Xamantha Light

2011-11-02T05:58:00.002+01:00

Back in Nijmegen

2011-08-19T18:52:00.000+02:00

Back in the old days, when we were young, I went in here with a very good friend and, a couple of hours later, left the place hand in hand with him. On the beats of some obscure punk band we first kissed. Passing this place yesterday brought up great memories ♥ *1997*

RIP Sacharov

2011-08-02T21:15:00.000+02:00

+/-1993 - 2011

Molotov

2011-07-18T13:53:00.000+02:00

Countdown

2011-06-15T20:20:00.002+02:00

Blind Cat Rescue Fund

2011-05-05T15:47:00.000+02:00

My friend Meeka supports this wonderful cause. You can help by clicking 1 Doesn't cost you any, no need to register or give your email, just a click ;)

Blind Cat Rescue
Vote for me!

hosted by
Discount Pet Medication.net

Sjors!

2011-05-01T14:15:00.001+02:00

Today we've welcomed a new cat into our family. Meet Sjors!

And before you ask: yes, we have enough cats living with us already and no, Sjors isn't going to live with us. We have adopted him, but he lives in a wonderful place and he wants to stay there. He's one of the cats of Stichting Help de Zwerfkat, an amazing home for cats who can't be placed with families (because of age, illness, handicap, shyness or avoidance of the litter box). Els Verkerk initiated this as a rescue shelter, but after a while she noticed the older and shy cats were hard to find a new home for. She decided to dedicate her work to giving those cats a home in her own house and garden.

I've read about this organisation before and was touched by the story. Of course it is important for any stray cat to find a good home, but cuddly kittens have a much bigger chance to be adopted.

It was Etsy (or actually the animal loving people on Etsy) that made me decide to find a charity cause to donate some of my sales to. Many other Etsy people do the same and inspired me. Did a thorough search and this was the cause that struck me the most. They offer the possibility to choose one of their cats and send a monthly donation. Albert and I fell in love with the pictures of Sjors. Or actually, we fell in love with every single cat on the website, but it feels great to have a name and a face to donate to.
I emailed Els yesterday and received a very friendly email back today: "yes, you can support Sjors and you're very welcome to visit him". She sent along these beautiful pictures as well. Whoohoo, so happy with this decision! Visiting him will be hard, Uithoorn is quite a drive from here, but I think we'll make that trip at least once in the future. Would love to meet him and of course the wonderful people of this project!

On Etsy, I joined the Artists for Animals team. Here's a list of the members, each one donates to an animal related cause. So if you decide to buy from any of these shops, you're supporting animal causes!

Welcome to the clan, Sjors!

For my man

2011-04-14T18:44:00.000+02:00

I love you

Meeka's Blog

2011-04-11T16:09:00.000+02:00

Oh wow, my friend Meeka dedicated a blog entry to my Etsy work & me!
*feeling proud & happy*

Just click on the picture below to go to her blog, or here to go directly to the mentioned entry.
Meeka makes the most amazing creatures, as you might have seen in a previous blog entry right here, but there's more to see on her blog. Beautiful poetry for instance. And the whole blog is cat themed, meow!!

ps: Meeka's Etsy shop is here. You won't regret purchasing one of her items, especially since she donates part of her income to a cat rescue project!

Message from Meeka:

=*=*=Support my local Rescue Group=*=*=

$1.00 from each sale of every one of my kitties will go to my local cat rescue to help with the expenses associated with tending to local unwanted and adoptable animals!

Check them out here: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/OH288.html

Munchkin & Molotov & Spring

2011-04-10T14:09:00.000+02:00

Just noticed this hole...what kind of creature would live here?

Munchkin is curious as well! (and didn't catch anything)

Birdwatching: Mol's favourite activity
(and NO, that's not our garden you're looking into^^)

Family Day

2011-04-02T22:21:00.000+02:00

My parents celebrated their 35th anniversary today and took us all to the monkey zoo (Apenheul) for a great good old family day. As you can see, it was a wonderful day.
Cheers mom & dad, here's to many more years of love and thank you for being such an inspiring couple :)

100% Angel now

2011-03-19T10:27:00.002+01:00

Eugene R. Quillin

March 16th 1968 - March 7th 2011

From '02 till the end of '05 we were penpals. Both stuck in situations we were longing to get out of, we started to share our thoughts really fast. Reflections on life, thoughts about how & why each of us ended up in that dark place.What we would or wouldn't do if we could go back in time and change the past. How we could make the best of ourselves, how we would find our own way in life. What we dreamed of.
His dark place was very different from mine and we both learned to understand each other's darkness a bit more. I had more penpals at that time, but he was the only male one that really talked about his feelings. He wasn't afraid to open up and he was able to let go of judgements. Such a sensitive man. No wonder his initials, E.Q., are used to express emotional intelligence :)
He sent me his poems, I sent him mine. It felt like we had known each other for a long time.

Five years ago his situation changed, for the better. Hadn't expected it, but we drifted apart. He had his hands & head full of adapting to his new situation and I guessed it was time to let him go until our ways would cross again.
They did: 5 months ago I received a friendship request from him on facebook. It wasn't the intense friendship we used to have, but I was glad to have him back into my life. Was a bit worried though, he sounded like life was still not easy on him. Love was right around the corner, waiting for him, but he didn't know that yet.

March 16th, his birthday. I went to his facebook page to congratulate him and got the shock of a lifetime: messages about gathering for his remembrance, instead of birthday messages. My friend was gone.
Afterwards I learned he had júst fallen in love again with a girl from his past. They died together.
My friend, I hope you and your girl had an amazing couple of weeks together. Someone said you were her knight in shining armour. I can imagine that picture :)
Did you find ultimate freedom now?
Spread your wings and fly in peace,
thanks for being in my life. Hugs to your mom!

Someone

Got themselves a letter
In the mail the other day
It's already worn and tattered

And I guess
It gives away
All the things we keep inside
All the things that really matter
The face puts on its best disguise
And all is well
Until the heart
Betrays

She knows
As she reads the letter
That things were bound to stray
Winds blow
She pulls her coat tighter
And the letter flies away

With all the things she keeps inside
All the things that really matter
The face puts on its best disguise
And all is well
Until the heart betrays

Lord bring on the night
Wrap it all around me
Let it hold me tight
Soak up all that I bleed

And I'll fly away
Yeah I'll fly away
Yeah I'll fly away
Watch me

Lord bring on the night
Wrap it all around me
Let it hold me tight
Soak up all that I bleed
I bleed

Busted!

2011-03-12T11:12:00.000+01:00

Molotov hearts Sarah :)

Cats cats cats and a piggy!

2011-03-09T09:26:00.000+01:00

Meet my newest company: Sarah & Darby!

Both come from the USA, where MeekaMew has her studio and where she creates the most gorgeous creatures. Isn't it amazing how much character these two have, even with just buttons for eyes? Love love love the style and I'm so proud to now own an original k.i.t.t.i.e. and an adorable p.l.u.s.h.i.e. piggy!

MeekaMew and I met through Etsy and we share both the passion for cats as the urge to create one of a kind items. She's got 4 cats as well and I've made 3 miniatures of her cats:

Boscoe

Gilligan, the one on the right

Andee, the one on the left

MeekaMew and I decided to trade, a great experience! Go have a peek in her shop, you'll fall in love!

