Spencerville park

Today I had a coffee and cake with some old friends as two of them recently had their birthday as well. After that me and a young friend had a peaceful walk in Spencerville Park. A park with forest, swamp, beach and more. We had a wonderful time and the weather was gorgeous. Spring is on its way. Yippee.

After that I drove through Brighton and stopped at the beach. I haven't been to Brighton Beach for a long time because of the earth quake. Except for a couple of shops being closed in Brighton everything looks like normal again.

They even had fun with some kites on the beach. On the backgound you see the hills which were badly affected by the quake because of falling rocks.

A place where it isn't peaceful is New York as an enormous hurricane is on its way and 750.000 will have to be evacuated. That's nearly twice the population of Christchurch. I am thinking about the people of New York and hope for the best. Take care and Kia Kaha. The weather all over the world is is getting more weird and extreme.

Half a century of me

My eyes don't seem too clear

I'm not sure what I hear

It seems I'm going dear

Over the hill

I've got 50 years behind me on the 24th (dutch time) It went fast and a lot has happened. One of the  biggest things I did in my half a century was having children and moving to New Zealand. Both great choices and both hard work. I was a full time, part time mum for a long time and since a couple of years I slowly got back into nearly full time work. I enjoy it and feel that I am doing more things than ever before. I know now what I like, what I want and don't want and feel good being myself. That has been different in the past. When I was young I was very shy and just cruising. I had no idea where I was going for a long time.



I think back to the time when my parents became 50 and I thought they were extremely old. We also made a Abraham and Sarah for my parents. In Holland they make a big doll (with a jacket or dress stuffed up with hay and they use often a mask for a face) and place it in the front of the house so that everyone can see that you've seen Sarah (or Abraham in case you're a man). Which means that you've become 50. The Sarah tradition in the Netherlands honors a woman gaining wisdom through experience and is a major birthday. I won't celebrate it big time. We go out for dinner with the family and in the weekend some friends come over. I also planned some fun events in the coming months. Watch this space.

The retiring carpenter

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. He would get by.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.

When the carpenter finished his work, the employer came to inspect the house. He handed the front door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our lives a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we'd do it much differently. But we cannot go back.


You are the carpenter. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, erect a wall. "Life is a do-it-yourself project," someone has said. Your attitude and the choices you make today build the "house" you live in tomorrow.

Build wisely!

Author unknown

National Anthum NZ

When I hear the national anthem and see these beautiful places  of NZ a teardrop appears.  Don't get me wrong I love my homecountry Holland very much. It is the land of my family,one of my best friends lives there. It is the land of my past. I have lots of great memories of Holland and mis it. I lived there for 37 years. Holland is also cosy, the dutch have a great sense of humour, beautiful buildings, yummi cheese and drop etc. but.......eventhough holland has a place in my heart, NZ has touched me at the core. It has touched my soul deeply. I feel connected to the beauty of this country. Earthquakes aside I couldn't imagen a better place to live, it is my country now.
 I will be visiting kaikoura this year and in October my favourite place the West coast of the South Island. This time we stay at the Punakaiki I am looking forward to it

Instant gratification

I dropped my children of at school this morning because the rain poured down. I started pondering tonight and thought I shouldn’t have done that. I deprive them from the change to learn that they won’t melt from a couple of rain drops. Our kids and actually increasingly our entire society are getting used to instant gratification.  We don’t work for anything anymore; everything is made easy for us.

When we don’t want to cook we go to get a pizza, quick and easy, when we fight with our partners we easily think about breaking up instead of hanging in there and working on our problems. I read a story about a couple who couldn't afford to break up and decided to safe first and wait a year. They are married for 45 years now.
When we want a new TV we get a loan and buy it instead of saving up for it first. It even happens among the Dutch all the time these days.
When we want to talk to somebody we don’t go to them anymore but grasp our cell phone
We get influenced by sales people because they know about our weakness for instant gratification

With increasing health problems and an economic downturn some of us are forced to make the choice to delay instant gratification.
For our younger people this will be a lot harder as they are not used to it at all. I think eventually it will be a lot better for everyone when we toughen up a bit, and feel proud when we achieve something after some hard work, which will make us grow. What do you think?

(Talking about instant gratification instead of going for exercise I had too much food in the last year to relieve my stress. Have to do a lot of work now to get it all off again. Time to toughen up.)
Arohanui Marja

Harvest

We must not hope to be mowers
and gather the ripe gold ears
Unless we first have been sowers
and watered the furrows with tears
It is not just as we take it
This mystical world of ours
Life's field will yield as we make it
A harvest of thorns or flowers

Goethe

Collapsed by the snow

  Fun continues, after cracks creeping through the house with the earthquakes now the snow made the roofing of the terras collapse early this morning. We just wanted to take the snow of and crack too late. Just got the message that the guttering has collapsed as well. What a year. I hope the tie will turn soon. We are going to take on our boots and stroll to the shop to see if it is open and to get some fresh air. Freshness will be guaranteed.  The power was off this morning and we heard another 1000 homes were without power.  Hope for all the Christchurch people that they will be safe and warm.   Take care and as the German proverb says

