Wednesday, February 13, 2013
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR PEACE
Vijf vragen voor vrijheid........Five questions for freedom.
Wie ben ik dat ik ...............Who am I that I
de vragen mag stellen............may ask the questions
die verwoorden wat...............that put into words
in jouw en mijn hart leeft.......what lives in your heart and mine
of dat van mijn medemens?........or that of my fellow men?
Waarom zijn er grenzen...........Why are there borders
die het leefgebied...............that lines the living area
van mijn naaste..................of my fellow creature
aangeven of dat..................and borders them or
van mijn vijand?.................the area of my enemy?
Wat is de norm...................What is the standard
die afbakent wat.................that marks out what
van jou en mij is,...............belongs to you or me,
wat van ons of...................what is ours or
van die anderen?.................from the others?
Waar leeft de plicht.............Where lives the duty
die oplegt wat...................that orders me what
mijn werk voor jou of............mij my work for you or me
betekent en wat voor.............has to mean and what
anderen gedaan wordt?............has to be done for others?
Hoe vrij is de vrijheid..........How free is the freedom
die bepaalt wat..................that defines what
jou en mij toekomt...............what is due to you and me
wat ons gegund wordt.............what granted to us
en wat voor anderen overblijft?..and what is left-over for others?
5 vragen voor vier en vijf Mei..5 questions for the 4th and 5th of May
en de rest van het jaar..........And for the rest of the year.
Nan van Daalen. 1982. Translated 11-11-2008. Copyrighted.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
A BUNCH OF RECKLESS ANGELS
A bunch of reckless Angels.
At the feet of Jesus were always some Angels, not only glorifying Him, but together with Him gazing to the world. He was also listening in to the prayers, but they often only listened half, for they could not imagine the sorrows of a not perfect world like Heaven was.
And while He had not only time to help those, who needed Him most, He also had time to welcome the souls, that came back home.
That little bunch of Angels did not feel spoiled by being in His presents, no, it was the most normal to be so in Heaven, and what is normal, seldom is appreciated.
So one of the Angels got fascinated by the glitter and glance of the big city’s, the casino’s, the dancing girls and sighed: “Oh, I would like to experience a life like that!”
Another of them was fascinated by the work, a woman did by helping those, that had the most urgent prayers, but did not like the solitude of a convent. So she sighed: “Oh, how I would like to experience a life like that, it would feel like Heaven for me.”
A third of the bunch said: “No, I do see on the other side of this world a lot of pristine land, with plenty of room to roam free, work with the nature, I would be more happy there!”
Yet another and another did see places, their heart yearned to be on thatr places, and Jesus, in His wisdom said: “Did I not teach you, that each and all have its destined place in My plans? That some people have to learn from an experience. That other people do need many life’s to come to the wisdom, that their soul has been given by My Fathers Creation of the universe?”
The bunch of Angels, always sticking together and chatting, when Jesus was busy with something else, nodded yes, but the words did not fall in rich soil, so half of the meaning was lost.
The next time they spoke words like this, Jesus sais: “My lovely praising Angels, My Father did create you to sing His glory in Heaven, be satisfied with what He gave you. And remind yourself to be sure what you do ask for. You even can get it, and when it is not, what you thought it was, you stuck with it.”
The Angels again nodded yes, but had no idea, what Jesus was talking about, while looking at the outside was something different from seeing the inside of a humans mind and soul.
And they were not created as guardian Angels, so they did not got the wisdom. That does fit that job.
The third time Jesus said: “I did warn you, my lovely ones. There is only one cure to heal your yearning: I will send you to live a life on Earth. But nobody of you will meet each other, before you do recognize a kindred soul in the other. All of you will experience the troubles, you did overlook between all the beauty life also gives. Your life’s will be rough and hard ones. The troubles, you did overlook, when we together did look ate the world, you also will experience. All of you will keep the spark of recollection, how Heaven is, and have the urge to make life on Earth just like that.