And of course you're VERY welcome to visit my little Etsy corner as well. If you should decide to buy something, use code XAMANTHALIGHT at the checkout, it will give you 15% discount :)
Here's my Etsy shop (click)

Learning from the best

2011-02-19T13:17:00.000+01:00

Yes, I admit: got a lot of Etsy in my mind. That's just my way of being really enthousiastic about something, guess we'll have to live with that ;)

I'm not just selling there, I'm also meeting people and I do a lot of browsing to get inspired. That's what all my "treasuries" are about: a way to say "look what I found!".

And sometimes browsing leads to buying. My excuse: I want to see IRL what other people make and how it looks when it arrives.

Got excited when I found out there's a lot of 'darker' stuff for sale on Etsy, items I instantly fall in love with. Like the cat bookmark and card on the first picture. Blacklilypie made it, and I don't think it acquires a lot of imagination to see why I couldn't resist that bookmark >^^< It came in such beautiful wrapping as well, love how creative people are in all areas!

And then there's Amy. She kinda introduced me to the places where Etsy sellers get to chat with one another (and promote their stuff as well of course^^). Got to chat with her a bit and she's just as nice as her artwork. I bought a set of artprint postcards from her (2nd & 3rd picture), aren't they awesome?

I've met loads of new and very nice people and it would just not be fair to name them all, too much of a risk to forget to include someone. But I hope to be blogging more here and I promise to talk about other people's creations as well!

You might have noticed the look of my blog ;)
The template I used was broken, so I thought it was time for a change. The background and the hearts were designed by BlackPumpkin. Yes, she's an Etsy seller as well :)

The Klepto Kitty

2011-02-19T12:35:00.000+01:00

Giveaway Treasury

2011-02-19T10:55:00.001+01:00

I've "hidden" 13 book titles and 3 names of authors in a Treasury. Find them all & win a bookmark + book! >^^<(click on the picture and you'll be taken to my treasury)

Color Me Caring

2011-02-09T04:01:00.000+01:00

Just *have* to share this...click on the picture to view all the wonderful items & their good causes!

Cats. Crafts. Love.

2011-02-04T04:24:00.000+01:00

A lot is going on in my life, but at the moment my activities on Etsy are a sure thing.

I try to make or work on something every day and I spend a lot of time photographing the items I want to sell, adjusting the photos, listing items and connecting with other Etsians. Although there's something going on there as well, I found a few groups with wonderful people. For sellers' talk, for fun, even for friendship.

I'm learning how to promote and what kind of words to use when describing something, how to become visible to shoppers. I like it, especially since these things require less inspiration (can't be in a flow all the time) and more concentration. Keeps my mind busy.

I've made 6 sales so far. Quite an ego boost when others like your stuff enough to pay for it :)

I would like it if you'd take a peek in my little shop right here. Gonna try to figure out how to give coupons, would be nice to give readers of this blog a discount!

Yours truly,

Xamantha. Craftster

Cats & Threads, take a look!

2011-01-18T12:55:00.001+01:00

Etsy
Xamantha

Albert with whiskers

2011-01-12T23:34:00.000+01:00

One of Alberts clients drew him a portrait, I love it! Especially the whiskers :)

Puschkin & the Rainbow Bridge

2010-11-23T08:16:00.003+01:00

I.M. Puschkin

2010-11-22T19:20:00.000+01:00

Puschkin

+/- 1989 ~ Nov. 22 2010

Writer vs Main Character

2010-11-18T15:29:00.002+01:00

Watch SYTYCD - Natascha and Lorenzo - Mad World on Fanpop

Spooky Books

2010-10-31T14:24:00.000+01:00

On the BookCrossing forum, Boekenspookje organised a challenge: release scary books into the wild during October. The scariness can be in the title, the subject, the name of the author or in the cover of the book. 2 books a week (max) and extra point to win if the book or release spot matches the week challenge. Yesterday I released my last batch and although I'm not the winner of the challenge, I had loads of fun with it!
Here are some pics. Not all of these releases were part of the challenge and not every challenge release was caught on camera.

Arnhem: books, food and bringing home the bacon

2010-09-22T23:32:00.000+02:00

We planned to go to Den Haag, but decided to go to good old Arnhem instead, just an afternoon, to keep it real. The Hague can wait and we still had a marvellous day!

Released a few books...

...swapped this book (by the man who was our prime minister)...

...for this one (by the woman who should be our prime minister!)...

...scored some new & used books plus this awesome paper bag...

...had dinner at a Greek place. Way too much food (and soooo yummie!), so Albert wanted to take the left over pile of meat home. But what to do when you don't wanna ask for a doggybag? You pull an Oma Horst! You take one of the shopping bags, empty it into another bag and then you secretly move the meat from your plate into the bag, carefully watching if no one is looking (and your wife turns red while trying not to laugh out loud)...

...kitty bag!...

...and the kitties sure loved the surprise! The end.

4 out of 5

2010-09-21T23:00:00.001+02:00

As I may have mentioned before: we don't let Puschkin go out on his own now that he's so fragile. He still has the longing to be outdoors though, so once in a while we guide him into the garden. The other cats always join us :)

I've never seen a cat grow this old before. We don't know Puschkin's and Sachie's ages because they were stray cats, but Puschkin must be over 20 now. He's like those amazingly old people you see on tv, celebrating their 105th birthday: fragile, a bit confused, falling asleep while eating, taking about an hour to get to the other side of the room...but their eyes still sparkle when someone talks about the old days. Puschkin still "runs" to the kitchen when he hears the sound of a can being opened, he still enjoys being brushed & petted and he still uses the kitty litter. Those 3 things (plus: not having major medical problems, of course) tell us he still wants to be here. The past few days we've noticed some changes, seems like he's getting a bit less stabile on his feet every day.
We planned a city trip with a night in a hotel for this week, but we cancelled the hotel. Don't wanna leave the old guy alone for more than a day. Besides, we've spent the hotel money on fancy cat food already ;)

Some snapshots of today:
(ps: Pavlov had a bad hair day, so she isn't in the pictures)

Puschkin

Molotov

Munchkin, slightly intimidated by Molotov

Sachie, enjoying the sun

Sachie, looking down on me

Hoi!

Threads 'n' Feathers

2010-09-20T08:21:00.003+02:00

When I started crocheting amigurumi style, I'd already noticed my creatures were a bit smaller than the more common ones, simply because I prefer a thin kind of yarn and a matching needle.

But then I bumped into MUFFA's website. OMG, how can someone make items THAT tiny?! A few of the things she made only measure 10mm, while the arms, legs and head still can be moved. That's just magical!

I remembered MUFFA's creatures when I was checking out needle sizes and decided to give it a go with the size she uses: 0,5mm. (for amigurumi, people mostly use 2-3mm hooks, my preference is 1,5mm)

Managed to make a tiny bird out of embroidery thread, but man, I still have a headache! A fun experiment and I might try it again, but for now I'm going back to my usual size where I can put in more details and work more neatly. I think the phoenix duckling I made for someone has more personality and it's still keychain size.

In a challenge I joined, we're making ragdolls. It went well until I came to the point where the doll needed to be dressed. Haha, I never made any cloting items before! So I'm going through clothing patterns at the moment, trying to learn a few new stitches so I can make a Lolita outfit for this way too naked doll ;)

Ps: here's an album, showing a few of the items I made. When I use an existing pattern, it's mentioned in the descriptions. Other items come from my own imagination;)
Xamantha's Crochet Album

Spreading the words

2010-09-06T17:21:00.000+02:00

"Good afternoon, can I offer you a book?"
Albert was on his way to place the book on the bench when this couple arrived. I would have looked for a different place, but hubby is less shy. The book went straight into the shopping bag! Ah, wish I could read minds, these people looked so confused ;)

Updates...

