something

Apropos of nothing in particular, I'm making quite a statement:

But it's very, very true :)

dutch

Ah. We lost the World Cup to the Spanish. It was a sad day in soccer history, but I've learned to live with it by now. Between that, the signing of the contract - deed, whatever it's called - for the house (provided the mortgage comes through, we own a house! Yay!) and the chaos in my head, I haven't been able to squeeze out a meaningful blog post till now. But here I am!

Last Monday, my Moroccan friend N - she of the real Moroccan mint tea in my profile - naturalised to this frog country! Despite the sad soccer loss! She was so proud, I was so happy for her :)

Me & Squirt were there, applauding her and other applicants into the fold, listening to half-truths and flat-out lies about what it means to be Dutch. That's hindsight though. As it goes with these things, I was so sucked in at the time that I bellowed the National Anthem along with my new neighbours. Making sure not to look at the piece of paper seemingly lost for words, lest someone thought I was a Dutch soccer player. Actually, actually, for the first time ever I think, feeling traces of goosebumps. While singing the National Anthem. Yes. Ahem. But the moment passed and I'm fine. Dutch, but fine.

I was moved enough to pull out some of the culturally clichéd imagery to create an appropriate card of congratulations for N though. But only because I know she knows we don't all leave our windmills in the morning to walk the dikes wearing our wooden shoes, on our way to our day's work in the R.ed L.ight D.istrict. And we don't hang about picking tulips every day either! Just so you know!

meanwhile

I've given in to orange - just a little. Because...
We've reached the finals of the Soccer World Cup 2010!! For the third time in history!! I've been around for all of those, but this is the first time I care ;)
This Sunday, July 11th, we're facing Spain!!

scary

That is not our car. & it won't be, any time soon ;)
And this is a bad photo, plucked off the internet.
But provided all the paperwork clears, this will be our house come November! & hopefully a home soon after that!

We will finally be all grown up, mortgaged to the hilt...
Oh my... Oh my!

much

Much, much stuff going on. In my head, mainly. For now at least. But things are about to change. Which means I need to bite off & chew some fear. Of the unknown. And of change, in itself, really. Which inspired this artishtic attempt. Because something had to come out, somewhere.

& since I was visiting my AJ anyway, finding out - again - that busying myself really does help take the mind off things, I printed my beautiful toddler - wearing a mixing bowl for protection - onto cheap watercolour paper, to see what would happen if I'd splash some colour. The idea is an interesting one, although the execution - especially where it needed patience! - needs fine-tuning ;)

doors

This is the hottest item in the house at the moment. A rather beat-up BMW. Not quite the latest model, but Squirt doesn't care much about these things. My parents' neighbours were moving and offloaded some toys. This one took the cake. Its doors actually open!

The previous owner of the vehicle - not quite that fabled dear old lady, as you can see - got the cutest high five in return :)

orange

A mere 45 minutes left before the Dutch soccer team meets the Japanese in Durban. So I've got a little time left to show you some orange.

This is what happens in neighbourhoods all over this little country when a Cup of Importance is played. We go orange. We go crazy. 45 minutes left and I can already hear the vuvuzelas down the street. Even Squirt knows, 'vu-elas' make noise!

Seeing that Man hails from South Africa, we had options. But we're both realistic enough to know that SA is a lot of things, both good & bad; soccer-skilled they are not, over there. So we're backing the Dutch.

Orange, though? Not so much. As a colour, I've sort of come to terms with it. But as far as national mayhem is concerned, I still go for peer pressure-in-reverse. If everyone else is doing it, I'm not, basically. I think it's a remnant from my days as a sort-of-goth - a bit of subversion, the defiant little girl I wrote about before.

These are my only concessions this year. A little flowering grass - seeing that there is, inevitably, grass involved when it comes to soccer - tied with a Dutch flag ribbon, and a bracelet of plastic beads that I got for free with my toothpaste (sic!) last week. There is all manner of free, soccer-related stuff available - every single supermarket (to start with) has their own brand of give-away molded plastic. I usually say 'no, thank you' while Squirt is still too young to appreciate it - I'm grateful & well aware it won't last... - but this trinket I kept, and I'm wearing it today. Really. I am.

So, no orange madness in this house, as such. But we'll be watching telly for sure! 5 minutes till start!


Update: a 1-0 win, but definitely not a great match. Quite boring to watch: so boring in fact, that both me and Man fell asleep on the couch! In the middle of the afternoon! We have no stamina! How embarrassing ;)

tiny

a rather random collection of small life

*photos taken in the backgarden*

It felt really good to do something art-ish-tic again - I've been too busy living in my brain lately... I know I should make more time for creative undertakings - of any kind - but I also know I won't when there is so much on my mind.

Still, I got my arty fix this weekend :) Took my mind off all the change ahead - for a while, anyway. I'm ready to face mortgage-related calculations again! And - if I really have to - another real estate agent or two... ;)

umpire

Speaking of complementing colours - and the soccer World Cup of course - Squirt has mastered the art of blowing a whistle!
And me? I feel like a pendulum, swinging madly. As a human being, I'm not sure I'm amused. At all. But as a mother? I don't think I could be prouder if I tried!
It's in the small things, isn't it? I think it is. Small thing, a whistle. But oh so loud ;)

update

She's doing well. Her head's still on. And the strawberries are coming along nicely, too.
Also, we're fine here, all of us. We're house-hunting and have some tough decisions to make, so - apparently - I haven't got a lot of headspace for much of anything else. I don't seem to notice the little and big things in quite as much colour as I normally do. Life keeps throwing me quirky balls and other mostly inanimate objects - of course - but I'm catching them and putting them away with Squirt's toys before bed at the moment.

This 'moment' won't last forever - I'll be back from this holiday-of-sorts soon enough. I really, really appreciate that there are still people out there popping in to see if anything new is up in this here corner! And I'm really sorry I haven't got much to show for myself... If only I could take snapshot pictures of the mayhem & chaos in my head! But then again - I'm not sure that would really entertain anyone but me (sort of. I'm sort of entertained. But mostly I'm basically going slightly mad, trying just to BE...) right here and now... ;)

Hope you're enjoying a beautiful Summer, wherever you are! I'm reading all the blogs for a vicarious holiday; a little time off, out of my head :)