z e e b o d e m

Fatal slip on tuesday morning when turning to left from the river. Face forward to the ground. Smashed my teeth together and lost a white piece. Red woolen glove appeared and lifted me on my feet again. State of shock – it all happened so fast. Left knee swollen and purple climbed on brompton and drove on. Blood on my lip.

The dentist showed a picture of thin fractures on my tooth. White cat sneaked in the operation room but was soon put out. While paying the phone rang and the dentist handed it to me. Got a green paper with wrong name on it (but i didn’t know it yet) and went back to work to get my phone. White cat saw me leaving. Filled in some papers with carla then went back to the dentist to get a new green paper with my own name on it. White cat was playing sphinx in the lobby.

When driving home with S i started to feel pain on my left side. A black cat run over the main street of sint-kruis-winkel. My Valentine’s gift in black lace had also arrived that morning. Again on the top of the mailbox and the wrapping was wrinkled. Hate Belgian post as much as ever. Lacks quality in their services.

Wednesday evening a delicious pizzas (perla di salvatore & quattro stagioni) in casa nostra. S is full of good ideas. :)

Today i’m staying home with geike.

Reason to celebrate: it has finally stopped raining!

Amazing sunshine when i biked back from the library with two books and a small bread from león tied on the rack of brompton. I traced the route from our house to the mailbox (well, actually vice versa) because tomorrow morning i’ll have to do it in the dark and the landscape is pretty rough after the monsoon period. One of the books i took with from the bib is waar niemand is inspired by my all-time-internet favorite le and also because it happens in finland.

Here at home i inserted cd of sheila chandra (how i dislike the cd cover & prefer the lp cover – too bad our lp’s are still in the soft cardboard box in the garage – and i bought this lp so long = 20 years ago, in the sellout of a library where i was working then) and i started to chop and shed a lot of tears with three onions. Since we received so many paprika’s by mistake on friday (when someone accidentally gave us someone else’s basket of food) i’m preparing gevulde paprika’s for our sunday late lunch. The sun was still shining in while i was brushing the champignons – something that he would call zen i guess, while i call it just cooking.

Now i’m waiting for S & Gk back from the swimming pool. Red porto that i heated up – accidentally almost boiled the bottle on the stove – and garlic crackers. Soon i’ll chop some more wood. Gotta keep warm. :)

Yesterday we did the unusual thing and drove to gent on a saturday!! S had to hand out some flyers in the happening at kringloopwinkel brugse poort and i went along to do some shopping.

Found something familiar there for a democratic price of one and half euro. Still in it’s original package a soup spoon with a wooden stem (palissander) made in sorsakoski, finland. So cute! It’s from Lion Deluxe set designed by bertel gardberg somewhere in the sixties.

Also bought seventeen plates in four different sizes for 8,75 euros. They’re white with brown stripe around on the edge and two blue flowers painted on the border. They’re made in sweden by rörstrand and the set is designed by jacqueline lynd in 1988. They look much older though, vintage style. Here’s a coffeecup from the same set. Turns out that in 1989 hackman bought the porcelain production in wärtsilä and they continued under the name rörstrand-hackman. Today they’re both brands of of iittala group.

I have no idea where the six glasses i bought in the same place come from.

We had meat fondue party in the garden yesterday evening. Just the two of us and the chicken.

It’s been a warm sunny day and i accidentally burned my neck. We biked to a second hand market in zwaluwlaan and made a tour along the river on our way back home. Spotted a possible bike for Gk for sale on the side of the road. Noted down the phone number. Now we both got unisex mexican striped long green summer pants. 1969 edition of photography annual. A pen holder with a yellow canary bird carved from one piece of wood.

I posted this out in our garden with annoying but silent small flies buzzing around the screen and listening to classic21 from our wireless wooden speaker. S was laying lazy on the trampoline all this time and he still is, reading his book. We’ll have some pancakes with whipped cream soon..

folded ivory brompton open after the bus had unexpectedly stopped in the middle of its way and biked fifteen kilometers to my work (on monday morning, of course)

photographed hairy cows next to our garden in the early morning mist

finally made it back to pilates (twice) after almost a month break

got back a cd i didn’t know i had “lost” (it had been in steve’s box and he gave it back via S)

found out that recht van uitweg exists

washed clothes of a woman i’ve never seen (brought them back to acec on friday)

had lunch with colleagues in wakame

received a translated nausicaa in the mail

watched television at home via eyetv hybrid that S had bought us last week (we’ll need an old-fashioned antenna on the rooftop to avoid hassle and receive channels across the border)

made a phone call to wish happy birthday

talked with an unknown drug addict while waiting the bus at the station

sorted out the bills with S

* * * * *

Yesterday i was shopping in a hurry and bought angus beef when i thought i was buying lamb. It was delicious anyway, with creamy mushroom sauce and rice. Fresh thyme!

We had two invitations for this weekend, one from our previous neighbors and one from our new neighbors. Due to circumstances we could only accept the nearby option. Tonight.

S just got up and made me touch his cold and wet shirts. He’d been sweating out the fever all night long. I think i’ll just hang the blankets out in the sun today. Yes, it’s still shining. :)

Wonderful day! Bright sunlight and frozen moss. Thick layer of mist moving between the trees, filling all the fields. I biked to our sunday shop before noon, took the road that goes past the field with five horses. The sun was right in front of me and it’s brightness reflected on the wet road so white it was blinding. You could taste the mist when driving through the forest.

S had been to Gent this morning to get our chimney-maker. He got the job finished today. De schoorsteen ziet er goed uit! Nice detail on the top layer of bricks. S is heating the stove now, to keep the mortar from freezing in the night – just in case.

My brompton is shiny again. I rinsed all the mud from the wheels, chains and gears. It still needs some oil on the chain.

