We are not in April yet, but the showers are definitely here arm in arm with March winds. When I first moved here I let the weather dictate my day, and that meant I stayed in A LOT. A year on and I have adapted a more local approach, which is to just get on with it, rain or shine. I am not sure my little guy appreciates this attitude as the wind and rain whip at his face on the back of the bike…but he does know the words rain, raining, wind, windy, sleet, raincoats, rains pants, rain boots, wet, puddles etc..etc.. so I guess it’s good for his vocabulary.

Yesterday, as he woke form his nap, I heard him shouting form the top of the stairs “Sun, come out!” in a very firm voice. The voice you mother might use when you were really in trouble… you know, when she called you by your full first name, all your middle names and your last name. He ran into my bedroom pulled the curtains open and again yelled at the sky ” Sun, come out”. I of course used this as an opportunity to sing “the sun will come out tomorrow” but he looked at me shook his head and said ” nee singing” so that was the end of that.

Down the stairs, two peanut butter toasts and a cup of tea later and guess who made a grand entrance and then lingered around to make everything more beautiful? There is something about the sun here and the way it cracks open the sky. It reminds me of the Leanard Cohen lyric, “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”.

Maybe we should all start shouting what we want from the top of the stairs.

Written by Riley Salyards.
Photographs by Riley Salyards.

Dear Winter,
I am grumpy when I have to wake up in the morning and it is still dark out. I’m grumpy when I have to ride my son to school in the rain and I’m not ashamed to tell you I curse you under my breath when I ride. Here in Amsterdam you feel long and the days feel so short, a person could spend a lot of time being grumpy…Or they could take their camera, carefully sheltered from your never ending rain and wait. Wait, as the rain gives way to mist, as branches slowly reveal themselves and light begins to bounce from the water.

One of my two year old’s favorite sayings is “more light please”. Perhaps he means his rabbit nightlight, or the kitchen light, he could mean the headlights on his favorite truck. I always think he’s talking to you, asking for a personal favor, as if light were a lolly pop he justs wants a few more licks of. Now here we are in the middle of march and you have answered our call. This morning our ride to school was in full daylight and the ride home will be as well. We searched out all the new trees that had burst into green, saw the crocus poking up through tree trunks and wore raincoats instead of heavy winter ones.

It seems, Dear winter, that you are in retreat. Before you go I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for your stark beautiful trees against a white sky, thank you for your flocks of birds and dusky shades of grey. Thank you for ushering in the spring slowly so we can savour it and thank you for cultivating a great appreciation for the light.

written by riley salyards.
photographs by riley salyards.

I relocated to Amsterdam from New York about the same time Pia moved here from Paris. I discovered her beautiful blog one afternoon just as she began the my heart wanders project. Like many of you, Pia’s blog has become a habit, a place I visit for a dose of beautiful, calm inspiration. I feel honored to be invited into the guest quarters. Thank you Pia, for giving me the opportunity to share my life and work with your wonderful readers. I look forward to showing bits of inspiration and some new creations with all of you.