tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62157540777518342242011-12-31T10:41:49.504+01:00Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.comBlogger931100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-41055204292921062892011-05-06T13:52:00.001+02:002011-05-06T13:52:21.181+02:00

Since this has become a more personal blog now, I will post only personal stuff here such as pix of my kiddies. So that all of y'all overseas may enjoy. :-)This photo was taken May5 by their granma Ank because they had new clothes. Aw.

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-20440881912466128942011-02-18T12:07:00.000+01:002011-02-18T12:07:54.350+01:00

A new blog with interesting views on music and its relation to culture and society we live in: http://evertsworldofmusic.blogspot.com/. Interesting because it digs a little deeper than most blogs and even articles about music in society that I come across. It is in English (the author says 'Dinglish' but I think he writes better English than many native speakers I read) and worth checking out.

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-72738598835194535012011-01-27T18:28:00.001+01:002011-02-18T12:19:13.511+01:00

http://www.grounds.nu/

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Never mind the human hamster. Just one other question: why would I want to help support cancer support? (Personally I am not pro-cancer but that could just be me of course.)

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-47298067443827531852011-01-26T10:16:00.002+01:002011-02-12T18:03:54.602+01:00

"Dan lacht mijn land, mijn Vlakke Land..."

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-41140356799153474402011-01-26T10:14:00.002+01:002011-02-12T18:04:23.049+01:00

Buried in a book. Literally.

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-17757599762909145642011-01-26T10:11:00.002+01:002011-02-12T18:04:37.599+01:00

Can never be too young to hit the trails.

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-85297842963603764412011-01-26T10:10:00.002+01:002011-02-12T18:04:59.441+01:00

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The Body at work

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-21436347962910017392011-01-26T10:05:00.000+01:002011-01-26T10:04:50.049+01:00

Kiddies 6 months old!

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-44121362586456513102011-01-26T10:03:00.002+01:002011-02-12T18:06:08.071+01:00

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(For some reason FB won't let me upload pics anymore so I will just continue here.)

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-74266564338377613022011-01-25T21:43:00.002+01:002011-02-12T18:06:54.257+01:00

Oh my, the kiddies are now six months old, and a few days. It is amazing how fast these things go. They were so tiny and now, well, they are still tiny but they are a little less tiny than they were. They are not so fragile anymore and of course much more aware of the world around them. They play and 'talk' ("wa wa waa!") and do all kinds of things. It amazes me every day. In the mean time my

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But so funny!

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-15061117006065873232010-12-23T23:04:00.000+01:002010-12-23T23:04:25.554+01:00

Got a new one. Gonna go Geocaching. Oh my.

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-48512967364812946122010-12-22T12:00:00.003+01:002011-02-12T19:17:19.611+01:00

Les Noisy Ones. ;-)

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Whoa! As I read this back before hitting ‘publish’ I realise it is a loooong post. Apparently a lot going on these days. Don’t bother to read it all if you don’t feel like it. It’s just what has been going on in my little corner. :-) The guy and I are getting tired now. The kiddies are 5 months and I have been working three days since October. I get up at six on Wednesday in order to get the

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It is now quite some time ago that I received a package from South Africa from a friend. In it were two beautiful little outfits for the kiddies, with fun colours and animals on them. I promised her I would make pictures but it took me too too long to do so. When I finally did get to making them, I didn't upload them for a while, then went and lost my camera for a months, etc. etc. blah blah. So

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-44223536846939190482010-12-12T17:16:00.001+01:002011-02-12T19:19:27.304+01:00

I will certainly use the "Great job, here's your cookie" line the next opportunity I get.

