The Measure of a Man... and a Woman and the wall...

Dad "seriously Danielle, do you really need to travel this much? Can't we forget about a few of the places you've been?"
Mom "It's not quite straight yet hon... gotta put that nail in a little farther..."
"If you do it this way, you have to measure from this point and then this will not match up and this will hang crooked..."
So, a while back, i was inspired by a design magazine and my own pictures, to create a photo travel wall. Initially i wasn't really sure how to go about this project. I have traveled quite a bit and my idea was to choose one picture, iconic or simply reminiscent of each country in which i had travelled. I ran into difficulties on several accounts. Number one, sometimes, i didn't really have one great picture of the country - for instance Switzerland, crazily enough, despite the Alps and men in lederhosen, i didn't manage to get a really memorable shot - what to do - did i just pretend not to have been there? Number two, some countries had yielded a variety of wonderful shots, how would i choose just ONE to go on the wall? Italy for instance yielded a plethora of great pictures - i ended up ironically choosing one that could really have been anywhere! Number three, places like Canada and the U.S.A. are so huge, that one picture to encompass the great vastness would be near impossible - so i allowed provinces and states to have their own images. So, not total consistency but i tried to stick to some rules.
I eventually chose all the images, had them developed, bought frames, installed the pictures and was ready to hang them up when i ground to a complete halt with the knowledge that this was far beyond my abilities - being completely illogical when it comes to planning things out. It was time to call in the pros! The pros were Mom and Dad, who worked together well as a team in this complicated venture - surprisingly enjoying even a few laughs along the way! I thought i'd caption the pictures using "their" thoughts...

Okay, i've measured from the top and it's 45.5 cm and from the side, it's 76.2 cm and the nail needs to go right at 34.1...
Mom and I spent a long time figuring out even how to lay out the pictures.. it was a bit confusing with balancing out horizontal and vertical pictures and black and white frames, but eventually we came to a good arrangement, despite 20 admonitions "don't slip on the super-slippery Tyvek (mom's favorite painting surface and a handy way to see all the images laid out)

Dad "It's still not straight, argghhh!"
Mom "I'm going to get another few pictures - hang on, i'll be right back!"
"I'll hold my thumb right there, over the 4th pencil mark on the wall" - oh so complicated!
You'd think there was major brain surgery going on here - the whole house was upside-down trying to hang these pictures! And there were supplies of all kinds - levels, drills, nails, sticky-tack, tape, glue, toilet rolls...
"Please tell me i'm done... i'm hiding in this corner and you can't make me come out anymore. My poor head is sore from all that figuring and measuring and my poor pencil has no more lead in it. But i'm done!"
The finished product! It looks pretty neat - the chandelier also went up that day so it really feels completed in that corner of the room!!! Thanks so much, Mom and Dad! You did a great job and i'm so happy with it! Thanks for infinite patience, skill and good humour in this mammoth project!

O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! My Captain - Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head;

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;

Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

I must be in the mood for poetry - i found a little, very old book of poetry on my shelf yesterday when i was supposed to be studying, and i spent some time leafing through the poems there. I don't profess to understand poetry well, though i like playing with words myself, i am no great poet. But it brings memories of pieces studied in school, pieces read in plays and movies, and pieces which simply are great to read, either silently or out loud (preferably when i'm home by myself and no one can hear me, then i can read as loudly or as passionately as i want! Hopefully the mail lady doesn't think i'm nuts!)
So today, i'll share Walt Whitman's poem with you, first introduced to me in the movie Dead Poet's Society. It's about the death of Abraham Lincoln and has such beautiful writing, such profound sadness at the death of this monumental leader, that it touches me and makes me wish i could write so!

