Koi, Kitchens, Pinhole

My parents are on their way here, and in preparation for their visit I scheduled a few days off to clean and tidy my apartment. And then this happened:



That's my kitchen.

That's the water heater on the left (you may remember the water heater from the time they cut open my cabinet to repair it), and the stove should be to the left of that. The sink should be where that bucket is, and the dishwasher should be to the right of that. Instead I have a slow leak, a broken pipe, and a distinct lack of cabinetry.

So, yeah, this kind of blew my plans for cleaning, but I've still tried to make the best of it and squeeze in some relaxing. I've eaten out a few times, and favorite places and at new places, like Bella Luna, where I had lunch yesterday:



I thought they were a new place, since they're right in the middle of Market Square and I've somehow never noticed them, but when I asked the hostess she gave me a weird look and answered that they've been there for over a year. Oooops.

I also squeezed in some photography time at the university gardens, where they have planted gorgeous beds of poppies this year:



The poppies are all in bloom and pretty:



and it reminds me so much of the ones that grew in Alaska when I was little.

I wandered around for a while, snapping regular pictures:



and taking the pinhole camera for a walk:



and I think the pinhole was magical:









The ones with the falling water are at the koi ponds in the rose garden, where I stared at the fish for a while:









That last one, with the flower in it, I think is just fantastic.

My favorite picture for the day, though, is this one:



That's a puddle. Just a plain old puddle in the middle of the grass.

Like I said, that pinhole is magical sometimes.