Chocolate...

Chocolate is the best remedy for stress or should I say it's an anti-stress medication...

On this picture you see a oneliner of a Dutch actress and column writer. It says: 'Chocolate is happiness. I will never sacrifice happiness to weigh one pound less.' Well, this proofs chocolate is good for you. It makes you happy even though you might gain weight. Just don't eat too much of it...

But, happiness, let's talk about happiness. Happiness for me, let's think... Happiness to me is when I have a day without pain and I can create some art or write a great story and people react to my work. Not only good reactions, but even comments are welcome. Just so I know I'm seen, or better, my work is seen.
I'm also happy when people around me are happy. When you smile it's easier for another to smile too. That's what I do on my round delivering the mail. Last friday was very difficult for me to smile on this round, because my pain was too much. With tears in my eyes I delivered the mail and when I greeted a person I tried to smile and hide my tears. I  was so relieved after my second round when I was home and started crying. Crying because of the pain, crying because I couldn't stop the pain, crying because I was alone at that time. Really, I was a wreck...  But, then I picked myself up again and had a shower to wash away some of the pain.
The rest of the day was hectic, because we had to welcome a friend home from Kunduz. She's in the military and was over there for seven months. But now she's back and we had a drink or two to celebrate her homecoming. We laughed a lot, but I was still in pain. The next day would be even worse...

I've survived everything, but now again I'm suffering a great deal of pain because of the weather. It's been rainy all week long, but today it warm outside. Okay, there's still rain and that's why I'm in pain.

No worries, I'm still alive and planning on doing so for a long, long time!

0 comments...

Why doesn't anyone read my blog??? Don't you want to know how a Dutch woman lives???

Okay, I must admit, it isn't the most interesting thing on earth, but I wish someone would read and comment my blog. Do I sound desperate? Yes, I do!

Did I tell you I make encaustic art? No, I didn't, not yet. Well... I make encaustic art. You can see my work on my own site www.ericakanters.nl. Maybe you want to take a look? When you take a look at my site don't get afraid of the Dutch words and simply go to www.ericakanters.nl/bijenwastekeningen and see some of my work. Bijenwastekeningen is the Dutch word for Encaustic Art. 

Encaustic art is made by heating coloured beeswax applied to special paper by using an iron. This is the short definition. Of course you can look it up at the internet, so why should I bother when you can find it yourself. Not that I don't want to explain it to you, but it's difficult to put into English words for me. Anyhow... to tell something more about the way I work...

Sometimes I make drawings on request. When I do so, I also make pictures of part of the drawing and tell them what I see in those. Most of the time I tell them about them. People can't believe I can see those things in the drawing, but it's true. The first drawing I made for a man I only knew through internet by his nickname. I didn't know if he was married or anything of his personal life. What I told him made him wonder how I knew those things... I was amazed as well, because I didn't know I was talking about his personal life. The only thing I thought I did was telling a story about my drawing (or part of it, anyway)...

But, most of the time I just start making drawings without thinking about anything. I have to have a clear head and that's very difficult I can tell... Try not to think about anything and you start thinking about something. Strange how the brain works. So I start ironing (with beeswax of course...). The first drawing I make not with a clear head so immediately after the first one I make another one. This is the one with a clear head. I have to keep practising clearing my head. One day my all my first drawings will be made clear, not thinking at all, just draw or should I say iron... ;)

This is the last piece I made...

I want to follow more blogs...

Utrecht

Today, once again, I tried to follow other blogs, but I find it very difficult to find them. How can I find interesting blogs??? I know mine is really interesting, ahum, writing about my life in the Netherlands. No, sorry, I don't live in Amsterdam, but I have lived in Utrecht. Utrecht also is a city worth going to. It's Amsterdam, but smaller. I really loved living there, but after eight years I moved to Mallorca with my (past) boy friend. I had a really great time over there even though my boyfriend cheated on me and left me on my own on the island. The next day I had a job and a roof over my head, thank God. 

After another half year I moved to Italy with my next boyfriend. This turned out to be a disaster too, but I enjoyed living in Italy any way. Because I could talk and understand a little Spanish it was easier for me to learn the Italian language. Okay, I'm Dutch, so I'm used to learning other languages. In school I was taught Dutch, of course, English, French and German. I also learned a bit of two ancient languages, Latin and Greek, but I wasn't any good at it. The stories were great I must admit, but it was really difficult to translate those stories. All those words with different meanings that could be used in different ways... It made my head spin.

But enough about my adventures in different countries and with different languages... Is there any one out there who can help me with finding interesting blogs??? I'd love to follow the lives of the American people. I'd love to see what they're up to, how they live their lives.
Please, can you help me???

Queensday...

I don't know if you ever heard about Queensday in Holland? At that day Holland turns orange, every ones dressed in orange, every one is in the streets. People selling a lot of rubbish in parks and on the streets. No, it's not only in Amsterdam, you know our capital, it's all over Holland or should I say The Netherlands. Because Holland is an area/ a state in The Netherlands, so the name Holland isn't for the whole country, as small as it is.

Queensday is celebrated at april 30 and it's not the birthday of our current queen but of her mother, Queen Juliana. Queen Beatrix, our current queen (not knowing for how long, because she's getting some what older) wanted to honour her mother by celebrating her birthday every year...

Not only do the people dress up in orange and sell all their rubbish, there also are a lot of bands playing in different cities. We've seen '100% katoen', it's a coverband and they were really great! There were more bands, but what I like most of Queensday is to watch people. Just sitting, having a drink and comment on all the people passing by.

There really was a crowd during that day and even cars wanted to drive through them going to their homes in the centre of the city. I think it taken them quite a while before reaching their homes. Okay, this picture isn't really clear, but I think you get a picture of how many people there were...
How stupid some people are by driving in the centre during Queensday. I think those people are really thick headed (or how to you call it?).

Anyhow, we had a really great day and the sun was even shining on that day. The days before were rainy and cold, but Queensday was sunny and warm. Almost every year we have a sunny Queensday. Thanks to the weather Gods...