I keep you Savior and hold my eyes on you, but you will have free will, like all humankind, so I cannot predict, when we are together here again. Do you still wish to go to Earth?”
Only one Angel did see, that the Creator placed her in the right place, the other ones were to curious and all said, they wanted to go.
So each of them got a different place of birth, a different fait to live through, according to their desires in Heaven. But each also was given a task to fulfill before their life should end and the lessons were learned.
Some, who did have the desire to help humankind, without being in a convent, got very hard lives, for they did need a sturdy base in their soul, from where they could do the job, they were yearning for.
For them the memory of Heaven was the only thing, that sometimes could help them through very hard times, and often the were on their knees, asking the Lord: “Why does this all happen to me Lord?”
They had to remember to be faithful, see how their experience could help others, before there was peace able in their hearts. Others had different, but equal hard life’s, sometimes by their own eagerness to live in glitter and glory going through the opposite: from the outside glorious, from the inside empty and hard.
They had to learn, that love is found in your own heart and multiplies by giving.
And there also were those, that did not loose their faith, they kept searching for the others to give them the love, they had still in their soul. Now a few of them have met, they only do not realize….
Lets keep in touch until our time to sit on His feet again!
© Nan van Daalen.
At the feet of Jesus were always some Angels, not only glorifying Him, but together with Him gazing to the world. He was also listening in to the prayers, but they often only listened half, for they could not imagine the sorrows of a not perfect world like Heaven was.
And while He had not only time to help those, who needed Him most, He also had time to welcome the souls, that came back home.
That little bunch of Angels did not feel spoiled by being in His presents, no, it was the most normal to be so in Heaven, and what is normal, seldom is appreciated.
So one of the Angels got fascinated by the glitter and glance of the big city’s, the casino’s, the dancing girls and sighed: “Oh, I would like to experience a life like that!”
Another of them was fascinated by the work, a woman did by helping those, that had the most urgent prayers, but did not like the solitude of a convent. So she sighed: “Oh, how I would like to experience a life like that, it would feel like Heaven for me.”
A third of the bunch said: “No, I do see on the other side of this world a lot of pristine land, with plenty of room to roam free, work with the nature, I would be more happy there!”
Yet another and another did see places, their heart yearned to be on thatr places, and Jesus, in His wisdom said: “Did I not teach you, that each and all have its destined place in My plans? That some people have to learn from an experience. That other people do need many life’s to come to the wisdom, that their soul has been given by My Fathers Creation of the universe?”
The bunch of Angels, always sticking together and chatting, when Jesus was busy with something else, nodded yes, but the words did not fall in rich soil, so half of the meaning was lost.
The next time they spoke words like this, Jesus sais: “My lovely praising Angels, My Father did create you to sing His glory in Heaven, be satisfied with what He gave you. And remind yourself to be sure what you do ask for. You even can get it, and when it is not, what you thought it was, you stuck with it.”
The Angels again nodded yes, but had no idea, what Jesus was talking about, while looking at the outside was something different from seeing the inside of a humans mind and soul.
And they were not created as guardian Angels, so they did not got the wisdom. That does fit that job.
The third time Jesus said: “I did warn you, my lovely ones. There is only one cure to heal your yearning: I will send you to live a life on Earth. But nobody of you will meet each other, before you do recognize a kindred soul in the other. All of you will experience the troubles, you did overlook between all the beauty life also gives. Your life’s will be rough and hard ones. The troubles, you did overlook, when we together did look ate the world, you also will experience. All of you will keep the spark of recollection, how Heaven is, and have the urge to make life on Earth just like that.
I keep you Savior and hold my eyes on you, but you will have free will, like all humankind, so I cannot predict, when we are together here again. Do you still wish to go to Earth?”
Only one Angel did see, that the Creator placed her in the right place, the other ones were to curious and all said, they wanted to go.
So each of them got a different place of birth, a different fait to live through, according to their desires in Heaven. But each also was given a task to fulfill before their life should end and the lessons were learned.
