an evening of portraits

When the night comes, the air cools slightly and with it comes the pleasant buzz of festival goers and earwigs. The earwigs don't wait for an invitation, they come in through the windows, the doors, through the grass... luckily there is room for all of us

A night of portraiture.

And some portraits of my own, this is Bart.

And this is Anniko and Tom, they brought their brother and sister (respectively) along too, so by the end of it we were living like the Brady Bunch (if you were born before 1985 you might need to look that up on imdb.com - it's an American TV show)

And here is Celine who has already been around the world several times, a seasoned traveller. Her folks took her traveling in a boat from a young age so she is able to confirm that the earth is flat, otherwise she would never have made it back home. Her arm in a sling however is confirmation that no matter how far you travel you don't always know what's going to jump out in front of you.

And here is a portrait of fresh sun-burn. She spent all day on the beach and by the end of the day she was competing with the lighthouse for glowing heat.

Ok I gotta apologise for this as a portrait but these guys were great and approximately 240 percent more goodlooking than the Yeti family portrait that the wind and I managed to take here.

I dunno who wrote this, but if he's still on the dijk, someone throw him a stick of bread before he slips into the ocean.

The best offer of (yesterday) evening from Else. I don't know what kind of holiday she had in mind but I hope she enjoys yoga.

The painting on the right (the green one) I bought at a local gallery, they have a bunch of hand-made paintings made onto postcard sized pieces of wood. I really like this one but when it came down to it I didn't want to give it away. I don't know who the artist is but I like their style.

Home is where the heart is... where did you put yours?

The day was hot like a roasting tray and all of here in Vlissingen were sun dried tomatoes by the end of the day. Luckily someone several hundred years ago worked out that by sitting up a few metres on the dijk you can get a breeze floating through your living room that makes everything seem ok again.

This is Roos and Mouryn (Roos is her daughter) who sat with me on the front deck. In fact it was to inspire a cascade of mother-daughter visits for the evening, like a kind of genetic echo in the summer twilight.

This daughter didn't live with her mother but they each shared a curiosity for the world, one exploring the inner workings of the human body through ultrasonic waves, the other from traveling to the corners of the earth.

And in case you thought it was the other way around, it was her mother that did the traveling.

These two like to keep family close because their sister/auntie was at my house too (do you wish I could remember names as much as I wish it?). Yeah I can see the family resemblance particularly with the Zeeland evening good-looking filter on. Perhaps that's why people who live here don't leave in a hurry, once they see the light change no-one else looks quite as glowing.

Mother house - daughter house... or maybe they're boys?

More sisters, this time from out of town. Both artists I believe, we had a great talk about simplicity. I won't go on about it. It would ruin the point.

These guys were friends and I wished I taken a photo because Jantine was telling me about her work with immigrant children. This note may be the closest you come to meeting them, look for the yellow flower in their eyes.

And from Whoopi (whom I met yesterday and returned today with biscuits. Ten points! Go to the top of the class!) a rendition of my house that would wish for at least 6 friends to live here with me, one for each window.

And from Anne Onomous a comment that will go into the top-hat of 'great titles for greeting cards and estranged family gatherings'. I hope to use it in my second book.... my first one will be called 'things I could think up myself', the followup will much snappier and good-looking.

Old Zeeland

So this is the Old Zeeland that Abel Tasman was thinking of in 1643 when he arrived off the west coast of New Zealand. What was his wife doing all that time? Was she perched on top of a dijk like this one looking out at the moon and watching the ships roll in?

I'm not sure why he named it New Zealand, there isn't an immediate resemblance other than the water, which let's face it, would have been everywhere from his point of view. It was a brutal voyage for him he lost half his crew to sickness on his way to Japan, then lost another 4 to the fierce Maoris when he dropped in on New Zealand before heading up towards Fiji. When he got home the Dutch East India Company who were paying his wages were unimpressed since he had no trade agreements nor short cuts between places they knew already existed. He must have been a bit annoyed I imagine. Perhaps this is why he called it New Zealand, he was simply hoping for something a bit more like home.

