October 24, 2009

Ballycumber Story Continues

A week ago, I wrote about finding our BookCrossing logo at an unexpected place. As said, I mailed that piece of text, together with a book (this one, you can read the text here in Dutch as well) and some promo stuff to the organisation that had placed 'our' logo on their paperwork.

Well, I got a response from them!
Response no.1: they entered the book's code on the BookCrossing website and said the book was being read.
Response no.2 arrived today: an official letter from the manager, in a bright yellow envelope, saying: "Thank you for the book you sent, our apologies for using the logo. I found this logo on the internet and we only used it on name tags, not aware that it's owned by BookCrossing. Our new name tags are printed without the logo. There is a possibility some of our trainers are now still using the "old name tags", but that will come to an end within a few weeks. With kind regards".



 Well, that's a friendly response! I guess we'll never know *why* they chose the illustration, but at least Ballycumber won't be printed in green anymore. Plus, now a few more people know what BookCrossing is!

October 19, 2009

Simon's Cat

I'm a big fan of these clips. Turn on your speakers and enjoy! :)




October 17, 2009

Frédérique for the very last time



Last wednesday, Frédérique Spigt's Best Of tour, called 'Alles' (Everything), officially started. I'm looking forward to see her perform again, but will have to have some patience; we're going to see her at the last day of this tour, on December 21st. Yep, our wedding day :)

Now I'm not as jealous anymore of the people who went to see her last wednesday. One of her fans, a 47 year old woman, lost conciousness during the show. She was taken to the hospital, where she died of heart failure. My gosh, what a way to die...
I didn't know this woman, but still lit a candle for her. Hope she really really enjoyed Frédériques show for the very last time...

Later I noticed this quote in a magazine: "I actually never realized that I'm a woman". Albert wasn't too surprised by this quote, often calls her mr. Spigt. Ah well, doesn't love count more than gender? ;)

Greetings from...

In our September holiday we had some nice trips. I haven't been photographing as much as I wished (crappy snapshot camera takes part of the fun away, hopefully I can go for a new one in December...), but of course I took a few pics as an impression.
These ones were taken in Den Bosch/'s-Hertogenbosch, I think it was on Sept 25. Had a lovely day!

Ballycumber ill?



BookCrossing's mascot ill?



On wednesday, Oct 14, Dutch BookCrosser X discovers something weird. On one of the paper sheets her husband brought home from the course he took that day, she spots, next to the info about the educational organisation, a logo. A well known logo for her: a running book, which BookCrossers refer to as 'Ballycumber'. This runnning book is the official mascot of BookCrossing.com, an initiative for and by enthusiastic readers from all over the world. They leave books at the strangest places and often stick to the book the logo plus a text that encourages the finder to take the book home.

On the sheet where BookCrosser X has spotted Ballycumber, she can't find any references to BookCrossing. That's odd, she thinks, 'cause the logo is copyrighted. And even stranger: Ballycumber has turned from bright yellow to green!

Lots of questions pop up in BookCrosser X's mind. How did Ballycumber end up on this piece of paper? Is it a secret clue from a fellow BookCrosser who happens to work for this organisation? Would the person who decided to add Ballycumber have found a BookCrossing book once and did (s)he like the clever lay-out of the design?


Deliberation with other BookCrossers follows. They react concerned, especially because of the green looks of Ballycumber. Would their mascot have gotten ill? After all, the organisation behind the course works a lot with health care education...

Time for action, BookCrosser X decides. Of course she takes action the BookCrossing way: from her collection she picks a small but interesting book, puts it in an envelope, together with some promotional flyers and bookmarks and mails it to the educational organisation.

At this moment, the green Ballycumber is still a mystery. Therefore we ask anyone who knows more about this case to contact the Dutch BookCrossing community. The easiest way to get in touch is to read the label inside the book and just follow the instructions. You will be show where this book came from and you'll notice there's room for your comments. We hope you will use it to help us solve the Case of the Green Ballycumber!

Noticing a Ballycumber on the paperwork Albert brought home inspired me to write this little text and send it, together with a book and some promo stuff, to that organisation. Just a friendly way of saying that our little buddy Ballycumber doesn't like to be green.
I wonder if they'll answer...

October 8, 2009

Blogging in Dutch again

buitenkunst (093) bewerkt
The past few months have been such a weird experience: for the first time in ages I feel my feet touching  Earth again and this time it's not rock bottom ;)

I don't know how, I don't know why, but I feel so grateful for this change!

Hard to describe as well. Gave it a try to write about it in English, but it didn't satisfy, the search for words was too frustrating. I feel the need to write in Dutch again, at least writing about my emotions in Dutch. This Light blog will stay just as it was before: not too heavy and written in English. I know my English isn't perfect but I don't give a crap about that, it's enough to express the things I want to share :)

But next to this blog, there's a new one. In Dutch. I started it a while ago, hesitated to share it with the world and made a deal with myself: if these feelings last for at least a month, I'll put my blog online and we'll see if that will be a private one or public.
Well, here it is, it's public and you're welcome to read it:
Zelfgezocht (click to read the 1st entry) (click here to read the full blog!)

I hope my non-Dutch readers won't feel left out, I really tried to do it otherwise!