Underground beauty

In many ways, the most boring and thoroughly utilitarian aspects of daily life can take on totally new meaning if approached in the right ways...


This is a wide angle photo, taken in the Komsomolskaya underground station in Moscow. It was built as part of a daring Stalinist experiment to "educate the masses", the premise being that commuters and travellers of any sort, being confronted with such beauty and elegance, would become better and re-educated people who would be able to work together for the socialist cause with renewed inspiration and conviction.


Park Kultury (Culture Park) station
Although the premises were badly flawed, the arguments and conclusions of the philosophical debate rather twisted at moments, the works produced are so unquestionably rich in tradition and meaning that even now after more than seventy years they still serve to show how humanity can be inspired to work toward a greater goal, given the right conditions...

My brother-in-law sent me this link, an overview of the Moscow inner city underground system, which is sincerely worth the effort of looking into...

Keep well...

Stairway to heaven

Following on from yesterday's post, an answer for Zilla, who asked what the stone monuments were which I'd photographed two years ago...


Some 7500 years ago, the Neolithic peoples who populated the north-east of what's now called the Netherlands, built all sorts of stone structures in which to bury their dead. There are still 54 remaining at present, which are protected as national monuments.


All across Europe, from Portugal to the Urals, from Scandinavia and the Orkney Islands to Malta, Stone Age peoples erected a wide variety of monuments and elaborate burial sites, with an enthusiasm and fervour that was echoed millennia later, when the citizenry of Europe undertook a cathedral-building spree which lasted for centuries.


The best known example of Neolithic building is Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plains in England (conveniently wedged between two motorways nowadays). Most of south England, Brittany and Normandy though are filled with standing stones and burial sites which stand as a tribute to the resourcefulness and religious conviction of our predecessors.


Here in the Netherlands, the monuments are less elaborate since they were built as burial chambers, the rock framework originally covered by earth which has weathered away in the meantime, leaving the stones bare for all to see...


Take a moment to look through a site dedicated to the Dutch dolmens (hunebedden) for a fascinating insight into the lives of the Neolithic peoples who went before us... also, here's a very informative Wikipedia entry which I think would be useful.


I sometimes wonder if we haven't lost something special in the course of our human progress. We've sacrificed our sense of awe of the world around us, waved away our humility as irrelevant and unneccesary, squandered our birthright as full and equal partners in the natural scheme of things. Neolithic man/woman was progressing, but also retaining a grip on reality, remembering his/her mortality from which there was no escape... Why can't we do the same?

Just wondering, keep well...

Countdown

The heat just continues, on and on... it's probably the longest stretch of warm weather I've experienced ever since having left Australia, where the summers could be so blisteringly hot that any kind of activity would come to a total halt.


The girls and I will be going away on holidays this weekend, for a well-earned break at a camping ground we've been to quite often in the past, a place that is filled with good memories for them. This will be the fifth time there and although it can be a little boring at moments, it's so quiet and peaceful there that once the initial formalities have been completed (putting up the folding car and the tent, as well as getting everybody organised) we just sink into a couple of weeks of doing absolutely nothing...


This week's been a little frantic though... getting everything and everybody prepared, checking all the equipment, trying to figure out how the new tent works and getting some necessary repairs done. I'll be so very glad when it's Saturday morning, when we take off and just leave the daily nonsense behind us for a while...


Beforehand, though...
Here's some photo's I made there, two years ago, at least the first half of the series, the second half was made elsewhere when we stayed with friends in the north-east of the country...


Keep well, sleep well...

Once upon another time...

This is the third time I've rewritten this post... the first two weren't particularly well focussed and as I wrote and read the comments that came in, my perceptions began to shift in different directions... all things change, they always do and they always will but at the moment I feel like I'm writing on shifting sands being blown around in the mental storms I'm going through at the moment...


Dzeni was right, it is intensely complex situation in the Middle East and I probably wasn't being particularly fair in singling out Israel for criticism since so many other sides are participating in the carnage... my wording could have been a bit more careful, but being carried away on "gut-feelings" and stupidly trying to blog when I'm desperately tired left me thowing much inhibition into the wind at that moment...


