Orange changes in Black...

When this day started, the day that Holland turns orange, the whole nation had no idea someone was gonna turn orange into black...

Today the news headed that the Swine flu is officially established in Holland. Tragic, but it was not gonna be the head news of the day. I watched the screen, and I saw our beloved Queen, together with all the royal family, visiting the city of Apeldoorn. Thousands of people, standing rows thick on the side of the street, to welcome the most known family. All are smiling, waving with flags in the colors of our country. The sun shining bright, it was gonna be a special day. Flea markets in every town, Dutch music brought by amateur artists, old Dutch games played by many children. Everywhere, more then 16 million people who all live in our small country feel one. Who could have thought this could have been roughly disrupted by one crazy person?

The black Suzuki Swift was already damaged, the front window broken. On his trip to hit the bus of the Royal Family he hit people who where dragged in his horrific act. His dangerous trip ends when he hits a monument. The joy of the people raw disturbed. Screaming, running, crying. Ambulances driving everywhere with the lights on, I see hands trying to reactivate the life in people's bodies. Many people help where they can, many bodies are fighting to survive. The smile turned into disbelief, anger, sadness and disappointment. 2 dead, 15 injured. One man, one act, total chaos in my beloved country...

Update: a day later, this tragedy gets even worse. By now 7 people have died. 11 are still injured. The man who caused all the drama has deceased due to his injuries. For condolences click here... Click on "Plaats hier uw condoleance" and ofcourse you can do that in English as well.

Worldleaders Celebrate Dutch Queensday...

Do we get a King soon?

The Perfume we Live in...

Dear Farmers,

First I had doubts about the contents of my words. Another mood and this letter would have turned out differently, but I should remain close to my feelings. I have very good memories of all the times I spend some time on a farm house. As a child I even used my hands to bring a new animal life to the world. Not one complaining word about filthy and blood came out of that child's mouth. I'm still like that, but I need to bring my feelings to the paper.

I have a problem with the smell you spread out over de large fields with the manure of your stock of cattle. I know you do not smell the scent of your livestock and manure, because we all get used to the perfume we live in. But believe me, the smell is not to bear. My nostrils protest and the hair in my nose has to work hard to block the smell. But I am not the slightest. I know you have to deal with too many regulations and laws already. Therefore I ask you not to stop what your nature is, I will only ask for one concession from your side. Just a small step towards my needs. Please can you put a warning sign 1000 meters before the scent zone, so that I can close the windows of my car? That way I can still surrender myself to the beautiful spring weather.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely, Jade

Burning Lamps...

And then I got burnt. And not caused with sunbathing in the real sun. But because at the tanning salon they decided to put new tanning lamps in the sunbed. Oops...

Brotherhood Hidden in 1 Euro...

And then I found a 1 euro coin in my letterbox. All alone, not one single other post was there to accompany the coin. A closer look learnt me that it came from France. 'Liberté égalité fraternité' ,it said. Advice me, do I have to declare the euro?

If this euro belongs to you, you can pick it up at the Steenstraat. And all for free, liberté égalité fraternité...

Liberté égalité fraternité means Liberty, equality, fraternity (brotherhood).

Sweet Behaviour...

In the late evening I failed in following a movie. Almost asleep I got myself situated on the couch, as suddenly the doorbel rang. A bit dazed I walked to the phone to answer the doorbel. A bit worried I answered with my name. 'Who is calling in so late?' I heard giggling, and not from one person. After the giggling I heard running. They, probably degenerate kids, ran away, to avoid being snatched. I got my leg pulled! Then a big smile on my face while remember all those fun times a horrible degenerated kid did the same thing. It doesn't need explanation that the kid was me...

A Graveyard of Pin cards...

Sometimes you blame someone else for a problem you created. It happens to us all. But I will be honest in agreeing that I misjudged the whole situation.

Today I got a new blinky bank PIN card for the fifth time in seven months. The first four times the people from the, not nearly bankrupt, bank Rabobank, stayed calm and patient while helping me to get a new PIN card. Even while every time I was telling them to design better PIN cards, because I am really a neat person that doesn't jump on the card and never puts the card in the toaster (who does that anyway?).

Now I discovered that I am indirectly responsable for the problem. In every conversation with the nice helping Rabolady or Raboman they asked me the question 'Do you hold a magnet close to the PIN card?' And every time my answer was a resolute 'No.' Today I have to say all those four PIN cards ended on death row before they died a horrible dead. Poor PIN cards!

My supercool wallet has a small magnetic field. Really a very small one, which made the PIN cards, not less, sick. Day by day the magnetic strip of the PIN card got further from alive. Until the day that I tried to get some money out of the cash dispenser, and the PIN card was braindead. The magnet sucked all the life out of the magnetic field in the PIN cards. With a new nice fifth PIN card I'm in need of a new wallet. It's time to bring supercool wallet to the graveyard.

