of things to come

"a cloud cannot cast a shadow unless the sun is shining beyond it"
- anonymous

it was one of those sundays - coffee on the bright side of the street, a sneak (*shhhh*) preview of something lovely, a stroll around the stalls on the nieuwmarkt, a visit to the world press photo exhibition in the oude kerk, a duck into the secondhand books in the oudemanshuispoort, some good news about an old friend, a late and leisurely lunch - that starts the week with a smile.
i hope yours was just as fine.

the right road to somewhere

"i've often wondered..". he leans, earnestly, toward them as he stamps their tickets.
"what colour hair do you actually have?"
their fingers fly uncertainly to their framed faces, and they pluck at their austere headwear, too anxious at the unexpected question to see the twinkle in his eye.
"reddish", replies one, politely.
"black", adds the other. they quietly take their seats.
"and hello to you!", he greets the elderly woman tilting her rollator laboriously into the bus, "off to the disco again, i see?"
she giggles and swats his hand, and the two veiled girls, overhearing, realise, relieved, that they have not been singled out at all: they have been treated as equally as anyone anywhere could hope to be.
in retrospect, and finally - for that was his sincere intention - they smile.

you say, i say

the onset of summer, combined with uncooperative zippers and insubordinate seams, has nudged me into rigourous dietary self-discipline: i am, alas, not one of those fortunate souls who can eat and drink whenever and whatever they want without repercussions.
and because i dither, i decided to combine all the regimes that looked sensible and maintainable, stir in a few wise words from the weight-loss gurus (and an enormous amount of raw tomatoes, which, happily, are one of my favourite foods), season with regular exercise, and lots of rest, and a positive frame of mind, and see how i go.
i'm going fine, just fine. the effort feels minimal, and the results are, at least till now, maximal.
sometimes, i think, it's the timing that's tantamount.
and i don't, of course, have a lot else to do right now.

chasing a careless time

this - to still-slightly-foreign me - is the essence of a dutch springtime: not the
symmetric splendour of endless fields of colour, not the flowers unfolding in the pristine greenness of my garden, not the eager twittering of birds from first early light, but the steep slope of the dikes and the frolicking lambs leaping into life's lush newness.

tiptoeing, twice over

ron posted a lovely holga image a couple of weeks ago, and confessed to gradually gaining insight into the workings of that little plastic camera.
my insight is still sorely lacking, unfortunately, and my success rate is still lamentably low. i do like this particular photo, but, admittedly, it's hard to mess up such glorious subject matter.

*ahem*
well.....hard, but not impossible.

the heavens on a sunday

today: i discovered, upon my arrival in amsterdam, that i had left my camera's
battery charging at home.
very, very careless.
*
today: i enjoyed some coffee and conversation with wim, who was exhibiting and
selling his beautiful etchings at the art market on the spui.
very, very agreeable.
*
today: i finally managed to capture - second camera, thank heavens - this enigmatic
sign from the right angle, with the right sky behind, and the right sky reflected: something i've been trying to do for ages.
very, very rewarding.
*
two out of three. encouraging.
very, very encouraging.

and your (to)day?

taking five

"twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star."
- lucy maud montgomery (canadian writer, 1874-1942)

dusk settles later and later these days, and i, it seems, have less and less to say....
for now.