Motherhood in Amsterdam

I felt like a perfect tourist hanging my camera out of my friend's car window to snap this photo, but this is an excellent example of how moms (and dads) get their little snowflakes from point A to point B.


It's no wonder people here are generally so fit and healthy.

Can you imagine taking johnny to karate, and then having to take sally to ballet on the other side of the City, only to have to bike right on back to the dojo because johnny needs his yellow belt that was left in the bakfiets, then just a moment to rest before picking everyone up again and riding home just in time to make a fresh dinner?

Life is good.

Canal Crawling 2

An Experiment in uploading video, part 2.




Love,
Malia

Canal Crawling

Some of you might have noticed that we haven't really been blogging all that much lately. Here's why.




You see, we got a little grachten crawler, a little boat with an outboard motor that we jump in and go cruising around the canals and waterways of the city. It's quite addicting, and we have been known to while away the hours on a Saturday just cruising.

If you live in Amsterdam and love cruising, ring us up. Chances are we'll take you out for a ride in the boat.

Koninginnedag 2009

Well folks, we made it to see another Queensday! This year we celebrated properly with festivities, flea market shopping, and (for the sake of alliteration) fun.

Koninginnenacht is when the parties get going. Street parties abound with stages set up in virtually every square in the City Center, and house/flat parties are everywhere. We got going too with fun at our friend, Shawn's houseboat on the Prinsengracht. The night was punctuated with some music by Amy Joy and Jackamo (who later got almost, but not totally, naked), delicious Sangria, and the company of many cool friends.

The city, at this point, was packed with party-goers. Our particular location left us in the middle of all this, so for most of the night it was really impossible to leave the party without entering a crowded corner. I finally got home around 3am. Whew!


The following morning is when the thrift paradise begins. I got up early to meet Pete and Ferris at the Pont at 8am so we could get a proper jump on the deals. And boy did we get some good deals. Both Addi and Ferris scored cool pirate swords.

Here's Ferris. At one with his pirateness.

And Addi. His sword is more like a samurai sword, truth be told.

I also got some cute skirts and shirts, Addi got some corduroys, pirate jewels (costume jewelry), a whole bag of smurfs, and two plastic robots.

But for me, this was my biggest score. I found 5 skeins of angora wool blend yarn and two cones of merino/nylon blend. Go on over to my Diary of a Craft Fiend blog if you are a fiber nerd and just have to know more about these..

So, after some treasure hunting, Addi and I packed it in. The other boys headed off in search of more wooden train tracks at superb discounts but we just wanted to people-watch and use a proper bathroom :)

Here are some shots from the top of the houseboat on Koninginnedag. It's shoulder to shoulder people and boats all day long.


Addison had a great time playing with his newfound treasures and watching the people float by on boats.


Then we went home and had a nap!

With Love,
Malia

Ultradelarue, Parents Arrive and The Keukenhof in Spring Time

Well, my folks arrived on Saturday morning. Saturday night we had the opening for Ultradelarue which was awesome, awesome, awesome. Great work by all the artists. I really liked Wayne Horse large yellow Rooster Painting, Rich Jacobs mural wall, and Lil'Shy's pieces on felt, and Michael Perry's wall of drawings. Every artist had good work. Here are a few pieces from the show.


Wayne Horse's piece, 'I remain a Proud Cock'


Michael Perry's 'Pie Anyone', my mom's favorite piece from the show.


A very large 2 meter x 3 meter piece made by Chris Stain. Here it is during the install week.



Rich Jacob's 'Go To Bed Early With Yur Head'

Lil' Shy and Ellis Gallagher, 'I Swear To Fucking God' (I always feel weird just writing that down)

Michael Perry portrait 'action series'



My wall of 'found objects' that I made for the show, piece is called, 'Other Wall'

Rich Jacobs Portrait, from the 'cold chillin' series. It was such a great priveledge to work with Rich and get to know him better. I've known his brother Steve for about a million years and I really enjoyed kicken it with Rich who is a legend in our art scene.



Sunday morning the whole family went to the amazing Dutch gardens at Keukenhof, the literal translation is Kitchen Garden, but it is also known as the Garden of Europe and it is just outside of the small town of Lisse.


Addi having a walk around in some uncomfortable wooden shoes, 'klompen'



Installation after my own heart in the green house.


Windmill at Keukenhof.


Amazing floating triangle boat thingys. Reminded me of an artist we have shown a lot, Bonnie Ferrell Roman.


Keukenhof is the world's largest flower garden.

They have something like 7 million bulbs planted every year. Growers from all over Europe show off their hybrids here. The Dutch are the largest exporters of flowers in the world. Not bad for such a small country.

The garden is only open to the public for a few months from End of March to Mid May. The garden is of course massive, and there are great winding paths all through it. Very wonderful.


http://www.keukenhof.com/

Anyway, that's all for now, maybe a Jefferson Airplane song, since all the flowers gave me the ol' 'Summer Of Love' feeling

New York / Amsterdam Exhibit - ULTRADELARUE

Well, we've been so lucky and really blessed to work with some awesome people since moving to Holland. We're getting another great opportunity working on this exhibit with AFARAI.

