Depot
Inner change is a lonely victory
The End of America
A few days ago i came across this book written by Naomi Wolf called The End of America. I admit, my view on the current developments is hazy at best. I am pretty well aware of what is going on in the Netherlands and Western Europe, but everything beyond is limited to what i read in the newspaper and online. I wish i knew more.
Reading this book published in 2007 makes me aware of everything that happened after it: the 2008 monetary crisis, Trump becoming president in 2016, corona disease in the past two years.
I had to solve the mix up in my mind. First i confused this writer Naomi Wolf with the writer Naomi Klein. Glad that confusion is behind me now. I hope i will finish this book. I am not sure what to think of it to be honest. We will see!
I leave you with some youtube clips with interviews with Naomi Wolf. Enjoy.
A walk through the Park
Friendship
Around 2006, 2007, i stopped seeing my old friends. It was not an anti move, more a too tired to continue to see them one. Some had moved out of town, some others had gotten children, some had gotten a relationship. I felt tired of continuing to try to connect with anyone. I huddled inside and played world of warcraft. Once around 2010, 2011 i met an old friend in the center of town. I almost cried then while we talked. It had gotten to me.
Over the next four or five years me and my old friends met a couple of times. I ate with someone, i came on their allotment, i visited their studio, i stayed over for a weekend. But it didn’t continue. It wasn’t the same, not anymore. We had drifted apart.
I was on the other side of wanting to have friends. I had crossed over. I was feeling good on my own now. Which i didn’t do while i was younger, before 2006, at least not all the time. I felt happier on my own, cheerful even.
Now i have some friends connected to certain environments. Some are friends from the garden. I enjoy seeing them, talking with them. Others are friends from the market. Each Saturday i visit the market around 11 and stay there for two to three hours. We chat about all sorts of things. I usually eat something there, mussels or haring or – eek! – some chips.
But they are not best friends. I am not sure i will ever get a best friend. Maybe that time is past, maybe i have grown up too much to be able to get a new best friend. Even though i do meet new people enough. I am open enough to talk to people i meet and chat about all sorts of things.
I don’t know where and with whom my future lies. I do hope it is somewhere in a nice place.
I wish! 🙂
Choose
I follow Pieter Omtzigt on Twitter. I voted for him at the general elections at the start of this year, 2021. Even though he was still part of the CDA – he got out of the party early summer. I truly admire him, even though we might differ in opinion on several subjects. But close enough on others.
But his way is not my way.
I follow Greta Thunberg. She is still so young, her mind made up, she sees things clearly and is not afraid to speak up. She is outspoken. “Blah, blah, blah.”
Her way is not my way though.
I admire George Monbiot. His tweets are thought provoking. His articles in the Guardian are a continuous fight against all the things wrong in the world: capitalism, governments failures to get things right, toxic stuff and poisons spread around the world. Amongst other things.
It is not my way.
Tinkebell is my favourite Dutch artist. She fights for the refugees trying to enter Greece, fights for Fukushima, the Tata Steel company near IJmuiden with its spread of lead, PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), manganese, iron, chromium, arsenic, barium and many other metals and minerals. She makes art, with every breath she takes. She also saves the world.
Not my way.
I still don’t know what my way is. I would like to go out into the world, meet all sorts of different people, talk with them about all the things going on in this world. On the other hand, i enjoy the silence i am in right now. Just once a week meeting some people who work in the garden to drink a cup of tea.
But it is only a short break. It is time to make up my mind. Time to choose. Choose something between than this silence i am in right now and a full up life i can only envisage right now.
Either way is good. I have to choose that side which feels like me, that is all. And maybe it is not choosing between those sides, maybe i should try and get it all. The quiet and the fullness.
Low carb bounties
I am still making several things for me, especially sweet ones. Today i made low-carb bounties. Easy. I made a paste with coconut rasp, coconut milk, coconut oil and some erythritol. Two hours in the freezer, then i covered it with a 90% chocolate from Lindt.
I first thought of making slagroomtruffels – cream truffels, not sure what the proper translation is for these. This uses more whip cream and butter. It is a bit more fatty. Saving this for another day!
Curve
Strolling through the Kralingse Bos
47. Looking far
You don’t have to go out of the door
to know what goes in the world.
You don’t have to look out of the window
to see the way of heaven.
The farther you go,
the less you know.
So the wise soul
doesn’t go, but knows;
doesn’t look, but sees;
doesn’t do, but gets it done.
Source: Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu
Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin
Published on November 15, 2021 at 6:00 by Ellen
Categorised in: Books, films and TV