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-53143002269747379842010-12-07T18:02:00.002+01:002011-02-12T19:19:53.536+01:00

Twins get you reactions from people. It happens. Apparently it is unusual enough to make people stop and stare, and come over and comment. Apart from endeared smiles, what I got a lot – and I mean A LOT! – is people telling me that it must be hard, twins. … This in me triggers a variety of responses. Let’s sum some up, in a random order. 1 – *Gee thanks! And how will this make me feel any

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I’m not a very girly girl. I’m no butch either but much of the girly stuff passes me by unappreciated. I can’t walk on heels all that well. I feel more comfortable in trousers than wearing a skirt. I choose green over pink any day. I don’t do frills. Etc. That said. Sneakers should be nice, not clunky. Trousers should fit, if possible showing that I have a nice behind and that my legs are not

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A very very short entry, not even worthy of the space it takes up. But it needs to be said. Even though I have not been very 'hormonal' throughout my pregnancy or after and I'm pretty relaxed when it comes to people holding or taking care of my kiddies, I am now really sad that my kiddies are staying at their grandparents' house and I'm all alone. I haven't been away from them for more than

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-11548760586087425172010-09-21T22:29:00.001+02:002011-02-12T19:21:01.591+01:00

It's weird but true: I'm already looking forward to November. November is NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. The 'Na' (National) is a bit silly because it is now all over the globe but the idea stays the same. Participants aim to write a 50,000 words novel within the 30 days of November. Everyone who makes it to 50,000 - regardless of quality or even coherence - is declared a 'Winner'. And

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Twins get a lot of attention. Not individually and not necessarily from their parents but as a set and as a phenomenon they make heads turn wherever they go. People on the street will peer into the carriage and sometimes even start talking to me. I don’t mind being talked to by strangers; often it is quite pleasant, especially when it is other twins parents or when people are being nice. But oh

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For those of you who don't know this yet: I tend to have some strange hobbies. One of them is playing host to a plastic little pirate figurine by the name of Dread Pirate Gavroche (after a Misérables character apparently, never read it myself) who travelled across the North American mainland and the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Amsterdam to wreak havock on our shores. And other shores, since so

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-21116358373149311472010-09-03T17:54:00.002+02:002011-02-12T19:22:35.928+01:00

Please note: Taking care of two kiddies takes time. It is a precious thing to be doing, and of course my girls are the most beautiful girls in the whole wide world so they are very much worth it, but the time it takes to care for them is kept away from other worthy endeavours such as writing. Therefore: my apologies for the gaps between blog entries. I didn’t mean for them to happen and I will

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It has been quite a while since I last made an entry here. My only excuse is that I have been a little bit busy. My kiddies were born two days after I made the last post. Water broke actually the very night after I made that post, at two in the morning. The girls were not born until Sunday afternoon though. It took a while. And after that I have been busy mostly with taking care of the little

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-57989973895131407582010-07-16T14:32:00.001+02:002011-02-12T19:23:23.831+01:00

Thank you for delivering the stamps to our mailbox. They’re just what we ordered. As a customer to your service I thought I’d give you some feedback or advice. Hope you don’t mind. You are in the mail business. Delivering things to people’s mailboxes is your trade. It is therefore a little puzzling that getting an envelope with stamps in it to our house should take you THREE FULL BUSINESS DAYS

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-84444040021397817002010-07-10T05:30:00.002+02:002010-07-10T05:33:27.200+02:00

Yes it seems that I may update this through my iPhone as well! It's a bit bothersome to type like this though so it'll be only for very short posts. :)

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From New York (USA) From New Jersey (USA) - Lookit! Little ninjas!

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-42270461147382697762010-07-01T17:10:00.000+02:002010-07-01T17:10:18.640+02:00

A few years ago I was at the organic food shop and decided to try the elderblossom syrup. It was nice: not too sweet but sweet enough to tempt me. So I’ve been buying it ever since. A bottle goes a long way and I can adjust the taste (sweetness) to my mood. Perfect. Fed it to my parents as well as my little nephews and niece and everyone liked it. Now what? Just this weekend I read in the

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This was last Saturday. :-)

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It has appeared to me that some people use this site to see how me and the kiddies are doing these days. Ah. Well in that case: here's a little update. We are doing fine. Haha! Okay, more of an update perhaps: We are doing absolutely fine. :) We were at the hospital a week and a half ago where the ultrasounds (echos) showed that the kiddies were happily and healthily growing along. Their size

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As of today I’m (not entirely) on leave. Officially. That means that I’m (not entirely) done with working and (not entirely) focusing on resting and the months to come. Aw don’t tell me you noticed that ‘not entirely’ thingie there… Okay, I’m still finishing up some reports this week so I’m not entirely on leave yet. sigh So anyway, leaving aside the ‘not entirely’, what does a person do when

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From Ontario, CanadaFrom Croatia!From Quebec, CanadaFrom California, USFrom FinlandFrom California, US!

