). He later gave it away to his son who lives elsewhere. Nothing wrong with the sofa, except the size of it. A quality sofa…

Now, these more rounded sofas are coming back again.
And Ikea has discontinued the KARLSTAD model.

Karlstad discontinued. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

IKEA flagged the discontinuation of KARLSTAD some time during this summer. What I do not understand is why on earth they discontinue a sofa that has been one of their most popular sofas over time…

It is really a pity that they discontinued KARLSTAD. It is a nicelooking, simple sofa. Straight and classy. Much loved by people all over the world. Including me. And it is comfortable to sit in and easy to get up from.

Norsborg sofa from Ikea. Photo: Ikea.

IKEA replaced it with a new model called NORSBORG. (Which has a 10 year guarantee, so I guess they will sell it for the next ten years at least… regardless of changing sofa styles…).

I don’t like NORSBORG.
At all.
It is too rounded.
Too big.
Not an elegant form (as I see it).
And not particularly comfortable.
Too soft.

Norsborg sofa from Ikea. Photo: Ikea.

One detail on the new sofa NORSBORG is that pocket at the ends of the sofa.
Good idea?
Not really.
After putting away the newspaper into the pocket a couple of times… how dirty will it be? Fun idea, yes, but practical? No. A loose pocket to hang over the sofa end is much more useful. As the one I have in the first picture (also from IKEA and not discontinued). Not for newspapers or books, granted, but for all those remotes you have.

Norsborg sofa. Photo: Ikea.

The NORSBORG sofa also is not all that comfortable.
It is too soft.
Isn’t soft good?
No. It means it is difficult to get up from it.

Norsborg 2-seater. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I think NORSBORG is ugly…
Of course it is personal what you find ugly or not. But…
It is something with the proportions. And the roundedness…

Maybe Gustav, the neighbor cat, would like the roundedness of NORSBORG, but I don’t.

I wonder though how long the IKEA sofa EKTORP will survive… One of the most comfortable sofas IKEA has. When I was sofa-hunting, and bought the MIO sofa, EKTORP didn’t have any grey covers. If they would have had that then (they do now), I would have bought the much smaller and cheaper EKTORP sofa from IKEA instead of the one from MIO. Rounded ends, but much nicer than NORSBORG. The EKTORP 3-seater would also have been too big for this livingroom though and been exchanged.

Gustav on my KARLSTAD 2-seater sofa. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2014

Oct

2015

Visited the Hem, Villa & Bostadsrätt fair

Hjältevadshus. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

On Thursday, the opening day, I visited Hem, Villa & bostadsrätt. A fair about living and tending ones home. It is an odd fair. It gets more odd for each years that I visit it. This year they even built an entire 200 something m2 villa inside the fair.

Hjätevadshus. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Nice villa. Wouldn’t mind living in it. I also like the outside veranda.

Mittens. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Mix that with handknitted, lined with some soft material. The creator of the patterns also made trays with the knitting pattern on it.

Glass fish. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

What about a large fish in colored glass with enormous lips? Could be bought for SEK100 at the fair.

Wollen soles. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Or woolen winter soles for your shoes…

Granit walls. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

On display were also granit walls. Nice ones really.

Leila in Leilas General Store. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Leilas General Store as a pop-up store was there as usual, and so was Leila herself.

Leilas General Store. Photo: ©nini.tjader,2015

I am no big fan of what she sells. Too many pastels, and rather expensive. She sold nice jeans-aprons though. No, I didn’t buy any.

The vegetable guy. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

As on any fair in Stockholm, the guys that sell tools to make various things with vegetables was there, showing off what could be done with the tools.

Wallpaper diamonds. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

To show off current wall paper patterns as small diamond shaped forms… Not really a way to show the wall-paper in my opinion.

Tray with the advent children. Photo:©nini.tjader.2015

Now that the advent children by Lisa Larsson are no longer produced, they’ve made an illustration of them and put it on a tray… I much prefer them as the candle holders they originally are.