2010-08-29T21:00:00.000+02:00

I haven't been a good girl when it comes to updating this blog lately. I'm still making creatures out of thread, but most energy goes into staying on my feet and my social life is one of the things that's affected quite a bit.

Anyway, here's a little fella who wants to say "hi" and "Xamantha will be back here soon"...

Toy dropping!

2010-08-15T01:02:00.001+02:00

I just bumped into a wonderful website: The Toy Society. (Click on the image to visit it, it's worth a peek!)
Wow, and it's even got participants from the Netherlands. And now it's got one more, I signed up to join. Of course :)

The Toy Society spreads love throughout the streets of the world. Nothing to it really just a bunch of handmade toys looking for a nice home.

What started as a small street art project in Australia is slowly spreading around the world.

Should you come across a member of The Toy Society on your travels collect them up and take them home with you! But don't forget to let us know about it here.

Sachie appreciates handmade stuff ;)

2010-07-31T14:50:00.000+02:00

Lights in Darkness

2010-07-24T21:10:00.000+02:00

My friend, calling me on the phone & texting me, asking how I'm doing. My hubby with his thousands little acts of kindness & care every day. Mysterious boxes in the mail that smell like chocolate, coffee & books. (more about the boxes later)

I feel supported. You make the darkness inside light up a bit, just enough to see the ground beneath my feet.
Thank you.

Ah, those summer nights!

2010-07-11T06:28:00.002+02:00

That song from Grease got stuck in my head yesterday;)

Another sleepless night, the weather is killing me. We've got a powerful fan in the bedroom and the window is wide open, but the air is too hot & sticky for me to catch my sleep. Finished the book I was reading, didn't feel like picking another one from the To Be Read pile.

Downstairs now, temperature is better here. Found a nice cold can of orange juice in the fridge. Oh and there's a little bit of Passoa in the can as well ;)

^^I'm *so* rock'n'roll, that's obvious when you watch these pictures:

This tiny creature I'm making for the aunt who surprised me with really delicate yarn. It's just a few centimeters in height and I think I'll give it tall floppy bunny ears.

And this is one of the side effects: crocheting blisters!

Joined a project where everyone uses the same pattern, this time it's an elephant. Didn't like the original snout (?), so I did a bit of freestyling. Still not sure if I like it, but the yarn has great effects. Bought it in a crafty store, think it's meant to knit socks with.

My super fancy stitch marker! ;)

Even more fancy & haute cuisine!

Nephew Noah being his cute little self

Cats:

Sachie prefers the fan over the sun, but here he's enjoying the sunlight:

Puschkin: hey punk, that's MY basket!

Jeez, what a messy blog entry this is. Guess I'm just passing time...ah well.

Pasta!

2010-07-04T19:21:00.000+02:00

Albert had spaghetti bolognese today...and something tells me he had dinner company ;)

Inspired by...

2010-06-30T17:47:00.000+02:00

It's already 5 years ago since we had these cuddly kittens (the black one is Molotov, the grey one moved to my cousin's and is now called Jimi), but they still inspire. The thread ones are much smaller though, 2-3 cm in height :)

More Cats!

2010-05-29T18:38:00.000+02:00

3 new cats have joined the family!

Don't worry, 2 have already found new homes and the other one won't grow very much ;)

(Munchkin likes his lookalike^^)

Dio

2010-05-17T07:56:00.000+02:00

Rest In Peace

Crochet Mania

2010-05-06T22:39:00.000+02:00

Out of the blue I'm crocheting my ass off :)
Actually, not completely out of the blue: a friend asked me if I could make some cotton flowers to apply on her little girls' clothes. When I said yes, I *think* I can do that or learn how to do it, she sent me a package with different yarns. Haha, way to go, having all that material in hands made me start right away and now I find myself hooked (yep, silly pun^^).

Internet is such a good help: on Youtube you can find many, many crocheting tutorials and for a beginner like me that's perfect, easier than learning it from a book. And the English names for stitches make more sense to me.

Hope that, with enough practise, I can switch to making my own designs, with a more edgy twist. But for now flowers & butterflies are fine and I don't care if it makes me look like the typical cat lady. Got the cats, got some grey hair, got the ball of yarn next to me...all I need now is a rocking chair to complete the image! :)

Masochism?

2010-04-26T02:44:00.000+02:00

So this is me, celebrating one of the most recent piercings. I expected this one to heal better than the last, but helas...it got infected and not only the pierced area was swollen, my cheek was as well. It hurt like hell and I was asking myself: "what was the reason again for having holes punched into your flesh?". No deeper meaning, no other reason than: I love the sight of piercings, I just like 'em.

Been using sea salt compresses a few times a day in an attempt to tear the goo out and noticed the best way to reach the inner part of the ear (where the other side of the piercing is) is with cotton sticks. Acupuncture for softies, Albert says ;)

This is what I hope it will look like in a few months. Let's hope it heals fast:)

Happy Birthday Albert!

2010-04-25T16:37:00.000+02:00

My love turned 39 and his idea of a perfect day out is a day at the zoo. And I agree, it's a joy to stroll through that park together. Ouwehand's Dierenpark in Rhenen is just a bus ride away. This is an old zoo and lately there have been a lot of improvements going on. The spaces for the animals are bigger now and more like their natural habitats. Most of the big cats have moved to other parks and that's a relief to us. Of course it's great to be able to see every detail of the animals we love the most, but their space was too small and the cats didn't look happy. Now there are only lions and tigers left and they've got plenty of space to run around.

We saw a lot of newborn animals and watched the old bears frolic like cubs. Just a happy, cheerful day.
Afterwards we walked to the "pannenkoekenhuis", a pancake place. Yummie! Albert went for apple-raisin and I couldn't resist the pancake with stir-fried veggies & cheese.

Came home early, took a little old people's nap and watched a movie.

At the moment Albert is reading, a rare thing. He's just not into reading, like I'm not into some of his hobbies. My gift to him was the autobiography of his all-time rock idol, Biff Byford, and it was the first time I saw him get really excited about a book. So glad I could get my hands on that title!

In the 1st 2 pics Albert is wearing pyjamas. A bit of an inside joke between us, he's been talking about buying p.j.'s forever so I decided to buy him a set. It's his last year being thirty-something, he'd better get used to being old ;)

Pictures!

Convention!!!

2010-04-19T06:53:00.000+02:00

Finally, finally, finally it was Convention time! A 3 day event, but I decided to join only one day, being aware of my limited energy.

My gosh, it was worth waiting for!!! Albert and I had such a good time...

We left early in the morning and took the luxury of taking a (cheap) taxi to the train station. We brought about 40 books, so it was nice not have to drag the luggage to the bus stop ;)

Smooth trip to Amsterdam and I noticed something weird: I was excited but not nervous. Hooray!
At the metro stop near the convention location we met the first foreign guests: Citibelle & husband from the UK. Wonderful people who had been lucky enough to fly to Amsterdam a few days earlier.

The Griffin (convention location) was easy to find thanks to the BookCrossing logo that showed us the way.

A warm welcome at the Griffin. A lot of new faces, but their names were familiar and everybody welcomed each other. During the day quite some people told me how glad they were we made it (I've listed myself for meetings so often and almost every time I couldn't be there because of issues). Felt so welcome and the atmosphere was so relaxed!