Some, who did have the desire to help humankind, without being in a convent, got very hard lives, for they did need a sturdy base in their soul, from where they could do the job, they were yearning for.
For them the memory of Heaven was the only thing, that sometimes could help them through very hard times, and often the were on their knees, asking the Lord: “Why does this all happen to me Lord?”
They had to remember to be faithful, see how their experience could help others, before there was peace able in their hearts. Others had different, but equal hard life’s, sometimes by their own eagerness to live in glitter and glory going through the opposite: from the outside glorious, from the inside empty and hard.
They had to learn, that love is found in your own heart and multiplies by giving.
And there also were those, that did not loose their faith, they kept searching for the others to give them the love, they had still in their soul. Now a few of them have met, they only do not realize….
Lets keep in touch until our time to sit on His feet again!
© Nan van Daalen.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
OUR LITTLE PEOPLE ARE GETTING READY
42: Our little people are getting ready.
Outside the snow still is thick on the ground. When we do go out, we are huddled in thick coats, mittens and hats, and if possible thick boots with 2 pair of stockings.
I could still make a snowman yesterday, but still… there are some flowers peeping out of the snow.
Last week I did see the Snowdrops, a thick bunch of them, so I enjoyed: spring is coming soon. Yesterday, just before the snow, I did see the first blue blooms on a Hyacinth, so I stopped to look.
But this morning there is thick snow on the ground again, and the frost was severe. So cold, that soon we can skate not only on the fields, we set water on, so we could skate safely, but also on the ditches and wider waterways.
I do wait, until a grownup tells me, it is safe. Do you know why? I’ll tell you.
Once I was as little as you are now, and I did not listen well. The ice did look lovely and thick, so me and some friends dared each other to try if it was. We told each other: the smallest one first, than one who is bigger and so on.
I was the smallest one, but when only one foot was on the ice, I already went through! Luckily the bigger ones could help me out, and I had to run home with one wet and one dry leg! Brrrr!
It was that cold, I was happy I had not gone under totally! So now I am careful, like you also should be.
Our little friends are much lighter, and they use the snow-shoes I told you of before: when they walk, it looks, like a big bird have walked there, while on the underside they made markings like that.
And may, may, are they busy now!
They almost have a double duty now! Very busy preparing for spring, but now, with the late snow and ice, they also need to rescue the animals, trapped in the ice, or who cannot find their hidden food, while there has to much snow fallen in one night.
So they even asked the elf’s to give an extra hand, while it is almost to much to do at the same time: preparing for spring, ánd taking care that as much as possible animal friends survive the sudden cold.
So there is an going in and out in the dwarf-houses. Luckily not to much of the heat escapes, while there are those extra doors, while they often have to go in and out. That doors keep the heat in.
But the dwarf mom’s are also a bit in the spring mood for their dwarf men did bring in some nice smelling flowers of those Hyacinths. We do not see, when they with careful hands take of one bloom from a stem with a lot of them. Now their houses smell lovely.
They only hope, that spring is not waiting to long any more, for the rooms with the help food are already half empty, and that is not good for their friends.
So they do ask from us: will you too help us to bring our friends in nature through this long cold winter?
That also can be fun: who does not like it to make a long chain with peanuts in the rind for the tits?
You can ask an older person to do the tread through the needle, if you cannot.
And when mom does have some fat left, you can poor in some seed, you can find in a pets-hop, or may be even collected for that purpose in autumn, and ask for some breadcrumbs to lay on a sheltered place, where the little kitty-cat cannot come and catch the hungry birds.
Than our little friends have more time to do some ‘spring is coming’ duty, we cannot do.
Why cannot we do that? Do you know where new bulbs or other flowers are growing under the snow? I cannot, they can.
It is, as if their noses are double good, like dogs-noses, so they smell out new growth, and when to much snow is on top, they take a big part away.
Not all at first, for than a frost would freeze the new leaves, a thin layer of snow protects the leaves for to much frost.
I now stop telling, for I have a pot full of fat, that is used a couple of times, so it needs to be renewed. And I do have bought in autumn a few big sacks of seeds for birds in the pet-shop.