Part of the problem is that we're so badly informed at moments, most of the world doesn't really know what's going on in the Middle East and for varying reasons hardly cares any more. The incessant conflicts, dialogues that sink into the muddied waters of claims, counter-claims, aggression and retribution leave a population behind them stunned, learning only to hate instead of learning to look their fellow human in his/her eyes and appreciating him/her for their own personal worth.


The conflicts being fought out have little to do with the average person... they are almost solely the domain of politicians, terrorists, agitators and business people. This what I meant in my original post, badly worded I'm afraid... the leaders decide what happens and the little people get hurt... over and over again...


Violence is not a solution, it is a way of venting rage when words fail for some, for others it is a power mechanism to establish one's superiority over another... neither is permissible for well-thinking, caring humans who also have the best interests of others at heart. I still feel that all avenues of dialogue need to be pursued... for when words fail, the guns do the talking.


For my own part, I have no quarrel with the people of Israel, I DO have a problem with militant, fundamentalist or economic elements in ANY society who would impose their own set of values on others at the expense of personal liberties.


I was glad of all your input here, so much is happening, so much is hidden and unexplained, so much is misunderstood. I'm glad we can talk and work out the differences. Dzeni, you've done admirably in providing useful background information, as Robster also has done...


As I write these last paragraphs, Mozart's "Requiem" has been pushing though into my intuition, leaving me in tears at both the total beauty expressed in the music and and the absolute sorrow of a humanity unable and all too often unwilling to understand each other... I truly hope we can find a way to unite our hopes and our wishes, to build a better world for us all where we all can feel safe and accepted for being ourselves...


Keep well...

Once upon a time, in Israel

Yet another war is raging over the heads of frightened and displaced peoples of the Middle East.


The tragedy has once again come full cycle, once again I am amazed how the High Priests and the Pharisees of the modern state of Israel hide behind their "God-given rights" to commit the worst atrocities imaginable...


You, the citizens of the modern state of Israel, are you honestly so short-sighted, so short of memory, that the lessons of the holocaust be totally lost upon you?


An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but what you sow, you shall reap tenfold...


Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do...
Keep well, speak out...

Long live technology

Our network is being difficult again today, probably as a result of the excessive warmth in parts of the building. The server dropped all connections earlier in the day so an extra air-conditioner was bought to cool the room in which it's housed.


Modern technology... it can't handle much, can it...


One of the favourite subjects, when PC's just drop off and the Mac's keep on going on...


Press any key to continue (or get whacked around the ears otherwise)...

The heat is on

The second heat wave of the year is a fact, in what's going the hottest month ever here in the Netherlands since 1706, when records were first kept.


Silly people that we are, we stay indoors and try to work as best we can although it seems our hardware is less able to handle the heat than we are...


You could say Grin and bear it (or perhaps Grin and bare it if you're so inclined and your co-workers don't mind :P )


Hope you're able to weather the heat, wherever you are... today's been a scorcher here but thankfully I'll be off in an hour or two...

Keep well...

We got him...

... coming out of hiding...

Project Phoenix

One of the things I've been confronted with recently is my own lack of decisiveness, allowing myself to passively undergo the things that happen, as if most of the nonsense were seemingly beyond my control anyway.


For some reason, a lifetime of subtle self-conditioning, looking for easy ways out and procrastinating like hell has caught up on my in a whirlwind kind of way...


The words have been spoken, the accusations and the hurtfulness flying in all directions despite the best of intentions, the silence which ensues has the potential of allowing me to sink back into the swamps of indecision and self-doubt...


I can't and I mustn't allow myself to fool myself again.

I won't...


Keep well...

Somebody elses take...

I got badly side-tracked yesterday evening, confusing a number of things which have been on my mind for a long time after having read Mack's blog... one of those straight-from-the-heart, very personal and very real bits of sharing which we all would do well to read and listen to... I've copied the text verbatim...