Phoenix-Flight, one of the organising BookCrossers, opened the day and told a little bit about the programme. Then Bruce, CEO & co-founder of BookCrossing, revealed the new look of our website, which will be online soon. It's gonna be friendlier for visitors, with less text and an easier interface. And lots more, but I won't bore you with that ;)

There were several speeches and performances during the day. We attended them all and enjoyed most of it. It was great to see Bruce, BookCrossing co-founder & CEO and his wife Heather IRL. The new fresh look of the BookCrossing website was presented and wow, it looks good! It's not online yet, but will be soon.

A writer of historical children's books, Rob Ruggenberg, had a great speech about his latest book.

The best performance of all was done by 2 storytellers and a poet. I wasn't sure if I was gonna like it, but the moment the first storyteller entered the stage (no, tóók the stage!), people were blown off their seats. My gosh, what a performer, what a vivid way of telling! A second storyteller joined him and later a singing poet completed the beauty by singing poems. There was a wonderful piece of the poet Rumi in it and that sent shivers down my spine. Standing ovation!

Albert and I went to a Greek restaurant during the dinner break, together with a BookCrosser who lives in our region. Yummie food and relaxed conversation.

When we returned to the Griffin, it was time for the Mystery VIP guest. Haha, I guess no one could have guessed it would be Sinterklaas himself, together with 2 zwarte pieten! :)
Sinterklaas did also draw the winning lottery tickets and quite some people won really cool prizes like a reading blanket, a pair of clogs and an eReader. Nope, Albert and I didn't win.

Although I was exhausted at the end of the day, it was hard to leave the convention, to say goodbye to all the people we'd met. To finally see faces behind the screen names I've known for years and to find out the click was there in real life as well...priceless! Can't wait for the next meeting!

The trip back home was a bit of a struggle. I had ran out of 'social energy', couldn't handle the switch between that feels-like-home atmosphere and the dark outside world very well. Was scared of every stranger that came by and I panicked. But with the help of Albert and my old friend Xanax I managed.

On Sunday I woke up with a mental hangover, but I hád to sort out, adjust and upload the pictures I shot. Kinda been doing that all day and in the end I knew I should have taken it easy, my head was running over. So I went to bed early, but in the middle of this night I woke up with the need to write about the convention and to upload the bits of video I made.
It's all done now.
I'm off to bed and will stay there for as long as I need!

Here are my photos & videos:

Piece of mu

Off we go!

2010-04-17T03:48:00.000+02:00

In a few hours we're off to Amsterdam to join the international BookCrossing Convention. A huge pile of books in English, Dutch, German, French and Finnish is waiting to be taken along (so glad I don't have to carry them all by myself!).

It's been 2 years already since we (the Dutch BookCrossers) were chosen to organise this Convention (it's in a different country/state every year and several countries were battling to be chosen) and people have been working on it since then. So much to organise when you know over 200 people will visit the event; finding a place to hold the event, finding sponsors, getting the finances and administration done and lots more.
I didn't join the organising team but have lend a hand by designing the official themed bookplates, gathering goodies for the goodiebags and prizes for the lottery/tombola and I made a bunch of themed bookmarks. So I've been busy with it as well and I'm thrilled to be part of this all.

The Convention last 3 days, starting yesterday. Three whole days is too much for me, so with a little pain in my heart I decided to go only one day. This way I know I can probably handle the being-social part well enough without crossing my boundaries too much.

223 people from 18 different countries (if I counted correctly^^) have bought tickets and have been planning & booking their trips & places to sleep. Major disappointment when that vulcano in Iceland lead to mass cancellation of flights; quite a bunch of people are not going to make it because of that. Such a turn off for them and for the organising people!! Some found other ways of transportation, but the trains and ferries were out of seats in no time, mostly taken by business people. Boohoo!

I've just been watching the first bunch of pictures from yesterday evening, all looking really good & fun. Today we'll be part of that fun (yes, Albert, the non-reader, will join me and he's looking forward to it as well) and of course I'll bring my camera. Pictures will follow soon!

Offtopic: we've been worried about Puschkin lately. He's so fragile and his fur has gotten greasy since he can't reach all the spots anymore. I looked for powder or foam shampoo to help him clean, but in the end we decided a check-up at the vet's would be more helpful. The vet said he's probably only got a mild case of artrosis, it's just the high age that causes the stiffness in his limbs. They took some blood samples and the first results are in: no liver problems at all and his kidneys function well for a cat this old. Next week we'll get the results of his thyroid gland (?? schildklier).

It looks like our little old guy is in better shape than we thought! What a relief!

Silver Balls & Linings

2010-04-14T19:33:00.000+02:00

A new piece of steel in my ear, my grey hairs wanted to be in the picture as well ;) (sorry for the bit of blood)

I hoped the piercer would replace my helix piercing for a ring, but since it's not completely healed (takes about 9 months in cartilage, it's 3.5 months now), he only wants to do it with a sterilized ring. I chose a nice & tiny one (8mm), will go back there next week.

But I'm happy!
Couldn't pass the 2nd hand bookstore without browsing & buying, scored 3 more books in English for the convention (already this weekend!!!).

Have had some health problems lately. First a jaw infection and right after that a flu-like stomach virus. The fever is finally gone now and I'm saving my energy for the convention.

@Anne: you were right, the tragus feels like it instantly healed, quite a difference with the helix. Hope it will give as less problems as yours. Thanks for being my info person! <3

Feline Adventures

2010-03-27T08:21:00.000+01:00

After a little walk, guided by both his humans and 3 of the other cats, a surprise was waiting for Puschkin. A new fancy basket! Now he's got a 2 room, 2 floor appartment. We were surprised and glad that he accepted this new sleeping place. Cats, and especially Puschkin, want to make their own choices and most of the time they ignore the things you've bought for them and choose to sleep in a box or play with the wrapping of the toy you bought. One of the million reasons why I love cats!

We put Puschkins favourite blanket in the new basket and in no time he was deep asleep. He didn't even wake up when Pavlov and later Munchkin explored the upper part of the basket.

Molotov, on the other hand, preferred a plain old box :)

Sweet Old Man

2010-03-25T19:25:00.000+01:00

(yes, we do feed him enough and yes, he's still enjoying life. little walks around the house are a joy to us all)

Online Shopping

2010-03-20T02:41:00.001+01:00

I had so much fun with the web shop I stumbled upon today: easer.com. They've got quite a broad assortment and the descriptions are entertaining.

Surpising to find all kinds of tools for grave maintenance, placed in the category "hobby". Quite a hobby!

check out Holy Mary!

And this? It looks like a torture tool or something. It's an anti snore retainer, the most drastic one I've ever seen! We've tried many anti snoring aids, from nose stickers, nose clips, sprays and even an expensive pillow, but my darling is so good at snoring, he beats every method! ;)
Hmmm, next month is his birthday...*wink*

But this I couldn't ignore. Our old man Puschkin has used a large basket (we got it from my sister, her cat ignored the thing -as cats are supposed to do^^) for over 4 months, but he seems to have changed his mind about it, he doesn't want to use it anymore. We thought "maybe he wants something a little less open" and moved the travel basket (a round one) to the living room. Indeed, he spends his days in that basket now, seems to have forgotten how much he hated that vet-related item. But how stressful would it be for him if we took him to the vet again in that basket? I would stop trusting the person who's got the guts to abuse my favourite furniture like that!
So this 2-floors basket is coming our way. It looks purrrfect! :)

Book Releasing Spree, Wageningen

2010-03-17T14:54:00.000+01:00

Wonderful weather today. We went to Wageningen for lunch, nice day!