So I go now, and stir all together, put some old sultana or onion sacks in the bottom of old cups and poor all in.
Tomorrow, when all is hardened, I do bind this close and can take them out, to hang in the trees and bushes, besides the sling of peanuts.
All the birds in the neighborhood fly by, for I do this each year.
I am a grown-up. I can work with hot fat, and not burn myself.
You will ask for help from somebody, old enough to do so, will you not? I am sure of that.
So when we wake up tomorrow, and not are going to have some other tasks, you will help too?
But please, be careful, like our little friends.
For now we know that we have, just like them, to be aware of hot from the fat, but also of the cold from the snow and ice, and also, that the animals need us too.
But spring is almost in the air… we just have to wait a bit longer!
© Nan van Daalen.
Outside the snow still is thick on the ground. When we do go out, we are huddled in thick coats, mittens and hats, and if possible thick boots with 2 pair of stockings.
I could still make a snowman yesterday, but still… there are some flowers peeping out of the snow.
Last week I did see the Snowdrops, a thick bunch of them, so I enjoyed: spring is coming soon. Yesterday, just before the snow, I did see the first blue blooms on a Hyacinth, so I stopped to look.
But this morning there is thick snow on the ground again, and the frost was severe. So cold, that soon we can skate not only on the fields, we set water on, so we could skate safely, but also on the ditches and wider waterways.
I do wait, until a grownup tells me, it is safe. Do you know why? I’ll tell you.
Once I was as little as you are now, and I did not listen well. The ice did look lovely and thick, so me and some friends dared each other to try if it was. We told each other: the smallest one first, than one who is bigger and so on.
I was the smallest one, but when only one foot was on the ice, I already went through! Luckily the bigger ones could help me out, and I had to run home with one wet and one dry leg! Brrrr!
It was that cold, I was happy I had not gone under totally! So now I am careful, like you also should be.
Our little friends are much lighter, and they use the snow-shoes I told you of before: when they walk, it looks, like a big bird have walked there, while on the underside they made markings like that.
And may, may, are they busy now!
They almost have a double duty now! Very busy preparing for spring, but now, with the late snow and ice, they also need to rescue the animals, trapped in the ice, or who cannot find their hidden food, while there has to much snow fallen in one night.
So they even asked the elf’s to give an extra hand, while it is almost to much to do at the same time: preparing for spring, ánd taking care that as much as possible animal friends survive the sudden cold.
So there is an going in and out in the dwarf-houses. Luckily not to much of the heat escapes, while there are those extra doors, while they often have to go in and out. That doors keep the heat in.
But the dwarf mom’s are also a bit in the spring mood for their dwarf men did bring in some nice smelling flowers of those Hyacinths. We do not see, when they with careful hands take of one bloom from a stem with a lot of them. Now their houses smell lovely.
They only hope, that spring is not waiting to long any more, for the rooms with the help food are already half empty, and that is not good for their friends.
So they do ask from us: will you too help us to bring our friends in nature through this long cold winter?
That also can be fun: who does not like it to make a long chain with peanuts in the rind for the tits?
You can ask an older person to do the tread through the needle, if you cannot.
And when mom does have some fat left, you can poor in some seed, you can find in a pets-hop, or may be even collected for that purpose in autumn, and ask for some breadcrumbs to lay on a sheltered place, where the little kitty-cat cannot come and catch the hungry birds.
Than our little friends have more time to do some ‘spring is coming’ duty, we cannot do.
Why cannot we do that? Do you know where new bulbs or other flowers are growing under the snow? I cannot, they can.
It is, as if their noses are double good, like dogs-noses, so they smell out new growth, and when to much snow is on top, they take a big part away.
Not all at first, for than a frost would freeze the new leaves, a thin layer of snow protects the leaves for to much frost.
I now stop telling, for I have a pot full of fat, that is used a couple of times, so it needs to be renewed. And I do have bought in autumn a few big sacks of seeds for birds in the pet-shop.
