How the Sunday was spent

Today the sky was gloomy, as if holding back its tears. I'm glad it didn't rain, though, because we planned to go out. In the morning the four of us went to Heinekenplein for a second-hand book market. It's only within 5 minutes walk from our apartment, but we took Lindri's stroller anyway, because she seemed sleepy already. Dhanu walked and talked all the way.. yappin' with his high-pitched voice, very excited about everything.

But once we got to the book market, Dhanu started to pout and said he wanted to go to the park. Old books are stupid, he said, he prefers library where 'his' books about trucks and tractors are kept. I and Lindri left Sybrand and Dhanu who kept complaining, like a broken audio-tape. We were quite early (shortly after 10:00 when the market was just started), so there weren't too many people. But within half an hour, the situation changed. It was getting difficult to get Lindri's stroller through the crowds, especially those around the 50-cents-each boxes. There was only one kiosk that took my interest, one that sold comics and comics memorabilia. Interesting materials, like Dave Cooper's Weasel #6/ Overbite (but I already have the whole Ripples series in paperback), Seth's Vernacular Drawings, a signed copy of Robert Crumb's The Complete Crumb Comics, Loustal's Insolite (? I'm not sure I remember which, though) and Gaiman-McKean's Black Orchid vol 2 (not signed - but if so, I wouldn't dare asking the price, anyway). The kiosk also sold posters and postcards, Tintin key-covers which costs 7,5 Eur each, pins ranging from 2 to 7 Eur, cloth dolls of Daniel Clowes' Ghost World characters ("Enid" and "Rebecca"), Idefix alarm-clock, Lucky Luke mug, and many other stuff. I ended up buying American Splendor DVD and MAUS CD-ROM (auf Deutsch!), both were still sealed, each costs 10 Eur. So, I'm done shopping today.

Dhanu stopped grumbling after he found a book he liked (and got): a special Donald Duck Christmas book. Sybrand found Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat (nice, with illustrations!) and another book (a rare antique) for his monthly journal. I browsed at another comics kiosk for a while, delightedly shuffling some Storm, Trigan, Canyon Blueberry, Asterix, Michel Valliant, Sjors & Sjimmie and all those childhood albums I know best, but the woman next to me was crowding the space by stacking her selections of Suske & Wiske (she really bought a pile of that series). Anyway, that broke my mood.

Lindri fell asleep in her stroller. We walked to Sarphatipark, granting Dhanu's wish. Passing through Albert Cuyp street, we could see a row of long tables and benches, where some people just had their annual neighbor brunch. At one point of the street, a stage for musical performance has been erected. This time, the brunch was supposedly special, because the Albert Cuyp market is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

In Sarphatipark, we started to walk along the path where dogs are allowed, to avoid the small playground (which could tempt Dhanu), then we crossed the bridge to the part of the park where dogs aren't allowed (but we had passed the playground, thank goodness). Right before we got home, a neighbor from accross the street intercepted us and asked if she was allowed to give some grapes to our kids.
This neighbor, a (perhaps) middle-aged woman, is rather peculiar, but she's always friendly. She gave a bucket of toys when Dhanu was just born, and a couple of dolls when Lindri was born, but everytime we meet, we never exchange more than 10 sentences. She had planted the grapes herself around the front door of her apartment, on top of a very small square of soil. The grapes are purply-blue, and she gave us a bunch of them. Nice.

At home, Lindri was being cranky most of the time, but also happy and content for a while. It turned out that she was actually sleepy all the time, and she went to bed early (at 7 already), right after dinner. During dinner, first she pushed her plate away (already filled with rice and chicken), but holding tight to her fork and spoon. While having that pout on her face. Then she asked for her plate again, ate the rice with lust but scattering the chicken pieces around the table (and ate them afterwards). Then she had this "I'm bored - entertain me!" face again, mixed with her "Attention, please!" expression. I knew that she needed her sleep rightaway. Lindri sleeping early is a luxury for me; therefore I have time to make a journal entry now.

Well that's how we spent our Sunday. I have another deadline next Thursday, and another one the week after. Until then, I hope I can make another entry (I should watch out, by the way, this feels like a symptom of Multiply-addict).

Pictures: illustrations for covers of American Splendor and MAUS CDs