Vulpes vulpes(2)

For this special season I made a linocut. By suprise the fox appeared in it, walking in the snow.
I would like to add a line underneed it, a closing sentence... (read vulpes vulpes)

"... but Fox knew who he was, a friend and faithful guardian, and he continued his course"

May we all, in the new year, be pure and thoroughly who we are, and continu to write and share our stories, our lives, with eachother!

Autumn

Lunch

Instead of having lunch at the shop, which I usually do, I went out. To sit on a bench in the forrest, while listening to some good music (Regina Spektor), and having my lunch box on my lap. A bit chilly today, but defenitely worth the effort.

Beautiful!

The sound of lot's of birds singing invited me to the forest across the road. I am glad I took the time to leave stuff behind to take a moment to enjoy it. So beautiful to hear their songs again and to smell nature. It was that typical bird song and scent of a coming spring!



I made a sound recording but am unfortunately not able to put it on my blog. Such a pitty, the birds were so loud and with so many!

Chased...

It's never safe in the woods...

Leaving the path

Some weeks ago I spent a couple of days in Germany. The sight and smell of the trees and hills invited me to enter their world of beauty. One thing I always do when I go for a walk in an unknown area is to ‘leave the path’, and discover my own… I can’t resist the adventure of entering and discovering the unknown.


One of the books I am reading at the moment is ‘Maps of the imagination: the writer as cartographer’ by Peter Turchi – an inspiring book about mapmaking, creative processes, and the different ways of observing and visualising the real or imaginary world around us. It seems that no matter how many discoveries we make as human beings, we keep on telling ourselves we’ve reached the end of the knowable world. At page 226 its about developments in science and the limitations of current technology.
- The genome map and tools like the Hubble telescope don’t merely allow us to see what we know more clearly; they give us a sense of all we don’t know. “Whenever we couldn’t conceive of what’s out there,” writes Richard Panek, “it was because we didn’t yet understand what the preconceptions might be that were restricting our view.” Which is to say, Seeing is an art which must be learned and relearned.-

While I say “I can’t resist the adventure of entering and discovering the unkown” I realise at the same time that I am terrified to do that with planning my daily life and imagining my future… While being encouraged by some positive experiences, I am also overwhelmed by the limitations and the fear I had with gaining them.
I long to discover new worlds; the possibilities of my life, but to do so I have to encourage myself to leave the path which I restrict myself to...

Sipping sun and beauty on a few summer days

Beautiful summerdays in Brabant, the Southern part of the Netherlands where I grew up. This is a short impression of beauty I enjoyed:
pic 1 - Some hours spend on a sand-drift. Fine sand, little toy cars, a bright sun, a soft breeze and a beautiful and inspiring book (My name is Asjer Lev - Chaim Potok (Thanks for lending it out to me A, only a few pages left...)
pic 2 - I tasted these little blackberries and the flavour made me remember a time about 27 years ago, walking in a forest with my grand mother and enjoying these little berries.
pic 3 - I was surrounded with lots of wild flowers. I wasn't the only one who enjoyed them!

Opening a window

Beside the disappointment of discovering a parking ticket on my window and quit a lot of wind and rain (which actually can be very beautiful), I wandered and sat the biggest chunk of the day in a enchanting utopian world. A very beautiful day with a great friend.





I remember the excitement I had as a child when opening up the little windows on an advent calendar. Every morning I couldn’t wait to open a new one! (this old postcard I bought made me think of that joy as a child)
Some moments in life have a very similar effect. Suddenly I discover little windows all around me...
This day had lot's of little chocolates in it!

Boat trip

Last weekend we went for a little boat trip; my father, my boys and I. What a beautiful day to be on the water. I love the joyfull moment of standing still, feeling the waves playing with the boat, the sun touching my skin and the sound of my children having fun.
They were playing with their little boats - catching gigantic waves. Great fun!





(last picture by Dick Bruna)

The zoo and a special picknick

A couple of weeks ago I visited the zoo with my boys. A great day with a special end; we had a pancake picknick with a number of friends - great friends... with small appetite;-). Pancakes for everyone!! Hmmmmm...

Unfinished projects

I tend to hide my work from the public till it's perfect... Such a pitty! Because most of the time it ends on the pile of unfinished work. I started with this short (unfinished!) story a while ago, but I decided I had to break with the habit.
Hope you enjoy reading, listening and watching this story!


Little bird
Sef decided to close his eyes for a couple of minutes and he took a deep breath. While he was standing on one of the paths in ‘his’ big forest, he felt the warm sun touching his face. He could stand here forever!
Beside the sound of the soft wind blowing through the leaves, he heard an orchestra of birds singing. One of them sang very special. She wasn’t as loud as others but he could hear her very clearly.
Sef could recognise a lot of birds by their song, but he couldn’t identify this one. It sounded a little bit like the song of the Red pimpled green beak, but was much more intriguing. The more he was aware of her voice, the more it stirred his soul. He was tempted to believe that the bird was singing especially for him. It even looked like… hey… he knew that song. Sef kept his eyes closed, slowly took his violin from his back, and while the song of the bird danced through his head, his notes gently joined.
He played note after note, verse after verse. The music played in his head and flew through his fingers and violin into the sky where it melted together with the warm sunlight, the fragrance of the trees and flowers and the enchanting songs of the birds. Everything in the forest danced. He didn’t see it, but he felt it. Everything was spinning around him. And as he opened his eyes, he saw that all his friends had joined him. Bear, Fox, the twin rabbits and all the others. What a beautiful day!

The little things...

When I looked up into the sky I stood still for a couple of seconds. A spring sky and the sound of a little bird came my way. So incredibly beautiful! I almost missed it!

Winter Wonder Land

As promised - some pictures of the walk in the beautiful white winter wonder land. Sometimes it can be extremely hard to be aware of beauty around us, to be aware of the things that colour our daily life. I am so thankful for the moments I can see them and for friends who inspire me to do so. Thank you.

Snow in the forest

Yesterday two of my boys and I had a great time in a beautiful white forest - until we almost got eaten up...


Soon I hope to add some nice pictures too.

Enormous stones, small fish, lot's of fun and beauty

Last week we stayed in a Dutch area called Drenthe to spend our last week of vacation. What a great area. Love the people, the nature, the relational-, old fashioned & relaxed way of living.
Visiting hunebeds, walking through a gnome park (no, the gnomes were fake...), searching through old stuff at markets, some primitive fishing with the boys, reading, baking pancakes, eating them (ofcourse), visiting old friends (after 17 years), enjoying forests and wandering about in a zoo!








Great, great vacation!