Short!

2010-03-09T13:19:00.000+01:00

The hairdresser & I are getting used to each other. The first couple of times she was careful not to give me a too butchy/boyish haircut, but now she grabs the tondeuse rightaway and I don't even have to re-do my hair when I come home. This is the style that suits me at the moment, this feels like "me". Wish I could have her dye my hair as well, but the wallet doesn't allow a professional colouring. Ah well, a pack of dark red dye plus a can of peroxide is waiting for me to be creative, it's gonna be just fine :)

Well, appointment with the shrink went well this morning, my hair doesn't look like our former prime minister/Harry Potter anymore, I did 6 themed book releases and the whole trip was panic free, so I'm satisfied!

Oh and I may have found the perfect volunteering job: the organisation where Albert works, is looking for people who want to teach some of their (mentally challenged) clients to read & write. Would love to do that!
I've also found two other projects: a local gay magazine needs a person who can write, edit and illustrate for them and another local magazine (mental health related) has got a similar opening. Hmmm, maybe this is the opportunity I was waiting for!

Whatever happened to equality?

2010-03-09T06:34:00.000+01:00

This song gives words to how I feel right now about our little country full of hate towards "foreigners"...

I've got a soul
That cannot sleep
At night when something
Just ain't right
Blood red
But without sight
Exploding egos
In the night
Mix like sticks
Of dynamite
Red black or white
This is my fight
Come on courage
Let's be heard
Turn feelings
Into words
American equality
Has always been sour
An attitude
I would like to devour
My name is peace
This is my hour
Can I get
Just a little bit of power

The power of equality
Is not yet what it ought to be (ought to be)
It fills me up like a hollow tree (hollow tree)
The power of equality

Right or wrong
My song is strong
You don't like it
Get along
Say what I want
Do what I can
Death to the message
Of the Ku Klux Klan
I don't buy supremacy
Media chief
You menace me
The people you say
'Cause all the crime
Wake up motherfucker
And smell the slime
Blackest anger
Whitest fear
Can you hear me
Am I clear
My name is peace
This is my hour
Can I get
Just a little bit of power

The power of equality
Is not yet what it ought to be (ought to be)
It fills me up like a hollow tree (hollow tree)
The power of equality

I've got tapes
I've got CD's
I've got my public enemy
My lilly white ass
Is tickled pink
When I listen to the music
That makes me think
Not another
Motherfuckin' politician
Doin' nothin' but something
For his own ambition
Never touch
The sound we make
Soul sacred love
Vows that we take
To create straight
What is true
Yo he's with me
And what I do
My name is peace
This is my hour
Can I get
Just a little bit of power

The power of equality
Is not yet what it ought to be (ought to be)
It fills me up like a hollow tree (hollow tree)
The power of equality

Madder than a motherfucker
Lick my finger
Can't forget
'Cause the memory lingers
Count 'em off quick
Little piccadilly sickness
Take me to the hick
Eat my thickness
I've got a welt
From the bible belt
Dealing with the hand
That I've been dealt
Sitting in the grip
Of a killing fist
Giving up blood
Just to exist
Rub me wrong
And I get pissed
No I cannot
Get to this
People in pain
I do not dig it
Change of brain
For Mr Bigot

Little brother do you hear me
Have a heart oh come get near me
Misery is not my friend
But I'll break before I bend
What I see is insanity
What ever happened to humanity
What ever happened to humanity
What ever happened to humanity

Didn't know that!

2010-03-05T01:00:00.000+01:00

Watched a nice documentary about The Doors on one of the Belgian tv channels and learned something new: I had no idea the origin of Alabama Song ("Whisky Bar") lies in German opera. Nice to learn something new!

Dutch Delight

2010-03-03T23:46:00.000+01:00

Scored some red/white/blue ribbons today, so I could finally finish the bookmarks I'm making for the convention. Printing, cutting and laminating was already done, so this evening it was all about punching & attaching ribbons. Done!

It feels weird though, to work with this Dutch theme while keeping one eye on the news about local elections that were held today. Lots of votes for the extreme right party. I don't feel very 'proud of Holland' at the moment. Yuk. :(

Say (&eat!) cheese!

Kitschy but oh so cute, these ribbons ;)

Watching the elections...

Dutch Linebacker for Dallas!

2010-02-26T03:24:00.003+01:00

Dallas Does Happy Dance

News from our local reporter

The Dallas Cowboys, an American football team from Texas, USA, are dancing for joy: a new and very talented linebacker was scouted and will lead the team to victory during the next NFL season.
This promising new member was scouted in The Netherlands, a weird little country somewhere in Europe, also referred to as "Holland". He was born & raised there, but he believes he's been born into the wrong part of the world. "I feel all American inside", he claims, "I discovered my true identity when I started drinking Coca Cola and it got worse after Mac Donald's opened its doors in our little Bible Belt village on the Dutch country side."

A mysterious box arrived at his home this week. A gift for his wife, our new man Albert figured: "she's involved in a mysterious movement called "BookCrossing" and those book people seem to like sending each other gifts, mostly books. I'm not a big reader, so I didn't show much interest in the box, until my wife said I should open the box because there was a surprise in it. A surprise for me!"

When Albert opened the box, he immediately recognized the blue star printed on two heavy duty football caps. The Cowboys! His favourite team! But there was more: a life size football helmet was enclosed as well!

"I just went crazy," Albert tells, "I grabbed my Cowboys shirt, put on the helmet, placed the caps on my wife's and my cat's heads and ran over to the soccer field near our home. I started making crazy football moves and my wife and cat were cheering. And then a car stopped. An American dude walked towards me and shook my hand. The rest is history: before I knew it, I was signing deals. It felt like coming home!". The big guy wipes a tear from his face. "Yes, we'll have to move to the States, the sooner the better. But I had to make one commitment to my old lady: we can't leave before the international BookCrossing convention has taken place and I promised to be on her side during that event."

Whispering, he adds: "I don't understand those people, why would you read books if you can watch the movies? But the people in that cult are friendly and hey, it's an American concept after all, so I'm kinda looking forward to that convention-meeting-thingy!".

Albert will have to work on his body, he admits: "A little extra padding here & there will make me a stronger linebacker. Jonathan Kirksey is my inspiration, he played for the Dutch team when the NFL Europe was still alive."

If we look closely at Albert's picture, we notice something strange: twigs and leaves are growing out of his face. When we ask Albert about that curious disorder, he shakes his head and mumbles something about his wife being a vegetarian tree hugger. We wish him good luck with that, but most of all we wish him a wonderful carreer and new life in the States!

The Cowboys and their Happy Dance

Curious to see what else was in that mystery box?

Displayed below!

Munchkin

2010-02-13T21:05:00.001+01:00

It's nice that cameras come with cat toys!

Gotcha!

2010-02-08T07:17:00.000+01:00

So glad Gotcha! is rising from its ashes, brings back some sweet ole memories :)

More from that time:

And of course:

(gosh, I miss Grunge!)

