421

Looking at these pictures of a warm week, last summer, I can feel the grass under my feet again.

The garden so lush and colourful; even more wild, more magical than it had ever been. The children are running around, too fast for my camera to capture them. So I photograph the colours, the drops of water, the little paper crafts hung in the bushes.

Being on the farm in the summer is so different than our visits in the winter. The winterdays are dark, naps and knitting by the oven. The house seems so much smaller then. In the summer we run through the garden, climbing in trees, climbing on people, juicy fruit making everyone sticky. Cheeky smiles and just so much joy.

We had a party, the first party again (and the last one since then). Children making gintonics and getting everybody drunk. Dancing and dancing until the grass turned into mud and we had to take off our shoes. Ich liebe dich. And then; 2 at night, the 8-year-old runs inside the house and returns with the clock, eyes and cheeks bright red, but so happy she is still awake. "Ich bin noch wach!!!" Cheers all over, and we carry her (to bed) like a champion, chanting her name. 

420

Working-life is interesting. In the mornings I go downhill and in the evenings uphill. We start and end at the same time everyday. Maybe such strict routine will be good for a change.
If I manage to hit people on a nearly-empty snowhill, how am I supposed to cycle through Amsterdam?

419

Today I said my living-in-Eindhoven-life goodbye and hopefully for good. I couldn't be happier.
Of course there are things I will miss because I got used to them, like the cats that said hi to me when I came home, or how I got to know when my supermarket had cheesetastings* or how the lady from the photostore finally memorized my name and order (best accomplishment to be honest). I could probably go on for a while here. These small things you get used to and feel happy for knowing.
But these things were mostly important to me because there is nothing else to Eindhoven. And I also know that you will find your routines in any place as long as you spend enough time there. I already know where to get cheesetastings in Amsterdam, and I'll make sure to make enough pictures for the guys at the photostore to know my name soon, and the cats won't be a problem either, so I'm guessing I'm going to feel familiar in no time.


* Cheesetastings. This is a very Dutch thing probably, because Dutchies like cheese and free things. The thing is mostly that I never buy cheese because it is always too much for me and too expensive, but I love myself a taste of cheese every now and then and the free samples always give you just enough to satisfy the need.

418

Long time no see here. Somehow life was incredibly busy the last weeks. On the moments I didn't have to work for school, I tried to stay away from any "computer work" as much as possible. Cooking, baking, looking for houses and an awful lot of knitting.

Many things are changing. I'm starting my internship soon and with that comes a move to Amsterdam and I'll never have to live in Eindhoven again. Can't wait. 

417

Knitting, working and travelling. These days when the mornings are cold, misty and calm, I long to travel to empty lands again. Just two more weeks.
Not so long ago, a "schooltrip" to empty parts of the Netherlands, organizing, cleaning and sleeping in prisonbeds. The building used to be an office, so the heater would turn off at 6, it made it feel a bit more like camping. Indoor wintercamping. 

416

11 years ago on this day, I become 11.
This 22nd of November, I became 22.
It is a nice number so it will be a good year.

(and now that we are looking back, we all know what happened 50 years ago of course. Or actually we dont. there was a competition who got the best story of what he or she was doing 50 years ago on this day. i wonder if we are also going to do that for 9/11 so many years from now.. It's a bit strange, don't you think? Anyway..)

415

The remains of a breakfast, the murder of a fly and an uniform of sorts.

414

One can't really go wrong with dead-animal-museums, not with this girl at least. But I have to say that the one in Berlin has done the most supurb job.
In most museums it's just dead animals behind glass, with little plates that tell you their funny latin names. Berlin took it a bit further and shows you the cruelty of those cute flapping fellas. A mumbird feeds her babybirds another babybird she just killed, owls who just killed a magpie look at you like you're next, a sad little sparrow lays bleeding in the gutter of a Berlin sidewalk next to some gum and cigarette butts, a shark hangs wrinkled-up in a glassjar because no-one bothered to make him look nice.. And as a highlight of it all, they had a gorialla with my name. Can you get me any more excited? I don't think so.

413

Never under-estimate the tiniest of things.
I'd like to have a coat with a hundred pockets, all filled with little treasures. I'd roam the streets all day and sell my treasures to hurried strangers. This song is fitting: click.

412

I'm in need of adventures. Holidays are still a few weeks away, so I try to still my wander-hunger by watching many travel/science-documentaries, digging up pictures of almost-forgotten trips, searching for tickets I can't afford, and baking bread.
Baking bread is like an adventure on its own. Mixing and kneading until your hands hurt, waiting and watching as the dough rises (a magical thing if you ask me), shaping the bread and cutting the top slightly, watching it slowly split open as if it were alive, whispering sorry under your breath, putting it in the oven, and waiting again. The smell of baked bread starts to take over the smell of yeast. Knocking to see if nobody is home and then, unable to wait for it to cool down, taking a bite of a fresh warm slice of homemade bread. Lekker!

411

There are many names for colours. One name for a shade of yellow is Laser Lemon. It is a real great name for a yellow, but my favourite is always mustard, because most yellow things eventually turn into mustard things because of the dirt. And I really like mustard as a food.

At which age do we stop asking eachother about our favourite colour? The question used to rise so often, that it was always on my mind ('maybe purple is my favourite colour now.. or maybe I just stick with bloodred..').

What is your favourite colour?

410

I'm not certain of many things, but one thing I know: if I ever (in the faraway future, please) get kids or a family, I will sew us all matching awkward outfits at least once and probably make it into a holidaycard, or let them wear something like this on my birthdays.

Until I have the motherly power to do this, I like to secretly, subtly match the people in my life. Or I match my clothes to my work or to my surroundings. It's the little things in life! ha.

more matchingness here.

409

A picture of working outside and a picture of working inside. By now the flowers have completely lost all life and colour and so has the field outside. The sky is grey. It's getting colder and I'm getting grumpy. Hiding with blankets, tea, books and temporary records. China can regulate the weather. What if we just make 12 zones in this world and there is a different climate in every zone every month. Then we let the people who want to have all the climates, live on the upper part of the world in whatever zone they want and then we can make the underside of the world into a nomadic place where everyone will move to another zone every month, so that they can keep in their favourite climate. Kind of like how some people celebrate newyears a lot of times because they fly from time-zone to time-zone.
I would avoid the grey climate and maybe visit it once every other year for a small week of depression after too much nice weather.

408

One year ago, on this 7th of september, I took off for 6-month adventure in Hamburg. I can still feel the weight of the backback on my shoulders and the excited tingles in my stomach, and in fact pretty much every detail of that day, like a movie in my mind. But there seems to be a lifetime of experiences in this last year, which makes it seem like it lasted a decade.
I don't regret my decision to finish my school here, and I'm excited to start classes again next week. I had to get out of it all to appreciate it again and see things in a different light. But that doesn't take away that I miss the amazing beauty and 'ease' of the city, the life, the people and the school there. It's good to know places like that exist.
In a few months I can move again, so I'm excited for whatever the next 12 months will bring. Untill then I'll be so busy learning a lot and spending time with loved ones, that I probably won't even be able to notice the immer grey skies above this silly little town. Ignorance is bliss, sometimes. Ha!