The End of the World?
I dont think its just my PTSD [= Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] making me think like this, I truely beleive that World War Three has already begun, if you look at the World globaly wars and conflicts and sectarian violence are spreading like wildfire. Watching the news and looking around my country today I sometimes feel like I did die in the Falklands and this is some sort of Hell Im in. Something has got to give, we as a human race have always fought wars for thousands of years, so why should it be any different now. The problem with people is they dont care any more. As long as the TV is full of garbage like Big Brother and Coronation street , the masses choose to believe that this IS their relality and who can blame them? If that gets them through the day then so be it. But when the missiles are heading for our towns and cities and the TV goes off, then and only then will they realise that they are in serious trouble. Till then we as a human race will go on getting drunk fucking around taking drugs and playing with our gadgets , HD TV , IPODS, LAPTOPS, lets hope for all you millions of Zombies out there in TV land that you get one last fix of Corro before you are vapourised. "Have a nice weekend."


© Mack (W.M.B) "Every day feels like the day of a funeral"

Keep well...

The Street Dance Demonstration

Amy's street-dance group gave a demonstration last Tuesday evening... more than an hour of action, music, colour and very photogenic young people giving their finest...


I used the occasion to experiment, with varying success and lack of it at moments, but on the whole I'm reasonably contented with the compositional side of things... take a look at the results here.

The Wars of our Worlds

Writing a blog has its own hidden dangers, as I've come to realise these last couple of months... a family life desintegrating, dissolving and becoming nonsensical when one tries to find meaning in one's own life, trying to resolve family and personal pressures in ways hitherto unknown with varying amounts of success...


One of the things I try to keep in mind is "you're not alone", because much of what I'm trying to weather is so familiar to so many troubled and disrupted souls by now, it sounds almost cliché...


A 1940's German call to arms...
Spare a thought for those who are trying to find their way in a darkness of somebody elses making, attempting to make some sense of the confusion they never sought for themselves but which was thrust upon them because they believed in certain ideals, but were fooled and led astray...


...and one from the Soviet Union at almost the same time...
Please take a moment to look through Mack's blog... one of those that would almost rip the heart apart of those familiar with and susceptible to the machinations of economic and social politics... the "Defence" industry is perhaps even more debilitating than entrepeneurial economics anno 2006... I'm left wondering what the greater of the many evils is nowadays...


... and of course, Uncle Sam with his/her/its two cents worth...
Keep well...

Butterflies are free

This evening in the garden... a butterfly resting for a moment on a leaf...


I saw a little butterfly, flutter by, flutter by... ;-)
...flying away and returning to exactly the same place after a few minutes, over and over again... it was lovely to see :D

Keep well...

We are stardust, we are golden...

This post is dedicated to The Mischievous Muse and to FineArtist, who need and can appreciate this post, for differing reasons...

I was so young at the time, I hardly understood... I knew things were happening, that the world had been set on fire by a generation of people who cared and were able to move others but was unable to see the larger picture...

>
Joni Mitchell at Woodstock, translating her own value-system into an art-form so amazingly eloquent and totally devestating, in the same way so many artists let themselves be led by their convictions, to confront a world convinced by their own hypocritical platitudes and self-centered easy-ways-out, mumbling the mantras of a self-congratulatory "progress" which was going absolutely nowhere...


Prague in 1968, after the tanks of the Soviet Red Army
returned to reapply "law and order" in a Czechoslovakia
attempting an innovative experiment into
Socialism with a Human Face
We, the inhabitants of the 21st century, should be able to learn from those who went before us, to see that things worth fighting for can be articulated in a myriad ways, that the tyranny of complacency and neglect might one day be broken, negated, vilified for the inhumanity it has caused...


One of the victims of the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam, rightly or wrongly executed before the cameras of the watching and waiting world...
Being human carries with it the obligation to be human, to reassert the values that make the human condition both bearable and worthwhile, an exercise in humility and striving for excellence, reconciling personal glory with the particular needs of one's fellow actors in their own personally worthwhile lives...


I hope I'm making sense... at moments I can hardly understand myself...