The positive thing from this whole cruel situation is that no money in my wallet meant more money on my bankaccount...

8 Hairy Legs Ruined my Sleep...

Not seeing one spider in, my almost one year marriage with, the house I live in, made me not very realistic. I was sure that this house is a spider free house. In web-language it's written on the walls: No entry for your 8 legs...

Deep inside I knew my fantasy had taken over with my unbelievable, but good feeling thoughts. I had a strange feeling when I was stepping in my bed. We, me and Wodan, were not alone (think the scary music on the background). After my first REM sleep I tried to open my eyes. I looked at the ceiling, did someone move there? I looked more concentrated, and there he went. 8 hairy legs walked very quikly over the ceiling to the wardrobe. The next time I blinked with my eyes, he was gone. Where? Is this real? Am I dreaming?

Many thoughts went throught my head. I turned on the light. This big hairy (believe me I made the spider huge with my imagination) spider had the guts to enter my house. Ha, your 8 creepy legs will never create a web again! Hopeful I looked at Wodan. Come on sweets, it's time to put on your Supercat costume...

It's not a secret that I have an abnormal fear for spiders...

Life before...

Can you imagine a life without the screen you see more then your husband or wife?

A Dream Come True...

With all these talentshows on the television all around the world, we've a chance to view new born talent, but also wannabe stars who have the talent to let your ears crack while hearing a bird falling out of the sky while singing a lullaby. Seeing Susan Boyle at first, makes you want to put your fingers in your ears already. But believe me, Britney may have the looks: singing talent has nothing to do with a certain look. For me this 47-year old lady can win this British competition and put her signature on a muscial contract now. Enjoy her version of the Les Miserables song 'I dreamed a dream'...

Follow or Deny a Trend...

Trends come and go, just like the seasons. The moment you're used to them, they're over. The sun turns into wind and rain. The moment you cut your very long hair into a boyish short one, the trend tells you wavy long hair far over your shoulders are the new best 'thing.' In fashion it takes some time to get used to a new trend. Trends repeats themselves every decade. You must have been overly satisfied that the tight hugging legging (hugs everything a little bit too much below the waist) are so eighties, until a designer begged model Kate Moss to give it a revival with a colorful tunic as top.

February 2008 the harem trousers slowly renewed itself on the catwalk. Baggy at the bottom isn't always a good thing, you don't want your bootylicious behind hanging around your ankles. Not one single hair on my head is thinking of buying a dangling example yet. Until Alladin let me be his Yasmine and takes me on his floating carpet to the Middle East, I will deny this trend...

PS: do you think one hit wonder MC Hammer will get his career back on track with his 1990 hit 'U can't touch this?'

Fill the Eggs...

Happy Easter!!! No Easter without eggs and besides eating many chocolate eggs, you should at least enjoy one real egg. I do love filled eggs. Easy to make and yummy for the tummy! Enjoy a few of my favorite recepies...

Filled eggs

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons mayonaise
salt
peper

Preperation basic:
Cook the eggs until they are hard-boiled inside. Peel and devide the eggs into halves. Take the yolks out. Pulverize the yolks and put them together with the mayonaise. Mix the desired filling with the yolks and add a small amount of salt and pepper. Put the mixture in the halved egg whites with a pastry bag and let it cool down before you serve them.

Preperation filling:

1. Tuna and olives
Mix 50 gram tuna, that's already minced, throught the egg mixture and garnish with olive slices.

2.gorgonzola and tomato
Mix 50 gram gorgonzola, that's already minced, throught the egg mixture and garnish with small slices tomato.

3.Provencal herbs, onion, mustard and chervil
Mix 1 tablespoons of provencal herbs, a chopped small onion, 2 teaspoons of mustard with the egg mixture. Garnish with fresh chervil.

4. Italian Parma cheese, tomato and basil
Add 1 tabelspoon minced Parma cheese and a tomato (narrow cut, without the skin) to the egg mixture. Garnish with some fresh basil.

5. Raw ham, chives and asparagus tips
Add 50 gram minced raw ham and 1 tabelspoon chives to the egg mixture. Garnish with asparagus tips.

6. Smoked salmon, lemon juice, dill and cress
Add 50 gram minces smoked salmon together with a very small amount of lemon juice and fresh dill with the egg mixture. Garnish with cress.

A Wise Lesson for Parents...

Mike Teavee

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?'
How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts.
They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

Poem written by my beloved author Roald Dahl, based on a character from the book "Charlie and the chocolate factory."

I like, I enjoy, I love, I am...