In bad luck hold out in good luck hold in :)

A polar blast has come

A polar blast has covered our place, city and nearly the whole country in snow. It is going to take days before it is over this time

No this is not from last time, new fresh snow has fallen on our house

Colour, shapes and snowflakes

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity;
so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand. 
Henry David Thoreau

Roads are once again too slippery for our car wheels. This time I bless the day and enjoy making photos, reading by the fire, eating crackers with hummus , writing a little poem and playing a game. Couldn't imagen a better way to relax. Just a walk would have made it complete. The snow and me couldn't have picked a better day because according to my daughter it is Internation Relaxation Day today!

Crystal Thoughts
By marja Blom

Awakened by cold surroundings
gathering around a heart of fire
thoughts crystallise in flakes
unique carvings of the mind

Blending into a blanket of purity
covering earthy longing
with a soft touch
knowing that eternal light

will transform into beauty
transcending knowledge
that all is water
from the same source

Kawhia and Rangimarie Bush Retreat

Last part North Island trip. On the last day of our trip in the North of the North island last summer we went to Kawhia, a coastal township beside a placid harbour. A place were time stood still, a place were it is quiet, where everybody knows each other and the pace of life is slow. On Kawhia beach you can dig yourself a hot pool and relax.

Little boats offer colour to the landscape

Shredding hurriedly along the shore

A nostalgic ship rests in the harbour

Set against the blue sky this residence stands out looking over the land with its many eyes

Our home for one day

The hollow tree smells of fresh honey

"Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake." Winny the  Pooh  by  A.A. Milne

We arrived early afternoon and had a wonderful last night at a magic place called Rangimarie Bush Retreat. We stayed in a gorgeous cottage with pots hanging from the ceiling and a nice terras with a hammock and benches where we hang out with Gerard, a Dutch man from brabant, who does the farm work here. As a treat he played the mandolin for us to dutch music. Two gorgeous grandchildren of Rowena stayed there and they managed to charm William straight away.

There is a wonderful outside bathtub and shower and a place were you dicover wonder and magic in every corner. The many farm animals, yellow ducklings adopted by a black and white duck, a beautiful river which we crossed and where you could see the eels swim and than of course the hollow tree where Pooh lives. At night we met up with Gereard again, had Pizza from their big outdoor oven and chatted the night away and in the morning we had a great breakfast  What a nice way to finish our trip.

The psychology of happiness

My happy chappy

Parenting is very difficult. However children give us a sense of accomplishment which makes us feel happy. :)

The psychology of happiness
or positive psychologie

I always loved psychology. It gave me a little understanding of how the world works or better how people work. When I studied some psychology a  part was abnormal psychology which is how people shouldn't work and how to fix it when things go wrong. I thought wouldn't it be much better to know what makes people happy in the first place so you can prevent this stuff from happening.
I found out this has been happening over the last years and I completely missed it.  I learned about it through a magazine and some stuff on the Internet, I have to share it with you  I know it works. Because we are all different some things work better for one than for others but they all  contribute. here we go, what makes us happy:

• Relationships! We are social animals. We are connected, and the more you are able to connect to people the happier you are. What stops you from this : Looking up and looking down on people.
• Exercise! This is a well known one. When you exercise you produce endorphins which are happy chemicals. Don't over exercise though, which causes stress to you and the muscles. Walking and swimming will do just fine.
• Don't focus on the negative but on the positive. When you think about things that make you angry you won't feel happy. Logic hey but we still tend to do it often. At the end of the day just count your blessings.Make a list of what was fun today or what you are grateful for. Your happiness will go in the lift to the top floor.
• Caring and giving. When you contribute to other peoples happiness you feel better yourself. You don't have to be mother Theresa but just little things will do. Become a member of  Love Rally  A blog which gives you tips how to care and write letters to people who have a really hard time. Giving some money to the red cross etc. Your mental health will sky rocket.
• Flow. Losing your self consciousness and being deeply engaged in doing something makes you happy. This can be gardening, cooking, for me it is writing poetry or reading a book etc. Somethng which engages you so much that you loose yourself in it.
• Learning something Learning something new whether this is at work or at home, a new language, a new hobby etc keeps the brain stimulated and therefore makes you feel better.
• Living in the moment. Focus on what you are thinking and feeling an seeing now. When you are doing new things or going on holiday to new places you are focused because all is new and you are living in the now. This makes you feel more alive and happier.
• Achieving something .. If you feel you have accomplishment something you feel more happy. Even if you go through a traumatic experience you can feel good. In science this is called post-traumatic growth: After a traumatic experience some people realise that there relationships are improved, they realised that they could cope and survived and they realise the important things in life. So even if you lost your stuff in an earthquake you realise that it is more important that your friends and family are all fine.