Please watch this film until the end,
even though it's in English there's much here
you would do well to listen to, heed and take into account...
Just my take, but I hope it's worthwhile...
Keep well, be good and look beyond yourself... who knows, you might surprise yourself...

Worlds apart, but no different

I sometimes wonder what it would be like, to be able to circle the earth with terrifying ease, looking down at a world with its people, so busy with their lives, so distracted, who are unable to look up to the stars to see the beauty of creation and the endlessness of eternity to which they belong...


The ISS space station
The world is such a large place, and yet so small on cosmic terms... the place we belong to but also the place we long to free ourselves of in the quest for adventure and human achievement.


The Russian MIR, whose name means both "Earth" and "peace",
a powerful symbol for a troubled world...
We run around in circles, bothered and preoccupied... we know that there's so much more out there and inside ourselves as well, but have hardly an idea where to look...


Hurricane Ivan (Sept. 2004)
Human ingenuity, for all its worth, has no answer to the demands put before us by the majesty and the might of the world which gave us life and to which we will return to eventually...


Look to the heavens, be humble and remember that we are all children of stardust, for the void is both our beginning and our end...


I look into myself and see that I'm no better, but also no worse than anybody else around me... only different and perhaps a lot more lucky...


I look towards you and sometimes I can see your needs but so often I can't, as if the clouds and haze of daily life obscure my view, as if the pretentiousness of my personal progress block out the troubles and torments which afflict you...

I wish you well, that you and your loved ones keep well and that we all might excell in our humanity...

Going everywhere, fast...

The children, our children... they're part of our world, part of the reason we keep on keeping on, despite all the nonsense and confusion we're confronted with...


They grow up, they become themselves because they need to, confrontingly, lovingly, challengingly and yet depending upon us for support and validation...


End of year parties at school... clubs and activities which need doing and parents who need to let go, who do so reluctantly...

Amy's breaking loose, exploring new boundaries and claiming self-confidence... she has my blessing in a world that is large and new, awaiting to be explored in the ways necessary on her own terms yet knowing there is still a safe haven somewhere...

Keep well, look around and examine life outside of the box...

Doors closing, with new ones opening

This evening was Lynn's "graduation." An informal event, all in good fun which ended with the signing of certificates...


... and a good deal of laughter after the teachers had take the opportunity of presenting the children with their misdeeds and silliness of the last few years.


A rather nice photo of Lynn, together with her friend Kim with whom she'll be going to the Graphic Arts school next year.

A warm summer evening

In the quietness at day's end, along the waterside...

Counting one's blessings

(taken from http://www.coping.org/write/percept/logic.htm...)

If earth's population was shrunk into a village of just 100 people with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining what would this tiny, diverse village look like?


That's exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found.:

57 would be Asian
21 would be European
14 would be from the Western Hemisphere
8 would be African
52 would be female;
48 would be male
70 would be nonwhite;
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian;
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual;
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be pregnant
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.


The following is also something to ponder over...

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married ... you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.

If you can read this message you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

I suspect that a thankful heart is its own gift in some ways...


Keep well...

Call of the wild

Yet another link to a site filled with some amazing natural photography...


John Hyde has superbly captured the essence of the landscape and wildlife of the Northern Americas, reminding us yet again how grateful we should be for such beauty which still is to be found around us.


One only needs to look, to learn to see the world with an open and enquiring mind... the images are there, we only need to be able to see them.


Take a look at Wild Things Photography, you'll be glad you did.

Keep well...

Summertime in earnest now

Children and summertime... always good for some relaxed, spontaneous shots.
This one's of Katie in the back yard, cooling off.


Unfortunately she's been out in the sun too long today and she's badly sunburnt as is her mother too. Time for moisturisers and ice-packs I'm afraid...


Please, please, whatever you do just be careful in the sun... getting burnt is no joking matter. I've had my fair share of sunburns and sun-strokes but by now I've learned to cover up as much as possible or just stay in the shade.


Somebodys fractal conceptions of sunburn... rather nice in form and colour...
Keep well...