April… Bitterly Cold
We’re a few into April, but it’s still bitterly cold in Amsterdam — the tail end (hopefully) of an unusual cold spell that started early in March.
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We’re a few into April, but it’s still bitterly cold in Amsterdam — the tail end (hopefully) of an unusual cold spell that started early in March.
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It’s been a bitterly cold March in Amsterdam this year — with more days of frost than we had in January. What a contrast with last year, when birds, bees, flowers and trees all got an early start.
In looking for some weather illustrations for one of my websites, I saw this photograph — which I took in May 2008. It’s one of those typical downtown Amsterdam scenes: two guys enjoying the sun at an intersection where one of the streets is car-free.
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It’s almost 2 pm, and I’m quite pleased with the way this day is shaping up.
Thus far I have written two blog articles for different websites. I have update the front page of a news site. I sorted through the overnight catch of email — deleted some 50 of them, answered 36, and filed away for later handing a further 30 or so.
I have also written a few lines for an e-book project, made some notes on an overdue book review I hope to finish this week, and updated three websites to the latest WordPress version.
Oh, and I’ve done a load of laundry, and a few minutes ago I started the bread machine.
Laundry? Baking?
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The city of Amsterdam includes thousands of 16th, 17th and 18th century buildings, more than 7500 of which are considered National Heritage Sites.
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I have a lifelong love affair with coffee.
That wonderful drink and I have been together for more than 55 years now. Well, no doubt it hasn’t been quite that long, although a family joke has it that I drank coffee before I had my first taste of breast milk. I do believe the latter won out for a while.
But I have been drinking coffee from a very early age, and the habit has stayed with me for all this time.
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I can think of no better description of true love than the one in the Bible, in a letter from the apostle Paul to the Church at Corinth:
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The sign on this house in the center of Amsterdam says, “Read the Bible, The Book for You.”
A few years ago Janet and I were invited to have dinner at the home of someone we had recently met.
We looked forward to an evening of fellowship, fun, and good food. Very good food, actually, as our new friend had made it clear that he was a connoisseur of haute cuisine.
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The Prinsengracht is one of Amsterdam’s most beautiful canals.
This (slightly HDR) photo show different types of houseboats, including converted barges. The one on the right-hand side in the front is the Houseboat Museum, which is definitely worth a visit.
The other day we had dinner with a couple of friends. Afterward the four of use walked to Café Papeneiland for a nightcap.
In business since 1642, this very small café is one of the oldest in Amsterdam. Whenever I’m in the neighborhood I tend to stop by for a cup of good coffee and a very generous slice of apple pie.
The Brouwersgracht on a cold winter day.
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Pastry shop Arnold Cornelis, in Amsterdam’s Jordaan district, is housed in a shop that dates back to the 18th century.
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I love days that start like this. For some reason a sunrise like this always reminds me that God says his compassions are new every morning:
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Whenever the weather permits thousands of Amsterdammers take to the canals, sailing in anything from sloops to yachts, and from army vessels to wooden shoes.
Sailing across the IJ river behind Amsterdam’s Central Station we saw the Arctic Sunrise, one of several Greenpeace vessels stationed here.
Photo © Anton Hein
I like this spot, the Leidsekade. It’s an oasis of rest just a block away from ultra-busy Leidseplein (Leiden square) and Leidsebosje.
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Keizersgracht, Amsterdam, as seen from the Raadhuistraat.
In an exchange about religion with music journalist Michka Assayas, Bono says this about grace:
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‘It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. Continue Reading →
There was a time when property in Amsterdam was taxed based on the width of the building. That’s why you see many narrow houses, especially along the canals.
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