Garlic grater and jars. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Garlic grater and jars. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The stands that sell garlic jars and plates for grating garlic, were there as usual. They appear on every fair I’ven been to the last couple of years. Nice stuff actually.

Pillows and trays by Nadja Wedin. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Another appearance at every fair lately, is the stand with pillows, trays, cloths, postcards by Nadja Wedin.

Tray by Nadja Wedin, Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I like her stuff, but they are far too expensive. Almost always very colorful patterns.

Patterns by Nadja wedin. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

But sometimes also in black and white. She always mixes flowers and animals in her patterns in intricate ways.

Pillow by Nadja Wedin. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I wouldn’t mind owning one of her pillows. Or two. But I am not prepared to pay something around SEK850 for a pillow…

Sofa. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

This is not a fair for furniture. But there was some. I liked this grey sofa.

Bathtub in brass. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

This firm, www.sidsid.se, were showing handmade products for bathroom and kitchen. This bathtub in brass was a bit much in my opinion…

Copper sink. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

A sink in copper…

Items from sidsid.se Photo: ©ninitjader.2015

But they also showed more normal things. like Moroccan tiles and porcelain sinks.

Brass items. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

And the above items I really like. Have no idea what they are supposed to be used for. Very North African/Middle Eastern items.

Lampshades from MIO. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

MIO showed parts of their furnitures and lamps. The two above I like. But I presently do not need any new lamps…

Fire extinguishers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Designed fire extinguishers were also on show. I don’t know if I would like to have fire extinguisher with a skull on… To me, that gives the wrong signal. It is absurd to have skulls on them as I see it.

Paint samples from Farrow & Ball. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Of course several paint companies were represented at the fair. The above one apparently is new to Sweden. I like the texture of their paint. Not chalk paint, but matte and soft.

Sweaters. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

What do sweaters do on a fair about house and home? Really? who let those in?

Trendstefan. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I also attended half a free seminar by Trendstefan about current trends in design. Unfortunately I missed the beginning of it as I lost track of time.

Trendstefan and Doreen Månsson. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Doreen Månsson, often seen as a TV host for various programs, was the host for the seminars and the one posing questions to Trendstefan. I always enjoy listening to him, be it on the radio, TV or as here, a seminar at the fair.

Bathducks in hottub. Photo:©nini.tjader.2015

This fair always have plenty of hot-tubs on display. Huge things… Above illustrated with a gang of rubber bath ducks floating around in it.

Bake and chocolate fair. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

In a nearby hall the Bake and Chocolate fair was taking place. Lots of sweets to taste and look at and to buy.

Chocolatebars. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I bought two choclatebars. One white with raspberries and candied violets, and one dark with freezedried strawberries and blackberries.

Sugar. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The other thing I bought was Muscovado syrup and sticks with cane sugar.

Free stuff from the fair. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The above is a collection of some of the free stuff that was handed out at various stands. Lots of sweets, apples, pens,…

This is an odd fair as I noted at the beginning of this post. And I haven’t even mentioned some of the stuff shown, like heat pumps, windows, staircases… or anything else that can be used in a house/villa.

Sep

2015

The new sideboard

The new sideboard. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The new sideboard arrived and was collected by the middle of this week. Now assembled and put in its place. Assembly was a bit tricky. Took about an hour instead of the promised 15 minutes… Plants can now move in from outside on the patio.

Under the sideboard I keep the peanuts for the birds and some garden utensils that cannot be kept outside when it rains. You normally don’t see those things except in this angle.

Livingroom window with new sideboard. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

So far no plants have moved in onto the sideboard. The corokia cotoneaster (also called zigzag-plant) is there at the end of the sideboard instead of on the white piedestal it stood on before. (The piedestal has moved back to the kitchen and has the huge aloe on it). One of the stephanotis (doftranka, Stephanotis floribunda)in the picture I gave to Ulla on Friday. Now only two remain. I got four (4) from Lasse & Camilla when they moved back to Umeå. One I gave to my neighbor some time ago, and now I am down to two for myself. That is quite enough. One of them hangs in an ampel in the window.

