homage to the flower

"Now the key story for me about Buddhism concerns the sermon where the Buddha was seated, and there was a group around him and he just held up a flower. Just a flower. One in the group got what the Buddha was on about. For him, the flower itself was enough to spark enlightenment. The rest of the crowd were still in the dark, so to speak, so the Buddha delivered a sermon—the Flower Wreath Sūtra—to explain what he meant, which was this: there is nothing to say about life. It has no meaning. You make meaning. If you want a meaning in your life, find a meaning and bring it into your life, but life won't give you a meaning. Meaning is a concept. It is a notion of an end toward which you are going. The point of Buddhism is This Is It."

Joseph Campbell, Myths of Light, p. 135 (I came across this quote on Facebook this morning)

after having read the above and being overcome by a short outburst of Joy and Yay to it All, I decided to go out into our garden and look at the flowers; to be honest there are more out there than I had been aware of....just goes to show how little I actually see when I'm looking without focus....I do believe there's a lesson in there 

catching up with friends

Thursday Django and I went for a long walk with Dieke and her dog Felix in Avelingen

Friday Django and I went for a long walk with Marjan, these dahlias in Acquoy cheered us along

basted with a grid, still a lot more stitching to be done though.....

the yellow bird became a black one

off to the festive opening of my favourite book shop in Gorinchem, de Mandarijn; I've even written a poem for the new owner Ro

music and books, what a great combination, we even danced later on

good morning

action

sun setting

Django has swam across, I will walk 

 so land is reclaiming this space Mo tells me, as long as the water is still, as long as this slice is shut off from the vliet with running water the algae will continue to grow.....

water striders skating on the surface; in Dutch schaatsenrijders, literally skaters

moveable dog

softness

 the landscape keeps surprising me with it's understated beauty 

a tiny snail in the empty pod, in fact there are two tiny snails, each in their own little pod

we keep returning and every time I notice something new, this evening the rusty reds and the coffee pot tree

a collage of home-dyed and commercial fabrics, I think these will work well together; want to add small beings, on a journey of sorts.....fantasizing about that these days   

for Jennie

Monday evening the husband returned home with a bag stuffed with tiny furniture and bits and bobs, all for the Project! My friend Jennie who volunteers in the Geefwinkel had been saving them for me, or should I say, for the Project's inhabitants......I was thrilled,  you can imagine how they felt; as it all arrived here on the Monday evening and the hour was late, and then having to work in the office Tuesday and Wednesday, they all had to wait till today for me to move the stuff over to their place; they could of course have done it themselves....so I tolerated no complaints about the delay. It did mean they could decide amongst themselves what was to go where, who could have what and so forth, maybe even get some cleaning done. All that was required of me was my muscle power!

shelves in the library: where else? the leather bound books ended up there as well, as did the typewriter  plus phone; I have no idea if they do indeed have a phone number, but that doesn't seem to bother them and so I will ring them from time to time as requested - although no one till now has given me a number to ring  - 'text us' they cry, we're modern too you know, whatever. I am also happy to see the arrival of a saw, this means they can take care of their wood supply themselves from now on, careful though little 'un. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the silver chandelier, adds a touch of class to the entourage.

we moved the bird's nest from the newly decorated top bedroom to BirdBoy's shelf, he's very happy, as are Beetle and jumpy toad

The OldBirdKing quite fancies this object, no body knows what it is, art maybe? Anyway, he likes it and that makes us all happy for him

these three are always hungry, although I do see some might manage to eat more than others

a tiny woven basket!

the top shelf under the garden roof has been transformed into a proper bedroom

the new dog has taken the largest bed - very much like Django who sneaks onto the couch in the living-room when we're off to bed; he jumps off hastily in the mornings, looking at you with big innocent eyes (if I'm very quiet I can catch him......)

linen cupboard

they look like they're no stranger to mischief 

a very useful whisk & coffee grinder

attention!

wonder when they'll actually get round to cleaning........

there's even a ping-pong table, no bats but I'm sure they'll come up with something; on the table by the way is a new arrival, a brave and curious hedgehog, obviously not afraid of heights nor shears....

Rat checking out Django from the safety of the  coconut

thanks Jen!