The Willowman

The most exciting part of the Floriade (see last post) in Holland, is the sculptures and cradles made from willow branches. They are in a little wonderland hidden in the forest of the Floriade.The land of the willowman. The willowman, Will Beckers, lives here and works on his art at daytime.
 Here some exciting art work of The willowman

Walking through the forest on the Floriade, suddenly there is this tunnel. Of course the child in me can't resist to explore this exciting pathway.

 

Part of the tunnel is full of nest like artwork with wishes for nature made by the children who learn from the willowman all about it and help him build some of the stuctures and some of the artwork .

The legs of these trousers contain vegetables, like lettuce and tomatoes

The pantihoses, which hang from the craddle, contain seeds. The seeds are manured by the animals who live in the craddle, and lateron the animals will eat the vegies and the circle is round.

And then we arrived at the centre of the trolls in willowland. The right one is the hut of the chief troll. No? oh eh I think the willowman lives in these?

Wonderfull to be craddled like that

Standing on his backpaws this cuty looked at me over the edge of the willow brances. I came closer to admire him as he moved away.

This dove has his own flat in willow land

Will Beckers - Land Art Artist - The Willowman from will beckers on Vimeo.

The Floriade in Venlo

In Holland we went to the World Horticultural Expo. It is a ten yearly event which is held every time in a different place. This year it is in Venlo, only half an hour drive fom my hometown. It covers 55 hectare and is divided in five areas.
It is about flowers, plants, vegetables.It is about the environment. I loved the flower art. Many different countries participate.  Every country has their own "house" where they sell souveniers. The house is surrounded by a garden typical for their country. So much to see, it is a delight. Underneath a little impression of this fantastic place. I will do a separate post on the willowman in the Floriade.

The entrance wriggles like a snake to the land of flowers

Garden art

  

A feast for the eyes

Two kisses

Showtime in front of Villa Flora

A huge pretty couple

 

An overview a a part of the Floriade from the cable car

 

Awakening

Slowly drifting, leaving life
beyond my sight, shifting
into a place where noise
fades beneath the murmur of water.

A storm of thoughts,
a rumble of thunder
silencing rolling waves
that crash against the boat.

An orchestra of discord
conducts a spell
on a morning when sunrays’ feet
leave sparkles on the water.

As swiftly as lightning,
flashes of tranquility,
splashes of fresh water
awaken a blissful soul.

Tuning in to soothing sounds,
entering paradise
while the mind’s noise
exits through the backdoor.

Wijchen of the past...........weeks

When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood. Sam Ewing

A second try as I deleted my post yesterday by accident. My trip to Holland went by in a flash and already seems ages ago but it’s only a week. It was so great to catch up with everybody. Instead of drinking coffee we went places so my son would be able to get a glimpse of Holland and Europe. All went well and I didn’t notice a lot of changes. There were a lot of flowers and trees in the center of my birthplace, which looked wonderful. Highways, increased to eight lanes.  Food banks are a new phenomenon in Holland because of the recession but most people are still doing OK. I noticed I changed too. I felt sometimes more like an observer than being part of it all as it was not me anymore. I was able to adjust to my old self though but it was not completely natural. I am the one who left though so it was up to me to adjust. I was probably also looking for the closeness and the carefree time of the past. I was looking for my childhood.
I cherished every minute of my stay and feel very fortunate that I had such a wonderful time.

Proud to show my family. We all had dinner together

From the monastery is only this church left. The kindergarten was next to the monastery and we were taught by the nuns.

The marketplace looks wonderful with new trees and a chess game! There is still a market on Thursday mornings. I lived around the corner.

In the cafe on the right we had many wedding parties, disco afternoons etc

The house above is a restaurant called after Fien, a schoolteacher who was adopted by a rich Swiss lady. Later in life Fien became a bit eccentric and had lots of animals roaming around. She was a great painter and had exhibitions behind the green doors you see.

 

and of course the castle where I married and where we played in the gardens as children.

Back in Christchurch

 In the last month I had a fantastic time in Holland and Italy followed by a treat when coming home in a midwinter warm day and walking in this spectacular atmosphere in Sumner


 

The haze at the seaside covers the signs of past earthquakes but anywhere else in this part of Christchurch you can't ignore it. Miles of containers to protect people from falling rocks from the cliffs behind it. 

Container smart

Container Art

Resilience rules. More and more containers are transformed by being covered with smart art.

No post about Holland yet? The luxury decease of jetlag prevented me from sorting out lots of photos. Early at night my eyelids drop as they are confused by the change of day and night. Everything is the other way around even the water in the sink spins in the opposite direction. Another weird observation is that the pull of gravity is bigger here then in Holland as the number on the scale is higher. Scientist among you, don't respond. I am still jetlagged you know. Anyway once a week I will give you a drop of Dutch or some insight in Italy. Once a week because I am a working versus mum. Here a link to a great website with an interactive map of Holland to have a first taste. It is in Dutch though. :(    voor de Nederlanders :)

Picton and Malborough Sounds

Autumn what's that ? All four days when we went to Picton over  Easter Weekend we were sun soaked. Driving along the Queen Charlotte drive towards Anakiwa we had gorgeous views and found a nice spot to do some fishing and strumbled up a track to the top of the hill near Havelock.
The men got the hang of it and therefore we drove the next morning to Waikawa Bay to fish again as the ladies enjoyed the view. We had a nice surprise as we discovered a stingray when we walked along Waikawa    Marina. Someone told us that the stingray, without a sting, lives there and doesn't want to leave.


Another surprise was the little birdy sitting on the path on Motuara Island. After taking in the magical surroundings on our boat trip through the Queen Charlotte Sound we stopped at Motuara Island,which is a bird Sanctuary. When you step of the boat you hear the noise of the many birds but we only saw this little cute one who sat so still you could nearly touch it. We walked to the top and found out that the island had been claimed by captain Cook. In the past you just had to put your flag somewhere and it was yours.
Captain Cook also went to Ship Cove and we followed in his foot steps. At  Ship Cove is the start of the Queen Charlotte Track, a four day coastal walk. The South Island has many amazing tracks which are well looked after with huts and camp sites along the way. At Endeavour resort and Punga Cove resort we picked up some trampers and headed back to Picton.

When we sighted deeply it was already Monday and we were waiting for the InterIslander from Wellington to arrive to bring my daughter who drove home with us. An amazing trip with a happy end.