Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Catarina Chronicles, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Netherlands, Repatriation, tagged Albert Heijn grocery store, doppelganger, Dutch countryside, ginger cookies, here and now, icicles, icy, memories, mint tea, skating, sneeuw, snow, snow-covered trees, there and then, tram, windmills, winter, winter wonderland on February 13, 2014 | 6 Comments »
What a difference a snowfall makes. Actually, it’s our third of the winter. I’m from upstate New York so we don’t count flurries or dustings or even light coatings. If it doesn’t stay on the ground and can’t be measured in inches, sometimes feet, it doesn’t count. So with a good six+ inches of unspoiled […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Identity, Re-entry Reality, Repatriation, United States, tagged all over the world, around the globe, art, change, cultures, decorating, drawings, expat life, experiences, family, growing old together, home, icons, lifetime, marriage, memories, paintings, parenthood, pictures, prints, Repatriation, sculpture, statues, travel, values on November 7, 2013 | 8 Comments »
As mentioned in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I’ll share a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch, filed under the post category Re-entry Reality. I’ll look at everything from making a home, engaging socially, staying […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, September 11th, United States, Writing, tagged 9/11, April 15th, bombings, Boston bombings, Boston Marathon, calm, emergency responders, explosions, injured, killed, little children, memories, National Guard, nauseous, police, run to help, September 11th, victims on April 16, 2013 | 8 Comments »
Last night I was all set to go with a humorous blog post today when Husband called down the stairs, telling me to turn to CNN. Something about a suspicious explosion in Boston. My heart sank just hearing the words. I turned the channel and together we sat, eyes glued to the television, listening to […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, tagged collective memory, culture, existence, expat life, Expatriate Archive Centre, expats, family, friends, hospital, illness, leave your footprint, legacy, love, making the world a better place, memories, mortality, Mother's Day, parents, remembrance, rootlessness on May 13, 2012 | 14 Comments »
Everyone wants to know, deep within, that their time on earth meant something to others. That their being here mattered. They mattered. It is human nature to want to leave your footprint on the world for others that come after you to see. For some, it is through their betterment of the immediate world around them. Think Mother […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged embarrassment, fear, flashback, memories, Netherlands, North Sea, seagulls, terror, The Hague, university campus, winter, wolves on March 3, 2012 | 10 Comments »
I don’t know why it is, but this week appears to have been secretly designated ‘Odd Memory Flashback Week’ in the blogosphere. I guess I just didn’t get the memo. For the second time (you can catch the first here at The Upside of Humor) in just a few days, I’ve been visited by a […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, September 11th, tagged Alaska, memories, Pentagon, September 11, writing on September 13, 2011 | 19 Comments »
Yesterday it finally happened. Something I’d worried about for years, but knew would eventually come to pass. I accidentally dropped my beloved mug on our hard tile floor in the hallway, and it smashed into pieces. Lots of people have favorite mugs for coffee or tea. Nothing new there. The reason that this one was my […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged harbor, memories, misty, reverie, Scheveningen, yesteryear on February 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Not surprisingly for a winter day in February, it is chill, damp and grey. (I’m not complaining, merely stating a fact.) But what’s cool is that it’s misty out. There is something about fog that transforms a nondescript day into something special. At least to me. In the evening, foggy can be eerie, very Sherlock Holmes-esque. […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Travel, United States, Writing, tagged 2010, high points, memories, travel, writing on December 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Day 15’s prompt (from Patti Digh) in the Reverb10 December daily challenge: Five minutes. Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010. Okay, I’d better issue an ‘Introspective Navel-Gazing’ alert for those of you who are […]
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