Back again after so many years
Where to begin? It's been something like 12 years since I wrote anything but now, amid the Covid-19 epidemic, with work cut to a couple of days a week and spending most of my time out in the country, why not resurface?
A few major events since 2008:
My mother left this world for the next one, 2010. Missed but not mourned: her life wasn't very enjoyable at the end, bedridden and deaf and dealing with the after-effects of a frontal lobe bleed that made her at times very irritable indeed, although mostly as sharp and clever as she always had been. Rust zacht, lieve Mama.
My beloved friend Joost Barbiers died in 2015 at only 66 from the side-effects of medication he was taking to replace the lithium he'd been on for years. Dear, beautiful Joost, how I loved you, how I still love you. In sure and certain hope... totdat we elkaar weer ontmoeten in een betere wereld.
My translating work continues both here and overseas. More and more our life (Bill's and mine) revolves around the garden, especially now that Bill is retired and we can spend more time out here even when we don't have to. The orchard progresses slowly; we just spent hours digging out more entrenched pachysandra from one of the spots that we want to turn back into a flower bed.
In the meantime I have become a great fan of the wonderful English baritone Simon Keenlyside (unrequited love is such fun) and I am having a sort of fantasy affair with Vincent van Gogh (my weakness for redheads has never changed).
My hair is turning grey; my beard and moustache are white now...well, 68, after all.
I hope that all my friends here are doing well.
A few major events since 2008:
My mother left this world for the next one, 2010. Missed but not mourned: her life wasn't very enjoyable at the end, bedridden and deaf and dealing with the after-effects of a frontal lobe bleed that made her at times very irritable indeed, although mostly as sharp and clever as she always had been. Rust zacht, lieve Mama.
My beloved friend Joost Barbiers died in 2015 at only 66 from the side-effects of medication he was taking to replace the lithium he'd been on for years. Dear, beautiful Joost, how I loved you, how I still love you. In sure and certain hope... totdat we elkaar weer ontmoeten in een betere wereld.
My translating work continues both here and overseas. More and more our life (Bill's and mine) revolves around the garden, especially now that Bill is retired and we can spend more time out here even when we don't have to. The orchard progresses slowly; we just spent hours digging out more entrenched pachysandra from one of the spots that we want to turn back into a flower bed.
In the meantime I have become a great fan of the wonderful English baritone Simon Keenlyside (unrequited love is such fun) and I am having a sort of fantasy affair with Vincent van Gogh (my weakness for redheads has never changed).
My hair is turning grey; my beard and moustache are white now...well, 68, after all.
I hope that all my friends here are doing well.