So I go now, and stir all together, put some old sultana or onion sacks in the bottom of old cups and poor all in.
Tomorrow, when all is hardened, I do bind this close and can take them out, to hang in the trees and bushes, besides the sling of peanuts.
All the birds in the neighborhood fly by, for I do this each year.
I am a grown-up. I can work with hot fat, and not burn myself.
You will ask for help from somebody, old enough to do so, will you not? I am sure of that.
So when we wake up tomorrow, and not are going to have some other tasks, you will help too?
But please, be careful, like our little friends.
For now we know that we have, just like them, to be aware of hot from the fat, but also of the cold from the snow and ice, and also, that the animals need us too.
But spring is almost in the air… we just have to wait a bit longer!
© Nan van Daalen.
WHAT HAPPENS IN BETWEEN WINTER AND SPRING?
43: What happens in between winter and spring?
That is not the right question when we talk about our little friends, it must be: what happens in the year, after a winter dwarf becomes a real spring dwarf.
Well some answers about that, you already got before.
But today is a special occasion, we are following a special winter dwarf until he is a real spring dwarf.
This winter dwarf told me his name, while I was allowed to see and hear lots of all I am going to tell you.
His name is Olly, and the dwarf maiden, he fell in love with, is Dolly.
They did meet at the winter solstice party and had a big laugh, when both reacted when Olly was called from the other side of the circle.
So this year Olly did make the big climb in the Sequoja tree, and became the dress, his Dolly was going to wear when the dwarf’s wedding was. And on that same day many other dwarf couples got wedded.
After the feast, they got free time to finish their own house.
Remember, that special house with the double doors, so water, wind and unwanted guest would not come in?
That is hard work, for certain when it became clear, they soon had to build 2 extra rooms!
Why 2 extra rooms?
While dwarf women have so much duties underground, but also with healing, they mostly get only once baby’s.
Baby’s? Yes, mostly twins, a boy and a girl, so they always have someone to play with and learn together, what dwarfs need to know.
That is, why Olly whistled his little dragon friend, and asked him: do you know where I do find the softest down? Together they went there a couple of times, so the baby dwarfs did get the warmest mattresses and duvets you can imagine.
With his fox-friend he went for bigger pieces of soft, but sturdy wood, so he could build them nicely decorated beds, and small chairs.
And Dolly went to her animal friends for wool to spin thread, and weave little clothes. And special for her some far flying big birds went to the cotton fields to gather that, so there was enough variety.
In between they also had to dig, make the sides of their house sturdy, so the earth did not fall down when a big animal or human passes by the tree, they had chosen for their living. Luckily all was ready in time.
That is, while each year, this happens, and all the other dwarf friends do help, like they were helped themselves also.
And like human baby’s, dwarf baby do grow quickly, so they also got some nice things, other dwarf children outgrew, like some clothes and toys.
You see: they do love their children just like your parents and family do, but they are also used, not to spill anything, that can be used again with a bit of care and cleaning.
Just a few weeks, before the baby’s were born, there was the special baby shower, where everybody gave the new to be moms and dads gifts.
And still unexpectedly soon there sounded 2 loud crying baby dwarfs in the house: a good sign, for than they have healthy lungs.
Well, you remember, what you mom did, when you were smaller than now, do you?
She gave you something to suckle on, with a bit harder rim to help you getting teeth, so you could sleep.
Luckily Ollie and Dolly had helped out with family when they were kids.
That they were longer than we are, for dwarfs get so much older than we will be.
And by having even more responsibilities, they do need more time to learn all, they do need, even how to care for kids. Dwarf kid and animal kids alike.
Also all about plant and medicines from plants. And who wanted to learn a craft, went to a teacher-dwarf to do so, and mostly lived there, until they were ready.
All this Olly and Dolly also had done, and their twins would do the same, growing up slowly, so they also could help all in nature, animal and plant, and sometimes even, without noticing by them, some human.
