Blog @ Work

A flight from Darwin to Cairns. The night markets in Cairns. Check out this video. It’s funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXtiPNse7g

Somebody had a party last night and I slept through the noise. Since I am not so sure about the broken cell phone and the torn blouse I check with my neighbor's daughters. Are they all alright? I hope nobody got hurt. If everybody is accounted for I throw the stuff in the dustbin and keep the blaster. If I want to play detective I try to get some information of the old sim card inside the cell phone (switch it temporarily with mine to see if there is a name or other info available as to who owned the cell phone).

Leanyer Recreation Water Park near Darwin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbVxk1_THfc. A lot of fun for kids and adults. Although I just wanted to swim and lay in the shadows with a good book. It was a relaxing day without traveling much. So we enjoyed our lazy day in the sun and the water.

That’ll be ice-cream. Sweet, cold and sooo tasty, it is melting on your tong. Lots of lovely flavors but I like pistachio the best.

Ofcorse it was about her dog. It was always about her dog. The neighbors complained that her pooch was pooping on their doorstep. But of course that was a lie. She would never let her dog do such a thing. But they didn’t believe her. So she just slammed the door on them for the millionth of times. It was not her problem. Besides…the pooh was too much and too big to come from her Chihuahua anyway. The pooh was bigger than the dog herself. No complaints committee would fine her. They would see that the pooh had to come from another dog. The neighbors were just nuts to accuse her little dog.

Lichtfield National Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOzitldOGZ8. Beautiful statues of trees and awesome waterfalls. We swam and enjoyed ourselves. The views are beautiful. Nature at its finest. I take a tour to Darwin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMYffcIzoM8.

In Dutch mythology and legends, the Witte Wieven (White Wives) are spirits of "wise women" (or else elven beings). The mythology dates back at least to the pre-Christian era (7th century) and was known in the present-day regions of the Netherlands and Belgium and parts of France. In some places they were known as Juffers or Joffers ("ladies"), or as Dames Blanches (White Ladies) in French.

Historically, the Witte Wieven are thought to be wise female herbalists and medicine healers who took care of people's physical and mental ailments. It was said they had the talent for prophecy and looking into the future. They had a high status in the communities, and so when they died ceremonies were held at their grave sites to honor them.

According to mythology, their spirits remained on earth, and they became living spirits (or elven beings) that either helped or hindered people who encountered them. They tended to reside in the burial sites or other sacred places. It was thought that mist on a grave hill was the spirit of the wise woman appearing, and people would bring them offerings and ask for help. (Wikipedia)

I think they are imaginary beings roaming the earth in the mist.

The Forgotten Rose.

As I walked down the street with my dog I noticed a white rose lying on the pavement. It was a beautiful flower with its rosebud just opened. I picked it up and took it inside my home. There I laid it in front of my Buddha statue for luck. It stayed there ever since.

Lake Woods is an ephemeral freshwater lake in the Northern Territory of Australia. It lies on Newcastle Creek close to the small town of Elliott on the Stuart Highway, about halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs. It is important as a breeding site for water birds.

Mataranka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U65BZXfU6to en Bitter Springs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohjHLcNw-j4 . We relax in the water. It is really bush territory. Remote, with a special atmosphere and birds and little wildlife. After hours of driving Pine Creek Railway Resort https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMnrrEFyOU8. There we spend the night.

Sorry, I couldn’t come up with 30 words to use and write a poem about something. So I have to decline for the day.

1. Xmas tree, 2. Presents, 3. Family, 4. Visits, 5. Cold weather, 6. Hopefully snow, 7. Lights, 8. Xmas dinner, 9. Staying indoors where it’s warm, 10. Last week of the year, 11. Star, 12. Decorating.

Anzac Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EouufViARIM Memorial site of the Australian Unknown soldier. I was a bit disappointed, but the view over Alice Springs was great.

Davenport Range National Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf2Wc4Y0Z9g. Great stop at the river, where we could sit down at the creek and poodle in the water.

Tennant Creek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQoox3NyFvQ. An interesting region.

The hotel Bluestone Motor Inn looks great. Another well-deserved night’s rest.

When our hearts are into it, we feel alive and focused and in the moment. It is then that we celebrate joy and can really appreciate the things we do and experience.

Dreams are of the unconscious mind. But I don’t know why Jung thought it to be better to not be responsible for them. I love my dreams because they are so unexpected and bizarre. I would love to take some responsibility and turn dreams into reality, for example by writing about their content.

