Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Catarina Chronicles, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Our Animals, tagged Albert Heijn, capitalist, Catarina, creative, dog walking, enterprising, entrepreneur, lucrative, money-making scheme, neighborhood, Oli, one Euro, play hardball, strict instructions, trouble, walk the dog, young Dutch neighbor on March 13, 2013 | 12 Comments »
Some weeks back, I was upstairs working at my desk when the doorbell rang. I had a sense it would, given that Oli was already bounding down the stairs, barking his little fool head off. When he gets like it means he’s heard the minute squeak of the little wrought iron gate in front of […]
Posted in Albert Heijn, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, Travel, United States, Writing, tagged attention, chatting, conversation, despair, dinner, expat, expat life, family, family crises, focus, friends, friendship, grief, loneliness, marriage, medical problems, missed signals, neighborhood, neighbors, newly arrived, pain, promise of friendship, separation, Southeast Asia, The Hague, The Netherlands, time, travelling, trips, welcome on February 7, 2013 | 14 Comments »
I first met Tamara 14 months ago on the sidewalk in front of our neighbor’s house. It was a cold, late Sunday afternoon in December, the air heavy with moisture off the frigid North Sea. The weak sun had managed to emerge briefly from behind large swaths of gun metal gray clouds. Husband and I had just left the house to […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Catarina Chronicles, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, tagged 100 years, backpacks, bicycles, brick brownstones, celebration, centennial, culture, Dutch, Dutch flag, flagpoles, French doors, graduation, greenery, high school exams finished, home, neighborhood, Netherlands, outdoor living space, ritjeshuis, ritjeshuizen, sidewalks, street party, Ten Hovestraat, tree-lined street, vines on June 17, 2012 | 18 Comments »
Walking home the other day I happened to look up, as I am wont to do, and realized that they were back. I saw what has now become an annual sight, worthy of mention: the graduation backpacks are up the flagpoles again. […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Exercise & Sports, tagged home, neighborhood, venture on November 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
From the dawn of mankind, there have been explorers among us. Something deep within instructs us to go exploring beyond what we know and into the unknown. Like ripples on a pond when a pebble is tossed in, spreading out further from the center in concentric circles. The center is our home, and the widening […]
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