Joie de vivre

Last Thursday night I went to the citycentre of Breda on my own. With the purpose to enjoy the special shops my eye caught the other day and to wander around.
I saw quite some shops with cooking utensils, but also with books, and other specific things. I bought a 2nd hand book about Chagall and 2 sketchbooks (but couldn't find a book about combining flavours and herbs where I was looking for too).
It was such a beautiful night... I sat at a cafe with a coffee, felt the soft rain, a breeze, watched the few people on the streets, enjoyed the colours of the lights, and the shops. While sitting down with my coffee the moment made me think about a piece of mixed art or music. The combination of lots of different elements playing together; colours, shapes, lines, everything together. Also the combination of hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste.
To 'be aware' of them opens a door to a whole new world...

Sipping sun and beauty on a few summer days

Beautiful summerdays in Brabant, the Southern part of the Netherlands where I grew up. This is a short impression of beauty I enjoyed:
pic 1 - Some hours spend on a sand-drift. Fine sand, little toy cars, a bright sun, a soft breeze and a beautiful and inspiring book (My name is Asjer Lev - Chaim Potok (Thanks for lending it out to me A, only a few pages left...)
pic 2 - I tasted these little blackberries and the flavour made me remember a time about 27 years ago, walking in a forest with my grand mother and enjoying these little berries.
pic 3 - I was surrounded with lots of wild flowers. I wasn't the only one who enjoyed them!

Cats and dogs

In English there is a saying which we don't have in Dutch: "It's raining cats and dogs". Today it was another day of this weather type... Worth an illustration!

Opening a window

Beside the disappointment of discovering a parking ticket on my window and quit a lot of wind and rain (which actually can be very beautiful), I wandered and sat the biggest chunk of the day in a enchanting utopian world. A very beautiful day with a great friend.





I remember the excitement I had as a child when opening up the little windows on an advent calendar. Every morning I couldn’t wait to open a new one! (this old postcard I bought made me think of that joy as a child)
Some moments in life have a very similar effect. Suddenly I discover little windows all around me...
This day had lot's of little chocolates in it!

Boat trip

Last weekend we went for a little boat trip; my father, my boys and I. What a beautiful day to be on the water. I love the joyfull moment of standing still, feeling the waves playing with the boat, the sun touching my skin and the sound of my children having fun.
They were playing with their little boats - catching gigantic waves. Great fun!





(last picture by Dick Bruna)

The zoo and a special picknick

A couple of weeks ago I visited the zoo with my boys. A great day with a special end; we had a pancake picknick with a number of friends - great friends... with small appetite;-). Pancakes for everyone!! Hmmmmm...

Unfinished projects

I tend to hide my work from the public till it's perfect... Such a pitty! Because most of the time it ends on the pile of unfinished work. I started with this short (unfinished!) story a while ago, but I decided I had to break with the habit.
Hope you enjoy reading, listening and watching this story!


Little bird
Sef decided to close his eyes for a couple of minutes and he took a deep breath. While he was standing on one of the paths in ‘his’ big forest, he felt the warm sun touching his face. He could stand here forever!
Beside the sound of the soft wind blowing through the leaves, he heard an orchestra of birds singing. One of them sang very special. She wasn’t as loud as others but he could hear her very clearly.
Sef could recognise a lot of birds by their song, but he couldn’t identify this one. It sounded a little bit like the song of the Red pimpled green beak, but was much more intriguing. The more he was aware of her voice, the more it stirred his soul. He was tempted to believe that the bird was singing especially for him. It even looked like… hey… he knew that song. Sef kept his eyes closed, slowly took his violin from his back, and while the song of the bird danced through his head, his notes gently joined.
He played note after note, verse after verse. The music played in his head and flew through his fingers and violin into the sky where it melted together with the warm sunlight, the fragrance of the trees and flowers and the enchanting songs of the birds. Everything in the forest danced. He didn’t see it, but he felt it. Everything was spinning around him. And as he opened his eyes, he saw that all his friends had joined him. Bear, Fox, the twin rabbits and all the others. What a beautiful day!