Any day now I will move inside those plants that are unfit for cold nights and winter. Already moved the November cactus and the smallest olive tree into the bedroom window. The figtree and the chili plants come next. The figtree has grown about 30 cms since I bought it… Its size will become a problem I think. The original window ledge is double width, but not wide enough for all the plants I need to get inside. That is why I bought the sideboard.

To be continued when the plants are inside and on the sideboard.

Livingroomwindow. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Jul

2015

Fika (coffee brakes)

At Zetas. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

This time of the year, I enjoy having a coffee brakes, or “fika” in Swedish, outside. If it is in a commercial place, like the above which is at Zetas garden shop, I usually take a large coffee with milk in and a glass of water.

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Not necessary to have anything but the coffee and the water.

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

If at home, during summer, when weather permits, the coffee brake is on the bench on my outside place. Sometimes including cake (berry cake this time, done yesterday), sometimes not. Always including a book or a paper. Yesterday was one of those days when it started raining as soon as I sat down. This summer has been like this. Not hard though, so I stayed in cover of the balcony above. A short while later the rain stopped again and the sun came out.

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

If I buy something to have with the coffee it usually is a Danish pastry with pecan nuts. That’s my favorite. The berry pie is so easy to do though, and fast, so usually no need to buy anything. Recipe in Swedish here.

Berry pie. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Jun

2015

Under cover from the rain

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

It has been raining now since Wednesday night. On and off. Mostly on. So, the outside plants in pots and other containers had to be put under cover, one way or the other, for protection from the rain. As you can see from the photo above, the neighbor balcony provides kind of a roof over part of my patio. It doesn’t cover the whole place, but a vital part of it. Rain protection is necessary when the weather report says it is going to rain for several days.

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The outside sofa is a good place to place as many pots and plants as it can take. If it doesn’t rain sidewise, they are pretty protected here.

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

There was no place for the November-cactus – which just moved outside the other day – so it stayed on the railing getting all washed and clean by rain water. I know it can take it.

The containers with the red pelargonias got placed under the table with a cover for chairs over the table. Two containers got in there and got company by the rosemary pot and two amaryllis that are supposed to be kept dry and rest.

The third container with red pelargonias and the one with million belles got their own cover, as well as the end part of the two other pelargonia containers. Had a cover for a sunbed that I could use. To keep it form flying away they got some dumbbells as weights. I go out regularly and make the water that collects there go away so the cover doesn’t get too heavy.

I also used a plastic shower curtain as protection. Behind it is the large tomato-plant, two chili-plants and two olive trees. The upper part of the sun-umbrella has been detached and is protecting the mover.

One of the chairs were placed on top of another chair to make place on the floor. The klematis did not get any protection as it has started climbing on the wall. The oregano got moved in from its un-protected location to a reasonably dry spot behind the door to the outside which has the neighbor balcony above it.

It isn’t pretty… but it protects the plants from drowning.

Yesterday around noon the rain gauge showed that 30 mm rain had fallen. It is still raining.

This morning it was about 35 mm. It is still raining.

The grill is also under cover. An Ikea bag serves well as cover for the grill. Haven’t used the grill even once yet this year…

The salad peas are thriving in the wet weather though and are coming along just fine. The container has holes in the bottom so they will not drown.

The yellow honeysuckle will bloom soon.

The orange honeysuckle is in bloom, but very wet…

The new plant – that I got from cousin Carin and her husband Harold when they visited from California on Wednesday – a Platycodon (Praktklocka in Swedish) – is still inside awaiting better weather for planting. It is a perennial so it can be planted outside.

The garden is very wet and will get wetter before the rains stop about tonight (according to the weather report).

Meanwhile can only keep an eye on it from inside, through the kitchen windows. By the way, the bird feeders are out of nuts. The last ones went this morning. There will be no new peanuts in them until I get them delivered some time next week. The birds are a bit frantic and desperate about the lack of nuts…

May

2015

Apple Photos, no thanks

Photos for Mac, screenshot from Apple.com

With the system update to Mac OS X 10.10.3 you also got the Apple application Photos installed, automatically. One thing it also did at installation was to remove the icon in the Dock for iPhotos. Thankfully it did NOT remove the iPhoto application, just the icon in the Dock. Which is bad enough. I, as a user, should control what I have in my Dock or what I don’t have.