Closing with this one, it still makes me cry sometimes:

The neighbours hate me so much right now ;)

2010-02-04T10:38:00.001+01:00

Found back my MJ album "Dangerous" and felt the need to pump up the volume ;)

Ah well, don't need MJ to piss off the neighbours, a leaf of our tree landing in their garden is enough. We laughed so hard a few days ago: it snowed and it would keep snowing all day. When the snow had stopped for a few minutes, the lady nextdoor came already out to sweep her path clean. An hour later everything was white again and on she went. And late in the evening, she swept it again. Right before a night that promised to be snowy. I know boredom when I see it...
Thinking of spraying fake snow on her tiles at night so she can enjoy it longer;)

Jeez, my moods are all over the place at the moment. Getting more & more hyper.
Next moodswing in 5, 4, 3, 2...
(gosh bps is so boring)

Labels for the BC Convention online!

2010-02-03T15:49:00.000+01:00

For blue and eco version, click here

Tattoo on my mind

2010-01-27T00:19:00.001+01:00

Uh-oh, visiting that piercing/tattoo shop reactivated the wish for another tattoo. Browsing the web & dreaming what it should look like, what spot on my body begs for ink the hardest...

I love how one symbol keeps popping up in my quest for a meaningful and strong way to express the changes I'm going through.

A Buddhist symbol, especially the Ohm sign, would be a good one. I'm not a Buddhist (yet), but that way of life matches with my values and parts of that culture (I'd rather see it as a culture instead of a religion) are embedded in my life already. I love how this one is done.

Another symbol with meaning to me is the Egyptian Ankh, which stands for (eternal) life. It often comes back in my drawings and in the jewelry I buy, I'm attracted to it. It's great that it has similarities with the female sign as well and it brings back fond memories of our trip to Egypt many years ago. It was just magical to walk around in that surreal landscape, the atmosphere in the Valley of the Kings almost sacred. Haha, well, not the atmosphere in Cairo though, that was just hectic ;)

But the one symbol that keeps crossing my path is the Hopi labyrinth. It represents the path of life. When you're finding your way through the mazes, you might get stuck and search for other ways. One moment you're close to the centre, while the other you're closer to the outlines, which could represent the world outside. When I saw these labyrinths in the past (when I first heard about the Hopi), my thought was: getting out of that maze, that's what life and surviving is about. But when I look at it now, I don't feel a need to escape, I want to be inside that labyrinth, walking that path. And we'll just see where it leads to and what will cross my path.

But there's another twist: Hopi symbols always remind me of my father. We share wonderful memories of a celebration we organised together, many years ago. It made a lasting impression on me and I know my dad cherishes those memories as well. It was a string that attached us during his stay in the hospitals, where his own story evolved into a book about a tiny King. And as a symbol of trust, he gave Albert the last remain of that celebration during our wedding ceremony.

A lot comes together in this Hopi symbol and I'm thinking of having it tattoed on my right arm, the arm that wears the scars. It would be perfect to have it on the inside of my wrist, covering the place that tempted me so often to cut deeper.
I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave the self harm behind. Probably not, not yet. But I am ready to close the chapter of suicide.

The last couple of weeks I felt I was going down the drain again and I was scared to lose my grip on life again.

I haven't lost it. I'm still here & going strong. I'm still alive and I'll continue my travel. Hopefully with a small symbol on my skin soon, to remind me.

Cats in progress

2010-01-26T11:12:00.000+01:00

April is coming closer and so is the BookCrossing Convention date! Over 200 tickets have been sold and the team of organising BookCrossers is working hard to make it a wonderful happening. It's gonna be a blast!
They asked me to design (or adjust a design) for a convention themed bookplate and of course I didn't say no, I love making those!
It took a while before anything decent would come out of the drawing pens, hadn't been drawing in a while and having a little injury on your writing/drawing hand doesn't help much either. Haha, figuring out how to draw tulips was the most challenging part ;) (not to mention windmills!)

The design is not completely ready, I'm not sure if I'll stick with the cheese background and the colours and I want the convention team to 'approve' it before I put it online. So you'll have to do it with a sneak peak for now:)

For more info on the convention, click here!

:)

2010-01-16T20:54:00.000+01:00

New Cat in Town

2010-01-11T15:33:00.000+01:00

Today it was Munchkin's job to guard the garden.

Suddenly he returns to the house.
"Guys, guys, you'll never believe what I've just seen!"

"I thought I saw Molotov..."

"but when I watched closer..."

"...and closer..."

"...it was a whole different cat!
I'm still quite confused."

Brave old Puschkin cane out to see what all the fuzz

was about, but the snow was cold on his paws.

Very cold!

"Munchkin, you sissy, it's just a kitten, don't make such

a big deal of it!"

"and it's way too cold, I'm outta here!"

Molotov: "Did someone say my name? A kitten?

Where, where?!"

The End.

Sweet Old Famous Cat

2010-01-07T05:23:00.000+01:00

As some of you might know, I collect books & stuff with (one of) the names of our cats on the cover. Most of those items are books (a perfect combi of my love for both cats & books!), written by the Russian writer Alexander Puschkin. Thanks to fellow BookCrossers, I've got a whole range of Puschkin books in different languages now and I'm very proud of that collection.

And then sometimes you bump into gems like these:

Wow, a must-have for me!
I got in touch with the writer (she self published this book and it's not available in bookstores) and, lucky me, she still had 6 copies of this book! Whoohoo!

It's a children's book about a stray cat and it involves themes like friendship, trust and care.

The writer was surprised to hear from someone far away (she lives in Canada) and she's sending me an authographed copy. How great is that?

Here you can read more about this book and you wanna click here for her other animal themed children's book.

In the mean time, sweet old Puschkin is growing older and older, but we believe he's still happy. He sleeps all day, but his ears & appetite are still very good: whenever one of us goes into the kitchen, he wakes up and asks for (I should say demands) food. He seems very satisfied with the large basket we got from my sister, he's been using it about 22/23 hours a day since we put it in the living room.

(yippeeee, new graphic software!)

But Puschkin is not the only famous cat in the house: Muchkin has got his own card game! (Also a present of my sis)

Don't be such a baby, get pierced!

2010-01-02T02:59:00.000+01:00

My gosh, how horrible is this?!

Bumped into this product when I was browsing for info on different piercing methods, was curious what people had to say about that push through method (much like a piercing gun, but it uses manual force instead of shooting). From what I've read so far, I'm not a fan of this method for anything other than earlobes.

Anyway, what I also found was this:

"your child has to be at least 6 weeks before having their ears pierced"

Excuse me??? I always feel so bad when I see todlers or even babies with earstuds. There should definitely be a law that forbids things like that!

I'm finally done thinking about what piercing to get and where. I adore lip piercings, would love to have one, but my teeth are damaged already and I don't want more damage there, so I've dropped that plan.

My 2nd choice was an eyebrow piercing, but now that I'm wearing glasses again I think there's enough bling going on in my face. It's gonna be a helix: a piercing through the upper part of the ear. Not world shocking, but I like how they look:

Will go for a smaller ring and maybe placed a bit higher.

Another step in the right direction :) I hope to be able to have the tattoo on my lower arm adjusted/ transformed into something nicer someday and I think my upper right arm and one of my ankles could use some decoration as well, but that's for later, when we are rich ;)

Worth a click!

2009-12-30T21:28:00.000+01:00

Another Mathijs design...on yellow this time!
Who's in for a vote?

Helpdesk :)

2009-12-26T14:01:00.001+01:00

Rotterdam, december 21!