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-69534161248414084152010-06-07T16:47:00.002+02:002010-06-07T16:47:53.863+02:00

Last night I had a dream that one of the kiddies had been born already and that it was a kitten. This is why no. 2 had not been born yet because it takes longer for a human baby. (Duh! Dream logics.) It was really sweet and small and I carried it around in a little pouch on my belly. There was nothing strange about it at all. Only I kept thinking that we had to change the order for the baby

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As I was refilling the paper drawer of the printer at work yesterday I noticed that the wrapping around the paper said "The Next Generation in Office Paper". My first thought: "I didn't know there was a first generation in office paper." Seriously, that was my first thought. Of course there must have been earlier versions (or, if you prefer, 'generations') of office paper. All kinds. I guess I

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From ScotlandThese blankies were hand-knitted by someone in Baltimore, US. That is just SO sweet, I don't have the right words for it. Speechless. (The Croc & Bear are for show... they'll be the kiddies' guardian angels.)

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Taken on May 10 in Haarlem.

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-78416377220904211382010-05-19T22:39:00.002+02:002010-05-19T22:39:23.440+02:00

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Seriously, there is something new every day...(Much better now, by the way.)

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From Texas, USFrom EnglandAlso from England

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(Really, it's not that big...)

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For some reason it's stuck in my mind these days. Sometimes I have a little voice in my head telling me something along these lines. "So what did we learn from this? Not to do it again I guess. Whatever the fuck it was that we did in the first place." The actual quote shows I'm paraphrasing. CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer? CIA Officer: I don't know, sir. CIA Superior: I don't

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Over the years I have been lucky enough to get to know a lot of people in different places in the world. Some of them are people I have never met in person but I know them from the internet and have been interacting with them for so long that I have little to no doubt that if I were to meet them in person, we would have no trouble getting along like old friends. Some time ago I asked these '

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So here's my belly at the moment, how I see it from above. On the floor below a ray of sunlight because Spring has arrived! What the picture does not show are the movements inside my tummy. It sometimes also shows on the outside. Ploink ploink ploink, like little kittens under a blanket. I have not posted much lately because I am constantly either working or recovering because I have the flu and

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Can't breathe. Seriously, am like hippo with a steam engine.

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It was the Autumn of 2008. Someone had decided to pay me some money for an article and I decided to spend that money on a kick-ass leather jacket I wanted. It is green. It is awesome. It is the perfect jacket to wear in Autumn and Spring. I love it. And then this happened just now. My thought processes, approximately: - Oooh, my kick-ass leather jacket! I love that one! - Bet I can't wear it now

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(14 April 2010, Amsterdam) Life. I frequently engage in online conversations about how people choose to spend their lives. I don’t mean in terms of family, home, car, job. I mean in terms of taking risks, following their hearts, listening to that little voice inside. (This ranges from total rehauls of their lives to intuitive eating, by the way.) It is interesting because although many, if not

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-68023264103714295052010-04-06T18:21:00.001+02:002010-04-06T18:38:17.586+02:00

(6 April 2010, Amsterdam)Another waiting dog...

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Some time ago I already reported about the strange phenomenon so... artistically... illustrated above. (Drawing was never my best subject.) I am also starting to notice more practicalities that are hardly ever described in books, blogs or other information sources about pregnancy. Not even for twin moms. For example: The special supporting belly bands and underwear, so convenient for helping

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-80167820028209895282010-04-05T16:44:00.001+02:002010-04-06T18:39:12.453+02:00

Um... I admit it. I totally failed at making a picture each and every day. I carry my camera with me at all times but often I simply forget to shoot a picture. I make photos for other things, like my work, but not for myself. I should really do that more often! Remind me. Here are some of the photos that I did shoot in the past few weeks. (19 March 2010, Schiedam)This man took his shoes off

Really Ninjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828158983712120627noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6215754077751834224.post-45072500980258038832010-03-18T17:12:00.001+01:002010-03-18T17:27:27.468+01:00

