each leap year

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November;

All the rest have thirty-one,Save February, with twenty-eight days clear,

And twenty-nine each leap year.

Whilst I am usually the one remembering what date it is, I was so confused in my Chemistry class today when a friend began wondering aloud whether anyone had a birthday today. Why would you care, I asked. I had completely forgotten that it was a leap year!
I like the idea of having an extra 'free day'. After school, mine was spent looking at hotels, chatting with my family, and next I'll be reading Freckled. Such little things that are everyday occurrences but somehow more special just because it's 29th February.

Also, I can't believe it's nearly March. How did that happen? Tomorrow, the GFC followers won't be available on non-Blogger blogs. Whilst this is a .blogspot blog, I know it's nice to have all the blogs you read in one place, and so there's other options here. You can subscribe by email, or add Catching The Stars as an RSS feed to your reader, or subscribe to Bloglovin.

sunday scenes

blood oranges for breakfast
morning sunlight
an oddly blue sky
pompoms on my slippers
yummy pears

I managed to do pretty much nothing this weekend, other than read {guidebooks for New York, Eating Animals, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower} which has left me with homework to do at eight o'clock on a Sunday night.

Whoops.

golden hour, late winter

The sun is deceptive at this time of day. You would imagine that the weather would be warm, but it's still cold enough to make me shiver out in our back garden in the late afternoon of these February days. The sun is strong enough for our washing to be hung on the line outside instead of across radiators and clotheshorses indoors, but my fingers are cold.
As I walked round our garden, I began to wonder what shape it would take in the coming months. We're anticipating a drought and hosepipe ban this summer, and the effects of an unseasonably dry winter are already beginning to show. Seeing the signs of climate change in my own garden makes me want to tackle it more than ever.
Already the days are becoming longer. The sun is rising earlier, setting later, and shining brighter. I'll be barelegged and barefoot soon. Spring is on it's way and change is in the air.

friday night rhythm

Time is such a strange thing to handle. My week passed in a haze that I couldn't quite handle, with Thursday afternoon feeling like Friday, and Friday afternoon feeling like Monday morning and strangest of all Tuesday night feeling like Saturday morning, probably due to Pancake Day and eating pancakes for dinner. I've been trying to find moments with good light to take pictures but nothing very cohesive is happening at the minute.
From the outside, you'd think there's not much routine in our house since my mum's shifts are all over the place and all. But I have established a rhythm of sorts--the way I do things every morning, most afternoons, and in the evening too. I'd like it to be better, but there is a rhythm. Someone said to me today, and I quote, "that I have too much time on my hands" because I'd burnt my friend a copy of a Smiths CD, written the track listing and collaged the name on a brown paper bag. But that's what's important to me--cutting and sticking and making. It was only thirty minutes out of my evening, spent doing something I enjoyed, but to her it seemed like a waste of time. And then, some things she does seem like a waste of time to me. It's all relative, and it's hard sometimes to judge, in real life and on the internet, what people are doing and how they manage it all. Sometimes, it's enough to think "that's cool" and keep your mouth shut--admittedly a practise which I am still learning!
And maybe some people would say it's a waste of time to eat takeaway pizza, read Oh Comely and watch New Girl on a Friday night in my PJs, but it's my rhythm and my pattern to my days. I break it up occasionally with a sleepover, but rarely. It's my Friday night rhythm and I'm cool with it. 
Do you spend time doing things that other people think are a waste?

sunday scenes

pattern cutting
empty plates
lots of laundry
steaming mugs

My afternoon was spent scrolling through photography blog archive {this, this & this}with a warm cup of coffee. Not exactly productive, but I can always say that it was research for my photography class, right? Anyway, I'm feeling inspired to put a bit more effort into my photography now. It's kind of shocking really, to realise that having a fancy camera doesn't automatically improve your photography. I was almost expecting that, with a dSLR I'd instantly understand everything, never make any mistakes, and be filled with creative energy. In fact, it's almost the opposite; with this camera I feel like I'll have to work even harder in my photography class. With a point & shoot, you can hide behind the excuse of limited creative control but with a dSLR your teacher will be able to tell whether you're actually just rubbish! Which frankly is quite scary but also an incentive to work even harder and properly learn the ins and outs of all the settings.

Anyway, how was your Sunday?

lunchtime thoughts

All it takes is a bowl of good simple food and a blank journal page to clear my head.

I've been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about what I want to do in my future and how I can get there. It's overwhelming, and scary, and I don't think I can handle it sometimes. But sitting down and writing it out makes it all a little bit clearer. I started small, thinking about this blog and Fernweh and generally all the time I spend online. Mainly, I wrote about wanting to simplify. About cutting back on computer time and making more with my hands and contributing more quality content to the internet whilst spending less time on it.

