It is on!! Bicycle,bicycle, I want to ride my bicycle!

Right folks, this is it!

Will be riding this beauty from tomorrow onwards, using the knooppunten system, all the way around the IJsselmeer.

There's two uh-ooooes:

1. the weather forecast is atrocious. Rain predicted for every day, almost all day, for the coming week. Okidoki. I don't call it the Wetlands for nothing, don't I? The wind is having fun as well: force 4 to 5. But from the South-West, meaning I will have it from behind for most of the first stretch.

2. My one-year old Samsung smart phone has today decided it will only upload with major hiccups, and only if I don't use the word 'I'. Seriously! The i doesn't work and if I want to use it anyway the phone makes lightning-strike noises. Can't be good.

This will make for very interesting blogs, I'm sure!

So. This is what I will do. I will post a photo or two every day, but will write the actual blog after I've arrived home. For those of you who are amongst my FB friends; I'll post those photos on my timeline as well. See if you can suss out where in the Wetlands I am :P

So watch this space!

See you in a week or so.

Sweet Charity - the 16th Ity.

Charity features in all religions - in some larger than in others, but you bet it is there.
Whenever I ask someone about what is best in their religion (and I frequently ask this question, as it interests me), this is often the first answer I get. You should do good deeds, share your wealth with those who have less, take care of the needy.

Then WHY is there so much suffering in this world of ours??? If all people who are of some sort of faith live by it?

Somehow it doesn't work...it is awry.

When I sold my flowers in a stall on a Kilburn street corner, a long long long looooooong time ago, I used to see the vagrants searching through the bins. Most of them had an alcohol problem. I was on a nodding acquaintance with some of them, and one of the females even talked to me from time to time. I had my money in a moneybag around my waist, and never once did I feel unsafe. I felt they recognised me as a non-threat, and they would therefore not threaten (or rob) me.

One time one of the men asked me for money, almost politely. I refused, told him it wasn't my money but that of my boss, but offered to buy him a sandwich out of my own lunch money. To my amazement and incomprehension, he started spouting abuse. He told me he did not want my charity (the bacon sandwich), he wanted beer money!

To this day I still do not understand what drove him to get so angry with me. I meant well.

My Mum always taught me to accept gifts gracefully, even if I didn't like them.  

Still. What I can relate to, is that if you are a proud person, and if you have to rely on charity for some reason, that must be really hard.

Oh well. We have a saying in the Wetlands: "It is better to give, then to receive". Even if this gift surmounts to nothing more than just a drop in the ocean, I believe this to be truth.

Magnanimity - the 15th Ity.

Only 4 Ities more to go folks, bear with me :-)

(Photo credit: vol.25)

Okay. I confess. This Ity has me stumped.
Magnanimity is NOT my strong point...

When you hurt me, I tend to want to lash out straight away, or if that's impossible, later. Perhaps even much, much later.
So the above picture is as much for me, as for you...

I do know the theory, that forgiveness is good for the soul. That you suffer most yourself by not being able to forgive. So magnanimity should be a balm, really.
Then why does it come so hard?

By the way, totally and utterly irrelevant, but I have just learnt from one of those infamous internet tests that give you a personality trait after 9 questions with 3 possibilities (I mean - why do I waste my time on that? beats me!) that - wait for it - my Native American spirit guide is a cat. So now I will not feel guilty any longer for 'slapping you around the face with my infernal cats' (not my quote - someone gets tired of my cats...poor thing).

Ah! 

Hey, Cat Hater! I forgive you!

There. That wasn't so bad.

Perhaps I will get the hang of it.

Poor Amazingly Wonderful Robin Williams

Feeling a bit under the weather, so I had promised myself an Internet-free day today...But then my daughter called from upstairs to tell me that Robbie Williams was found dead. So I was shocked into getting up from the couch to get the details.
"No...not Robbie, Robin!", she told me.
Oh dear. Shock turned into dismay. Much as I admire Robbie as a performer, Robin is in a totally different league in my eyes.
Ever since I first saw him as Mork, I have followed his career, and have seen every movie he has acted in and many stand-up moments as well.

What can I tell you that hasn't already been said (and much better) by others about this wonderful actor?
Nothing. And since a picture paints a thousand words, I'll leave you to remember him with just that. 

Be at peace, Mr Williams.

The 14th Ity - Nobility

It has been awhile...the events with MH17 had robbed me of all inspiration to continue with the 18 Ities - but here we are. Life continues.

Like most females, I was fascinated with the fairy tales featuring princes and princesses when I was a child.

Especially the ones where the princesses were not readily recognised as being of noble birth. Psychologists will immediately shout that I hoped to be an unrecognised noble girl myself...Shout away, by all means.

When I got older and started to read English literature, the term 'nobility' got a more varied meaning. Now I was fascinated by the ancient nobles of the British Isles... And I enjoy those tales even now. Only a few weeks ago I read a book by Lillian Stewart Carl which featured Boudicca, and it taught me things I didn't know yet.

But the swami meant another kind of nobility. Not the kind that you are born into, or marry into, like our beloved Queen Maxima, but the kind that is ingrained in yourself, in your heart.

The lovely thing about that kind of nobility, is that it can appear in all kinds of people, of all sexes, creeds, race, birth. And you can choose to act with nobility. It can be your own doing.

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if our politicians would take this Ity and made it their own, with pride? All wars would cease, instanty. They would help each other out instead. Oh...you lack water? Have some of ours, feel free, we have plenty. Do you need someone to help you with your waste disposal problem? Well, we have found the solution, let's share this knowledge.

Huh! Pipe-dreams. But I told you - I dream BIG.

Ukraine and United States - for you!

Good morning to you! (It is Sunday morning over here...) 
Especially for all the hundreds of people who have read my blog in the Ukraine and in the United States during the last month:

Hi there!
I hope you will have a good day today, where ever you may be, whatever you may do. Try to spend it with people you like, or even love.

And remember: we are all equal. Fuck politics. Ordinary people, like you and me, can make a difference. All we have to do is remember that, and start with the people around us. Take a deep breath - and take the first step. Peace, my friend!

See you!