one two three four five

monday//golden

tuesday//red

wednesday//brown

thursday//grey

friday//orange

poppytalk's fall color week= fini. but karen's nanoPHOmo is just beginning. clearly, I am a girl who needs an assignment.

in other news, I have been singing this song all. week. long. endlessly looping in my head, over and over and over. colors and the kids, you know. colors and the kids.

calling all color lovers

heeeeey how about poppytalk's fall color week? are you playing along? because I am. as it turns out, I am both physically and mentally unable to resist color week.

monday//golden
tuesday//red
wednesday//brown
thursday//grey
friday//orange

it's all happening over on the instagrams. it's all happening.

brown friday

the most pleasing stack of bricks, maybe in all of gjilan.


the most spectacular cup of macchiato, my very first cup of macchiato. and sort of a big deal, since I don't really drink coffee.


the most awesome co-teacher, ian. artist extraordinaire and a bit of a renaissance man, if you ask me. ian, my friend.

okay so I guess kosovo is sort of coming out in bits and pieces. though I predict the dam will break soon because there's a big fat stack of polaroids I can't wait to share. the biggest fattest juiciest stack.

(the last of poppytalk's autumn color week)

grey thursday

should you find yourself in a crowd of teenagers (particularly albanian teenagers), you'd be wise to whip out a polaroid automatic 100. I found this out the first day we visited one of the schools in gjilan. I took one shot and in a matter of seconds, found myself completely surrounded. the requests came at me from every angle and I shot until I ran out of film. or until it was time to go home, whichever came first.

there's magic in the moment you peel that film apart but even more so when you let them peel that film apart. and the way they look at that photograph and then the way they look at you when you tell them they can keep that photograph. that they can take it home and keep it forever.

I don't think I kept even one for myself. I really wanted to but I just couldn't. felt too good to give them all away.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

orange wednesday

dear colored clothes pins and paint palettes of gjilan, I love you.

on an unrelated note, I think maybe I'm finally coming down from that post-trip high. today has been rough.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

yellow tuesday

I could have spent hours at the market in gjilan. hours and hours. the smells, the sounds. the color. my goodness, the color. I could have spent hours.


frizer për meshkuj= hairdressing for men. there were at least a hundred lovable little details around gjilan like this. ordinary everyday things seem to take on magic properties in foreign countries. what is that?


but really, the nightly workshops we held at the ringjallja center were my favorite. packed to full capacity each night and more albanian teenagers squeezing into that attic space than I thought possible. paper flying and scissors scissoring and paint screaming out color. it made me happy to be alive, I tell you.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

red monday

in a village somewhere between prishtina and gjilan.


inside artist filloreta maliqi's studio. filloreta. fee-lah-reh-tah. is there a prettier name?


around the corner from the hotel: dollar store flowers. er, euro store flowers.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

autumn color week

hosted by the ever delightful poppytalk and starting today. if you'd like to play along:

monday: red
tuesday: yellow
wednesday: orange
thursday: grey
friday: brown

for the record, I can't ever seem to say no to color week. not that I'd ever want to but you know what I mean. doesn't matter what I have going on, I will pretty much drop everything when it comes to color week. I am a girl who loves a little color. okay, a lot of color.

am thinking I'll pull select photographs from the kosovo trip (witness above). in hopes that words will follow.

red

last day of summer colors week and I don't know about you but I think maybe I really needed this. am now sufficiently steeped in brilliant summer color. thank you, poppytalk.

p.s. it will be a sad day when ava outgrows that red and white polka dot swimsuit. it will be a sad sad day.

rainbow

today: full on double rainbow, people. all the way across the sky.

(summer colors week, yo)

blue

today, in order of appearance: bubbles, fruit crates, banana seat bikes. oh summer colors week. you are just what I needed.

all swoony over these blues and I'll tell you, I'm really sort of trippin over this blue velvet cake.

pink

not pictured here: a pink ukelele, which I'd someday like to own.

(summer colors week, yay)

yellow!

happiest color ever.

(hooray for the beginning of summer colors week)

summer colors week

poppytalk's summer colors week starts tomorrow. checkit:

monday: yellow
tuesday: pink
wednesday: blue
thursday: rainbow
friday: red

because is there a better time for color? well, is there?

silver and gold

silver and gold and the last of poppytalk's winter color week. and a fine week she was.

green

greeeeeeeeeeen.

(winter color week, currently the cure for what ails me)

again with blue

proof that blue skies exist in portland during the month of january. yesterday afternoon the grey lifted and we got a glimpse of the good stuff. ask and ye shall receive, I say. ask and ye shall receive.

the grey is back but you know. whatever.

blue

blues for poppytalk's winter colors week. and speaking of blue-- rumor has it that we might see a bit of blue sky today here in portland. keep your fingers crossed, people. because I sure could use a blue sky.