Take a Walk

I am planning a trip to the Egyptian Desert #february2014. Curious how it is to sleep in the desert and watch stars at night. Looking for graffiti and archaeological remains. Sun. Sand. Rocks. Lack of water. Travel light and basic.

But first I will walk the Four Days Marches #Nijmegen #NL in July: 4 times 50 km. Get in shape again!

Next weekend I'll start training for the Four Day Marches. You know ... I love walking. 

Fantastig

You should learn Dutch! If it is not for me, do it for this song 'Fantastig Toch' from Eva de Roovere. I translated it for you in English :)

Eva sings in Belgian Dutch. The Dutch language spoken in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium.

Translation notes:

Note 1. 'Fantastig toch' is translated in 'Fantastique anyway'. In correct Dutch the sentence should read 'Fantastisch toch' and its translation 'Fantastic anyway'.

Note 2. 'Want jij is lastig' is translated in 'Cause you is difficult'. In correct Dutch the sentence should read 'Want jij bent lastig' and its translation 'Cause you are difficult'.

Note 3. 'Jouw kussen zacht' is translated in 'Your kisses soft'. I translated 'kussen' in 'kisses'. A 'pillow' is in Dutch a 'kussen' too. Both translations are possible for this song. I prefer the kisses ;)

As the River Reaches

Ladino. Not ladin. It's the Judaeo-Spanish language spoken by 95,000 (estimated) native speakers. In a way it's the (partly) frozen Jewish language the Jews took with them after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. 

I discovered this little treasure - in history connected to a lot of grief - only a few weeks ago via Yasmin Levy's CD 'Sentir'.

Listen to this lovely song 'Nos Llego el Final'. "We reached the end. As the river reaches the calm seas." 

Isn't it lovely?

But I'll

My kids complain about the lack of "free time" for themselves. Time for watching TV, behind computer, playing games. Time to play with their friends "outside" the house "somewhere" in the little village we live in. I did not tell them yet how life was when their grandpa was young. But I'll ;)

Last Sunday I interviewed - for a historical newsletter - an eighty-eight year old woman about her life. Between 1937 and 1944 she went to boarding school. Her days were stuffed with prayers, lessons and study. Never alone. Always nuns looking after them. Even the letters she wrote to her parents and her parents letters to her were screened!

I understand how it worked more than seventy years ago. At the same time it feels strange and so different from our time and age. Respect for priests, teachers and authorities in general disappeared. The hot tub, the scourge and the safe-haven of the doctrine of Christ has disappeared. Disappeared in my country. In my family. For my kids.

My kids aren't looking for Christ or God. They want "freedom". I didn't tell them yet that nothing comes for free. But I'll.

Needle

On the radio someone said "like a needle in a haystack". I want to share with you 3 minutes of my stream of consciousness while driving home Monday evening.

First minute. Needle in a haystack. Difficult to find? Manlike problem solving: set the haystack on fire. After the fire use a magnet or metal detector to pick up the needle.

30 secs later. Bashar Hafez al-Assad (1960- ?soon?) difficult to find in Syria? I am convinced that "they" know where he is but it's not the right time to kill him. First his army has to be defeated some more. Much more blood has to be to shed! If not, Assad's group will not be convinced that they "lost" the war. His regime can't be beaten by just killing Bashar. 

10 secs later. Are Assad and his wife Asma (1975-?soon?) still having a jolly good time sharing music? By now they must be afraid of their - and their 3 children's - asses. Do they realize that their fashionable life with kings and heads of state is forever gone?

Last minute. "They" follow Assad and their main targets with drones. Next to spies on the ground. I wonder if drones carry a transponder or another airborne collision avoidance system. If not, it's a matter of time before people get killed by "unknown flying objects". Better: for them unknown flying objects not sending identification signals.

Last 5 secs. Flying in a glider. Feeling like a king in the blue sky. Just enjoy flying ... and out of the blue you collide with a drone. Killed by a drone ... for heaven-sake.