There’s a frog living in our pond already! We were planning to bring some frog eggs from R&N’s fish pond sometime in the spring but this fellow got in first so i guess it’s his/her swimming pool. It’s small and brown frog. The same color as those dead leaves at the bottom of the pond.

We’ve been to Goes yesterday. Travelled twice through the six comma six kilometers long tunnel under the sea. Lots of rotondes both sides of the border.

Before the Big Bridge my bike slipped. i let it go, i smashed my ass on the wet ice and saw the most perfect rainbow in front of my eyes. Simply beautiful! Then the rain started washing the colors away.

Since it looked like the day was going to be nothing but sunshine (for a change) we dared to unfold our bromptons and leave the city behind. We had to bike through the centrum first (it was patersholfeesten) and then along the streets we never been to before – somewhere between Dampoort and Oostakker – before we got on the first fietsroute. We entered route 99 at a place where you could see three modern windmills standing elegant in a near distance. Where naked branches had taken over a rooftop.

A fantastic trip we had! Driving at ease and stopping few times for drinks. First stop at St. Bavo’s Hoeve in Mendonk. We saw people in kano’s sailing on the calm river and immediately knew this was something we were sure going to do a lot in the future. The place to rent the canoes is not far away from our new house. Het boshuis.

What we’re also gonna try out in the near future will be spare ribs à volonté in De Moervaarthoeve. Now we just had drinks at the terrace. There’s a lot to discover in that area it seems.

Yes, we also saw a belgian kangaroo on our way! He was hanging out with a bunch of bambis.

Our last stop (if we don’t count in the time i needed to poo and the religious rotary-clubbers place in Lourdes served as a fancy toilet) was at Hof ter Leydonck. I couldn’t resist anymore having seen people eating pannenkoeken all day long. So i ate one with farm ice cream..

It took us seven hours before we were back home. I mean, back in the street where our house number is fifteen. It was eight in the evening then.

We cooked a trout (forel uit de Ardennen) in the oven for dinner. On my advise S downloaded “Sugar me” by Lynsey de Paul (also found in youtube). The next moment we were admiring the mustaches of the guys in the Middle of the Road.

Some photos from the road: G-W

Off the main road we drove a long time in a forest where the trees were not planted in rows and lines. Such a random grown forest made me want to step out of the car and walk into the “finnish” nature. But we were approaching the military zone and had already some other plans for the afternoon.

The airplanes were cool but they were in minority. Various types of cars and other land vehicles dominated the field. Even a few swedish examples! We visited a czech tent which contained camp beds, table, cooking corner, portable telephone, two huge “mobile phones” and – of course – a sort of altar with crucifix, bible and candles.

As we were crossing the lane to get us cones filled with traditional vanilla ice-cream we saw uncle Freddy approaching from the other direction on his black brompton. He’d been driving around for couple of hours already and said he’d come for a full day next year.

There was a giant yellow and black spider next to the tent of zendamateurs.

I was surprised one more time when i found lots finnish war stuff in one of the kraampjes. It was mainly navigation equipment. Long merchandise lane back to the cars was a bit tiresome though. All of them selling similar stuff, real and reproduced (fake) often at similar price to fool the ignorant. We saw one german uniform hanging for sale but the symbol on the sleeve had been temporarily covered with a piece of “jesus-tape” to make it appear less provocative, i guess.

To balance the military dose we drove home via the hippie-camp at the parkkaffee. They had flemish stoverij on the menu and that was our dinner then. Lekker!

My new job is already having a positive effect on me. For example i don’t feel as tired as i used to feel (due to the early hours back then and the forced waste of time in trains and stations) – and this is just the beginning! I’m less stressed because i can work at my own tempo without any (annoying) interruptions. The few problems i might have to face during the day are mostly mine. It is a relief not having to do troubleshooting for colleagues whom i never even met. For a change.

This first week has been also great when it comes to weather and i’ve been able to use my bike every single day. The house rule is to have a one-hour-lunch-break on thursdays. Yesterday was the warmest day and i decided to enjoy it by biking around during de middagpauze. S said i was “being-antisocial” since i could have joined the lunch with a bunch of others in a restaurant. Oh, there will be more thursdays ahead for socializing (which seems to be very important here in belgium) with my new colleagues. After all i’m a “sullen finn” and was in need of that sunny trip outdoors.

On my way back i stopped by eetbar – a place that raised my curiosity the first time i ever noticed it. The place has almost my name in dutch, like “edulys”. It’s a cute & small chocolate brown house attached to a side of an ugly block building. My take-away lunch choice was an avocado sandwich. Found also a hard candy with moka taste in the white paper bag.

I had the same choice today but instead of long biking i had long waiting. A group of six young women had just entered the place before me. Spent most of my lunch break waiting by the door.

After work i bought nougat ice cream from delhaize. Didn’t eat any of it yet.

Spock is spinning non-stop next to me.

It’s been a “full” weekend. We drove to Oostende on saturday and had dinner with a view to the ocean. The next day we found out that something had been happening closer to our house. Too late – it’s for our agenda next year. Planning is not bad at all.

So, on sunday we biked on Leiestreekroute and stopped for drinks in an old horse farm (turned into taverne) and on terrace of a brasserie of a hotel in Deurle. Before our second stop we had passed by a nice old farm with 3505 square meters ground to it and that farm happened to be on sale. Price unknown..

But for a piece of furniture 4 life they had a discounted price which was known to us as affordable. Since we were on bikes we had to first drive home, then jump in car and drive back to collect it.

Since we don’t smoke we both eat ice creams in bed.

Yesterday evening we had a street bbq with our neighbours. It started to rain heavily while we were installing shelter above the tables. It started to rain heavily but not for long.

Ziggy’s boyfriend came moaning under our bathroom window tonight..