4:30 am Dreamtime

So.... I woke up around 4:30 this morning, with my poor arm fast asleep - must have been sticking out at a funny angle - and completely disoriented, confused and scared. And why? I had been minding my own business, dreaming away about this, that and the kitchen sink, when all of a sudden, i was in nice place, talking with some girlfriends, their husbands and kids, we were having a great time, going on hikes and hanging around taking pictures together. Somebody suggested a ride in a birchbark canoe (for those of you who know me well, this would not normally be something i would agree to, being quite petrified of flimsy watercraft!). But foolishly, i acquiesced and there we went, about eight of us - must have been quite the canoe, eh? We were paddling along, and things were getting a little rough, we seesawed back and forth through some pretty heavy eddies and currents, and i was getting pretty nervous (no mast for me to put my fingerprints in however, my dear sisters).
All of a sudden, we were swept across the middle of a HUGE vortex and our poor little watercraft was sucked in and down and down and down and people were flying everywhere and i was spinning and falling and falling... i eventually ended up, somehow, miraculously with no broken bones or crushed skull, at the empty bottom of the waterspout... and i was all alone, except for a random crab and i was trapped and screamed and screamed (maybe that's why my poor throat doesn't feel too great this morning!), screams of pure terror!
Eventually i collected myself, deciding that screaming for rescue wasn't going to work and that i'd better go looking for a way out of here. I wandered around my little cave, with super high walls(yes, it had turned into a giant concrete "box" of sorts), eventually finding a doorway out and ran straight into a man whose legs looked like stilts and who was just walking around the area, minding his own business - i never did quite figure out what he was on about. Things sort of deteriorate from here, i don't seem to remember anything much else with any clarity - other than that i did wake up, vaguely remember wandering to the bathroom and then crawling back into bed, hoping for a few more hours rest, sans crazy dreams, and thankfully that was granted. I was left with thoughts on meanings and interpretations... maybe, perhaps, a cup of coffee and a cup of tea, then looking at pictures of all the flooding in Australia right before bed are not a good idea???

A few words from the wintry world...

Just a few words from the wintry meadows... before i head off for a nice little mid-afternoon nap before another night shift... it's been a week of night shifts - oh, i don't mind, they tend to be quieter than day shifts, but it sure makes for interesting sleeping patterns! A few friends of mine have been taking up the challenge of taking a picture a day for a year - my uncle did that a few years ago and it was really neat to see his images... i will admit to being intrigued by the idea and started off valiantly... for the first day... and haven't been very faithful since then - oh, maybe every two days or so now. I know, it takes dedication and i've got to make sure i've got my camera with me at all times - and my picture-taking eyes open - since it doesn't really matter what the images are of - just my daily life... so i'm going to keep trying and we'll see what comes of it all! That first shot is of my little house in the city - after a windy, snowy, wintry night - kinda cozy to go to bed on a night like that, all snug and warm in bed with the wind howling around the house, seeking to get in but being denied by the walls of the house - i'm thankful for the walls of my house (silly eh, but true!)
This was Saturday morning - i had to take this shot to prove to several people that we were indeed receiving snow - it stopped in the afternoon but was coming down pretty good at the time this was taken - it looked oh so pretty - i don't always like it when i end up with soggy pant legs because of wet car mats and snow piles, but i'll take the good with the bad!
Hmmm... my computer has all of a sudden changed fonts and now has decided to underline everything - not sure what i did there - but sorry, you'll just have to put up with it... this shot is of my neighbour's tree in the backyard - always provides interesting shapes and shadows in contrast with the sky for taking pictures - i just loved the sky... i realize that i might be at risk of taking 365 pictures of skies and trees - hopefully it doesn't turn out that way!

