Happy Doodle Diary Anniversary Day

"Do you have hands? Excellent. That's a good start. Can you hold a pencil? Great. If you have a sketchbook, open it and start by making a line, a mark, wherever. Doodle. " - Chris Riddell

SONG OF THE BLOG:
"So darlin', Happy Anniversary
You've made my life for me
Once again, thanks for the memory
My darlin', Happy Anniversary."
- Roy Rogers

 

The 22nd of September...  a day after my birthday (gosh, am I really 52 already) seems to be the day for A LOT of things ... Car FREE day (OK, I won't be going anywhere today), Business Women's Day (congrats to all women in business), White Chocolate Day (not for me, I like mine DARK), Chainmail day (Will that be going well into the KNIGHT?), World Rhino Day (Some say they are just obese unicorns), Elephant Appreciation Day (not a lot of them around here), Ice Cream Cone Day (not for me today) and my two favourites of them all "Doodle Day" and "Dear Diary Day"!!!



DOODLE DAY:

I have been doodling since I could hold a pencil. Not so much on the wall, as some kids might - no, I was fortunate that my father supplied me with steady amounts of paper. At school I would always create elaborate doodles in my workbooks, which resulted in working for school newspapers, going to the Art Academy and eventually "doodling" for several newspapers and publications here in New Zealand. I still doodle - but theses days more on my digital tablet. Here are some examples:

DEAR DIARY DAY:
Keeping a journal started for me in 1977, in the form of a travel journal - but keeping a everyday one began in 1979.
Wow - I have been doing this for 40 years!!! - Even in my journals I used to doodle, whether it was a map of a house or room, just some silly doodle in the margin or a breakdown of the contents at the back of the journal.  Many volumes have been filled since. Here's an entry of SUNDAY 22 September 1985. I turned 18 years old that year. 

But who cares about all those silly made-up days (Hmm... Ice cream Cone day DOES sound tempting) - the real reason to celebrate today is because it is our Anniversary!!!
That's right - our marriage turned 18 years old today. On the 22nd of September 2001, Debra and I got married at the Windrest Cottage in Te Puke. 

Happy Anniversary, Babe!
You truly are my rock in this turbulent river and looking in the crystal ball, I can see many more great years ahead !

Happy "Collect Rocks Day"

“Polished round and smooth as marbles or lozenges of stone veined and striped. Black disclets and bits of polished quartz all bright from the mist off the river.”  

 -  Cormac McCarthy

BloQ LyriQs:
"I am a rock, I am an island

And a rock feels no pain." 

- Simon and Garfunkel

Ever since I was a little Dutch boy I loved collecting rocks. If we would go places, if possible, I would build dams with stones and most likely bring back at least one piece of rock, a stone or a pebble... Over the years I have gathered quite a few. I still remember where some of them came from - a cool rock I got from my grandmother many years ago... an awesome crystal-like rock I brought back from America (1977).  Others have since become part of displays, like a western scene underneath our stairs or can be found in any other diorama involving movie and or Disney figurines around the house. 

 

 

 

Rocks are everywhere in and around our house... from my office desk, to hallway tables - even in the bathroom you will find an item of geology. From my trips to Canada as a kid, I remember my auntie having a rock tumbler. This would polish up most pebbles into the most amazing gems. I always wanted a rock tumbler, but never had the chance to get one. If there's anybody out there that will let me tumble some rocks - send me a message!

Whenever we go for walks along the beach at Ohawe, there's often at least a couple of rocks that find their way back home in my pocket. I always believe they talk to me - they have a story to tell, the ones that stand out - which makes me, I guess, the rock-whisperer. Rocks do have stories to tell - some rough, some smooth - some round, some rectangular. Showing the scars of their journey through time...  One thing I LOVE doing, is stacking them, at the beach I often create little carefully balanced rock towers - or cairns, as they are called. I take a few photos of them and leave them to the elements. Sometimes, after returning from a walk, the stack still stands strongly in defiance... other times the wind has swept them over, having rolled towards their next resting place. Maybe someone else will pick them up and throws them in the water (flat ones are great for skipping), or maybe some kid is turning one into a pet-rock.


 

I wonder what will happen to my rock collection when I pass on to the next phase of my spiritual journey. Will someone keep them and cherish them, like I did - or will they be scattered somewhere for others to find. Or just end up in a skip of rubbish...

Happy Letter Writing Day

“The proper definition of a man is: an animal that writes letters.”- Lewis Carroll

Song of the blog:
"Wait, oh yes wait a minute Mister postman
Wait, wait Mister postman - Mister postman look and see
Is there a letter in your bag for me
I been waiting a long long time."
- Diana Ross

 

Today isn't just the first day of September, my birth-month - it's also kinda the start of Spring here in New Zealand - plus we have our father's day on this Sunday and to top it all of it is International Letter Writing day... Do people still write letters and if at all, would they still be writing them by hand or is are they just typed on the computer and printed out. Have emails and social media hacked so deep into the art of creating letters it's come to the point of extinction. 

I remember one of the first letters I ever wrote back when I was nine years old. It was sent to the EPPO magazine, my favourite Dutch comic magazine back in the 70s and 80s. I believe I wrote several letters and it was always exciting to get a reply, in those days done by old fashioned typewriter. Around that time I started reading Stephen King I even wrote him a letter and got a cool little reply back in the early 80s. It was also the time I had made a friend during a primary school trip and wrote letters with him for many years. Mid 80's my letter writing got even more elaborate. I still have quite a collection of letters I wrote to and from friends in Holland. The other day I got a nice message from one of my friends, she had found a box with old letters from me and send me a photo of the envelopes (her address has been obscured for privacy reasons).

Creating different envelopes became a real a real art for me back in the 80s. I would like to think that most of these little pieces of mail-art are still kept by friends in a box in their spare room or attic. I've got photo-copies of some of my creations, but it would be nice to see photos / scans of any of these little 80s treasures. With my friend Joris there were crazy mail-war battles where we created the most outrageous postal pieces of madness. One time he send me a wallpaper sized letter, that actually lived on my wall for quite a while.

Once I emigrated to New Zealand, for the first few years (before the internet took off) there were still a lot of letters to several friends - like the amazing correspondence with my fellow KABK student and artist Pepijn - but overall the level of letter writing soon started to die a slow death. These days, people share their life on social media. Photos of holidays, their family etc. But, it's not the same as the old letter in the mail. The excitement of a cool arty envelope. something you can touch - and look back at decades later. Maybe with people coming back from digital to vinyl and people giving up Netflix for books, the old retro letter writing will return to replace its digital email cousin.

SAFE the letters - write me a one today! 

Send me a cool envelope or home-made postcard:
eRiQ, PO Box 18038,
Merrilands, New Plymouth 4360

New Zealand