This was so perfect, I could not resist. Translated it into Dutch, encased it in plastic and placed it below my doorbell. You see, there are solicitations door-to-door: buy a better Wifi network, support an animal shelter, help fund the research? for all sorts of illnesses, and more, too many to count. We’ll see what …
Monthly Archives: January 2021
The Bird
I am sitting downstairs in the living area, with my feet comfortably on the edge of the dining table, working on my computer, my back to the garden door. As mentioned, after a guest leaves, I open the cross-draft doors to allow a fresh breeze to blow through my space. Working, without taking in the …
Words
Words in other languages can ‘tickle my fancy’. I have a mother tongue and my relationship to language is linear. The current ‘fancy tickler’ is the Dutch word; Avondklok- literal translation: evening clock in Dutch. Curfew in English. In English, ‘curfew’ has no context. In Dutch, ‘avondklok gives a time, and a hint. The Prime …
Is This All There Is?
SP*
In the last post I did not pluck this rather *Misspelled words will often be circled and/or marked with the letters SP to indicate the spelling error. Please note, there will be more to come. “SP”
SLAM!
There is no sound quite like it. A solid, definitive wood-on-wood noise and you know, at that moment you are on the wrong side of open. After every mask wearing visitor, I always open both the front and back doors to let a flow of air through the little sitting room/kitchen. This time was no …
The ‘Pot’ Warmer
In another life, in Washington DC, a dear friend and I had a minuscule business. She painted teapots and I made the cloth cozies to cover them for warmth. We sold these colorful combinations at the National Cathedral Gift Shop. Due to lack of volume, after a while, we took the hint and stopped making …
Three essentials in life…
and the third one is an oven. My first winter here noted there was no oven in my little house but I was so busy paddling to keep my head above water, it was alright. Last winter, recognized I missed the options having an oven gave me.. There is a certain warmth to food that …
He Didn’t Want to Wrinkle His Suit
This was the text under the photo of a dead man slumped over the steering wheel of a car. It was an advertisement in the early 1970’s in Holland to induce citizens to follow the new regulation of wearing a seatbelt. There was a time [ancient] when motorcycle helmets and seatbelts were not mandated. Once …
That < in the middle of the bill.
When a bill arrives, be it taxes or the tandarts -[that’s dentist in Dutch-for the alliteration] on the left-hand-side in the middle of the page is a <. The reason for the < mark is indeed to point to the middle of the page as it aligns smartly with the > in the paper punch …