2009-12-24T14:02:00.000+01:00

(click on slide to watch show in full size)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T10:56:00.001+01:00

Some snowy pics

2009-12-20T18:55:00.001+01:00

BookCrossing Christmas Spirit

2009-12-19T20:19:00.001+01:00

This huge box, wrapped in Xmas paper, arrived today.

Heart-warming indeed! <3

Seeing where the box came from made me smile big time:

Phoenix-Flight, a BookCrosser from Amsterdam offered to send a "kerstpakket" (it's a Dutch tradition for employers to give their employees some kind of gratification around Xmas) to someone who wouldn't get one (for whatever reason). I joined the raffle, didn't count on anyting, but when I saw this package, I immediately knew what it was. OMG! I got my own kerstpakket!!!

I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

(still getting to know my new camera + my software for adjusting photos crashed = not the quality I'd like to show, but I just HAVE to share these!)

Isn't it amazing how much sweetness, warmth and generosity fits in one box?

My gosh...

Thank you so much, Phoenix-Flight!!!

Camera Quest

2009-12-18T00:49:00.000+01:00

Glorious day: I got to buy my new camera!!! I had been looking around, browsing reviews, going to shops to feel how the grip was. And I had been fallen in love very soon, but since I had to wait for money to be available, I browsed some more and tried some other cams as well. All kinda similar, 'cause the kind of camera that fits both our budget and my wishes is a bridge camera: still a compact cam, but more possibilities to adjust. And it's got a firm & rather large body, that's what I like :)

The first snowy day of the year and I knew traffic would have some problems, but hey, how could I wait another day or even week to go get my new buddy? That kind of patience is not my style ;)

As you can see in the pic (took it with my phone, so don't worry), the busstop here doesn't have an abri/shelter. At first I didn't mind, but when the first bus didn't show up and the snow came down harder, I got a bit cold. An hour passed and still no bus to Tiel. Chilled to the bone! A normal person would have gone home, I guess, so I went to another busstop and headed to Wageningen :)

Walked around in Wageningen for an hour and a half...no shop had "my" camera in stock! Aaargh!!

Ah well, when you know it's available in another city, you just take that long bus drive from Wageningen to Tiel.

Straight through to the photo store in Tiel and hooray!!! There it was!!!!

No, mr salesman, I don't want to try out others and I don't need you to convince me, I already made up my mind, now give me that thing asap...haha, the salesman said I was glowing and all lighting up when he handed me the bag. Indeed, I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face, guess I'm still smiling right now :)

Celebrated my purchase with Danish coffee (w/ rum & cinnamon, it was yummy) before heading home.

On the busride home (phew, at least this bus did show up!) the bag next to me was begging to be unpacked, but I was a good girl and waited until I was home.

Oh and on my way from the busstop to our street, I was stopped by a policeman. I've literally never ever seen one in this small village of ours, there are only a few cops for the whole region and they seem to be invisible. Haha, now I've finally seen one and he was kind enough to let me go if I promised to walk instead of cycle (lights on my bike are always broken). No problem, the snow was too high already to cycle.

Well, time to show you my new buddy! This is an official shot:

And this is us, so happy together! :)

(better shots will follow, I've spent hours of testing & playing already, no artsy shots yet)

Snow!!!

2009-12-18T00:00:00.000+01:00

Ahhh, it's always a joy to wake up in a snowy white world!
The cats were excited as well, but they all found it was too cold on the feet. Puschkin didn't even go outside, he's seen winter so many times before and he prefers his cosy basket ;)

Is it the hair?

2009-12-13T13:22:00.000+01:00

Just bumped into a picture of my teenage idol: Koen. Oh, how did I adore him! I wasn't the only one, in fact I was one of the sreaming girls in the crowd who almost fainted when *he* appeared onstage.

Nowadays, I'm not so crazy about him anymore, I think he's kinda shallow and he's too much into car racing, soccer and gossip tv. But once in a while I play his old songs and picture him as he was back then.

I want to believe my taste has changed and hopefully improved since my teenage years. I still have a fling for an artist, I guess I'll always have a weak spot for who ever touches me through their music.
Since about 10 years that spot is occupied by Frédérique Spigt, a female singer from the Netherlands. I buy every album, even the one album I didn't like very much (it is in French. I hate chansons!) and go to the theatre when she's on tour.

I thought the only thing she had in common with my old fling Koen was the language...but look at these photos! I guess there's a lot more of Koen in Fré than you'd think...;)

Dank u Sinterklaasje!

2009-12-05T15:49:00.000+01:00

Sinterklaas kapoentje

Gooi wat in mijn schoentje

Gooi wat in mijn laarsje

Dank u Sinterklaasje!

It's December 5th and an old Dutch tradition is to celebrate the birthday of Saint Nicholas today. Kids get presents (just like boxing day) and adults exchange gifts and write rhymes for each other.

On the Dutch BookCrossing forum, the tradition is very much alive and we got to send gifts and a rhyme to another BookCrosser, staying anonymous. And mailing out a package means receiving one as well! Hooray!

The package I received had been waiting for me for a few days already, hard to stick to the promise not to open it before today;). But I managed and it was worth waiting for! A box full of presents in jolly themed paper, golden coins and a very cute poem. And look what was in the wrappings! Aquarel pencils, a sketch book, a chocolate M, a cute little notebook and a set of ballpoints! Yes, definately a good way to get rid of a bad mood ;)

Dankjewel BookCross-Sint!!!

Typically Dutch

2009-11-30T15:09:00.000+01:00

Saving money by using (parts of) buses other countries threw away ;)

I think OBS is short for observera ('note', 'caution') but I'm not 100% sure...Anne, kan du hjälpa mig? ;)

I made it!

2009-11-23T16:53:00.000+01:00

Whoohoooo, just crossed the 50K finish! What a great feeling on this rainy monday! :)

You Know You've Been Spending Too Much Time On YouTube...

2009-11-21T12:44:00.000+01:00

...when you start hearing "Weird Al" lyrics as you're listening to your favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers album...

*sigh*

Kewl!

2009-11-20T10:28:00.002+01:00

Rain!

2009-11-18T03:10:00.000+01:00

My friend just sent me this clip...amazing...it sounds much like...Holland! ;) I Love it! Kram på dig, sis!

Amazing Clip

2009-11-13T23:16:00.001+01:00

Just awesome!

Today's Story...

2009-11-13T14:36:00.000+01:00

Sigh...words don't come easily today...

X factor?

2009-11-13T14:18:00.000+01:00

Who says only drunk people and children always tell the truth? Cats can be pretty obvious in their opinions as well!

Our cats are pretty used to loud music and it doesn't seem to bother them. But when I need to focus on something, I sometimes put on my headphones to shut the rest of the world out. I did that today and was listening to a song I really love, a song that helps me to find the right emotions for the part I'm writing. I was singing along, eyes closed.

Suddenly Molotov jumped onto my desk, staring at me with big eyes, meowing, placing his paw on my arm. When I put the headphones aside, I noticed Pavlov was sitting on the floor next to the desk, watching me with the same big scared eyes.

I assured them nothing scary was going on, gave them some cat candy and got back to my desk. I don't feel like singing along anymore, the cats had made their point: I definately don't have the X-factor!!! ;)

Beauty by e-mail

2009-11-13T01:29:00.000+01:00

I couldn't sleep, my mind was restless. Couldn't even focus on reading, so I snug out of bed to have a little smoke. Turned on the computer and this is what I found in my mailbox. How precious. Now I know sleep is waiting for me when I return to bed in a few minutes...