Just for once, because of the halfway-milestone, I give you: my kiddies! They're both girls, isn't that exciting? (Don't know if I'd be any more or less excited if they were boys or one of each though. Could be that it wouldn't matter. I just know that I'm excited now. Haha!) All is well, so far. They're growing lovely as they should be. Everything seems to be in order. That is all very good

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Back in the game of picture taking. I have done this for a few months some time ago but after a while I slacked and stopped. I am currently trying to pick it up again: take a photo every day. I will put them on a photostream on Flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/48459040@N03/ ) and some also here, when I remember to. Photos I take are what I find. I don't ask people to pose or arrange a

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http://rootsnroutes.eu/activity-id31-mpage=1#media

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You know, we be warned about loose joints and morning sickness and odd cravings (so far no luck!) but some things are just too weird to be in books, probably. With a growing tummy I can't get as close to my desk as I used to so I'm experiencing discomfort in my shoulders from reaching further to my keyboard and mouse. Is that weird or what? And I'm not even that big yet! (Yesterday in yoga

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Unavoidable: decluttering is necessary if we're going to fit two new people into this apartment. Room of choice: my office space. Yes, the smallest room in the house (apart from the other smallest room, harhar, or the closets) but so very pleasant and suited for kiddies. This room is now made even smaller by the presence of no less than four bookcases, a desk, a sofa and miscellaneous clutter and

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Here's what it is: I like basics. I like finding the perfect t-shirt, long-sleeves, jeans, summer pants, sweatshirt, dress, white cotton shirt, socks, knitted wear, sneakers, heels and boots. I like no-frills, no-prints things unless they're t-shirts with nifty pictures on them. (I will go for fancy underwear though. Me so girly.) I like basics because they don't distract from the person inside

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Making notes for this entry I am on my way to Budapest. There are two guys and a girl sitting just in front of me on the plane. They are early to middle twenties, dressed for business, speaking what is probably Hungarian although I can't recognize. (Hungarian is one of those languages, like Finnish, whose speakers I always suspect of making it up as they go along. Funny lingo.) One guy is across

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Dinner was GOOD! And that's all for today, folks! :-)

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Oh dear. Just yesterday I was posting about my surrender to pregnancy subjects on this blog. And this morning I realised that what I was thinking about was not kiddies. It was politics. The Netherlands is (are?) approaching local elections: cities, towns, municipalities. The whole affair is overshadowed, however, by international politics. The current cabinet is a coalition of three parties and

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Oh how determined I was not to let my pregnancy invade this blog too much. Of course I was setting myself up for failure. This blog is supposed to be about my travels and other types of journeys and this thing that is happening to me now may be one of the most intense journeys of my life. Even more so than Zion? Even more so than Japan? Even more so than the journeys one makes in the subconscious

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Snow. Again, snow. Everything white, everything cold. People falling off their bikes, people shuffling on their feet. I'm tired of it. I don't like cold. I don't like snow. I don't like Winter. I am not one of those people who say "I don't mind the cold as long as it is clear" - I do not mind the rain as long as it is warm. And so, despite the photographic opportunities that this monochrome

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(Although I realise that (nearly) nobody actually reads this blog, I decided not to mind. Hope that whoever stumbles across it, will enjoy it.) Catching up on my films. This week, two films. First, A Serious Man by the Coen brothers. Second, Shaun of the Dead by, um, Edgar Wright. (Okay, I had to look that up.) Both very much man-films. And very, very different from each other but I knew that

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You may find it strange that I'm making an entry about funereal matters when only a day ago I announced my pregnancy. Or maybe it is not so strange; life, death, rites of passage? Maybe it is my background as an ethnomusicologist but I am usually fascinated with the choice of music at funerals. This is why at regular intervals I make up my own list of music I would like to have played at my

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You might like to know that I'm pregnant. With twins. We saw them today on an 'echo' (ultrasound). They are now about 6.5 cm long, top of the head to the tip of the tail. They are complete in the sense that they have arms and legs and a head with eyes and a mouth and everything. They just need to grow a little lot more, for the next six months. As we watched them they were bouncing up and down

