Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Silly Old Bear

"A Little Consideration,
a little Thought for Others,
makes all the difference."

-----
Pooh to Tigger, after having been
bounced yet again
-----

The Winnie the Pooh books were among my favourites during my youth, the story of a bear and his boy in a world uncomplicated by adult seriousness.


Imagine, floating along under a balloon, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible whilst imitating a cloud...


The author, A.A. Milne together with Christopher Robin
and the original Pooh bear.


Wouldn't it be fun, being dragged upstairs and bumping one's head on the stairs on one's way...

Love it... keep well...

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Rainbow Serpent Dreaming

The Serpent in Aboriginal mythology, which gives form and meaning to the country and peoples of the Australian continent seen here together with other figures from the Dreamtime and symbols depicting the countryside itself.


The Aboriginal culture is so totally inacessable for us westerners, there are meanings which go totally beyond the images and the colours themselves, digging down into traditions, stories, language and rituals belonging to the people themselves, so raw, so infinite and so complete.

I wish I could understand it better...

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Chairman of the board

Ho hum, today's almost over...


I'm just wondering where the term board member came from (possibly from the same source that coined the phrase a member of parliament).

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Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Restaurant sketch

For those of you who, like myself, needed a good laugh today, I'd like to present a little item by the Monty Python group...


Enjoy... keep well, keep on laughing...

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Who's afraid of shades of gray?

Actually, I think some fractals come out better or more poignantly in black and white instead of colour...


Click here for an enlargement


Whilst being so very beautiful, colour can also distract the senses and entice counter-intuitiveness at too many moments... there's a hidden beauty in the shades of gray, in the play between light and darkness each trying to find their own ground, trying to redefine each other...

Keep well...

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Friday, April 13, 2007

Going west

I hope you've never had to wonder where all that delicious salmon came from (or how it ended up on your plate)...



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Something to remember

A poster I found somewhere, sometime...


Think about it until it hurts... keep well...

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A voice in the storm

I can't vouch for the veracity of the following blog, but if it's what it seems to be in describing the appalling state of affairs in Iraq, we've got a pretty unique document on our hands.

Jane Stillwater's Web Log

Does anybody know anything more about this blog/blogger?

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Darth Vadar versus the Japanese police

The Japanese police are just so awesome... take a look at this film


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The Zuiderzee Museum

Last weekend I went to the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen, fairly close to where we live, together with Jacqueline and Katie. My eldest daughters declined the enticements of a free admission, much to their detriment but completly understandable as concerns teenagers :P


A house and a shop in typical Marken style.

The museum is permanent exhibition of buildings... shops, houses, industrial activity and parts of cultural life in a community centred around the Zuiderzee, a stretch of water in direct connection with the North Sea in former times. Each and every building came from one of the cities and towns around the sea, some transported completely, others dismantled in various ways with some being reconstructed stone by stone in accordance with original building plans.


The furnaces in which seashells were used to create cement for building purposes.

In a way, the museum is a kind of retrospective for a way of life that has died off in the course of the last century. The Enclosing Dike which was completed in 1932, cutting off the fishermans' culture of the inland sea and forced the local cultures to relocate their activities in whatever ways possible


Three girls in traditional Volendam costume.

It's a complicated period in Dutch history, tradition and progress colliding frontally... much has been lost, progress has been made but one wonders what the cost was at moments.

A more complete photographic record can be found on my website, "A day at the Zuiderzee Museum"

Keep well, and enjoy...

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An early morning sun

This morning, on my way to the station, a big and beautiful red sun clinging to the horizon in the moments before the daily journey would start in all earnestness.


As painted by Joan Miró


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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Redefining roles

An amazing item, sent to me by a friend a day or two ago... a mixture of metaphors and meanings in a world whose inhabitants hardly have the wit to look beyond the most blatently obvious...

The creator and the created in a unique symbiosis, for who has become who in the vicissitudes of daily life and the realities we create for ourselves and for each other, our existence redefined by virtue of each other...

"Oubliez la technique et regardez au dedans de vous!" (disregard the technique and look inwards toward yourself!)

Enjoy and keep well...

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The River

Don't know why... this fractal is part of my mood this evening, dark and ominous in some way.


Click here for an enlargement


Keep well...

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A trail of stars

From the southern hemisphere, where I grew up, a view of the Southern Cross with a twist.


Starting out as an ordinary star trail, the photographer introduced some deliberate blurring with a stunning effect.

The Southern Cross was always one of the most beautiful sights of my youth, at night I'd lie on the roof of the house looking out into the ink-black darkness and sharp contrasts of light and colour in the clear air of high altitude mountain air.

