De les van de hommel

Eindelijk is het zomer in Nederland en het is niet warm maar heet. Ik vind het heerlijk en heb zelfs mijn orchideen naar buiten gebracht om hiervan te genieten. Spelende met mijn plantjes hoor ik het zoemen van de hommel die ik nu onderhand wel een huisdier kan noemen. Ze werkt en zoemt de hele dag dat het een lieve lust is. Ik herinner me het gesprek gisteren met twee vrouwen die zich beklagen over het weer want bij deze hitte kun je toch niets doen?
Wij mensen voelen ons zo verheven boven dieren maar deze hommel heeft mij vandaag een lesje geleerd. Vanaf 8 uur vanmorgen tot bijna 9 uur vanavond heeft die hommel ononderbroken gewerkt, zonder zich te storen aan de hitte.  Zacht zoemend vloog ze van bloem naar bloem en zorgde voor haar voedsel.

Alsof ze tegen me wilde zeggen: doe je ding, ongeacht het weer of de omstandigheden. Dus ging ik ook maar zacht zoemend aan het werk en maakte heel veel kleine steekjes.

en toen het avond werd, werd het stil in de tuin. De hommel en ik waren tevreden.

This is a rather long story about a bumblebee who taught me a lesson about never stop working.......even if its very hot.

Wandeling in Helden

Ik ben dan wel niet in dit dorp geboren maar in een nog kleiner dorpje vlakbij opgegroeid en vandaag was ik er even terug.
Het was een sprookjesachtige dag vandaag. We wandelden en kregen uitleg over eetbare wilde planten.
I was not born in this village but in an even smaller place nearby

Anneke Bleeker is zeer deskundig en ik was blij van haar te kunnen leren.
Anneke was  our very professional guide, she told us a lot about edible plants

Een mooie en interessante wandeling met sympathieke mensen..........zulke dagen mogen er meer zijn.
You may call me romantic but i could not stop thinking about times long ago....when i was playing there and days where endless and sunny. There where flowers...and friends...and animals and sunshine...........Well, yes, i feel romantic today!

Summer solstice

Zo zag de hemel er vandaag in Limburg uit op de langste dag van het jaar, en tevens ook onze zussendag....heel speciaal ! Blauwer als we hadden kunnen hopen in deze turbulente tijd. 

Summer solstice, this is how heaven looked on the longest day in Limburg while we celebrated our sistersday

Kilometers hebben we gefietst door bossen en langs de maas en we konden genieten van heel veel schoons
We made a very long tour trough woods and along the river Maas. 

ondanks dat dit image 4711 is kan ik het niet ruiken maar er wel van genieten want dit werk van onze oud stadsdichter Herman Verweij is mooi! We've seen lots of beauties.........work of our poet of the year Herman Verweij.

Mijn jongste zus had deze foto meegenomen die op alle tafels waar we vertoefden een plekje vond en dus waren we weer met z'n vijven vandaag.........
Ursula my joungest sis took a foto of Kiky with her so today we were five again.....

en als laatste werd het buikje gevoed. Ik ben intens dankbaar voor deze mooie dag!
And then we had to feed ourselves and loved it................thankful for a beautiful day!

Fairytale land

A dear friend who came over from Israel said: Holland is a fairytale land....well, its green yes, because we had that much rain.  Nederland een sprookjesland?

Meet Katrina.........she feels very much at home on the farm, just as i did but, we came to dye  and not only for beautiful nature and to play with animals.

Dyeing between plants...........he made it possible for us!

This is how its done............

One minute longer!

This is proof that i worked, i overdyed it one more time but already like it. Finished top is seen on the 3e foto.

All about love..........

This is my dearest friend  Tressy and her husband on their  happiest day. I was there to wittness but want to tell a little bit more.
Two days before the wedding we gathered with some friends from allover the world to play with her..... here are some pics from the henparty.....

 we painted a cloak for her to remember this night...and her friends...and .........everything that may not be forgotten.......

here she is....the beauty who lives in both/all worlds and translates so all people can understand......

here she drives to her wedding in her grandfathers carriage.......

wearing doc Martens under her silken dress........

and all the women around her, who love her and know her say yes...........this is good!

and i can only wish her one thing: not one day without love..............
cannot wish you more.......

Hope

This is a view from the backside of my atelier from last week. I felt kind of hopeless but meanwhile this has changed. There are tiny green leaves on the bushes now and i found this poem at Mo's blog........

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all”

first verse of Hope by Emily Dickinson

Ithaka

Because i love this poem so much............

As you set out for Ithaka hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you. Hope the voyage is a long one. May there be many a summer morning when, with what pleasure, what joy, you come into harbors seen for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kind— as many sensual perfumes as you can; and may you visit many Egyptian cities to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars. Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you are destined for. But do not hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you are old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you would not have set out. She has nothing left to give you now. And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard

(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992)

- Original Greek Poem