the sweeter the juice

i always maintain, wryly, that my assimilation here in this country, given my
minimal fondness for the colour orange, may never be complete...

but orange in nature, and orange by nature: now those are different stories altogether.

holding on tight

"the spectacles of experience: through them you will see clearly a second time." 
- henrik ibsen (major norwegian playwright of the late 19th century, 1828-1906)

i feel distracted, these days, and slightly discouraged, suspended as i am between life as i know it - my job ends in a few weeks - and life as it will become. prospects are sparse and unsettled. all i can do is fold myself firmly around a fine strand of optimism and hope it holds.
i could use a pair of rose-coloured glasses right now, but all i can seem to find are blue ones.

it's a wrap

it was cold today, in den helder.
everyone, everything, shivered and struggled in the icy wind: me despite my meters of muffler..
and this mighty pampered oak despite his.

drive, she said

a dodgy back - and visitors expected for tea - meant no leisurely sunday out and about; a little expedition, however - to a deserted industrial park nearby - was exactly what the doctor ordered. just a five-minute drive from home, just a few square blocks of sheds and warehouses, crates and clutter: it was unexpectedly photogenic...but then again, in the fresh air, and under a sky as crisp and blue as it was last weekend, even the most everyday looks extraordinary.

the space between

they swing separately, on their own hinges, transcribing slow arches on their
own halves of the meadow, and they never truly touch, for that is the nature of their commitment.
they face each other only at the end of time passed, equidistant and bound: by their mutual story, by this singular space, and by that endless, endless receding view.

a small world after all

this web - this place we share - is wide, yes, but paradoxical: disparate and united, detached and intuitively intimate.
being even a little part of it pleases me immensely, and has done for
TWO
WHOLE
YEARS
today.
thank you!

how on earth

"i think i've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it."
-charles m. schulz (american cartoonist, 1922-2000)

this is the thing:
i doubt i could make a habit of this break-taking. my concentration is cooperating, and things are getting - slowly but surely - accomplished, but it does feel rather like neglecting a beloved child.

by all means

"the great blessing of life is the existence of tomorrows."
- paul coelho (1947 - )

time ticks by, relentless, and i have projects that i desperately want - need - to complete, and too few free hours to complete them in.
i'm sure i'll be forgiven for taking a little break...especially since i'm (tsk) a lamentably infrequent poster anyhow.
wish me inpiration.

the sweep of things

this was exactly what i needed today: a friend; a walk; a wide and windy beach; the crunch of razor clams; the dance of bright kites, cords taut to the clouds; the colours of
a kindly winter.
it cleared my head of cobwebs.
at least for now.

but the race

my life has not been star-strewn; my accolades have been meager.
a birds-nest-with-eggs, modelled from clay in kindergarten, earned me a
ribbon and a handshake. i spelled my perfectionistic way to little prizes in public
school, and honed my handwriting to a symmetric loveliness that won me silver dollars two years in a row at the belleville fair. a simple idea i submitted to my last employer made me - embarrassingly - an "employee of the month".
these are few and modest trophies, but that's allright.
i dislike spotlights.
some people, bless 'em, thrive on them. the current top three in the best-of-blogs awards 2004 are all excellent, and they all deserve to win, but btezra's birthday is just a few days after the voting closes, and, as he says himself, wouldn't first prize be a wonderful gift?
not only that, but he's been taking those splendid photos, and visiting, and suggesting, and supporting, tirelessly, and everywhere, for as long as - or longer than - i've been here myself, so i'm doing all i can (well, one vote a day till the 17th) to give him an extra reason to celebrate.