Hmmm... back to normal typing again - must be the ghost living in my keyboard causing havoc and mischief for the poor uneducated computer-illiterate writer. I didn't know if this was cheating to take a picture of a picture - but hey, there are no rules right? This is a shot my sister Lauren took and which hangs proudly on my living room wall - i love the colours and as you can see, it's still decorated for the Christmas season (see the previous blog about tinsel and decorations for further ideas!)
A bird of paradise flower - aren't they amazing - taken in the greenhouses at the RBG - some really neat plants there to be sure!
Ummmm... cookie! I got all "domestic" the other day and rustled up some cookies to take to a church shower - they were pretty yummy - a little crispy since i seem never to be able to take them out on time - i have to remember a few minutes before the buzzer goes off! But they still managed to be tasty! Thanks Rachel, for the recipe.
And my dinner - yep, it was worthy of a picture - looked pretty tasty - and it sure was - warms you up to the core - i love hutspot (stampot wortels as we used to call it). It's such a good winter meal - a good stick to your ribs food! I made enough for a bunch of meals so now i'm set for a few shifts - handy! I thought i'd include a little history of the dish - since i love history - and i was just in Leiden, apparently the home of hutspot in Holland! The article is from wikipedia (fount of all wisdom - haha)

According to legend, the recipe came from the cooked bits of potato left behind by hastily departing Spanish soldiers during their Siege of Leiden in 1574 during the Eighty Year's War, when the liberators breached the dikes of the lower lying polders surrounding the city. This flooded all the fields around the city with around a foot of water. As there were few, if any, high points (and September in the Netherlands is not exactly a warm month), the Spanish soldiers camping in the fields were essentially flushed out.

The anniversary of this event, known as Leidens Ontzet, is still celebrated every October 3 in Leiden and by Dutch expatriates the world over. Traditionally, the celebration includes consumption of a lot of "Hutspot met klapstuk/stooflap" (Hotchpotch with chuck roast/beef shoulder chops).

The first European record of the potato is as late as 1537, by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Castellanos, and it spread quite slowly throughout Europe from thereon. So the original legend probably should refer to what the Dutch call a 'sweet potato' or pastinaak which is a parsnip; this vegetable played a similar role in Dutch cuisine prior to the use of the potato as a staple food.

During the Nazi occupation the dish came to represent freedom from oppression since its ingredients could be grown beneath the soil and thus somewhat hidden from sight, and the carrots gave the dish an orange colour, which represents the Dutch Royal Family.

Did you see what i saw???

Did you see what i saw?
a solid band of gold ringing the horizon...hinting of the splendor of the day gone by and foretelling the darkness to come...
amber-orange-red-yellow fire all blended together in a celestial masterpiece, crafted by a master painter
Did you look up from your busyness?
A glow nearly hidden under looming clouds
heavy with promise of snow
yet brilliant and warm and brave
radiating a small bit of hope and light into my afternoon
My heart was happy and i was moved
i watched it
A few short minutes and then the sun sank away
and
was
gone

Just a few pics from the last week or so...
Apparently, the boys are not just content to play with the toys in the bedroom, but must sit in the drawer and play with the toys there! They LOVE playing with trucks and animals and are pretty funny when i come over to visit - i can barely get through the door and it's "Aunt Dell, can you play with this or that?" These boys truly know how to charm their aunt thoroughly!
On Christmas Eve, i stole a little snuggle time with my youngest nephew, Nathaniel. He is a pretty special little boy, such solemn blue eyes that can change in a minute to twinkle with delight when you bounce him up and down or pay any attention to him. What a sweetie!
Aunt Dell and Nate enjoying the "fire". He liked the sounds of the fire crackling and the lights flickering. Pity that it can't be a real fire, but the video people have done a pretty good job!
The view from my front window three mornings ago... it was spectacular!!! The whole sky was lit up from end to end...What a beautiful sight!

It's 2011...

