Friday, April 17, 2009

A Pretty Decent Day.


Yesterday morning I was so slow in getting my act together, it was wonderful. I got up late and sat here behind the computer for as long as the Überhund allowed it, which was a long time. Those have got to be my favorite hours of the day, early in the morning in my bathrobe with a mug of coffee behind the computer. I feel that I'm in a timeless space, cut off from the world and nothing can interfere with me and what I'm doing. Luckily, nobody ever comes to the door, unless it is to deliver a package, but I usually know that ahead of time.

So, I sat there quite merrily, postponing everything until I had to walk the poor dog and then I got the show on the road and got dressed in my best duds and took him out. After that, I attempted to create some order in the much neglected apartment in which I succeeded a little bit. It looked less bad when I was done than it did before and that was an improvement anyway.

I had an appointment in town with my friend Von and I was planning to ride my bike, which the Exfactor had managed to fix to the point that the problem was much less that it had been, but I need a new back wheel. That will have to wait for a while.

Von and I were planning to meet on the Amor Square, which is really a small triangle downtown surrounded by cafés and shops. I rode my bike through the busy traffic and parked it in the underground parking and walked across those darned cobblestones to the square. It wasn't very busy, because of the dubious sky, which looked like it might start to rain any second, but it was warm out and I really hadn't needed my jacket.

Von had found a table under the canopy of a café and we very cozily settled in. Unluckily, at this café, they didn't sell Wieckse Witte and the waiter claimed that it was because it was not produced according to the original recipe anymore. Well, you could have fooled me, because I never tasted a better beer, but he suggested another white beer called Erdinger Weissbier, which came in a tall half liter glass, but which was not nearly as good as the Wieckse Witte, so I think they made a mistake. The next time, I am looking at all the beer charts before I sit down at a café. My tastebuds were ready for a Wieckse Witte and they were disappointed. Nevertheless, I had two glasses, because they made me so nice and mellow and mellow was what I needed.

We checked out the men that walked by and approved or disapproved. We always liked the ones that looked at us and made eye contact, because they were the ones that were most self assured. We talked about everything under the sun, including my son whose birthday it would have been that day. He would have been 34 years old. I didn't feel sad, but told Von a little bit about him.

When we were done having our drinks, we got up and walked around downtown where I had a soft ice cream and Von bought a bag of fries with mayonnaise.

We walked around eating them and ended up at the big square called the Vrijthof, where there are two big churches and many sidewalk cafés.

We settled down on the monument to I forget what it is for, so Von could finish her fries and I took some pictures of café Monopole, which was our first hang out spot.

And here is a detail of the facade.

It was time to say our goodbyes until next week and each go to our respective bikes. A few drops of rain fell out of the sky, but it wasn't much to speak of. I rode my bike home in the rush hour traffic, but I'm pretty nimble now and know how to time my moves.

The Überhund was sound asleep when I got home and didn't notice me until I was standing right in front of him. Then he was all full of happiness and followed me to the toilet where I had to sit and pet him.

I was beat! I felt like I had been on a long afternoon trek through the bush and I was weary to the bone. I made myself some coffee and downloaded the pictures I had taken. My legs felt like lead and I still had to walk the Überhund. I fed him first, so he could lie around digesting for a bit. It rained for just a little while and when it was done, we went outside and it was still balmy out.

It was great to finally just be home and to know that I didn't have to do another thing. I sat behind the computer for a while, but fell asleep behind the keyboard. I quickly put on my pajamas and my big cardigan and got something to eat and curled up on the sofa where I promptly fell asleep. I know I woke up at one time to take my medicines, but I don't remember if I tried to turn on the computer again then. I think it must have been all the emotions of the last days that made me so tired.

This morning I have creative therapy and I think that a bunch of my sculptures will have been baked, so I will be painting them. Putting a patine on them. I think that will be a lot of fun. If I don't do that, I am bringing a book with me to begin an altered book. I will start with a small book first to get a taste of it and to practice on, as I have never done it before and have only seen samples on the Internet, on other people's blogs.

The Exfactor is coming over this afternoon to bring me some full format photographs on a memory stick that I will be sending to John Mora. The photographs, I mean. The Exfactor has wireless and limited MB's per month.

Well, have a super day today, I am going to try and have one myself. I must after all that. Enough drama already. A little bit goes a long way.

Ciao...

7 comments:

Wisewebwoman said...

Lovely pics Irene and I'm so happy you had such a lovely day with your friend and had that wonderful exhaustion that comes from being active and busy.
XO
WWW

lebanesa said...

Sounds lovely. Happy to hear you had a good day. the memory stick sounds like a great idea - the Exfactor's photos are lovely and it is so great to see the countryside in them.
Keep well, Irene
hugs
xxx

Maggie May said...

Irene, that was a lovely, lovely post and I did enjoy seeing more of your beautiful country and the places where you hang out with your friend!
Have a great day today.

Mad Man Writing said...

Irene: Sounds like a lovely day. And good photos as well!

John M. Mora said...

Gracias....my best.

Cate Rose said...

Fries with mayonnaise?? Sounds sacriligious!

flowers said...

Fries with mayonnaise is the food of (Dutch) Gods. YUMMM! ;-)