After a lot of hours driving we arrive at Uluru National Park. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYkn8prZkD4. It’s awesome. We take a lot of pictures and stretch our legs. Then another 6 hours driving to Alice Springs. I try to sleep a little the second part of the trip because it’s very demanding to drive those roads. It’s empty, it’s hot during daytime but we are still enjoying the ride. The hotel in Alice Springs has a pool. Yahoo, Kit of House Lannister , SB Musing , Lyn's a sly fox and Brother Nature all jump in first. The rest dives in after that. The water is lovely and we wash away all that travel dirt. We will sleep like roses that night.

I think it totally depends on what the problem is. If it’s something scientific Einstein may be right, but if it’s something on a personal level you sometimes have to start at the same level to understand what the problem is and then try to go beyond that to solve it.

My local library has not many books. I always have to order them in from other libraries. So I never can just enter the library and come out with the books I want. It always takes at least a week and sometimes more. But I love libraries anyways. Places with that many books are a feast to visit.

We are traveling for 5 ½ hours to Lake Eyre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ljkF8y440c.

I am driving, so my eyes stay focused on the roads but I can hear the travelers in the back having fun and enjoying the trip. We are with two minivans driving behind each other.

Camping out before heading to Alice Springs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNSQAIbNYtg

Busy days on the road and in the outback. Great!

This quote is in the header of my blog for Rising Stars. I love this quote because it reminds me to dare and go beyond my comfort zone in taking part in this program. To actually begin this journey was a huge step for me because I am only 6 months into writing in English now and I am still blown away by how much I love this language and how much it is taking me in my writing process. If I begin something I like to finish it.

Lately there is no inspiring write that I can think of. But in the past months there were a few poems and writes that inspired me so I enlisted them for the Blown Away Contest or put them up for the Quill Awards.

Road trip Adelaide-Port Augusta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4mXSqvggdI. The Botanical Gardens in Port Augusta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dhn7Gpje_A. It’s wide, outdoors and with a great variety of flowers and small animals.

I never have been on a road trip before so this is so much fun being on the road all the time. It gives me a sense of adventure seeing all those busy roads, cities, and people. We are cramped up in the minivan, but we have loads of fun doing silly games along the way. I Spy. “I spy with my little eye, something red.”

I hope Dragon is hiding has a good insurance because there are unlicensed drivers in this group and I wouldn’t want us to cause an accident. I volunteer for driving the next days and I am sure there are more drivers with licenses in the group. Virtual or not, better safe than sorry!

Today it’s the city of Adelaide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf3_U0MLs9A. A lovely combination of old and new. According to Lonely Planet The Art Gallery of South Australia and the Market are a must, so I stroll down there. I watch the SAPPERS & SHRAPNEL: CONTEMPORARY ART AND THE ART OF THE TRENCHES. https://soundcloud.com/artgalleryofsa/artist-talk-rene-kulitja. I listened to this dark, strange and ancient voice of this aboriginal artist and her story. Very intriguing.

I can’t remember any toys from my childhood although there must have been several. All I do remember that I was always reading books as a child. No line of books in particular, just any books I could lie my hands on.

I disagree with this statement. I believe in second, third, fourth and fifth chances. Never rule people out.

Perth Australia, we go by boat on the waters again. Love that, especially with those temperatures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXsdmkHoEo. Great skyline, lots of boats, harbors, big houses and people sitting on shore watching us go by. The lunch on board was great.

But I go for the arts in the afternoon. The Perth Cultural Centre is the location of the city's major arts, cultural and educational institutions, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, State Library of Western Australia, State Records Office, and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia is also located there, and is the home of the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the Perth Theatre Company.

I am marveling on works of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, especially the Portrait Project with works of Ernst Kirchner - Woman in a Hat 1911, Hilda Rix Nicholas - La Robe Chinoise c1913, Howard Taylor - Double Self-Portrait 1959, and Lucien Freud - Naked man with rat 1977-1978. Check them out: http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au/exhibitions/portrait-month-insight-videos.asp

In the evening I meet up with the rest of the group since we are flying to Adelaide. I think the size of Australia is going to astonish me. A lot of traveling ahead.

Most plastics are durable and degrade very slowly. It is very bad for the environment. Recycling is the best option although there are bacteria that eat plastic. The best thing to my opinion is to charge for plastic bottles, that way consumers will turn them in and collect money instead of throwing it away.

I found a new fruit this week. It’s called Kaki (Persimmon) and it looks like a small round orange melon with a star on top. It tastes a bit like melon too. You have to peel it first and eat the juicy fruit.

