Tagged: wonderfulworld

I always feel slightly guilty about referring to The Netherlands as “Holland” but on this trip I realized that all the postcards I saw said Holland so now I don’t care. It’s the same American-centric weirdness that made me wince as I was answering my daughter’s question about why people from Holland speak something called DUTCH when everyone else’s languages match the names of their countries, or nearly. Holland appeals to my sense of order. It makes the Virgo blood in me sing quietly. The trees in rows, the shining strips of the canals neatly dissecting the country in every...

On a summer evening, when the sky is clear and pure, like glass, like an endless ocean of blue, and the sun is lowering, shining fierce, shining hard, stretching long shadows, sharp shadows, what I want to do is capture the light. I want to share it, show and tell the sun. I want to tell you how driving through these rolling hills, this green big-sky country, this summer, makes me feel. I look hard at everything, I note things down in my mental notepad, I try to polaroid through my eyes. Snap! Snap! The air is crisp, magnifying everything....

Summer turns me upside down. Summer, summer summer, it’s like a merry-go-round! Bright sun? check. Blue sky? check. Slight breeze? check. Buzzing bees? check. Lilacs in bloom? check, check check! We’re heading out in a little bit to spend the rest of the weekend at the summer cottage of our good friends Emily & Martin. Our other good friends Angie & Kristian and their 2 kids will also be there, so I’m really looking forward to it. The weather couldn’t be nicer! I have made rice krispie treats and filled a bowl with chopped up strawberries and seedless purple grapes....