The first time you start Pictures, it wants you to convert your iPhoto Library to Photos. It also wants you to place your images in the Cloud for access from all your different devices. Converting the Library takes for ever and a lot of harddisk space if you have a large iPhoto Library. If you don’t have enough space on your harddisk, Photos will tell you so.

Opening Photos is a disappointment. Both the way the images are organized there, and in particular how it manages imports from a camera. It has several controls to edit your photos and to upload them to various places (except to Instagram). It also has several controls for how ro create various outputs like calendars, photobooks etc. More information here.

First time I tried to import photos from my camera I got a big chock. I shoot in jpg and raw. What did it import? Only the jpgs! No raw files at all. Which is really odd as it imported all the raws from the iPhoto Library on conversion and correctly states that they are raw files. But not when it imports directly from the camera. No raw files.

When using iPhoto, I had no such problems. When using iPhoto I also could remove photos from camera from within iPhoto after done with the import. There is a control for this in Photos too, but it has problems and doesn’t do it as seamlessly and effortlessly as iPhoto does/did. It gets stuck and locks the entire machine (at least in my case).

My conclusion was: do not use Photos. It is only good for amateurs who shoot with their iPhones and do not have any particular demands on how to manage their photos. It might be a good companion to the iPhone, but not so good that I will use it. And it doesn’t do RAW.

So, today I deleted the image library created by Photos when converting from iPhoto. I opened iPhoto again and repaired its iPhoto Library. Then imported my latest photos (all taken after April 28th in my case and saved separately to another folder on the harddisk).

I then wanted to delete the Photos application… but no, Apple won’t let me do that! (It is just like they won’t let me remove certain application son my iPhone). Why??

Screenshot. Removal of Photos? No, not allowed.

Many have had complaints on iPhoto over the years – particularly in the way it stores photos in various folders inside the application and library. But, compared to Photos, iPhoto was/is a wonder of a competent application in so many ways. I will miss it. Or does Apple allow me to keep it? Will forthcoming OS-updates allow it to exist and open? That we don’t know presently.

Adobe Bridge. Image from Adobe.com

I am aware that iPhoto probably will disappear one of these days as it is discontinued. So it is high time to change my workflow when it comes to managing my photos.

I’ve used several applications for managing photos over the years. My workflow, since Adobe Bridge appeared (2003), has been to upload jpgs and raws from camera via Adobe Photodownloader into Bridge and a dedicated folder on my harddisk. I then import (directly from camera) to Adobe Lightroom. I then import to iPhoto and empty the card in the camera when done and remove the camera from the iMac.

Why so many applications? To be sure to have an unedited version of my images somewhere. They also get backed up to an external harddisk every night. All of them. When I need more space on my main harddisk in the iMac I move the oldest photos to another external harddisk from the folder where they originally got uploaded to Bridge and delete them from the iMac. That also deletes them from the backupdisk the coming night. I also burn them to CDs/DVDs to get yet another backup copy.

When photos are imported to harddisk I then use Adobe Bridge in connection with Adobe Camera Raw for eventual editing of the photos and saving out a web-version (settings in Bridge) to a folder where I keep the photos I use in my two blogs.

Screendump, saving out from ACR.

The images in iPhoto I hardly ever edit. And IF I did, it has an option to export original which does just that, exports the original photo without edits, to a folder of your choice.

I realize I will have to stop using iPhoto. Whatever is still in there will be exported to one of my external harddrives. I will then get rid of iPhoto (if Apple lets me…). I guess using Adobe Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom will be enough.

I also have Adobe Photoshop Elements, but I don’t like the way you have to have a separate datafile with the images for the storage. Takes up unnecessary space on the harddrive. It is also an odd application with features I really do not like and much too amateuristic for my taste. I’ll stick to Bridge, ACR, Photoshop and Lightroom as soon as I’ve emptied my iPhoto Library.