Well, made it through the first day of 2011 without bumps, bruises, flu, carpet burns or a hangnail so i suppose today can be called a success! It was a good day, to be sure - i spent it hanging out with my friend Carina, who was a whole lot more skillful than me at playing Settlers and consequently beat the pants off me three times in a row - thankfully we took a break after the third game to allow my poor battered spirit to revive a little... next time, it'll be Boggle, and there will be no holds barred! I apparently just have very poor strategical skills and made some very poor settlement placements so no city planning in my immediate career future.
I sit here this evening, still basking in the glow of the still-burning Christmas lights, and am thankful for the year behind me... i think that at times i can't remember very well but as i look over my blog from the past 365 days, i see that so much has happened, so much water has flowed under the bridge and my path has changed directions, subtly at times and more drastically at other times. I have been affected by many things in the year just past, in my life personally and probably, mostly in the lives of those living around and close to me. There have been major events such as earthquakes and accidents which have huge impacts on those who live through them and whose lives are directly affected by the effects of these events, but i haven't lived through them personally, yet part of me sticks with those who i know who have gone through these things. We can't possibly go through everything in life, to empathize truly with the victims, but we can do our best - to try to understand, to be interested and to lend a shoulder and an ear when needed. We can laugh together, cry together, rejoice and praise God together for the blessings He has bestowed, even praising Him for things that didn't seem to be or still don't appear to be part of His plans, trusting that He knows infinitely better than us what we need or require to serve Him at that time and place.
It is my earnest prayer that He is my guide, my leader, my shelter in the storm this year coming, as He has been thus far. I pray that I may seek new ways to serve Him, to bring glory to His name, to always keep Him as number one. I pray for strength to stand back up again when i falter and for the faith to praise God each and every day of 2011!

Tinselled

I've been attacked with tinsel! I arrived home from overseas to discover that my home had been attacked by the tinsel-fairy with incredible taste. She seems to have tossed decorations left right and center and was not content until she had done every last corner of the house. Needless to say, it took me a while to get everything cleaned up. The fox on the top of the tree just made me laugh - he's perched up there so happily!
Even the houseplants all got into the spirit of the season, all sporting their own decorations!
Yesterday, i baked. Hopefully there aren't any chocolate balls in any of my baking, since i found them in the salt pot, the sugar pot and the flour sack and here, there and everywhere over the house!
Yep, there are utensils in there somewhere - it looks like a strange type of snake curled up there.
It seems that the big top has come to town! Or a candy-cane fairy...
My lamp is sporting a fuzzy red hat - sends off a very cozy glow when the light is on.
Tinsel is crawling all over my living room like ivy... it stays up for now!
This was my first inkling that something was up - a trail of stars all through the entrance hallway
My kitchen cupboards all look like presents, wrapped up in red ribbons!
The table is set for dinner - anyone coming over? I'd love to have some company - i'm even so decadent that i have TWO Christmas trees - i believe the second one may be Lauren and Tom's fake tree that has been hiding out in my basement in pieces the last few months - it somehow migrated upstairs and managed to get itself decorated with more tinsel than i ever thought was possible for one tree to carry - you only see about half of the length of that strand - the rest was all stuffed into my closet and nearly attacked me as i went to get my vacuum out yesterday. I had no idea that garland came in such long lengths!
Good thing i didn't just turn the microwave on - something would have lit up and it wouldn't have been the Christmas lights.
Whoever is the tinsel fairy had much too much time on their hands... it was a challenge to get into my drawers for the first little while... Boy, oh, boy, makes you think twice about stating "have fun decorating!" I had to laugh so much when i found all these decorations and had to marvel at the time and effort which was put into the whole process!

