The Red Door – Flash Fiction

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

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In my mailbox I find a note and a key. It seems like gibberish, until I realize it’s a rebus.

Result when seeking?
Your hair?
For ingress?

And a name, Herengracht. One of the canals surrounding De Wallen.

I take a tram to the city center. This might be a wild goose chase.

Suddenly I see a bright red door standing open. I try the key in the mailboxes.
One opens. Another note.

Over your head?

On the roof I find a table set for two.

– I thought you’d always wanted a rooftop apartment, says my lover with a smile.

©RedCat

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The other day I wrote a haibun callen the Dark Stairwell, that would have fitted the image quite well. I played around with the idea of rewriting it from non-fiction to fiction. 

Then after looking at the picture again I ended up wanting to take a memory  trip to one of my favorite cities in the world. Amsterdam. A place that up to the pandemic has been my home away from home. The place I go when I need to get away and recharge. The first place I’ll visit the day traveling is possible again.

Read more about Herengracht and De Wallen on Wikipedia.

Click here to read other stories by me.

Written for this weeks Friday Fictioneers. To read more stories or add your own. Click the frog.

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Night Walks – 6 December (2019 Re-post)

Raad Van Kerken, Amsterdam
© REDCAT

Inspired by Charles Dickens

Some nights are special
The magic lantern is lit
Walking the streets and boroughs
Takes an otherworldly turn
Nightlife eddies and flows
Bright lights shine
Deep shadows rule
Travellers, revellers
Societies invisibles
In the diffuse glow of the lantern
The human worlds most shadowy existences gleam

© REDCAT

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I’m an avid walker and like long rambles trough cities, towns and all manner of nature. For years I had the habit of “getting lost” on purpose. Meaning take as many new and unknown turn as possible towards a known goal. This has lead to many lovely walks, discoveries and inspiration. So I do it as often as I can.

I tend to be a bit like that when reading on the web. The other day I read an article about Charles Dickens and the emergence of modern Christmas celebrations in Britain and elsewhere. I found an exhibit in London to visit, read more about Dickens and his Christmases. And about his habit for rambling night walks. There I found my inspiration in an essay called Night Walks, “based on his moonlit rambles through the capital’s streets”.

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Also posted to OpenLinkNight #257 at dVerse.

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1 December – Advent Calendar 2020
Waiting a Long December Night – 2 December 2020
Glow – 3 December (2019 Re-Post)
Birth Echoes Through Time – 4 December
Golden Dawn Of A New Year – 5 December
Night Walks – 6 December (2019 Re-post)
Spirit of the season – 7 December (2019 Re-post)
Searching For A Way – 8 December
Surrender Sky-clad to the Moon – 9 December
Tomten Wonders – A Golden Shovel Poem Inspired by Viktor Rydberg, 10 December
Midwinter Love – A Landay Poem, 11 December (2019 Re-post)
Cold Moon – 12 December (2019 Re-post)
Saint Lucia – 13 December (2019 Re-post)
Inglenook Dreams – 14 December
Dark moon of the crone – 15 December (2019 Re-post)
Gothic Christmas Carol – 16 December
Love Me, Accept Me, Hold Me – Affirmation poem, 17 December
Mnemosyne visits – 18 December (2019 Re-post)
Yule Angst – A Villanelle Song by Kmt47 feat RedCat, 19 December
Girl Blue – A Love Song, 20 December
Solstice prayer – 21 December (2019 Re-post)
Longing by the Moon – 22 December
Moon Madness – A Acrostic Poem, 23 December
Gift Rhymes – 24 December (2019 Re-post)

Beloved Bookstore

Foto: Melissa A. Barton

My favorite place
Browsing for hours space
Ink filled shelf maze

Along Old Town’s busiest street
Fantasy and Science Fiction meet
Wild dreams with care treat

Rows upon rows of books
Customers in all manner of looks
Geeks and nerds in every nook

Kind magic filled atmosphere
All welcome however queer
There whenever the world feels to severe

My favorite store
Filled to the rafters with strange lore
Lets inspired creativity soar

© REDCAT

Foto: Melissa A. Barton

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My second poem for Global Poetry Writing Month, inspired by today’s prompt. To write a poem about a specific place – a particular house or store or school or office. So I choose my favorite store in Stockholm. Which also happens to be one of the best places I ever worked.

Also linking to OpenLinkNight #263 at dVerse.