There's an expression in Australia that's called 'Go Bush,' which means to get out of the city and relax. I try and 'go bush' to places where there's no cell reception. But, I don't get to do that often, so for the most part, it's just a state of mind. Cate Blanchett.

I am thrilled to go down under, to go Bush with 30-Day Blogging Challenge. I have never been to Australia before, so this will be the first time, although it’s a virtual trip. Looking forward to it.

The hotel looks awesome and the seaplane ride is just wonderful to start this trip. Let’s do this.

It’s 31 degrees in Broome (WA). Lovely weather, so I go for a swim in the hotel and do some sleeping, since it’s been a thirty hours trip with two stops in Dubai and Perth. I am exhausted already. For dinner I try to look up my fellow-travelers and say hello.

I am somewhat of a goal setter, but this is too early for me yet. I usually come up with goals at the very end of the year. This year has been special since it is only 6 months on WdC at this very day. I was very excited when I first started this wonderful website, and I still am. This month interludes a very busy period again after having a few weeks of rest, so I am thrilled to be more active again this month. For next year the Rising Stars Program will keep me busy again and I am trying to do some more writing for a thriller I am working on. Also I will try to enlist for a grammar course at New Horizon Academy here on site. On a personal level, I hope my dog will be healthy still for this coming year since he is turning 12 years old in February, quite an oldie. And I hope my family will stay intact after this first year after the death of my father.

My Muse doesn’t like designs; she is the type to get into action without a format upfront. So I try to come up with a plot or an outline for a story, but usually I just start writing and watch the process unfold. I am very much depending on the actions of my Muse so in order to keep her happy and active I just let her roam my thoughts and start writing.

I already did the prompt on Christmas mayhem the 27th, so here goes my last prompt for this month.
My favorite board game is Monopoly. I like the game with all that fake money. It makes me feel rich. I am living alone so I never play the game. Maybe with this coming Xmas we will be able to play it.

I think Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But we as a species in a certain community have learned from each other and from our culture what we find beautiful and attractive and what not. That will differ in different cultures. What they in South Korea for example find attractive and beautiful is totally different from what we in the Western world find beautiful.

I agree, we should be daring in our writing. Everything I write as a static scares me a little. Strangely enough, I have no scare with writing a blog every day, that feels comfortable enough, but writing short stories or poems is somewhat daring to me every time.

I try to keep my household in order, to keep the chaos out. I try to enjoy the little things in life that keep me happy and sane. I enjoy the presence of my dog Arie every day because he makes me smile. Smiling is a great tool to keep positive. When I feel blue I try to keep myself as busy as possible. Sometimes I take a nap during the day when I feel a little worn out. But all in all, I try to lead a positive life and try not to sink into that blue state. Writing is a very important tool to accomplish that.

My camera is in a closed cabinet, so either someone has taken it and used it or my dog has taken the pictures. Or I have taken it myself and can’t remember which is even worse because that means I am a little bit demented. Either way, there is something not right. So I will be aware of anything else out of the ordinary. And act accordingly.

I never think about reaction time in my stories except when it is relevant in the story. In case the action is a clue in the rest of the story I can postpone it or delay it. Other than that it is not in the back of my mind to think about it. I am somewhat slow in my reaction time myself. I used to think first and react later, except when it hits a chord then I react fast and thus too fast sometimes. I think taking a few seconds to digest what’s been said is the best. A fast reaction time is only necessary in fleeing or fighting, those primary reactions in life. Then you have to react first and think later.

I tend to listen to more music CD’s during the holiday period. If it’s cold outside I like to have a cozy atmosphere with my favorite music. Mostly Fado!

I think it has something to do with how strong you are, if you are a tough kind of person. If you have a lot of adversaries in your life you stay intact and go on. I am not a really resilient kind of person. In the long run I am tough alright, but in the short term I may not be.

When it’s summertime I like to lie in the grass and look at the shapes of clouds. You can spot all kind of objects in clouds. It’s fun!

Years ago in my twenties, I already disliked doing the dishes, just like today. When it was Xmas I had a real bad kitchen situation, and there were people coming. I didn’t have time to do the dishes so I hide them in my cupboard. It looked all clean and tidy. I remember having a wonderful time together and the next day I was busy doing the dishes all morning. Nobody noticed!

I love all Xmas trees, themed or traditional. Since I don’t have that much space I have a little tree on a side table. I can choose for silver, red or black since that’s the color of my balls and ornaments. This year I think I go for silver. I like that the most. I have guests for Xmas dinner and a sleepover so we are going to enjoy this traditional Xmas tree.