Groeten

Joeri flying through the snow... he LOVES the snow!
A day out in Leiden - i think my umbrella was inside-out more than it was right-side-up... but i was thankful for it nonetheless and thanks to the wind, it was easy to fix each time!
Aline's umbrella was a little stronger! I've seldom toured around in wetter weather, but we managed to have a wonderful day despite the rain.
A typically Dutch bridge in Leiden... it was so much fun to be a tourist.
Wet wet day in Leiden - i don't think i'd like to get back on my bike with a wet seat like that!
The Koepelkerk in Smilde - we attended church here on Sunday morning
- it's a pretty neat building!
Rode Pannen - Ome Klaas and I "went" to jail for an afternoon - we had a tour around the former jail which once housed some of Holland's worst criminals - very interesting!
The family farm in Smilde - looking a little snow-dusted.
Boy, these are out of order - standing in front of the prison museum in Veenhuizen - it sure was a nippy day and there was lots of history there - Ome Klaas was a good tour guide.
And now we're in Amsterdam - one of the ferries for people to cross the big cana
l from one side of the city to the other - how Dutch!
A mysterious little window - in an empty house in Woubrugge - i felt like a bit of a creeper but i kept thinking about the people who lived in the house - who were they? what was their life about? Can i poke around inside a little bit?
Snow day in Woubrugge - i went for a long chilly walk with Tantineke and Joeri - it was a winter wonderland - everything was so beautiful!
No, Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore or even Australia for that matter - this little wallaby is a resident in the dierentuin in Woubrugge - they seemed pretty insulated against winter's chill but were none too enamoured with the snow i think.
The snow covered lane in front of Tantineke's house - a fairy tale look.
Ome Johan working hard to clear the path in the snow - snow shovels have been hot sellers the last few days in Holland

Yes, an update from across the big blue ocean where apparently as i look outside now, it's snowing again... Everything here in Woubrugge is a winter wonderland. I sit here with nice red cheeks (a Vos special trait) and a full stomach from a lunch of lekkere fresh bread and a cup of hot chocolate after a nice long walk with my Tante along the canal/river here. We took Joeri (de hond) with us and he very much enjoyed his little outing - running here, there and everywhere, greeting all the neighbourhood dogs and doing the social rounds of all the trees. I got an amazing picture of him running flat out towards me and he's got all four paws off the ground. I'll post it when i get back home but it's pretty cute!
It's hard to believe i've been here for a week. I have the feeling i've been here in Holland for much longer, which i suppose is a wonderful thing. i'll give a brief synopsis of the events of the days to give you a bit of a taste of my trip... I arrived last Thursday and spent the day here in Woubrugge with my Mom's youngest sister and her family. Friday it was up north to Smilde for a family dinner at ome Ruurd and tante Gerda's place - very nice - set the record for how late we stayed up - three oçlock is very late... or early depending on how you look at things. Saturday was tante An's birthday party - so on the road again to Groningen where we had a tour around the canals on a boat and then heerlijk en gezellig stampot eten op de boot! Very very nice! And good to catch up with cousins again.
Sunday brought us to church in Smilde and a trip to the begraafplaats of oma and opa - memories always come bubbling up to the surface, remembering them and their special place in our lives.
Monday a visit to cousin marjan in roden and shopping in Assen with a little bit of snow - always exciting. Tuesday i paid for the privelege to go to jail! It was a museum in a jail which is now closed in Veenhuizen - extremely interesting and since we were the only two there, my uncle and i, we even got a private tour! How nice! And daarna, patats en kroketjes voor eten, mmmm lekker!! Tuesday evening i spent with tanan in groningen - a short but wonderful visit.
Wednesday on the way again, this time to Amsterdam, to visit cousin jantine who just bought an apartment in the city so there was lots to do to make it all official - and a nice dinner in the city on top of it all! i don't think coming home will be too easy with all the yummy food here!
Yesterday was spent with my cousin Aline in the city of leiden - a city full of history and culture, and lots and lots of very bad weather. I don't really think that i've ever toured around in worse weather - sooo rainy and wet and windy and cold... but we still had lots of fun and managed to see lots too! Also a nice dinner in a Belgian restaurant with i think fifty thousand kinds of beer - not really but maybe!
Now this morning, so much snow in the south and west of the land that everything is paralyzed and the radio station just warned everyone to just stay home if they didn't have to go out - so we're kinda stuck here... but it's kinda neat too... gezellig, echt wel - we got a christmas tree this afternoon and hope to decorate that this evening after dinner maybe... so i still get to decorate a little bit this year!
Anyways, the pictures above will receive titles when i'm home but for now, enjoy!

