I HAD WORKED FOR AN HOUR

in the basement where our storeroom is. This place too has to be cleared and re-organised of course. And I wondered if I would add another hour to finish the job when Mischa phoned. What were the plans for today? She would cycle to Hornbach the big DIY shop in Wateringen, six kilometers from our place.
The weather was so beautiful, so it was very tempting to cycle with her and that is what I did.
Knowing that Piet Hein and I would leave for the funeral of a good friend early in the afternoon we started immediately.
A good friend had died last week after five years of illment, that had started almost lightly and each year changed her life more and more.
A very impressive ceremony, a tribute to her, that I would not easily forget. She really had been an angel, and what is so exceptionnel: a smiling one.
The white coffin covered with so many flowers in wreaths and bouquets, the flowers will decay soon lying on the earth, the colours will fade more and more every day.
On our way to the lightrail I saw a small white feather lying in the water of the pond next to leaves that shared the fate of the feather. A sign to notice and keep fresh in mind.

My haiku:

Sisterly lying
Floating in water
A still life almost

And the quote of James Baldwin in The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy:

The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.