Maybe this all sounds like a huge oxymoron. How can I make the internet a productive place to spend my time, but then spend less time online? Honestly, I don't know. But I might as well try.

I don't know how many of these changes that I want to make will show through here. From re-reading what I've written, it's more about my mindset and the way I feel at the end of the day, rather than what I've got to show for it. But either way, it's got to be a good thing to make the changes I feel like I need to make and to listen to myself.


On another note; I changed the blog design today. There's a still a few hiccups which I haven't quite figured out and please let me know if anything is looking majorly crazy. I updated my daily reads page too.

souvenir foto school

When everything in a photograph comes together just so, I feel like arty pursuits are what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Right now, the online class I'm taking is teaching me so much, and I'm excited every day to style each of my still lives. 

Part of me likes this class most for giving me a chance to look around my house for all kinds of small, lovely things. More of me likes this class for giving me a chance to get constructive criticism on the style of photography I like, not the style of photography my teacher likes. 

And all of me is feeling so inspired, right now. For photoshoots and paintings and crafts. For creating art in general. 

It's scary to throw your work out there, and to say, "tell me what's wrong". I'm glad I started it though!

{photos from my souvenir foto school set//sfs is a class offered by creatocat & Besotted Brand}

have a heart

Happy Valentine's Day. I spent my 14th February in London with some of my favourite people, and had a lovely day. How about you?

Also, I've compiled a love-filled post on Fernweh--there's four completely different and amazingly sweet stories there. Take a look.

sunshine

Finally, the snow is beginning to melt and the ice is starting to crack. Bowls of lemons--and later, lemon curd--, bright tulips and the first outing this year in anything that's not my boots, are all making England feel a bit closer to spring. Although the sun failed to shine, the colours of all of this produce shines a bit brighter against a grey sky.

Also, this afternoon I went on a portrait-painting workshop. First time using oil paints, first time painting on canvas, first time working with a model. And I'm really pleased with my finished piece!

How did you spend your Monday? 

sunday scenes

making French toast
nutella
coffee & stroopwafels
scarves tied to a coathanger
yay! tidy room
an afternoon rest
k is for knitting

Also today I made a muslin, for the Meringue skirt from this book. Basically, a muslin is the 'first draft' of a sewing project; I made mine from an old duvet. I've never made clothes from a pattern before so this was a big first for me, and really exciting. I'm hoping to buy some more fabric this week and make my finished, wearable version soon.

Tomorrow, blog design, Fernweh work and a painting class. But tonight, we're eating chowder and maybe I'll persaude my parents to play scrabble with me too. Half term is ace, no?

How was your Sunday?

gratitude v.2

the lovely people who cleared the pavements of slush for us.
morning light.
fuzzy socks.
sketching in my journal.
tulips in our kitchen.
warm coffee and a chat with my dad.
breakfast alone.
another snowfall.
sharing my photography//see here.

This week has been a good one--I wrote a Fernweh post, got top marks in my Physics assessment and RE test, and walked to and from school in the snow. I'm looking forward to some lie-ins over half term though, and spending some time refocusing myself and not rushing through my mornings.

Tonight, I'll be crocheting and baking and watching New Girl. I'm such a terrible excuse for a teenager--but at least I went out last night, to an open mic night of sorts that my friend was at. Still, I don't leave the house nearly as much as most of the other people in my year do.

How are you spending your Friday night?


p.s. gratitude v.1

the weather

{f is for friends, reading this, yes there is a cat drawn on my finger, and i love chocolate hobnobs.}

It's such a British pastime, isn't it? Being so consumed by the weather, and forever discussing it. Unsurprising it was the main topic of discussion at school today and even on the way to school with two of my friends, we were too preoccupied with discussing the slushy paths {and of course trying not to slip over} to chat about anything else.

When I was really little, I always though if you talked about the weather you were, y'know, boring. And that sounded like pretty much the worst thing ever, to be boring. Ugh. Now, I accept the potentially boringness of all this chat about the weather because it's a uniting force. I rarely talk to my neighbours, unless it's about the weather. There's a few guys in my English class who I'd never talked to before, but we were discussing igloos and snowmen today. And somehow, everyone will talk to strangers on the street about weather, but nothing else. I began to talk about the weather just to have something to talk to others about. And now I can't stop. The weather forecast is my favourite.

Horrible pavements and subzero temperatures are not, though. Suffice to say, I was pretty happy to return straight home after my orthodontist appointment, and not have to make the precarious walk home. Jumper-wearing, book-reading, coffee-sipping afternoons are good ways to avoid studying, no?

Tell me--are you obsessed with weather? And thus perhaps secretly British and/or secretly boring?