Monday, December 28, 2009

Closing the Year 2009




I never could have thought that I would ever start a blog, and now here I am – closing my first blogging year.
It's not only the closure of a year, but also the closure of an era in my life.
Now it's already 105 days ago since Pipke died, and I still can't cope with her loss.
There hasn't been one day or one hour that she wasn't in my mind.
It comforts me, that I still can write about her, it's in fact a flight from reality. I'm really afraid that I'm going to fall in a deep hole when her story is finished.
It really would be a support for me, to know that there are people reading her story.
At the moment I'm still working on it, and it still keeps on growing, so it will take some time before I'm going to publish it.
I'd hope you have patience with me.
For new readers and the people who haven't followed my blog from the start, here follows the year overview of 2009.
Maybe there are things that can interest you.
January.
Two posts: just try-outs, in fact of no importance. I'm trying to find out how blogging works.

February.
Post: Oei .. oei .. ai .. ai .. plop! I laid my egg. Here I explain how it came that I started to blog and I also show here Pipke's first picture. I also tell here how she started her life, that I found her in an abandoned nest at the moment she cracked her egg-shell.
Post: Through the Eye of the Needle. Not such a cheerful way to start a blog. We feared to loose Pipke, we were glad that she pulled through.

March.
Post: No Good News: Pipke became ill again.
Post: Time for a Funny note. A funny strip about the situation here in my household. I advise you to read this, very funny!
Post: Changing Plans. Here I say: I think for an outsider ...it would be very boring if I would “only” talk about Pipke! So I decided to talk also about other subjects because some variation is always good!

April.
Post: Needle Work from the Past. Here I show you a little tablecloth in cross-stitch that I once made when I was only sixteen.
Post: Conversation at the Breakfast Table. Only a conversation that shows how men often think about women.
Post: Easter … Last Year. Then I found a injured Jackdaw.
Post: Will you be my Running Mate? Here I show you my running circuit.

May.
Post: Sense, Sensitivity and Insensitivity. Here I talk about cruel people, with no feelings at all. We could save a Blackbird and a Thrush.
Post: A Wish Fulfilled. Pipke's 14th birthday with several pictures.

June.
Post: About Blah... Blah...Blah! About why we are all blogging.
Post: Photography: a New Challenge for Me. Here I talk about my father ( a press photographer) and how I assisted him in the dark room. I also show you a few pictures that I made of my former running circuit on the Belgian countryside.
Post: Warning: Indecent Exposure! If you are curious, look at it.

July.
Post: America .. here we Were! July the 4th, 30 years ago we were at this place in America. In the future I will talk about this trip.
Post:. Me and the Translater. The translator deceived me. It went about a “scheet in een fles”. Literally translated into English: A fart in a bottle !:):) The English proverb for this is: "to make a mountain out of a molehill". Just read it. The comments that followed on this post, were an example of two naughty grannies.

August.
Post: Greetings from Belgium. Here's only someone waving at you on a sunshiny day.
Post: Our Garden … Pipke's little world. Here I show you our garden and Pipke's pen. Here I placed a picture of Pipke, not knowing that this would become her last picture, before she went ill for the very last time.
Post: Motherhood Fundamentalism! This Is a post intended to “all” mothers.

September.
Post: Sleep Soft Pipke. Her obituary.
Post: Pipke's Very Last Fight. This needs no explanation.

October.
Post: Finally. I received the book: Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien. I recommend you to read this wonderful life and love story of an owl..
Post: Pipke's Very Last Journey. About her cremation.
Post: The Days After. That speaks for itself.
Post: True Love! Film pictures. Here I show you how we cuddled.
Post: Paranoia? About problems that I had with my computer.

November.
Post: Our Little Sunshine. Beautiful film pictures of Pipke, I called this: “Dejeuner sur l'herbe” after the painting of E. Manet.
Post: RESPECT in a Funny Matter. A YouTube film about a funny Dutch song. I tried to translate it for you.
Post: Our Assistant Gardener. Film pictures of Pipke while she assisted my hubby to mow the lawn.

December.
Post: Closing the Year 2009. An overview of my first blogging year.
The closure of the most important era in my life – I only wished that I could turn back the clock!


I'd hope that this post will guide you through my blog, and I thank you for posting a comment , being a follower or only just for being a reader.
I'd appreciate it very much that you've visited my blog.
Till soon.

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Monday, December 7, 2009

What's Sitting in my Christmas Stockings?





There we go again!

Santa Claus is coming, and we all have to go through the New Year's hullabaloo!

Many of you will be already joyful with only the outlook too it, but I am not.

It doesn't make me glad!

I'm one of these people who will be glad that it's all over very soon.


Please, don't understand me wrong. I'm judging nobody! Everyone is free to do what he prefers to do and to make his own choices.

Remember the lyrics of that Dutch song: *Respect, in my earlier post: Respect on a funny manner, “so many people – so many differences”!

If you've missed it, than I advise you to listen to it. (*see blog list November.)


But, maybe I'm getting old …. although, here in Belgium there are also many younger people who do think the same as I do.


Why: because it became all too excessive.

It can't be enough, there's too much of everything.

And while we possess plenty, there are so many people in the world who have nothing.


Therefor, this year I've decided to buy no longer presents to enlarge the garbage dumb.

The heap is already high enough!

There's yet an other reason: sometimes you bought something with the best intention but sometimes it can be that the person who receives it is not pleased with it, of course – we all don't have the same taste!


To prevent also this, from now on: enough fragrances and soaps, no more stupid gadgets which are never going to be used.


What is there then going to sit in my Christmas stockings?

These are the presents that I've bought:


1. A set of cooking pans: oh, oh, I hope my stocking will be large enough.

2. A little goat: oei, oei... for this I even need a larger stocking!

3. This is going to be a real problem, maybe this is a little too large for my stocking: a toilet and a washbasin!

And at last:

4. A fishing net: I hope my stocking will be very elastic!


I can imagine that you are now all thinking: “about what is she gibbering now”?


No, no ... I am not joking, I am serious, I am talking about: OXFAM


I am going to donate these presents to people who can use some help and who will be extremely happy with it.

For them, these presents can change their lives completely, and I am going to have a good feeling to know this.


I'd hope that the goat will have a long and beautiful life and that she will give a lot of milk to feed the young children – that the cooking pans may contain many healthy and tasteful good meals –

that the toilets may flush many times and that the washbasin will receive plentiful fresh water.

I also hope that the fishing nets may encounter many fish, although ... for the fish … this will be a less pleasurable experience.


If you have no idea what to buy as Christmas presents, maybe this can inspire you, also you can bring a change in the life of someone less fortunate!


My hubby and me, we are going to have a subdued Christmas and New Year's time, unpretentious – without overloaded stomachs or artificial cheerfulness. We are not yet in the mood to be cheerful, but – the knowledge that the money we've spend on “our” presents wasn't wasted – will cheer us up a little.


Enjoy your Christmas and New Year's time, on your own way!

Have fun, sincere fun – and don't get an overloaded stomach!:)


PS: “Santa Claus” is in fact something that we don't know here in my country, but we have a: “Sinter Klaas” (that's a kind of Santa Claus).

He visits the children on December 6. His helper is called: “*Zwarte Piet”, he always carries with him a large jute sack, and if the children have been naughty – as punishment – *he puts them in the sack! :)









This is an action of Oxfam that runs here in my country: I don't know if the same action runs also abroad.

You can choose among several presents which variates in prices, it starts already from 5 euro.

The most expensive presents are: a cow 146 euro (or 219 dollar), and a beehive, 150 euro (or 225 dollar).

Till soon.


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