This is Freewheelin’ Friday ‘I lost count of the number”
and there’s certainly not much freewheelin’ for me today!
I worked all day, and am facing another busy weekend.
Aaaaarghhh… I do miss my journals, my paint and I especially
miss FREE TIME. I miss the days on which I got up early, knowing
that I had all the time of the world to spend with my art journals.
I must abide by a minute here and there to add something to my
art journal pages – but that’s the philosophy behind ‘art journal every day’
isn’t it? That is exactly what I’m doing these days – work hard during the day,
and play with my art journal pages for a few minutes in between diner and
fave tv-shows/bed.

In those ‘lost minutes’ I did manage to get something done though,
so I’m glad to announce that I can show you 2 (yes, TWO) list pages today.

List #25 – Thing’s I’d rather be doing right now

I jotted this list down one evening at the beginning of the week, just after
I saw a music documentary on tv. (Now that I think of it – I can’t even
remember what it was about, or which day it was! I’m getting old… eeeckkkk…
or maybe stress takes its toll?)

Anyway, that’s where the ‘take a plane’ part comes from.
As you know, I don’t like to travel but that night, I suddenly felt an itch and
thought that it would be so much fun to fly to the US with my beloved, sit in
a bar (is it allowed to smoke in bars in the US? That’s something I need to
know!) and hear a band play! It may never come this far, but I find consolation
in the fact that we possess tickets to the Eels concert in June! There will be
no traveling involved – it’s nearby and we can get there by bike!
I will be there with my beloved and son, and I’m soooo looking forward to it!
It has been ages since I went to a concert! (over 10 years now – or more?!

List #28 – Places I’ve been

The prompt for list #28 said ‘Vacations to take’ but – as I stated above –
I don’t like going on vacation and I certainly don’t plan vacations or
– god forbid – make lists about it! So I turned the prompt around,
and listed the places I have been on vacation ‘back in the days’.
It’s hard to read, because I didn’t want to spoil the fabulous photo
(from a street in Calcutta. The photo comes from an old National
Geographic magazine). I used transparent stickers for the title, they
totally blend into the background, and I wrote the places on tracing
paper – which is also a bit transparent.
Here’s where I’ve been on vacation:

• Belgium (numerous times! As a child as well as an adult.
  It’s a neighbour country of the Netherlands, and from
  where I live it’s only half an hour drive to get to the border.
  I remember several vacations spend in ‘de Ardennen’ – in
  the south-east of Belgium)

• Germany (sometime in the eighties. I didn’t go there for long
  vacations, but I remember some day-trips with my former
  partner. Germany is another neighbour-country)

• Luxembourg (in the seventies when I was a child.
  Luxembourg is a very small country – enclosed by Germany,
  Belgium & France. I’ve been there in my teens with my parents.
  Sweet memories!)

• France (many times in all stages of my life!
  Which Dutchie hasn’t spend at least one vacation in France?)

• England (if you’re not a European, you will think that ‘England,
  Wales and Scotland are the same’ but it isn’t!!! The combination
  is called ‘Great Brittain’ but the regions are quite different from
  each other!!! I went on holiday to England – the east coast and
  London – with baby Nout and his father, so it must have been in 1992)

• Wales (I fell in love with this region the very first time I came there!
  I think the first time was in 1993. I persuaded my partner to go there
  again the next year – and I visited the house where Dylan Thomas lived,
  the places he wrote about and even his grave! I still have the necklace
  I bought in the town he lived. It has a pendant with an old, Celtic rune.
  That pendant holds a long story… maybe I’ll tell you sometime.)

• Scotland (the summer of 2006 – Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lie –
  Remember Lena???!!! Yes, ofcourse you do!
  Lena and I went to Edingburgh for a ‘Bay City Memorial Vacation’.
  We are friends since childhood and our love for the BCR was a BIG thing
  we had in common in our teens. I hardly believe you will be 50 years old
  soon, Lena 😉 Oh boy, we were Bay City Roller FANS in capitals!
  This vacation was one of the best!!! I still can’t help but smile, when I
  think back on it! )

• Curacao (1983. My former husband – yes, I was married once – worked
  in the Navy and was stationed on Curacao for 9 months. I visited him
  and we had a month vacation together.)

• Spain (1985 – I went to Barcelona on a school-trip when I was in
  artschool. I went back to Spain a year later on a road trip.)

• India (1989 and 1991. I traveled South India the first time and went to
  North India the second time together with my partner as backpackers.
  Both vacations were 6 weeks. )

And here ends my trip down memory lane.
It’s time for me to cook diner!
Enjoy your weekend sweet friends, see you next week!