Unvisited for 70 years

Why did she never return?

I strolled a bit on the internet and to be honest I couldn't find the (better: an) answer.  In 2010, at the age of 91, the granddaughter (1919?-2010) of Marthe de Florian died. On the inheritance list an apartment was discovered in Paris. An apartment she left in 1940 - she went to live in the South of France - and never went back there. All those 70 years she faithfully paid the rent. For what?  

In the apartment an unknown Boldini portrait was found of her grandmother. Worth 2.1 million euro. And a lot of love-letters.

What happened?

P.S. Somewhere in the weeks/ months to come I'll puzzle on this.

WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get? Really?

Pssssssssssss

sssssssssssssssssssst

Belly

White tiles. Every time when I enter a small place with white tiles and dimmed light I'm in the belly of fort Douaumont again. For me it's a fact ... I've no idea how associations are formed.

A couple of years ago I went to Verdun, France. To smell and feel this place where so many French and German soldiers died in World War I.

Patton (1885-1945) calls this place in his book 'War As I Knew It' the "folly of defensive warfare". A place where a couple of 100,000 brave men died to maintain something,  "they could have saved much more easily by attacking".

Aerial view of fort Douaumont before and after the battle of Verdun in 1916:

It was strange to stand on the top of the fort and realize that between 1914 and 1918 it was impossible to enjoy the sun and views like I did. It was a killing zone.

Like Sparrows

Look at the sleeping cat. Look at the tiger chasing a gazelle. Look at sparrows fighting about a piece of bread. Look at Sofia who cheats her boyfriend Júlio with Afonso for jewellery, expensive clothes, traveling and luxury dinners. Look at Júlio who wants to kill Afonso at his 60th birthday ... but in the end kills himself and not Afonso.

What distinguishes 'homo sapiens' from the other species on planet Earth? Suicide! Only human beings are able to commit suicide. No other animal ever will.

Last weekend I read Dulce Maria Cardoso's book 'O Chão dos Pardais' (2009). Translated in English its title is 'The Floor of Sparrows'. (Mark that this book can only be read in Portuguese. It's not translated in any other language, yet.) Lovely book. Full of wisdom. Dulce doesn't condemn or judge. She is registering. She records how people's lives evolve. Can evolve. Usually evolve. And could have evolved completely differently by a breeze. An almost-breeze.

This is one of those books you should read yourselves and not some book review. If not, you would not grasp the opening poem and more than 10 "philosophical" quotes which serve as chapter titles.

This book is not about Afonso who cheats his wife Alice with a girlfriend. This time her name is Sofia. It's not about his wife Alice who has many more reasons than Júlio to kill Afonso. But never found a good alibi to actually do it. It's not about their children Manuel and Clara. Nor about migrant, maid Elizaveta who falls in love with lesbian Clara. Nor about Manuel who after many months finally meets his online chat-lover Lilly.

This book is about the cruel art of desert (read: Mother Nature). The cruel art of human beings - the only species that is able to commit suicide - that fight like sparrows on the ground (read: planet Earth) for ...? Money? Beauty? Privileges? Intelligence? Bread? Or ...?

P.S. The blog above presents my interpretation of Dulce's message in her book. It's not my message ;)

Gleich Nach der Liebe

Daddy. Employee. Manager. Lover. Historian. Excel expert. Business intelligence expert. Reader of books. Listener of music. Just a random pick of the things that define me. I'm not any one of those attributes. I'm all of them! All!

Just like you. Just like every 'homo sapien' on planet Earth.

If the above is true, why is it so hard for people to accept that singers want to be a writer too? Or a writer an actor too? Or an actor, a singer? Or a singer, a diplomat, writer, poet, painter, priest, or ... whatever?

Two weeks ago I heard on the radio a discussion about the Dutch actress Carice van Houten. The same discussion was in my newspaper. She recorded a music album 'See You On The Ice'. Her first one. In a way "people" did not accept her as a singer, she was an actress.

How strange! I bought her album and played it a couple of times in my car. I love her music. Listen to 'Broken Shells' and 'Still I Dream of It'. You will like it.

Something that puzzled me for some weeks. 'Was gleich nach der Liebe komt'? It's German for 'That what comes right after Love'? What do you think: what comes right after love?

P.S. I was so happy to read that Carice loves Brazilian singer Marisa Monte. It's the first time that I have heard her name in my country. 

Quite shocked

Blind spots! I've blind spots too :( I thought I knew all there is to know about military aviation (and its history) but Martin van Creveld's book 'The Age of Airpower' (2011) showed me that I have blind spots too.

My three blind spots:

1. Since World War II the countries with nuclear weapons only fight with countries that don't have nukes. All their wars are low scale and are never a real threat of the homeland. And the glory and power of military aviation in Yugoslavia, Irak and Libya? Low scale wars against non-nuclear dwarfs. 

2. When it comes to deciding what is and is not a threat, airpower is often of no use at all. We need (wo)man on the ground who determine who is an enemy and who is not.

3. Military degeneration. The combination of very high quality, small numbers, growing cost and slowing down of technological innovation is a typical sign of military degeneration of jets. Just like the development of ancient Greek warships (centuries BC), full suits of armoured knights (around 1525) and floating steel warships (around 1939). Their tasks are to be overtaken by other "systems": satellites, SSBMs, ICBMs, (cruise) missiles and UAVs.

It's getting colder and colder in my country. The first fields of corn is harvested. It's fall again.

Shortest Poem of World

Access

Admission is free. Only for visitors by prior arrangement by snail- or e-mail. Weeks in advance! I love moguls like these. Good that the treasures of Palacio de Liria - the private home of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba and her family - in Madrid (Spain) are hidden behind walls and weeks. 

For me moguls like this are Chinese Gardens. Remember the blog I wrote on this? It changes our way of breathing. It changes our way of breathing ... once in a while. 

Not directly accessible! How is/ will this be handled by the present generation, our kids? Too much trouble? Waste of energy? Old-fashioned? Not 24/7 proof? Off-line?

I will write an e-mail and after reserving my tickets, I'll book an airplane and hotel. Just the two of us - what else?

Yes I Am From The Netherlands. No ...

More on Dutch:

• How they look at other countries
• Main stream music in The Netherlands