Photos I will not use. Even Googles Picasa is better than Photos. Wonder why Apple won’t let me delete it and what in the OS uses it? If you have Photoshop, you have Bridge. If you haven’t used Bridge since it was introduced, give it a new chance. It is really good.

Jan

2015

Plants and coffee

This time of the year, with that lousy weather outside, still dark… I need some greenery to look at. If you cannot get it outside (you cannot here in Sweden), at least I can get it indoors in my kitchen. Above is what I see when at the kitchen table.

Another thing I need is a good cup of coffee now and then.

Saturday afternoon I started to make one. And the capsule machine got all crazy… It spitted out water, coffee and steam and made odd sounds. I quickly removed the cable to the electricity to make it stop its craziness. Then cleaned off all the spitted out coffee and water and dried the machine. Then I tested it with only water in, no coffee. Machine was dead. Short circuit. It was too late in the afternoon to go out to get a new machine. It had to wait until Sunday. On Saturday I had to take out my old coffee brewer and the old coffee I had stored… Result: disgusting taste, but I got my dose of caffeine….

On Sunday I went off to buy a new capsule machine. The old one was a Nescafe Dolce Gusto Geniosic (see above), 2 years and one month old. One month too old for the guarantee to still be valid. Bought one of the model MiniMe and went home to test it.

New machine didn’t work. Water never got transported into the system. No coffee on Sunday either. Did all the actions required to test it, but no luck. Out came the old regular coffee brewer again but this time I broke into 2 capsules of Dolce Gusto coffee and used that to get a decent cup of coffee, instead of using the old stored coffee from I don’t know when… At least I got a cup of coffee that was almost OK.

Monday morning I called the Dolce Gusto people and we agreed on taking the new machine back to the store to get it exchanged. So I did. But I choose another model this time, a Dolce Gusto Circolo.

At that moment I felt I had to get something colorful, to cheer myself up, so I choose a red one, instead of a black which would have been my normal choice. Went home and initiated the machine.

And it worked beautifully. Finally I could again get decent cups of coffee! And I love the round form of the capsule machine and its red color. Glad I didn’t choose a black one.

Now I can again enjoy a good cup of coffee, relaxing and looking at the greenery in my kitchenwindows.

Dec

2014

A Big Decorative Bottle

Went into the Salvation Army shop in Skärholmen (Myrorna) the other day to donate some old clothes for reuse. My eyes fell on this bottle. I love glass bottles in various colors. So I bought it. SEK75. Recently, every time I go into that shop I come out with something costing SEK75… Last time it was the menora. Now this big, brown bottle.

It has this old fashioned closure of porcelain with a rubber ring between the cover and the bottle. The rubber is old and dried and needs changing.

The bottle comes from Södertälje Brewery. The brewery was active 1896-1956. The bottle probably contained beer or near-beer (svagdricka in Swedish). I think the bottle can contain around 3 liters of fluid. Need to measure that.

Compare the size to a regular wine bottle beside it.

I bought it because I find decorative. It is now placed on top of one of my cupboards in the livingroom, in a group.

There is one kind of big bottle that I am still looking for. That is a damejeanne. Preferably in green glass. I had one when I lived in Tel Aviv. Tedy brought it home from Egypt when the October war was over. Unfortunately I couldn’t bring it with me to Sweden when I moved back here.

Aug

2014

A beautiful Singer

I recently participated in a cleanup of a home together with two others. And there, among a lot of other stuff, was this dusty old Singer sewing machine.

What a beautiful machine!

I never lifted the cover, which I now regret as I have no idea how it looks inside. I did remove the other stuff around it and the dust though to be able to see how it actually looked. The intarsia both on the cover and the table is very nice.

We had a Singer sewing machine at home when I grew up. Mother had it converted to electrical. I later threw out the sewing machine part and used only the legs for a table. Later threw that out as well… But this one looks like an original. If it works? I have no idea.

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