I do hope, S3, that your new friend managed to hold his drink. Hot tea can be risky for some. Here, in Antwerp, all snow has melted. The veil of cold that dropped itself upon us has lifted, and we are back to more recognisably Belgian bleary days of rain and even some warm, wintery sun. I enjoyed the cold and my new Irish mittens. I dropped one in the snow and even then you can see the quality of the warm wool. The raspberry coloured folding bicycle that is my new companion, combined with the train, takes me almost everywhere (although I'd put a cycling limit of one hour in terms of comfort); it is a true revolution in speed; I'd recommend it for everyone.
The cat (not pictured here) that is one of my companions has had his evening runaround and is now staring at me intently. Now and then he bows his head slightly, and closes his eyes a little. He likes to listen to the sound of my fingers typing on the keys, or so it seems. Every now and then he lifts his head, looks around, a bit to the left, then to the right, changing position slightly, only to return to immobility again. I have always suspected cats of being part of the fluxus movement.
Sunday woke up and all was covered in a fluffy white blanket.
Finsbury park , have never seen so many snowmen and giant snowballs being rolled down hills , I even saw an igloo. So many sledges with bundles of kids on them. It was a beautiful sight of a sea of white with blobs of happy colour.
And then a new friend appeared magically sitting on a bench. I have invited him for a coffee next week , lets see if he shows up. This could be the beginning of a great friendship. By the way here is a little educational video of How to build an igloo, Im learning so much in this amazing city, do you like my new winter coat ? IGLOO Lots of Love , Sister 3
It has been long time and I have no excuse I can think of, so writing to you on a more regular basis on this forum is a good resolution for the coming year; that with book completion, a new home, a dog and a marathon in New York. And less focus on clothes-shopping this year; just to see what that’s like. And more open communication with my husband; just to see what that’s like.
So, you see, 2012 is not going to be the end of the world, but yet another grand beginning, although I seem to work better in academic years, starting in September, which means we are halfway through one or not yet at the other. January is a very difficult month to start all the above, due to its messiness; school holidays and the overeating.
I thought I would get back into the groove by rambling a bit on how we are doing in the Venice of the north, where the wind whips around corners, making us cycle backwards.
In between, I will present some holiday snaps to give you the necessary breathing space. Here is one of my new camera that is so advanced you can change the focus after taking the picture. My husband gave me that for Christmas.
Here is a picture of me and my husband, in the meadows of South Bohemia. We spent New Year in your country, S3, while you were not there, which is a shame.
The day after this picture was taken it snowed and looked like this amazing, isn’t it?
Jip wants to grow his hair long like Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 and 3. I told him: “you realize they are extensions”. This did not go down well and, it appears, is not true. “Alright”, I said, “Fine by me, as long as you keep it light on top.”
We are buying Jip a new guitar as he had a ¾ one and it seems to be difficult to get his fingers around all the cords. Both Jip and his teacher seem to think the next one should be electric, which I fear is taking us down a whole new road of sound experimentation. Jip is very excited. “I love the eighties and nineties music”, he says. His favorite pants are his black tight cords and he likes his black skimpy vests because to him they symbolize rock music and his own personal freedom (I added that last bit myself). He said he wouldn’t mind a couple of white skimpy vests either.
Rosie also thinks skinny pants are the ultimate in style. She however has none. She has declared her love for Q, a certain classmate, and when she thought there was a chance she might have a play date with Q one day, she made great effort to dig out her tightest pants, which are more treggings than pants, added her favorite T-shirt with shiny bits and was ready. The play date did not come about unfortunately, but she was ready.
At the dinner table Rosie asked us whether we thought she should just go ahead and tell Q she was in love with him, giggling, adding she wouldn’t dare to, anyway. She has competition, so she tells me, as J and E are in love with Q too.
We saw this London lass in concert and both my husband and I agree she is very good.
Here she is playing for Jools.
My new hobby is making books on blurb.com, which is rather an expensive hobby. But after I had to pay many Euros to retrieve data on a damaged external hard disk, I believe strongly the pictures should be fished out of the computer as quickly as possible, just in case it happens again. So far, I am still having difficulty making ultra sharp editing decisions, which entails killing my darlings, meaning the books are still rather fat, but I am sure as time passes it will become easier. I seem take the same pictures over and over again. Look, another window with lacy curtains. Look another empty road leading to nowhere.
