Tea-scented pillows are pretty easy to make. The instructions are so simple that one could simplify them into five simple sentences (i.e. five subjects and predicates).
Furthermore, the subjects are invisible—which may or may not be simpler depending on your feelings about ‘the implied you’.
This introduction is already more complicated than the tea-scented pillows.
Give it a try…
‘BOB’ is a Dutch acronym for ‘Conscious Non-drunk Driver’ [Bewust Onbeschonken Bestuurder]. It’s a common word on Dutch road signs and also, sometimes, in clever TV commercials (see commercials #1, #2 and #3).
In honor of these commercials, here are three tips for finding & serving non-alcoholic wines at parties, so that ‘Bob’ can look classier than a cup of water.
We are entering the darkest week of the year, a depressing detail for SAD sufferers and a celebratory fact for nocturnal photographers.
For the sake of both, let’s hope for clear skies and low light pollution.
Instead of buying mass-made clothing from chain stores, try ordering your clothes directly from China; it minimizes the middleman and improves individual style.
Good results all around.
To get started, check out this sampling of seven designers, based in China and listed on Etsy:
The Dutch TV program Boer Zoekt Vrouw (‘Farmer Seeks Wife’) began today, which is a exciting piece of news for its 4 million fans—that is, 1/4 of the Netherlands.
Without heirloom seed companies, winter gardening would be a dull subject. We wouldn’t need to order ahead or debate between tomato varieties (‘Amish Orange Sherbet’ vs. ‘Black Brandywine’ vs. ‘White Wax’…), or otherwise find entertainment in bizarre vegetable names.
Classic nativity sets are, like potpourri baskets, quickly recognized and easily ignored.
For something more memorable, choose a nativity that…
Is racially neutral (1).
Those familiar with the season of Sinterklaas know that giant chocolate letters have been profusely distributed throughout the Netherlands for the past few weeks.
[For those who are peacefully unaware of this peculiar holiday, David Sedaris has cleverly explained everything you need to know here.]
If you were lucky enough to receive a letter (or five) this year, you might be wondering what to do with such a reserve of chocolate—besides simply eating it. Yes, other options do exist.
The weather has been cantankerously cold lately, thanks to those refreshing Russian winds that strip across this flat country every now and then.
It’s soup weather, for sure.
We’re on the final stretch of 2010 now. Soon, we’ll be socially pressured into either thinking about the future or meditating on the past.
But before that terrible moment arrives, let’s think about right now.
This calls for poetry, outdoor photos and benign background music.