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Yesterday I finally got around to watching that all-time classic film Casablanca. My guy told me I had to see it and after some pestering from him I did. I enjoyed it immensely. After the dark and grey, gritty things I had seen recently (Firefly, 9, Avatar…) the black and white images of Casablanca were a relief for the senses. Those were the days of film making!Okay, I admit that after a while I

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We went to see Avatar yesterday. It played on the big IMAX screen in 3D and it seemed like just my kind of film. It wasn’t. I wanted to leave the theatre half way through and felt so relieved when I finally stepped out into the chilly air of the Amsterdam winter 2010. To me the film was very disturbing in many ways, some of which I am able to express more or less, and some are less manageable by

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Las Vegas. I don't like it. There are some things that are fun to see and do and I enjoy those. It is fun to see all the different casinos and their weirdness; standing in the Venetian in the 'San Marco Square' and thinking "what a nice day to have an ice cream outside on the terrace" and then doubling back on your own thoughts. Of course it's a nice day! You're inside the hotel, the 'sky' is a

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Zion Canyon. There is something about it. The short version: I love being there. The long version includes notions of manageable beauty and size, tales of soul searching and coming home, feeling both tiny and strong, endless surprises and a general sense of being home away from home. The problem is that at a certain point even the long version does not suffice and it all comes down the

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As promised: a little entry about our day between Torrey and Zion Canyon which held two (!) National Parks in itself namely Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon. Both of them still in red rock country, and both of them very beautiful in their own way.Capitol Reef is named ‘reef’ because it is really a long fold in the landscape, like a ridge or reef. (At least, I think that’s why.) Before we have always

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(Durango)My father had spotted a good hat and decided to buy it. We went into the ‘sports shop’ which held all kinds of gear for outdoors activities: clothing and flashlights, but also knives and fishing rods. A row of hunting rifles and guns was displayed just behind the long counter.The man behind the counter was in a good mood. He explained to everyone who passed by that it was wonderful how

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Oof, tough decision. Do I fill you folks in on what happened between Sedona and Durango, or do I tell you about yesterday's weirdness? I fear that the Grand Canyon is going to lose out on this one. Could I appease the gods of continuity by making a summary?Here it comes!After we left Sedona and the stunningly beautiful Oak Creek Canyon we drove up north to the Grand Canyon. We arrived at the

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So far so good. Maybe I should do a bit of travel updating to let you know where we are now, at this moment. After Sedona we drove to Grand Canyon, and after that past Antelope Canyon (Page) all the way to the Rockies. We are now in Durango, Colorado. This is the land that is shown in pictures and movies about the Wild West. This is where the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was shot.

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I love the desert. I can't put it any other way. If it weren't for the spiders living there, I'd adore it even more. We drove from San Diego past LA to Joshua Tree National Park and there is something very soothing about leaving the hubbub of cities behind and meeting nothing but boulders, sand, cacti and the occassional crawling insect beyond the stretches of civilization. In my Japan Diaries I

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Well, here we are! In the South West of the USA: me, my guy and my parents. So far it has been a wonderful trip. The fact that I have had very little opportunity so far to write is indicative of how busy we have been. Travelling with a larger group (i.e. 4 instead of 2) is of course less flexible and means that everything takes a little longer than usual. So less time on the internets! But: to

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WARNING! SAPPY ENTRY!(I solemnly promise any further entries will be less sappy.)My parents' neighbour is going to take care of the little birds while we are away. I have neighbours I will ask to take care of the mail and the plants but I don't want to burden them with the daily care for the little critters. My parents' neighbours are retired and they really don't mind.And so today my father came

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Just to let you know I run two more blogs, but extremely silly ones. They both have to do with the extremely silly hobby of hosting little (inanimate!) creatures from people I know across the world, and showing them around. Likewise, these people host some of my little ones. It is not unlike the well-known travelling garden gnome, as featured in the film Amelie, except with captions. :)Check them

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I did not do a lot of specific sightseeing in Tokyo. Most of the time I simply wandered around the streets, taking in areas like fancy Ginza and geeky Akihabara. I used the underground extensively, to get around but also to do some people watching.The underground system is large, well-kept, clean and (of course) punctual. Rush hour is frantic with people navigating their way through complex