Allard is waiting for his electric car and goes to the gym before work.
In the next episode I will talk about the plans for our new house. Will we be able to squeeze it all into the budget? I might also talk about how I am resisting the sales. It feels like stopping smoking. If you wait a while, the urge disappears.
The last picture of today, shows a still life of our mother's natural air freshener at Christmas.
Dear sisters , what is this ? Am I the only scattered one left out there ? Have you both become "unscattered" ? I must admit I am still definately scattered and I hope you are too.
Here is a little post christmas / pre new year Quiz on the origin of words : ( from a book lying around that had been under the tree )
Quiz a)Latin for "who is?" b)Hindi for "unclaimed property" c)Chinese for "escape"
Clue a)A ball of yarn b)A skeleton key c)A love letter
Karaoke a)Japanese for "singing under water" b)Japanese for "howling" c)Japanese for "empty orchestra"
Slogan a)An Algonquian prayer b)A Celtic war-cry c)Russian for "repetition"
Boudoir a)French for "sulking room" b)French for "gun room" c) French for Peeping Tom"
Theasaurus a)A riddling lizard from Greek mythology b)A treasure chest c)The book of Theseus
Aardvark a)Swahili for "grandmother" b)Dutch for "earth pig" c)Croatian for "Jesus"
Thats it for now , you can send your answers now if you please and they will be posted in the new year . I am sure that you can not wait. Be strong.
And now for a series of Happy Birthday images for the scattered sister number one ! ( Yes, one day late , I am sorry but I have lost track of dates due to christmas indulgences ,home made carrot cake and 15 episodes of the Killing) But my instinct did not let me down , I knew that your birthday was a few days after christmas :)
Here is my birthday present to you , a postmodernist dress from London, I hope you like it.
And here is a lucky coloured sneeuw vlok blob for the new year :
And to peacefully and gracefully end all my brabbles I present both sisters and compagnons and family and friends with a song in appreciation of a lovely christmas , it was great.
( Thankyou Sister Two for introducing this amazing singer to us :)
Lots of Love Happy New year and what are your new years resolutions ? Mine are to do a tap dancing course and to be healthy and happy and to keep to my resolutions!
S3
P.S. Let the wise Owl look over us and protect us all :)
Here is something beautiful to treat our eyes. It is a special dance that will keep us warm during the winter months to come. Just click on the following grey orange words Winter dance By the way , i would love one of those dresses for christmas! Dear mama, maybe we can get the sewing machine out and make a family costume for all of us to dance around in , incase we get fed up up the sherades? I'm sure dear Papa will be very happy to participate:)
It has been a while. The crushed moth is now a distant memory...and the clocks changed, which means night comes in early now, like an inky sandman who does his work by making the air thinner, stroking your ankles with a cold breeze and filling your lungs with a sleepy sigh that longs for cosiness and sleep. The moon sits half-finished in the sky staring at you with a cheeky vanilla smile. Turning yellow as it moves across the sky, ever so slightly.
Would a cheap telescope on offer at the local cheap supermarket, I wonder, in terms of quality, would it be close to what the first makers of telescopes would see, or would it be Even Better? I do not know. If I were to look through it, would the planets and the stars be like my marbles collection let loose in an art class? I do not know. I said to them: imagine a vacuum cleaner is sucking the planets to one place, would it look like this?
Here is a poem on this subject. I think it is so beautiful. My trainpass is getting full of scribbled destinations. I love travelling by train. I see lots of different things. Church spires and rippling water, falling leaves, and a railtrack that takes me to a village where only one train an hour passes in either direction, taking turns, on a single track. Geese fly overhead, I work in the train, the journeys give me peace.
In time for november I got the flu' out of my system and today I secretly opened your cards, S3, which arrived two days early. I opened them today in an effort to stretch out my birthday. I so love the glitter, royally applied, and what was the snailwoman about? It was very kind of you to miscalculate my age.
Love and Patience from S3 I am waiting to get started ! Hopefully we sisters will catch a giant rainbow fish of inspiration and productivity ! and it will guide us to a creative island of flowing creative-nessness Good luck to us all ! Keep dancing and singing !
We are three sisters strewn across the globe (well, Europe, presently).One in Amsterdam, one in Antwerp and one in Prague. A photographer, a painter and a puppeteer. Sometimes we do something else for a living.