Here is Abel Tasman's bicycle, sitting near the windmill waiting for his return. It's quite possible his wife left it there since it was cluttering up the hallway and he was clearly not going to be back for quite a while.

I'm not sure if the attraction was me or Tasman's bicycle.

Eva, Whoopi and Flor from Antwerp. These guys are no strangers to travelling, they're spending the summer with the circus, that's gotta be every kids dream surely?

He came, he saw, he hung out on the front lawn. He had some interesting insights into Zeelanders, though he didn't mention anything about wearing sox on his head.

These are officially the best shoes in Vlissingen.

And this is the owner, dressed top to toe in the best natural lighting filter you can find.

Also bathing in the evening light (in film they call it the everyone-looks-so-beautiful-filter) were my two new friends from Vlissingen with inside information on the what's hot and what's not in town. I was supposed to send you the photo and I've been looking for the email address, Ahhhh!

Enjoying tea.

And meet Greta and Melina from Fransbrood, their first visit to my house.

And finally a few words of advice from locals in the know.

(I'm told an open heart is one that won't last forever, but considering we only just met I think that's ok)

Not sure who SFW is, he just knelt down to deliver this then he was off. Now I am worried that he is out to eat me. (perhaps that's what was meant by keep looking - as in, keep looking he's still out there)

Here is note from one of the people of Vlissingen, I think the sentiment is pretty close to Tasman's and perhaps Tasman's wife as she sneaked his bike outside under the moonlight wondering if she was doing the right thing.

The next time I see you...

I will be almost 6 feet tall.

Today was a Lucky day! Here's a few reasons why...

This is gift from Utrecht, I know I know, you're thinking that ain't so lucky I've seen one of those before and it was made in China. Well apart from the obvious comeback (that there are a lot of lucky things in China), this Rubics cube came from the fine lady just below here, which does make me lucky.

Lucky Situation number 2

Take a look at this woman, check out her upper tooth on the right hand side. If you look closely you can see she has a clear crystal stuck to her tooth. Technically that makes her the closest thing to a tooth fairy I've seen. Now if that ain't lucky... I don't know what is.

But wait there's more.

These guys are Toet en Taartje. Yeah I know what you're thinking, YOU CAN'T GET TOET EN TAARTJE IN ONE PHOTO FRAME LET ALONE THE SAME WINDOW! Well check it out, it's my lucky day...

Actually I just realised I think I just got Toet here, or maybe it's Taartje. That's gotta count for half lucky though right?

Oh yeah you don't think that's so lucky, well how about this.

This is Merel, which just happens to be the same name as a blackbird. This Blackbird can paint beautiful pictures though which isn't technically the same as being able to fly but it is pretty lucky you have to agree...

Ok... so this is the really lucky bit.

This guy is a musician (it's a day of artists right - well turns out this is the future and in the future everyone is an artist ok)

His name is LUCKY FONZ III!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, you have to hand it to me, that is lucky.

Lucky Fonz even gave me a copy of his new cd called A Family Like Yours. I had a listen to it on my way back from the island to the mainland as the sun slipped down behind into that little gap between the sand and the sea, it's a beautiful cd. Some song writers are great at coming up with hooky tunes, others are able to actually say how they feel through music and this album is one of those. Now this guy is lucky!

And just in case you don't believe me, here are some other people who testify to a lucky day.

So many people I spoke to at Oerol were coming back for the 5th, 6th, 10th, 18th time, I couldn't really work that out. On the last day of the festival as the boat pulled out of the harbor a guy with a suitcase (perhaps a clown it's hard to decipher clowns from your average guy with a suitcase at festivals like this) ran along the breakwater as the boat rounded the warf and headed out to sea. He ran as fast as he could and at the end of the rocky point he threw his suitcase down and shook his fists at the boat. It was no good, he'd just left it too late, this boat was never turning around. The suitcase slipped like a pebble into the water, he turned to see it go sploosh and lept without thought into the water after it. The sea was awash with suitcase, clown and total abandon.

Oerol is a festival you hang onto till your nails are ripping at the edge of the island, some people miss the boat others just keep coming back.

I'll come back for you Oerol my clown!