Orange Weekend
My orange accessory is ready, the camera battery is charged, and Amsterdam is beginning to look as though subtlety has been formally suspended. # Orange weekend. Not King’s Day yet,...
Traditions & Culture
ECLIXAR
digital diary
Journal.
fragments of quiet intelligence
There is a manner in which certain things ask to be written, not so that they may be found, but because to exist in silence, for too long, eventually becomes insufficient. It is not urgency. It is something closer to a necessity that makes no noise, waiting patiently until it discovers the proper form. This archive was born in such a way.
Not as a diary. Not as a blog. Not as something that is updated merely for the sake of appearing alive. It is a place where certain thoughts come to rest, those which do not dissolve, those which return, those which insist with the silent obstinacy of things that truly belong to you...
Every article is a scene. Every word, a frame of something that would not have remained, had it not
been writtenFrom the archive.
Essence & Future
Without Becoming Less Italian
Amsterdam did not replace Italy. It simply became another place where my keys fit a door. # I keep thinking about yesterday’s post because writing something often makes it continue...
Traditions & Culture
Being Italian in Amsterdam
Most days I forget to be consciously Italian until coffee, pasta, football or my mother’s voice makes subtlety impossible. # Being Italian in Amsterdam is much less dramatic than I...
Questions & Musings
Identity
I stopped trying to decide which place made me who I am when I realised none of them had asked for exclusive rights. # I was speaking Italian to Mom...
Questions & Musings
Planning Is a Strong Word
Yesterday we made a King’s Day plan. Today we admitted it is mostly decorative. # Planning is a strong word. We have intentions. We intend to leave at a certain...
Traditions & Culture
Vrijmarkt Planning
We have planned King’s Day with the precision of military logistics and the full knowledge that none of the plan will survive contact with Amsterdam. # Vrijmarkt planning happened today,...
Traditions & Culture
Orange Incoming
The first orange decorations have appeared, and Amsterdam is beginning the annual process of abandoning chromatic restraint. # Orange is coming. You can see it in shop windows first, little...
Beauty & Art
And Every Time They Look Different
The bridge repeats. The water repeats. The woman holding the camera does not. # I compared two photographs tonight, one from 2012 and one from this week, taken close enough...
Beauty & Art
The Photographs I Keep Taking of the Same Canals
I have photographed the same water for years and it has never once had the decency to look identical. # I went through Amsterdam photographs today and discovered, once again,...
Beauty & Art
Museum Day
I wore sensible shoes to a museum and spent half the day feeling betrayed by how correct the decision was. # Museum day, and I wore comfortable shoes. Please allow...
Essence & Future
The Freedom to Change Plans
We cancelled our plans tonight and I felt the exact opposite of missing out. # We were supposed to go out tonight. Nothing major, just plans made earlier in the...
Body & Energy
Days Off
The first workday after a long weekend is mostly an exercise in remembering which day everybody has agreed it is. # Tuesday behaved like Monday all day and my brain...
Why?
Because every thought leaves a trace. If something moved you, disturbed you, softened you, or made you think, leave it here, quietly.