December....

My pictures are SO out of order... but you'll just have to put up with it... here are the boys accompanied by Oma's arm, playing with the marble set. As kids, we adored this toy at Mom's hairdresser's place, fascinated with how the marbles spin around and drop and roll. We always have to keep an eye on Aaron, that he doesn't make a meal of the marble but it was fun nonetheless. It was fun to share new toys with them and to watch them growing in understanding. The memory of their sweet hugs if enough to warm the very cockles of my heart (not sure where exactly the cockles lie, but i'm sure they're there somewhere!)
All right... so it's December, as i can tell by the nip of the cold on the tips of my fingers as i type... the furnace hasn't kicked in yet... and it's a little chilly here at the Meadows. But i was running through my pictures last night and since i need to keep up with my prolifically blogging sibling, i thought i'd better churn out an update and share a few pictures detailing the last few weeks in my life. The pictures are by no means all-encompassing... but a little snippet of life. Above is my attempt at holiday decor - some Christmas lights swirled around in a bowl with some candles and some sparkly things... funny thing is that when i went to Rach and Mike's for dinner the other night, what did she have on her table but something similar, involving lights and a glass bowl and Christmas balls... are we children of our mother or what? But hey, it looks super gezellig and that's what counts right? I feel like i could probably put little mini-lights all over the house - decorating all the window and door frames until my house would look like an advertisement for them or a warning as to how not to be efficient with power usage - specially since i don't like LED lights much...
Here's the next creative bit... yes, Mom and Dad, i raided your place for boots, mittens and clippers and headed off into the field to gather rosebuds... oops, sorry, no rosebuds at this time of year... but rather red sticks, red berries on very prickly branches, pine branches and some other random weedy, naturally sculptured things. I had to fend off a dog which came running at me and growling/barking. I wasn't sure if he was being friendly or angry, but at risk of losing essential fingers, i fended him off with the thorn branches and we came to an uneasy truce and he let me get away with my raw materials. I stuffed them all in my trunk and wondered what exactly i was going to do with them... i'm sure my neighbour who just happened to pull in at the same time as me was wondering greatly what i was up to. Maybe i missed my calling, cause man, did i enjoy poking around with those branches and having something turn out kinda neat. The picture is kinda dark because my flash stubbornly will not work, no matter what i do with it, but you get the idea...
Its partner in crime evolved out of the fact that i had some corkscrew hazel branches which i had also stolen from the home gardens and i thought i had better use them but they didn't fit in the big urn character-wise so they got their own container. I think i might need something shiny in there cause it's a little blah but still kinda fun! Since it's based in a chamber pot, i suppose i should come up with some sort of creative name for it... sprucing up the pot? Pining away for you? Going to pot? All suggestions welcome!
Also, my blinds were installed this week past... i really like them, a lot. Just saying. Very cozy and now the neighbours can't peek in at night and it feels oh so cozy in my kitchen!
Another picture of the blinds, you can see "before" and "after". Quite a difference i would say.
In November, my little nephew Aaron was over at my parents with his mom and he was just not feeling well. His breathing was really funny, kinda panting like and he just was not himself. We decided to brave the night and spent Friday evening in the ER. The staff were good, we were in and out in 4 hours thereabouts. He was a total charmer with his red hair, his cute fuzzy pyjamas and his yellow boots, he impressed everyone i think! He had an xray done which unfortunately showed some pneumonia poor little guy. So with a dose of antibiotics, we were on our way home. Aaron was so good the whole time we were there - only getting hyper a few times, then looking like a million bucks of course - that's always the way isn't it? I am ever so thankful we have a good medical system and don't have to trek miles on foot to get to the nearest medical provider who may or may not even have the expertise or meds to take care of us like many people in this world of ours have to do.