Life's about looking and learning, reaching new perspectives and discarding older, less relevant ones... keep well...

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

A word of wisdom

Something heard this evening, by chance or perhaps predestined...

A mask is all you have,
it helps you get through the day...
and sometimes it helps you
get through your whole life...


One's life versus the dream,
one's ideals versus conformity,
intuition foiled by circumstance...


Keep well, keep on dreaming, keep on being yourselves...
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A room with a view

Looking down towards the roots of the universe, from where we came and to where our final destination lies...


Click here or on the image for an enlargement


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Easter Bunny hops off

Following a cue given by Atyllah. Have you ever wondered where the Easter Bunny spends the rest of the year?


A tropical island is probably one of the best places to recover from what can be a very demanding job...


...with all the attendant occupational hazards.


Keep well...
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Monday, April 09, 2007

Spring has sprung

I took the opportunity of going out early this morning, trying to capture the forms and colours of an enthusiastically fresh spring...










Keep well...

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Sunday, April 08, 2007

The Ladies In My Life

This Easter has been relatively tranquil for a change, I'm feeling relaxed and on top of the niggling things in life, and enjoying a few days off... it's not much, but all things help ;-)

I took the opportunity of taking some portrait photos of the most important ladies in my life, at moments unprepared perhaps or perhaps a little too staged at others... who knows, who cares...

Keep well...

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Saturday, April 07, 2007

Descent into infinity

Carrying on on the fractal theme, a video representation of a fractal universe...


Following on, an excursion through the ordered chaos of a Mandelbrot induced endlessness...


Keep well...
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Friday, April 06, 2007

Fractal on Friday

Picking up where I left off a long time ago... the beauty of electronic art can be astounding on occasions, enquiring response, demanding reflection...


Hope to be able to do better in the future, this little "kick-start" is a step in the right direction.

Keep well...
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Thursday, April 05, 2007

Additions to the English Language

New definitions for well known phenomena, with an extra twist ;-)

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Cashtration (n.):
The act of buying (or building) a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

Ignoranus:
A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

Intaxication:
Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize that it was your money to start with.


Reintarnation:
Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Bozone (n.):
The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

Foreploy:
Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.


Giraffiti:
Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm:
The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.


Inoculatte:
To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Hipatitis:
Terminal coolness.

Osteopornosis:
A degenerate disease.

Karmageddon:
It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes and it's a serious bummer.


Decafalon (n.):
The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

Glibido:
All talk and no action.

Dopeler Effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Arachnoleptic Fit (n.):
The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.


Beelzebug (n.):
Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

Caterpallor (n.):
The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.


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Hoping to have exercised your linguistic skills today... for my part, I've enjoyed this collection immensely ;-)

Keep well...

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Full Moon by Night

Today the moon is full once again, quietly looking down on a world absorbed in itself and in frantic activity.


The serene white face, frail and beautiful, illuminating the countryside as her yellow partner would do during our waking hours.


Winter is past yet a chill still clings to the earth, in the crisp air of spring contrasts abound in the long shadows cast into the night.


A moment to see the world differently, reality fading into dreaminess, urgency dissolving into introspection.


A time of wonder and tranquillity, where in the silence we can once again become complete.

Keep well...

Daydreaming

A painting I found today, which I rather liked...


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Monday, April 02, 2007

Children see, children do

So sad, so true... the responsibility we carry as parents goes far beyond our comprehension and abilities at times.


Spare a thought for those who aren't able to cope in modern society for whatever reason, for those who are not just culprits but also victims themselves. Look after our own and other peoples children, becoming the social beings we should be.

Keep well...

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Dangerous sports

Sometimes you should expect the unexpected.


Keep well...
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Tunnel vision

My live is moving on in unexpected and unwanted ways. It seems to be next to impossible recently to find enough quietness around me and within myself to even put pen to paper, let alone fingers to keyboard. I find myself unable even to concentrate effectively, to find the words I need to free my mind, perform the catharsis so badly needed.


Daily life is so filled with impulses and expectations, I'm feeling battered and bruised by the constant onslaught of images, ideas and feelings that demand my attention, divert my intuitive train of thought, disable the short and fleeting moments of needed insights.


I can't bear my own mediocrity, the distastefulness of the half-heartedness I need to take on board just to be able to survive emotionally spirals out of control, tiredness creeps through my limbs and my soul, leaving numbness in its wake.


Yet, sitting here, in the living room on a Sunday morning, I manage to recapture something valuable for a moment. I should be thankful for small mercies, yet the feelings that I've let myself be robbed just won't go away.


I plod on, from day to day knowing that things will get better. As is said, it's usually the coldest and the darkest just before the dawn.


Keep well...