A place to lay your head

Home is the place you lay your head, relax and seek solace. I love to see the small details of a persons home that hint at an unknown part of their personality - whether it be a plastic cat on a mantelpiece, a post it reminder on the mirror, or a hand knitted collection of coat-hangers hanging in the wardrobe. Such small things make you feel honoured to enter a private space. Here you experience the intimate nooks and crannies, certain ways in which the light falls and of course, the individual smell of a dwelling. My friends apartment smells like chutney, hair shampoo, fabric softener and paint. It's a wonderful smell I associate with her alone, and nowhere else have I sniffed it. Seeing Mieke Ven Verbijlen's photographs is such a charming experience, and allows you to experience the intimacy of many a stranger's home and explore all their nooks and crannies. 

Teenage wasteland

The Life archives are an easy thing to get lost in, dishing up one historical gem after another. In particular I loved the 1964's photographs of Japanese youth, captured by Michael Rougier.

"Nowhere in the world does youth seem to dominate a nation as they do in Japan. They are overwhelming and everywhere, surging, searching, experimenting, ambitious at some times, helpless and without hope at others. Isolated on a tight little island, they have not, except on the surface, become international like their counterparts in freewheeling Europe."

Nice things for your Monday

Amy Merrick is such an amazing florist.

Joy posted some great Mad Men photos I'd never seen here.

A visit to Jeff Luker's website served as a great reminder to never stop hunting for adventure.

And... the lovely Prudence Lansell shared her wedding shots here. It looked like one hell of a party!

photo source

No matter how careful you are, there’s going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn’t experience it all. There’s that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should’ve been paying attention.

- Chuck Palahniuk

Patti and George

For whatever reason, I didn't hear any Beatles music properly until I was thirteen or fourteen years old. Like some people who hear them retrospectively, I went through a phase of listening to them intensely, and now only put on their records every now and then. This week a stumbled across a small English book on the Beatles, and quickly devoured it. One of my favourite parts was reading about Patti and George. I didn't know, but Patti took lots of photos during her time with the Beatles, which she has turned into her own book.  It's lovely to see a moment in time captured so intimately. They were such an awesome looking couple.

Haruyonakano

How lovely are these images? I've been following Haruyonakano on instagram for sometime now and thought I'd share them with you. You can check out the website here, just don't visit it if you're hungry!

Simple life

How lovely are these photos? What a fun family, and the dogs are hilarious. You can see more photos here.

One of the most rewarding things that has come from living in Japan has been befriending families and seeing the differences (and similarities) in how we live.  

Also, the exam is done and dusted. Eek, It was hard. I need to get faster at reading kana. Thanks for your well wishes!