Paasmaandag
The second day of Easter exists primarily to prove that one holiday was not quite enough. I support this institution. # Paasmaandag. No alarm. No need to turn myself into...
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.
Traditions & Culture
Easter
Some mornings begin in Amsterdam and still manage to smell faintly of every Easter that came before them. # I woke up in Amsterdam and for the first few seconds...
Beauty & Art
The House Full of Flowers
There are now enough flowers in this house for Yuri to begin documenting the situation, which I consider deeply unsupportive. # I may have bought more flowers. There are mitigating...
Beauty & Art
Tulips
I carried pink tulips through Amsterdam yesterday and have spent twenty-four hours behaving as though I personally invented spring. # The tulips opened a little overnight. I noticed before coffee....
Journey & Time
April
April began with me choosing the lighter coat and carrying the heavier one in my imagination all day. # April. I said the word this morning while doing my makeup...
Memory & Time
Bye February
February leaves flowers on the table, longer evenings outside the window and twelve years of words behind me. # Bye February. Twelve years of blogging. Valentine’s Day. Museums. Country music....
School & Learning
I Don’t Translate It Anymore
The word arrives before the Italian or English equivalent now. That feels strangely intimate. # I don’t translate it anymore. There are several Dutch words doing this now, little pieces...
Traditions & Culture
The Word Gezellig
Some words refuse translation because translation would make them smaller. # Gezellig. I used to translate it in my head. Cosy. Nice. Pleasant. Sociable. Warm. None of them exactly. Now...
School & Learning
Dutch
My Dutch is now good enough to make more sophisticated mistakes. This is progress. # I used the wrong word today with complete confidence. Nobody misunderstood me, which almost made...
Beauty & Art
Sunday at the Museum
I like museums best when I stop trying to see them correctly. # Museum Sunday. No checklist. No obligation to stand before famous things longer than obscure things. I followed...
Music & Sound
Country Saturday
Saturday began with Johnny Cash and ended with me singing Dolly in the kitchen while Yuri reconsidered his life choices. # Country all day in fragments. Cash with coffee, Emmylou...
Essence & Future
Progress
Progress is usually visible only after I stop staring at it. # I understood an entire little exchange in Dutch today without noticing I was understanding Dutch until it was...
Why?
Because every thought leaves a trace. If something moved you, disturbed you, softened you, or made you think, leave it here, quietly.