And You Can't Buy Them With Money

And Died no Mar

A lovely poema from Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980):

Source: here

And next to that - I could not have said it better - a quote from Vinicius' poem 'Procura-Se Um Amigo':

"(...) it's enough to be human, it's enough to have sentiment, it's enough to have heart. You have to know how to speak or be quiet, more than anything you have to know how to listen. You have to like poetry, dawn, a bird, the sun, the moon, the song of the winds and the music of the breeze. You must have love, a great love for somebody, or feel a void of not having that love. You must love your neighbor and respect the pain the passer-by carries with him. You must keep a secret without sacrificing."

Prince Beer

At the end of April this year, The Netherlands will have a King. For the first time since 1890. Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange will be named 'King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands'.

Did you know that his nickname is 'Prince Beer' (in Dutch 'Prins Pils')? In the past he used to drink beer in public and smoke cigarettes. A lot. What kind of King will he be? He will survive. Although, at the same time I'm convinced that, being (better: playing) a King will be though for him. His main constraint is - next to the fact that his wife Máxima is much more popular than he or his mum Beatrix - that he wants to be taken serious. On his opinions. On his cleverness and sensitivity. On his public tasks as King. On his dreams. On every step he takes privately. He wants to be taken serious as an individual on what is, in essence, irrational: inherit a Kingdom by birth.

Did you know that one of his family-members, John Maurice of Nassau (1604-1679) ruled as governor over a part of Brazil? Between 1630 and 1654 we Dutch ruled over Dutch Brazil or New Holland. Our main interest was wood and sugar. This colony never became a success because no-one (better: hardly anyone) wanted to live there. A part of Recife, Cidade Maurícia (in Dutch 'Mauritsstad'), was named after him.

Did you know that one of his family-members lived in 'Kasteel van Wijchen'? Countess Emilia of Nassau (1569-1929) lived there with her husband Manuel of Portugal (c. 1568-1638). I got married in the house that once was theirs.

P.S. More details on the King's family tree: here.
P.P.S. Last weekend I finished Tom Wolfe's book 'The Right Stuff' (1979). What a lovely and interesting book #mustread on test pilots after World War II and on the first astronauts. Those who had the right stuff for being in control of an air- or spacecraft.

The Fox, Grapes and a Ladder

This week I found out that the story of 'The Fox and the Grapes' is based on a Greek original. It belongs to Aesop's (around 620 and 560 BC) collection of fables.

The 'original' story reads:

"Driven by hunger, a fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on the vine but was unable to, although he leaped with all his strength. As he went away, the fox remarked, 'Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I don't need any sour grapes.' People who speak disparagingly of things that they cannot attain would do well to apply this story to themselves."

A more detailed version:

One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour." Moral: It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

Why am I telling you this? Sometimes I think it's this kind of rationalisation people (most of them?) use when they say "Being Rich makes you Unhappy". They don't want Sour Grapes. They don't want Being Unhappy.

The Fox could have used a ladder to get up to the grapes. What "ladder" do people need that are Not Rich?

24

There are more books about Napoleon than someone can read in one life. That's what I learned at high school during the history lesson.

My son S. asked this week: "Why do you read so much?" My answer: I love to learn new things on subjects I am not familiar with. I am very curious. I like to visit unknown corners of people, countries or periods. It makes life shine.

I was not always like that. When I was 17, I was bored with books and knowledge in general. It all made no sense to me. But in retrospect that boredom lasted one or two years. Before and after that I just read what I wanted to read.

I am addicted to books. Addicted to the point of views that each book brings. Reading makes me humble.

I must have read thousands of books. Most books I only read once. Some, I read twice. There is only one book I never succeed to finish: A. Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'. I started it three times. All three times stopping at 2/3 ... what a bore.

Oek de Jong's 'Cirkel in het gras' did I read four (or more?) times. Gavin Maxwell's 'Ring of Bright Water' four or five times. His 'The House of Elrig' three times. There is only one book I keep on reading every few years: Jean Grenier's 'Islands'. I guess I read it 41 times!

How many books did you read from this Great Books list? I have only read 24 of the 100 listed.