I think Pascal is partly right on this quote. It is more a vast sphere we sail in than I thought possible when I was younger. In my younger years I thought there was more freedom to navigate and sail to whatever place you wanted, but when I grew older I noticed that a lot of things are fixed and you only can navigate in the margins of the possibilities. Like I never thought that your family and where you came from, your DNA was that important, but it proved to be the borders of my possibilities in Life. I have more space to maneuver than my parents for example, but it is only a fraction more, not the whole world. You are more bound to your biology than I thought possible.

I do think that we are drifting in uncertainty, with one eye to the future and one eye to the past. Freedom is a complex notion, sometimes it is only the thought of freedom that is actually present, and we are more fixed beings than I once thought we were.

I think I disagree with this quote. I do think most people are indeed interested in meaningful exchanges but don’t know how to get those anymore, and forgotten how to behave among others in a friendly and cordially way. Everybody is simply so busy with their own lives, they forget to look around and see other people for what they are. I always try to look people in the eye when passing them on the streets and then I get their hellos or their smiles. But you have to have an open attitude and approach people with an open mind, and then there is more possible than you think. Meaningful exchanges can be short; a simple look with interest, a smile, a few minutes of attention can be very meaningful. Interest and attention can make a huge difference.

To my surprise I have nothing on my liver these days. My economic standard is sufficient; I am no rebellion to the last recession, indeed I give an award to the orthodox rule of living simple. When you don’t have much, you get creative in getting what you want. Don’t spend more than you have!

Since I live in the Netherlands we celebrate St. Nicholas every year with a group of family and friends. We are with approx. 15 people. We draw straws with names two weeks before and make a wish list. It is accustomed to make a surprise package and write a poem for the one we drew. This year I drew my best friend which is nice. I am buying a bamboo salt dispenser and an art calendar for 2017. I attach the salt dispenser on the back of a woolen teddy bear. I already made two poems for her. My sister will be attending this year so I just bought two random gifts for her as well. A paper notebook and a big candle. Next week I will wrap the gifts in special St. Nicholas paper and finish things for Friday the second of December. On my wish list are a book of Paulo Coelho, the Alchemist and a little foldable shopping bag with a spiral print on it.

I always do my shopping throughout the year. I already bought my Xmas presents: two books of Daniella Steel and a set of earrings for my stepmom and two arts coffee mugs for my brother. I only have to wrap them in special Xmas paper and put them underneath the Xmas tree. But first we celebrate St. Nicholas in The Netherlands. After December 5th the official shopping spree for Xmas is beginning here. We never buy expensive gifts, just some niceties for under the tree.

Dearest woman,
Since I saw you imprisoned by my crew, tied up to that pole in the middle of the ship I had some feelings for you. You were so beautifully mad at all of us for capturing you and taking over your ship, your eyes were all fired up and your beautiful bosom was heaving while you threw all those profanities at us. I loved that spirit in you. Your hair all messy and your lipstick smeared because my crew wanted to kiss you, which you refused with wild gestures. So when you behave I will let you go free around my ship and if you want you can share my captain’s quarters with me. Also, my parrot will be at your disposal. Yours sincerely, Captain Hook.

We never celebrate Thanksgiving in The Netherlands, but we do have sort of a Black Friday with the shopping spree for Xmas presents. I never go there on that particular date, too crowded for me. I like my shopping throughout the year, that way I can look and buy in my own time and search for bargains along the year. As a child I don’t have memories about these events. We do celebrate on December 5th our St. Nicholas day, an event for children. You can put out your shoes and St. Nicholas or his Petes will fill them with presents.

There is no special Thanksgiving food. I always prefer if somebody else is cooking for me since I am not that much of a cook myself. Today I am eating simple: steamed potatoes with green beans, sausages and apple compote.

I am not interested in being a cult leader since I don’t like to have this kind of powers, especially when it is just a joke and undeserved. So I would immediately turn in my powers to someone else or a group of people and stand back from it all.

If I were to put
a magic spell on you
I would wish you peace of mind
to bind the days to weeks on end
find what you’re looking for.

Ten things I am grateful for in 2016:
1. Finding WdC in June
2. My health
3. Visiting my sister during Summer
4. Health of my stepmom
5. Health of my brother
6. Health of my sister
7. That my dog Arie is still with me although he is almost 12 now
8. We’ve managed to do alright in first year of my dad’s passing
9. Being chosen for the Rising Stars Program 2016-2017
10. That my Muse has returned this year

I have never celebrated Thanksgiving.