Foto: Melissa A. Barton

GloPoWriMo 2020

DAY 1 – Build a New Start
DAY 2 – Beloved Bookstore
DAY 3 – Sunshine and Hail
DAY 4 – Isolation Dating
DAY 5 –Staring out a Windowpane
DAY 6 – Casanova Comes Closer
DAY 7 – Swirling Colors of my Mind
DAY 8 – White – Red – Black
DAY 9 – Different World After
DAY 10 – Spring Hay(na)ku
DAY 11 – Love – Hay(na)ku
DAY 12 – Make Art – Triolet inspired
by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell
DAY 13 – What did you think would happen
to a child left on my doorstep?
DAY 14 – Ballad of the Lost Poet
DAY 15 – Writer’s class – Hay(na)ku
DAY 16 – What is a Nomad without a Tribe?
DAY 17 – Pale Spring, Here Again, Nature Awake
DAY 18 – Spring Day in the Garden
DAY 19 – Close Couplets
DAY 20 – Lost in Love’s First Flush
DAY 21 – She Tasted Like Memory
DAY 22 – Struggling Mind
DAY 23 – Written in the book of dust
DAY 24 – At the end of every week, Friday-Cozy!
DAY 25 – Slip, Crack, Shatter
DAY 26 – Humans Really Don’t Know
DAY 27 – April Rain
DAY 28 – Greeting the Watch Horse
DAY 29 – Letter of Hope
DAY 30 – Witches Walpurgis Night Preparation

Foto: Melissa A. Barton

Night Walks – Inspired by Charles Dickens

Raad Van Kerken, Amsterdam
© REDCAT

Some nights are special
The magic lantern is lit
Walking the streets and boroughs
Takes an otherworldly turn
Nightlife eddies and flows
Bright lights shine
Deep shadows rule
Travellers, revellers
Societies invisibles
In the diffuse glow of the lantern
The human worlds most shadowy existences gleam

© REDCAT

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I’m an avid walker and like long rambles trough cities, towns and all manner of nature. For years I had the habit of “getting lost” on purpose. Meaning take as many new and unknown turn as possible towards a known goal. This has lead to many lovely walks, discoveries and inspiration. So I do it as often as I can.

I tend to be a bit like that when reading on the web. The other day I read an article about Charles Dickens and the emergence of modern Christmas celebrations in Britain and elsewhere. I found an exhibit in London to visit, read more about Dickens and his Christmases. And about his habit for rambling night walks. There I found my inspiration in an essay called Night Walks, “based on his moonlit rambles through the capital’s streets”.

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Also posted to OpenLinkNight #257 at dVerse.

Weekend special – Stockholm staycation

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• 

• 

As you might have guessed by Fridays post. It was adventure time.
Playing tourists in our own town. Not wasting time on travel.
Mr Delight had booked a favorite hotel for two nights.
Tickets for Richie Hawtin at Berns secured months ago.
An interesting bar in old town to visit.
Mattias Dahlgren restaurant Rutabaga, finally.
Sleeping late, rambling trough town, letting our fancy steer.
No news, no screens, no social media.
Talking, being together, reconnecting, sharing.
Still, the future is never an easy subject.
So make time and space for those conversations. Regularly!

A weekend well spent. That left me with reviews to write, photos to sort trough, a list of ideas for future posts (or other writing projects).

So here’s a first taste of what to do on weekend in Stockholm.

Reviews:
Berns
Pharmarium

Weekend special – Richie Hawtin at Berns, Stockholm

Berns is a historical building in the heart of Stockholm. It was once the space for dashing bachelors in the late nineteenth hundreds. Two of August Strindberg‘s books are named after salons here.

Today it’s a hotel, restaurant and nightclub. I’ve been here more times than I can count. Graduation dinner in one of the private rooms, dinner at Berns Asiatiska, afternoon tea. And lots, and lots of times for music and dancing.
I love the big hall, with big crystal chandeliers and a real wooden floor. There is few better floor for dancing a night in this town.

So when it was released that the legend Richie Hawtin where going to be playing in town for the first time in eleven years, tickets had to be bought.
Last time I had a chance to dance to this genius, was eight years ago, in Sitges, Spain, with the Mediterranean sea just a stone-trow away.
The place was packed, both in the basement and the big hall. Standing near the front was no idea if you’re like me.

I go out to DANCE!!!

So I did what I always do. I found a spot with booth ok sound and enough space to dance my heart out. Mr Hawtin of course made that really easy. ;-)

Weekend special – Pharmarium, Stockholm review

Pharmarium is the cocktail bar for decadent drinks and good snacks. Located at Stortorget where Sweden’s first apothecary opened in 1575. With inspiration from the antique apothecary we create interesting tastes with dubitable ingredients and a big scoop of fantasy.

(Translated by me from their homepage.)

Since I write reviews as a Local Guide, Google Maps is getting scary good at giving recommendations. So I found Pharmarium in Stockholm old town. We booked a table and went there before going dancing.

The place was bigger then I expected, but book a table, it seemed popular. Both with groups hanging out and couples dating.
We got seated in a very cosy area. But I have to say, I would rather sit a little less cosy if it means the waitresses didn’t have to squat to talk to costumers or serve drinks.

The cocktail list took a while to peruse. It was a busy night, and the service was kind of slow. But eventually…

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  Pillowcase Cocktail
  &
  Champagne in the Membrane

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  The Night Howler

I’m not one for sweet drinks, and that champagne cocktail was way too sweet. Dr feelgood however, my second cocktail was really good, ginger often is. ;-)

Mr Delight and others where all intrigued by a smoky drink. But really, it just tasted like a birch fire smells. And yet smokey flavored things pop up all over the place.