morning cold

-The haiku was an entry to the Shiki Monthly Kukai (November 2013). Kigo: morning cold/morning chill.

Meifoor

Een kleuter op een grijnzend draaimolenpaard zet het op een krijsen. Het geluid gaat door merg en been en overstemt verbazend makkelijk de harde muziek die om hem heen uit de luidsprekers schalt. Snel pakt zijn moeder hem op en neemt hem mee. Het is duidelijk dat de kermis niet aan het ventje besteed is. Nog niet tenminste.

Waaghalzen kunnen terecht aan de overkant. Het affiche bij de kassa belooft een snelheid van 110 kilometer per uur en een hoogte van 84 meter. Voor acht en een halve euro per keer -ah merci dankjewel en een plezante rit gewenst hè- mag je hier de sensationele g-krachten beleven.
Ik blijf staan, nieuwsgierig naar wat ik zal doen.



op de kermis
met haar vriendinnen
een suikerspin delen





-De Meifoor is een jaarlijkse kermis in Brugge. Het evenement telt een 90-tal attracties en duurt een kleine maand.

silence

With the story of Evagraven still on my mind, the path slowly climbs untill we reach the wide mountain plateau. Early Autumn colors the moss. There is nobody here besides us, no houses, no cars, no roads. And when the steady rustle of my steps dies away when I stop for a photograph, the absence of sound is overwhelming.


summer route
droppings of a reindeer
still fresh

-Note: Evagraven (Eve's grave) is a ravine in the Funasdalen region, Sweden. According to an old story a Lapp woman named Eva died here in a snow storm, together with her reindeer.

stones / stenen

She has a small collection of stones, brought home from the countries she visited once. Just ordinary stones; grey, smooth, the kind you find on a beach or a hillside path maybe.
But to her they memorize breathtaking landscapes, new smells and colors, the taste of local dishes, interesting people she had met, and



endless skies
eyes fixed
on a flock of geese

---

Ze bezit een kleine verzameling stenen, meegenomen uit de landen die ze ooit bezocht. Onopvallende stenen; grijs, glad, zoals je ze vindt op het strand of op een bergpaadje.
Maar voor haar zijn ze een herinnering aan adembenemende landschappen, nieuwe geuren en kleuren, de smaak van plaatselijke gerechten, interessante mensen die ze had ontmoet, en



eindeloze luchten
ogen gericht
op een vlucht ganzen

daydreams

I am slowly finding my way through the many redesigned rooms and hallways. Hold my step to admire chandeliers. Lean close for a diamant brooch. It's still all about royalty here.
Standing in the former ball room, the thought of dancing feet comes easy. Scarlet dress, furtive looks. A shiny Rolls outside, ready and waiting.


stable window
traces of gold dust
in a sunbeam

leaves

 

 

 

apparently out of nothing..

.. a proud and healthy looking male reindeer appears and keeps walking in front of us in that typical light swaying, almost graceful, pace. I notice how the huge antlers follow every movement of his head, looking left, then right, nose high up in the air..


moving along
with the shade of the tree
summer heat

colors

It could have been either one of those perfect days we had last August.
A vast blue sky above a quiet country road, the intense green of fir tree forests, and the brightest sun ever reflecting on cornfields that stretch out beyond the horizon.

I wish I could have materialized those colors somehow, and have them stashed away for a rainy day.


lazy summer day
drawing suns
on a dusty bonnet

summer's end

On warm days they frequently come over to sip from the bird bath, or they just stand in the water for a while to cool off. And most evenings are spent with sitting close together on top of the street lamp in front of our house, high up from the ground.
I can't tell of course, but I'd like to think it's the same couple of turtle doves that has been visiting our garden for many years now.



summer's end
kids gather
at the school gate

the dad

It's not just the grades, the eagerness to learn, or the potential.
It's this and about everything else that he shares about his son's new life as a freshman that makes him genuinely glow with pride.



a boy's laughter
browsing the comics
at the bookstore

shell peanuts

A treat for both of us when I stayed with her as a child, was a handful of shell peanuts some time in the afternoon. Then we would play a board game together, or watch tv for a while.

And after we had finished eating, her hands would carefully search through the pile of empty shells to make sure no peanut was left to waste.

sepia colors

my grandmother

at my age

grotta

Down the dark and narrow opening, a ladder waits to bring us down the cave, or 'grotta' as they say here.
I am told that all the spaces below are not the result of erosion, but were probably shaped during the last ice age, when the ice made large volumes of bedrock crack into boulders.

There is no guide, there is no light. There is supposed to be a blue rope along the wall to hold on to, so you won't get lost.

arctic fall

watching the first geese

go south






-the cave is located on the Hornslandet peninsula, 300 km north of Stockholm (Sweden)

clouds

Today is the first day of her treatment. And all that she can think of during the forty five minute drive to the hospital is that perfect afternoon last Summer that she spent laying on her back in the grass, without a care in the world, naming the clouds.



checking her hair
in the rearview mirror
autumn colors

Zweden haiku #2

van zuid naar noord

de weg volgt de spoorlijn

of is het andersom

~

going north

the road follows the railway

or is it vice versa

Zweden haiku #1

glooiend landschap

buiten de dorpen

de stilte

~

rolling countryside

outside the villages

the silence