Ultra de la Rue: Contemporary Urban Graphics

This exhibit is opening April 4th, right across the street from Beautiful Amsterdam Central.


The exhibit focuses on contemporary styles in art as represented by artists from the sister cities of New York and Amsterdam. These are two cities that share a long history (long for America anyway). The roster for the show is pretty 'hard hitting' :

NYC artists

Ellis Gallagher, www.ellisgallagher.com

Mike Perry, www.mikeperrystudio.com

Rich Jacobs

Chris Stain

Taylor Mckimens, www.taylormckimens.com,

Amsterdam Artists:

Lok Jansen, www.lokjansen.com,

Jeroen Koolhaas , www.favelapainting.com

Wayne Horse, www.waynehorse.com

Twothings, www.twothings.net

Lilshy, www.lilshy.net

Raymond Lemstra

The exhibit space is at Prins Hendrikkade 33.

This former public building is currently in use for exhibitions but is slated to be developed into the first art’otel in Amsterdam. Another example of how the Dutch finding exciting and excellent temporary uses for buildings slated for other develpements.

Let's see, what else. Grandma and Grandpa Mather arrive the same day of the exhibition opening. A nice timing. Addison has a birthday coming up in April, I'll write more over that later.

Spring is in the air, leaves are starting to sprout, city and people are coming out of their caves for the first time in months. Time to bike off all the winter cookies. I love the way Dutch people say, Cookies.

Still trolling for a boat, not literally, but Manos and I are in the market. Oh well, that's it for now, just really wanted to plug the show!

hyland

Auntie Katie takes Holland by Storm

Well, my sister, 'Auntie Katie', was just here for a visit. It was great.




She and her friend Thomas stayed with us, they also did some traveling. Thomas got as far south as Paris. Katie went to Brussels and Antwerp and Brug, I think. I never listen.


Thomas and I closing up shop in some Saki bar near the redlight district.

It was fun to go to bars with my sister. Here she is with my friend Sean on his birthday. Sean was a founding member of our Lovers Of Fresh Ideas Artist Coalition many years ago. It's good to see him becoming a responsible adult as he rounds the corner into his 40's.

Katie crashed her bike later that night and then refused the help of a very polite British stranger. My friend, Manolis, seemed to think it was pretty funny.


Being 'socially rounded' people we had been to the Van Gogh earlier this day and had seen 'The Starry Night'. The painting is on loan. I'm glad we got to see it. Amazing collection there now, many classic's on loan for the next few months.


Last year Sean fell in a canal twice. That's not bad for a guy who lives on a houseboat.

Here's me and Manolis, good thing neither of us is driving.



Spotted in the distance! this lucky photographer snapped a rare image of the Albino Wombat.


Auntie Katie, and Addison in Monickendam. Check out the little bruiser, my little Paul Stastny. He's got whipping cream 'slagroom' in his nose.



The ride to Monickendam is 15 or 18km and Addison was bored out of his skull. Katie Loved the ride of course.

It is so great to go around on bikes with Katie. She was always up for a good long ride, which is one of my favorite things to do.

At one point in the ride, I said to Katie, 'I think we should go to Monickendam, it will be super pretty.' to which Addison replied, 'I think we should go home to the house, it will be super warm. Total smartass.

Katie and I enjoyed long bike rides to Monickendam, Ransdorp, Durgerdam and along the Rhine Canal. In Nederlands, long bike ride, 'lange fietstocht'.


Addison's greatest new triumph is the invention of a card game he calls, 'Patterns and Pairs'. After a handful on not so successful attempts over the years, Addison has finally developed a game that our family can play for years. Played with 2 standard decks of playing cards plus 6 jokers, and similar, but more complex than 'memory', I love his game. Last night he and I played a 3 person version with Brant Seathaler, an old family friend.

Also on Katie's visit, she and I had a chance to 'jam' music which was a wonderful first. Katie rocked the drums and my friend Pepijn and I played electric guitars. There is a really awesome practice place called, quite appropriately 'Jam Studios' http://www.jamstudios.nl/ and it is across the street from Westerpark. We tried our hand at a few classics, Bowie's 'Queen Bitch' and The Nerves, 'Hanging On The Telephone' .

Just like every other cool place here, Jam Studios has their own bar. There's a bar at the skatepark, a bar in the music studio, and a bar in every ice rink I've been to in Holland. Nice segway for the next topic, Amsterdam THOR, the ice hockey team I play for was eliminated from the playoffs by the Enschede Lions enschedelions.nl


This photo tells the story pretty much. Here I am in the background looking to the Lord for some strength after they pounded in their 8th or 9th goal of the game. Good luck to Enschede in the championship.

The weather is getting really nice here, in a few weeks Grandpa and Grandma Mather will be here, our first effort to see the mega-fields of tulips is coming up quick.

Hyland