But first our lovely dwarf, like all other before them, shared the first year together, so the mom-dwarf could manage alone next spring, when her husband had to go out, to do his duty outside, and has less time to help out in the house and with feeding.
So now you know, why there is a year between being a winter dwarf and a spring dwarf.
I do think is it a very clever solution, that nature made with our dwarfs. And what do you think?
Does it work the same in the human world?
I do think only a little bit the same, mostly the daddy does not get a year of for building his house and helping in the first difficult months. But they do together, as much as possible, is it not?
The other difference between human and dwarf is: you can be an only child, the youngest or the oldest of a few.
That dwarfs do not have, they only have that one twin brother or sister for life, so they are very close.
I do not know what I do like more. I do have brothers and sisters, and you? All in nature comes the way, it is the best, when we take care of things.
But that you are learning very well, now you are growing up, is it not?!
© Nan van Daalen.
That is not the right question when we talk about our little friends, it must be: what happens in the year, after a winter dwarf becomes a real spring dwarf.
Well some answers about that, you already got before.
But today is a special occasion, we are following a special winter dwarf until he is a real spring dwarf.
This winter dwarf told me his name, while I was allowed to see and hear lots of all I am going to tell you.
His name is Olly, and the dwarf maiden, he fell in love with, is Dolly.
They did meet at the winter solstice party and had a big laugh, when both reacted when Olly was called from the other side of the circle.
So this year Olly did make the big climb in the Sequoja tree, and became the dress, his Dolly was going to wear when the dwarf’s wedding was. And on that same day many other dwarf couples got wedded.
After the feast, they got free time to finish their own house.
Remember, that special house with the double doors, so water, wind and unwanted guest would not come in?
That is hard work, for certain when it became clear, they soon had to build 2 extra rooms!
Why 2 extra rooms?
While dwarf women have so much duties underground, but also with healing, they mostly get only once baby’s.
Baby’s? Yes, mostly twins, a boy and a girl, so they always have someone to play with and learn together, what dwarfs need to know.
That is, why Olly whistled his little dragon friend, and asked him: do you know where I do find the softest down? Together they went there a couple of times, so the baby dwarfs did get the warmest mattresses and duvets you can imagine.
With his fox-friend he went for bigger pieces of soft, but sturdy wood, so he could build them nicely decorated beds, and small chairs.
And Dolly went to her animal friends for wool to spin thread, and weave little clothes. And special for her some far flying big birds went to the cotton fields to gather that, so there was enough variety.
In between they also had to dig, make the sides of their house sturdy, so the earth did not fall down when a big animal or human passes by the tree, they had chosen for their living. Luckily all was ready in time.
That is, while each year, this happens, and all the other dwarf friends do help, like they were helped themselves also.
And like human baby’s, dwarf baby do grow quickly, so they also got some nice things, other dwarf children outgrew, like some clothes and toys.
You see: they do love their children just like your parents and family do, but they are also used, not to spill anything, that can be used again with a bit of care and cleaning.
Just a few weeks, before the baby’s were born, there was the special baby shower, where everybody gave the new to be moms and dads gifts.
And still unexpectedly soon there sounded 2 loud crying baby dwarfs in the house: a good sign, for than they have healthy lungs.
Well, you remember, what you mom did, when you were smaller than now, do you?
She gave you something to suckle on, with a bit harder rim to help you getting teeth, so you could sleep.
Luckily Ollie and Dolly had helped out with family when they were kids.
That they were longer than we are, for dwarfs get so much older than we will be.
And by having even more responsibilities, they do need more time to learn all, they do need, even how to care for kids. Dwarf kid and animal kids alike.
Also all about plant and medicines from plants. And who wanted to learn a craft, went to a teacher-dwarf to do so, and mostly lived there, until they were ready.
All this Olly and Dolly also had done, and their twins would do the same, growing up slowly, so they also could help all in nature, animal and plant, and sometimes even, without noticing by them, some human.
