Lost passions

Lupius and Stella in front of bookshop 't Ramschat in Dordrecht, a place where slightly damaged books are sold cheaply. One of the things the three of us shared was a passion for books and a passion for reading. Stella and I also shared a passion for poetry. The photo must have been taken shortly before Lupius would retire from his job in Utrecht to start writing the book he'd been talking about for years. Spring 2007, I guess. Stella had already written most of the poems that would be published in her book Eindeloze nachten/ατελείωτες νύχτες (Unending nights) that was published by Liverse in Dutch and by University Studio Press in Greek in 2008, shortly after she died. Lupius died early 2010 without finishing his book. 

Costa d' Oro

Saturday, September 8, 2007. The three of us went for a drink at Visser's, as we usually do on Saturdays. My good friend Thijs, my cousin Brian, over from England for a short holiday, and me. At around half past seven Stella came round to pick us up for a meal at Costa d' Oro the Italian restaurant in Dordrecht. The photo is one of the many taken over the years from the very first days of the restaurant. During the seventies and well into the eighties the founder, Giovanni Balistreri, was running the business. He died much too young. His portrait is on the wall, a man in his forties though at the time we used to call him 'good old Balistreri.' We were all secretly in love with his eldest daughter Rosa, who runs the business now. Poet Jan Eijkelboom was a regular with his wife and children. Poet Peter M. v.d. Linden worked as a chef for a while. He published a poem about it in the liber amicorum presented to Jan Eijkelboom on his eightieth birthday. The photo was taken at the last evening ever Stella was in Costa d' Oro. Two weeks later the cancer of which she would die on Boxing Day that year manifested itself.