Nostalgia, nachos and a nightmare.

The morning before to fly back to the United States.
Still phone calls to make and luggage to prepare.
Slowly sliding into a valley of nostalgia for leaving behind family and friends and wonderful times.
Quickly moving up a mountainside of excitement thinking of the friends going to see in the USA and Mexico and the life in the Fuso Santek expedition vehicle waiting.

Yesterday in the afternoon a meeting with the American artist and art-director of a corporate magazine Karen Birnholm.
The subject to publish in the autumn issue will be energy in California, USA.
However, an original approach to the subject had to be found.
The brainstorming meeting was in the warm sunshine on the terrace of a traditional Amsterdam café along one of the century old canals.
Glasses of Rosé and Rioja were ordered as well as nachos in a cheese sauce and old Gouda cheese with strong mustard.
Seeing small boats cruise the Amsterdam canal, seagulls fly in the sky and people happy because of the beautiful town and weather, it was a perfect setting for a successful brainstorming and explosion of the combined creativities.
This is a process that needs chemistry between the protagonists.
A galloping ahead side by side instinctively knowing what road to take.
Eventually, after more Rosé and Rioja and exploring in the unknown, the outcome and final result was like logical.
Like, as it had to be like that.
The perfect and convincing and exciting result.
Now it is only a matter of producing the concept created so successfully along an Amsterdam canal.

Last night one of the meetings was with Leszek Sczaniecki.
A Polish photographer living in Amsterdam and currently having a show in WM Gallery.
After seeing his exhibition of images from Poland in the charming WM Gallery a glass of Rioja Crianza was enjoyed with Leszek on one of the terraces in the beautiful old part of Amsterdam called the Jordaan.
With Leszek, being a divorced man also, the aspects of traumatisation experienced after a divorce were discussed.
One of the conclusions was that a divorce is always devastating and makes gun shy. But that the negative effects can be smoothed out when after the divorce the relationship with the ex-partner can be normalised.

Today happens to be the birthday of the ex-wife.
Although the divorce happened six years ago there is not even a beginning of a normalising of the relationship.
The ex-wife is still not ready to even have a simple thing as a phone conversation let alone a meeting.
It is a situation which needs time to change for the better and on this work is done.
A trusted friend is asking the ex-wife if she is prepared to receive a phone call today to accept warm birthday wishes of the ex-husband.

Later today, at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, before to board the US Airways flight to Philadelphia, the friend will be called to be informed if ex-wife is ready after six years to hear the ex-husband say:

“Happy birthday, Mayumi”.

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To learn more about the work of Karen Birnholz, click on:
http://www.birnholz.nl/contact.php

To learn more about the WM Gallery in Amsterdam, Holland and the exhibition of Leszek Sczaniecki, click on:
http://www.gallerywm.com/

and, click on:
http://www.leszeks.com/





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