April 7 2008, my dear friend Benny *talked me into* starting this humble blog. A Pirquinho Laranja, pink pig, who talks a doll into starting her own blog, how crazy could it get? I wasn't so sure to start. Not because I don't like to write, I more then love it. It had more to do with insecurity and my little compatitive nature. Who was gonna read what I wrote anyway?

One year ahead I learned what is most important in bloggingland: I really enjoy doing it. I love to put my own spider's web on 'online-paper' and I do love to share what I like, I enjoy, I love and most of all I am.

Almost 15000 hits entered the world of Emilia, people from 108 different countries around the world. I feel flattered that a few come over and over to enjoy my crazy look on the world. Writing in English tought me many new words and I'm finally learning to use some word-jokes in another language, I love the educational part of it. I'm happy to say that my writersblock isn't controlling my fingers, let's go for a second year, happy blogidea's!

Thank you all and I hope you keep continuing feeling home on my and your place *wink*. Eat a virtual cake with me today...

Say Cut to Domestic Violence...

Isn't it time someone called cut?



Commercial Woman's Aid, created by ad agency Grey London, directed by Joe Wright, actress Keira Knightley, music Vengeance Drools by Clark.

A Typical Dutch Day in the Spring...

And finally there is came, the first hot day. Hot as in a clear blue sky with a burning sun smiling at my beloved country. Those days are very rare in Northern Europe so every sunloving person plans a trip to the city to buy himself a whole new wardrobe for the summer. The result are overloaded fitting rooms and when you plan your shopsession too late, no summeroutfit for you. The recently bought skirt has to walk the calkwalk. The best place to show how sunkissed you already are is the terrace.The only problem is that 16,5 million people (the whole population of the Netherlands) think the same. After 2 hours walking that calkwalk over and over again, while your eyes search for a place to sit, your mission is successful. Happily you try to take place, while your predecessors haven't left the table yet. The small table is full of empty glasses and leftovers of a meal. The sun has warmed them, which makes it unable to recognize what food it was. It's a little dissapointing that your place is seated in the shadow. Quikly you look if there is a free place in the sun, but ofcourse chances are low. After 30 minutes, in which you try (in all different ways which must have looked funny) to get the attention of the catering assistant, it's time to order your drink. The young lady, who I'm sure is a student, cleans the too dirty table for you.

Now it's time for the greatest pastime. While other people walk around, searching for a free place, you observe them. You see a lot of naked flesh, the whiteness of it hurts your eyes. Some people carry some winterfat with them while wearing spandex or a too tight shirt, others are telling their friend that they lost a couple of inches. Two 5-years olds are playing tag, while giggling with the carefreeness that belongs to that age. The mother is yelling that they have to stay close to the terrace tables. A young teenage girl is dancing on her rollerblades, turning around and spinning while checking if anyone is watching her. A typical Dutch organ-grinder plays "Tulips from Amsterdam",while his wife asks the people on the terrace for a deserved donation. Some people are standing a little further from the terrace, while enjoying a cigarette. While the shining sun makes you hungry you order a light tuna salad and a ice tea with a straw. Life is good, life is simple...

Oh, there is something else you should know about us Dutchies: when it's 18 celsius degrees we love to drive in the traffic jam to the beach to get burned by the sun. With screaming kids on the back seat we think it's worth a 8-hour drive to view our German neighbours in self-created sandholes on a Dutch beach. When the tempetures rises above 25 degrees celsius we all stay inside, infront of the fan, complaining and wheezing about the heath in our small country. We discuss the weatherproblem with our neighbours, while the sweat drops from our faces on the ground. We still think that we need to work hard, walk fast, clean neat, and show our green hands in the garden, just like always...

Famous Job...

It has been more then a year ago. My last job evaluation conversation with my boss. Nothing to worry about, it's not a assessment. Besides that, I'm a hard worker who is determined, conscientious and I work very systematic. As far as I know nothing has changed, I only get better *wink*. I seriously should do something about my high self esteem *a second wink* (Believe me insecurity is a 'quality' that comes with being me).

There is one question that I find hard to answer. As I was preparing for the conversation I couldn't answer where I see myself over 5 years. 5 Years is looooong...

I could be married and living in Dubai in a too many rooms house that I share with a dozen cats! Or I could tour around the world with 55-years old Madonna on her 'ready for my pension tour' as her special act. Maybe I would travel around the world in 30 days with myself as captain. Or I could be have adopted 3 kids and live in a green house made of recycling walls...

As answering the big 5 question has been hard for me in the past my boss didn't let me end it with a joke. At that moment I was waiting for the bell to ring, the moment to breath again. But it was not coming. How can I tell my boss that the little girl inside me still wants to become famous?