iffr - international filmfestival rotterdam 2020

Rotterdam - Tuesday 28th of January

Today we went to Rotterdam to visit the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)

Yesterday I booked tickets for Little Joe.

Scientist Alice (Emily Beecham, winner of Best Actress at Cannes) develops new plants for a commercial bio company. She is very proud to have come up with a revolutionary innovation: an eye-catching red indoor plant that gives off a pollen that makes you happy. The plant works like Prozac: if well cared for, it increases the owner's sense of happiness.

Breaking all the company rules, Alice, who spends so much time in the laboratory, secretly takes home a prototype of the anti-depression plant for her lonely child and names it after her teenage son Joe.

Visually everything is just right about Little Joe, a film by Austrian director Jessica Hausner. Sets, costumes, hairstyles are tightly aligned of bright colors. The bright red petals of flower 'Little Joe' as a dramatic centerpiece.

Elegant and absurd film! Stunning science fiction house plant theme and the style and colors sometimes reminded me of Wes Anderson.

We are planning to see another IFFR film this weekend. Tips anyone?

plant cuttings

You can make more plants from your existing house plants, by taking cuttings. Many plants, such as papyrus, zigzag plant (I name it Matisse plant), readily root in a glass of water and can then be transferred to pots.

It may sound challenging , but it's not complicated at all.

Making plants from cuttings is a way to clone the original mother plant and a gratifying process, to increase your stock of plants. Furthermore it is a pleasurable way to surprise someone among your green friends. Any another plant lover will be overjoyed with an 'offspring' of your green plant kids.

I've been taking cuttings from the papyrus and fishbone cactus. Two parts of zigzag plant were snapped anyway, so I decided to use them as cuttings. When you cut a papyrus stem, just trim the 'umbrella' a bit and put it upside down in the water. Roots and new shoots will show up soon. Change the water every now and then.

After a few weeks in the windowsill-nursery, I have potted up the rooted cuttings yesterday.

Mother plants below:

gold up to the ceiling

Gold up to the ceiling.

Handmade moroccan tiles, in spicy tones of gold and bamboo brown, cover the kitchen walls.

The painted pink wall showed stains everywhere. Not surprising, of course, in a kitchen where you work and cook daily.
The 'moroccan pink' wall was repainted several times, but eventually we opted for a practical tile wall, up to the ceiling.

The aim was to create a warm, inviting atmosphere.

I would choose the moroccan pink color again and I will miss it, but after a few years it's time for something else.

What color? not too safe and boring and no green because that's too trendy.
Choosing a color is not that easy, however we quickly agreed; g o l d
Not the shiny gold, but a natural golden brown, mustard, ocher, spicy and different one...
(This color is also my favorite for wool projects, because it combines with everything although is quite a peculiar color.)

So it was a mess in the kitchen for three days, but the tile craftsman did an awesome job and it has become a beautiful wall!

I'm very happy with the result. Especially when the sunlight peeked inside yesterday.
The light, reflection, texture and the shadows of the plants; awesome atmosphere!

Today I am going to clean and redecorate the kitchen.

urban jungle donkey basket

The green donkey basket I found at the local weekly Ourika river market last week.
Actually I bought it for my bike, but soon realized that I do not have a luggage carrier on my bike, haha...
I would definitely find another application, so I decided to buy the basket anyway...
Perhaps as planter in the garden? or wool baskets?
You can not possibly find an even more impractical souvenir to take in your suitcase, but I was facing the challenge and managed to bring it home.

Once at home I knew it right away, it's a plant box! The urban jungle donkey basket.



and the two humorous market merchants from the donkey basket stall (they insisted to have their picture taken)

house of plants

More green.

The [house of plants] is the newest book in our 'green books' collection.
It's a gift from my niece Afra from London. We share our passion for plants :-)

One of the other books, [evergreen] was send to me by Eimear from Ireland. She's one of the Cool Crochet participants in April last year and will join us again on the Green Gardens workshop in Marrakech in May.

Merci beaucoup Afra & Eimear!

We might already have as many plant books as plants nowadays...

they all want to stand in the bay window

The plants all want to stand in the bay window.

spotted

The name of this plant is spotted or trout begonia (begonia maculata).
It was a gift from my friend Marieke and the plant is growing steadily on the bench in the kitchen.
Watering the houseplants has become a Sunday morning ritual.

Now I'm going to pack my suitcase for the trip to Marrakech.

blinds up

Our houseplants all seem to need a lot of light and they prefer to sit in front of the window. A conservatory obviously is the perfect place for houseplants.

The bay window in our kitchen is quite light, but it's impossibly to put all plants on the windowsill.

A couple of plants can stay in the garden during the summer months, but most of them can not be exposed to direct sunlight. I've saved a few 'garden campers' just in time.

The wooden blinds in the kitchen are up, we have enough privacy due to of the overgrown front yard.

The plants florish, so the conditions seem perfect in this bright place.

n o

No stress.

Plants reduce stress and have a positive effect on creativity and productivity.

Grow more plants and enjoy your weekend!

coconut & cover project

Two new projects on the bench. (and a basket full next to it)

Beyond the recent city trips, there is always a crochet project on the hook.

At the moment I'm working on a new harlequin pillow cover, with merino wool that I bought in Antwerp a few months ago. (actually for a warm beanie, whatever winter season is over)

The other project is a coconut palm.

My dear husband came home with this coconut palm last week, apparently he has been infected with the plant virus too. The coconut palm needs loads of sunshine, so I hope it will survive indoors the next few weeks, until it is warm enough to move it to the backyard. No complaints about the sunlight so far...

plants & plates

The spider plant - chlorophytum comosum - has never really been away, because it's so easy to maintain and multiply.

One of the most interesting points of the spider plant is its ability to rapidly propagate itself. A spider baby from the mother plant will often root and within a year it's producing babies of its own, you can give out to your family and friends.

I've send a couple of spider babies to my niece in London and I hope they will survice the journey.

The small green harlequin pot I brought from Anthropogie in Londen and the leafs plate I found at Portazul in The Hague.