Keeping track

2009-11-11T21:10:00.001+01:00

:)

2009-11-05T18:22:00.002+01:00

...and it's not all bullshit :)
I gave this tool a try this morning, but wanted to try out the hardest settings first. Just curious. Wrote for 30 minutes in the kamikaze/evil mode and wrote 1380 words, but they didn't have much content. Won't put that batch of words in my novel, that's for sure. But my gosh, what a stressy method, fingers hurt afterwards.

After a little walk and lunch I gave Write or Die a serious try. 634 words in 30 minutes to add to my novel. Meditated for half an hour, gave it one more try. The picture here shows the results.
Now I can slow down during the weekend, which will be very welcome with 2 birthdays in the family :)

Bad Apple

2009-11-04T16:46:00.000+01:00

Is it just my overactive imagination or does this chip of dried apple really look evil?

He brought some buddies:

Please don't ask for better pictures; these guys are all in my belly now and they didn't taste bad at all ;)

4 days of writing...

2009-11-04T15:32:00.001+01:00

...and 26 more to go!

As I mentioned here before, November will be my writing month. As a participant of NaNoWriMo my challenge is to write a story of 50,000+ words in 30 days. It's day 4 now, and my word count is 7005.

Previous participants told me how much fun it was to write this way. Part of me believed them, but the other part had a lot of doubts. I'm not a volume writer. I can be rather chatty in letters and blogs, but when it comes to 'serious writing' I'm focused on quality, not quantity, which means (to me) writing down 4 sentences and erasing most of them, just until I found the perfect way to put it.

I can't work like that if I want to end up with 50K of words, so the first challenge is to keep writing and leave all the flaws where they are; I can fix those later on.

I'm right on track with my stats (check them out here) and since this morning I kinda have a clue where my story is going. But nothing's sure yet, my plot has changed a few times already and even the genre varies. Let's call it "Other genre" for now ;)

I had forgotten how much blood, sweat and tears go into writing, but I'd also forgotten how much fun it is to stretch your boundaries and challenge your brain to produce a story. I've never written any fiction of more than a few pages. Or fiction? There's a lot of me in the story and I'm using my ex shrink & big a-hole as a villain. Haha, if this ever gets printed, I'll dedicate it to him! ;)

(Kidding, this is most likely not going to be printed; if I write with that in mind, all the creativity gets blocked. I'd rather think I'm just practising for 'the real thing', that's better for my nerves)

Well, these first few days I've enjoyed pretending to be a writer a lot. I even go to bed early so I can start writing early in the morning. This is life. I love it.

ps: the bunny in the upper left corner shows my present word count. For stats, go to my NaNo

Ballycumber Story Continues

2009-10-24T15:54:00.000+02:00

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!

Simon's Cat

2009-10-19T05:07:00.000+02:00

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

Frédérique for the very last time

2009-10-17T22:35:00.001+02:00

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...

2009-10-17T21:48:00.002+02:00

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?

2009-10-17T03:36:00.000+02:00

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...

Blogging in Dutch again

2009-10-08T00:46:00.002+02:00

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!

NaNoWriMo, take 2

2009-09-30T14:54:00.003+02:00

In 2008, I first heard about NaNoWriMo. Via BookCrossing of course ;)

Got all excited and decided to join, but my NaNoWri month came & went and I didn't write a single word for my novel-to-be. Scared to fail, I ended up blocked.

What I'm talking about?

NaNoWriMo is about writing. A novel. In one month. 50.000 words.

This is what nanowrimo.org says:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2008, we had over 120,000 participants. More than 20,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

Well, my BookCrossing friends did it again: talking about NaNoWriMo made me want to join and try it again. My account turned out to be still active and now it's updated. I'm in!

Let's see if those writing juices will flow in November...

BikeCrossing?

2009-09-22T14:42:00.000+02:00

I'm rather sure we did *not* stick a note like this to Albert's bike yesterday!

Sigh...why do our bikes get stolen so often?

All Pigs, More Equal

2009-09-19T12:49:00.001+02:00

Check out the animations on this site: (click here!)

(click on one of these words: Disabled / Sex / Sexual preference / Religion / Race / )

Kathelijne & the Greens rule!

Magic Release

2009-09-18T22:06:00.000+02:00

Brat!

2009-09-17T18:58:00.000+02:00

Mail from Portugal!

Oh, what a joy to open the mail when you find something as gorgeous as this inside!

Remember the Summer Gift Giving? One of my wishes was a long shot: a biker/rock style shirt or something hand made for Noah. Now look at these! Marcenda managed to combine those two qualities in this design! *me, impressed*

Not just a pretty print, the cute brats were hand stitched (is that the right word?) onto the shirt. And the hairdo is just the same as Noah's current punky red hair, like it's made for him. Haha, actually it *is* made for him! Thank you so much, Marcenda!

For more work by Marcenda, take a look at her In The Bag blog...inspiring!

A day at the zoo

2009-09-14T17:18:00.000+02:00

Last week we visited Burger's Zoo in Arnhem, a zoo we both hadn't been to in ages. Had a great day! We were amazed by the new aquarium and the Desert was lovely. Over all the animals have lots of space and their habitats look wonderful. I felt kinda cripple without my old camera so I didn't focus very much on shooting pics. But here are a few:

Autobiography in 5 short chapters

2009-09-10T15:13:00.000+02:00

In her letter, my BC friend hakkalina, mentioned this poem. With the help of Google, I traced the original text and I just háve to share it, it's so beautiful and SO true. I think I've managed to reach chapter IV and it feels like chapter V is almost within reach...

by Portia Nelson

I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place
but, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in ... it's a habit.
my eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V
I walk down another street.

Autumn!

2009-09-09T17:55:00.004+02:00

Hooray, Autumn is coming closer!
I know most people hate it when the days shorten and Summer is fading away, but yours truly can't wait for Summer to be over. I really enjoy this time of year. Feels like I can finally breathe again. Yep, I'm weird, but if you've read my blog before, that's old news to you :p
Maybe it's got to do with being born in September? Who knows?

Today it's rainy and I'm thankful I can stay indoors. Maybe I sound a bit more normal if I tell you that most of the time I prefer curling up on the sofa to getting soaked in the rain?
Anyway, the mailman transformed a plain rainy morning to one with a smile: delivery from a fellow BookCrosser! Familiar handwriting and the stamp is from Hungary...yippee, hakkalina mail! She surprised & spoiled me before with a wonderful Summer Gift Giving parcel full of joy, so noticing this mail came from her was already good for a smile on my face.

Opening the package, a wonderful scent filled the room: this is definately the scent of Autumn! Cinnamon, oranges...hmmm, me like!

The biggest surprise: 2 Puschkin books!!! One in Russian (easy reading, with lots of pictures, but I can't understand a word of the text^^) and one in Hungarian. How wonderful!! My collection grows and grows, I'll take a picture of that special shelf in the living room soon.

But it wasn't until exploring the rest of the package to figure out *why* hakkalina sent me this (besides her being a very nice person^^): Autumn RABCK exchange, I must have been her secret pal! What a lucky match :)
Stickers, soap, address labels, another book, chocolate, a puzzle, tea, apple snack (ooh, she must have seen me buying dried apples last week, such a delicacy!), a wooden decoration leaf and another wonderful letter...wow, I'm overwhelmed...

THANK YOU HAKKALINA!