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After a day of wandering around the city together, S and I decided to split up. We are both very individual and independent people and after two weeks of virtually constant company, it was time to do some exploring on our own. The next two days we hit Tokyo separately, each indulging in our own interests and curiosities.I went to two different big toy stores and bought silly stuff. I checked out

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There is something special about Tokyo. It is something different. It have tried to pin it down but so far with little success. To me the city felt strangely light, not only in terms of glowing screens and ads and lamps because in that sense it is not very different from other cities like New York. Unlike New York, Tokyo seems to have a strange kind of weightlessness that was, to me at least,

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A long train journey across Kansai, through Tokyo and onwards led us to Nikko, about two hours north of the capital. Because of this proximity to Tokyo Nikko is a popular day trip for Japanese and foreign guests alike. We stayed at the Nikko Park Lodge where we encountered the most international company so far with hardly a Japanese in sight. Nikko Park Lodge is run by Buddhist monks who have a

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Another entry about Shirahama? Yes, because the guest house Mifune deserves it. On the first morning we had already decided to stay another night and seeing how our hosts didn’t understand a word of what we were saying we had looked up “to leave”, “tomorrow” and “Tuesday” in our phrase book. It worked wonders, they were delighted. At first we thought they were stressed. We had to change rooms!

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That night we moved the table to the corner of the room, pulled the futons out of the closet and slept under the ink drawing and tiny pay tv in the alcove. Next day: beach day! Shirahama is on the coast of the Pacific (HI HAPPY!) but in the shelter of the curve of the land. Besides, the beach is in a bay. Result: relatively warm water. The sand on the beach is bright white (1) and the scenery is

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Time to relax! After the busy streets of Kyoto and the overwhelming beauty of Nara it was time to soothe body and soul with a bit of proper vacationing. We had originally planned to travel on to Nikko and hit the mountain hiking trails but decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather in the Kansai region and head down South to Shirahama, on of Japan’s popular beach towns. Since we lounged

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Nara is the prettiest thing. It was the first central capital of Japan and there are still many buildings that show the historic roots of the country, like the influence of the Chinese on the national culture. Besides, it is beautiful. All the buildings are beautifully kept in the extensive grounds and there is plenty of woods around to cycle through. And so we took the train from Kyoto for the

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Usually I have a specific music to go with a vacation. It is the music I listened to while I was there and it linked itself inseparably with the place. The alien landscape of Bryce Canyon or Joshua Tree NP will never be the same without The Last Temptation of Christ (Peter Gabriel), Brazil is forever tied to the Fugees (OohLaLaLa!) and Amy McDonald makes me want to put my feet up on the

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Kyoto is one of the world’s cultural capitals. There are numerous cultural heritage sites, determined as such by Unesco. I had heard about Kyoto and formed picture of my mind, as one does. But Kyoto at first sight is just like any other Japanese city: suburbs with tower blocks, industry and grey inner city filled with traffic and people. In fact, a lot like other cities in the world. While at

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We went to Hagi and did it again. When we arrived at the tourist office to ask for directions to the ryokan (traditional Japanese guest house), it turned out that it was not in Hagi. It was in Tsuwano, where we were supposed to be going the next day. My friend had booked it when we were in Nagasaki. She was determined to find a good place to sleep that was not in the Lonely Planet and after much

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The Lonely Planet says it: Japan is one of the easiest, most convenient and safest countries in the world to travel. (They also note: except for the language.) They are right. Forget driving, there is a tightly-knit railway network across the country consisting of one national system, Japan Rail or JR, and a few private lines. With a JR Pass you can freely use virtually every rail line in the

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Our time in Fukuoka included breakfast, shrines, weddings (please note the plural), eyelid corrections and designer dogs. Those last two on signs outside shops. The main aims of the day however included adjusting to the 7 hour time difference and travelling to Nagasaki. There were two special points of interest for me in that city: the atom bomb memorial (impressive) and the former island

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(Photo: the festival 'float' we saw during the night.) We left on a Friday and arrived in Japan on a Saturday, somewhere in the afternoon. We flew to Tokyo first and then had a connecting flight to Fukuoka which is on the southern big island of Kyushu. There were a few hours to kill in Tokyo and because the long flight had made us tired and sticky we decided to have a shower at the airport. World

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