But first our lovely dwarf, like all other before them, shared the first year together, so the mom-dwarf could manage alone next spring, when her husband had to go out, to do his duty outside, and has less time to help out in the house and with feeding.
So now you know, why there is a year between being a winter dwarf and a spring dwarf.
I do think is it a very clever solution, that nature made with our dwarfs. And what do you think?
Does it work the same in the human world?
I do think only a little bit the same, mostly the daddy does not get a year of for building his house and helping in the first difficult months. But they do together, as much as possible, is it not?
The other difference between human and dwarf is: you can be an only child, the youngest or the oldest of a few.
That dwarfs do not have, they only have that one twin brother or sister for life, so they are very close.
I do not know what I do like more. I do have brothers and sisters, and you? All in nature comes the way, it is the best, when we take care of things.
But that you are learning very well, now you are growing up, is it not?!
© Nan van Daalen.
On the other side of the world with our little friends.
44: On the other side of the world with our little friends.
Today, while stirring a big pot of thick, wintery soup, my little friends did get an emergency call.
How? It went piece by piece, every time given on to the next fire dragon or big, long flying bird.
And before you ask why, I will tell so: Our dwarfs and elf in Holland have a lot of experience with floods, very wet weather.
That they have not so much on the other side of the world on a continent, that is called Australia.
So the last messenger from there was a Storm-petrel, a bird that mostly can fly for days on end on the winds and airflows.
And so it went on until it arrived over here, and had to ask help to get warm, while it so terribly cold now.
The moment it did clapper with his beak, but could speak again, it said: “I am hungry!”
The other birds of the sea, the seagulls, who had flown with him for the last miles, went out and were catching him a lot of herring and other fish.
After eating Petrel the finally could tell what he came for.
“We do know you are terribly busy with winterfeeding, saving animals of the ice and so on, but can you please share some of your dwarfs and elf to help us?”
“What do they have to do? If we know, we wake the right ones. And the ones, we can miss for a couple of months, for Australia is not just around the corner!” one of our friends commented.
“You see, only once in a very large number of years there does fall that much rain, we have a flood. This year there is so much rain, even the dried out seas in the inland, that only had water 2 times the last 100 years, are overflowing now.
That is a tread for a lot of animals, that usually do live on dry land, even desert like surroundings.
Do you have some older and wiser dwarfs and elf to spare, who can give us directions, how we can handle things?
You see, we also like to store the water for next years, while it might not rain for a lot of years to come, so that makes it a double problem.” The Storm-petrel said, looking very hopeful.
Luckily, after some deliberation, they did remember Wander, the dwarf with the fire dragon, that so much liked to travel.
They also remembered, he had studied all the water works over the world, with this making the long messenger trips he had made, les boring. So he was the perfect dwarf for the job.
There also was an very tiny elf, that seldom came out, while he easily was blown away.
By that reason, he wrote all the stories, everybody told him in the books of the dwarfs and elf, so no knowledge went lost.
“But how do you want to bring an elf to the other side of the world, when on the ocean there is always wind, so I mostly glide on it, to use as less as possible energy?” the Petrel asked.
“We do have, from a time about 50 years ago, a kind of armor of leather, which should fit around him and can over your neck and under your belly.
You only have to ask other birds during the trip to feed you, for he cannot hold his breath that long, or would freeze when wet.” The Petrel nodded.
“After a good night rest and some more food from my friends, can we go? It really is an emergency”.
All agreed, and the next day Wander and his dragon, with a small rucksack with food and a book of the elf flew besides the Petrel, with on his back, just before his wings the tiny elf, in thick, warm clothes and also with some elf food on his back.
3 days they flew, and the message went faster, while the birds with nobody on their back, and only a small piece to fly, took care, there was on every resting spot food and for the elf and dwarf a fire, if wood was available.
In Australia they went not only to the wisest of the dwarfs, no they too went to the elder of the Aboriginals, knowing, they also did remember story’s of thousands of years.
So together they found the solution, one that the humans that came to live over there much later than the Aboriginals could not know.
In some parts under the dry seas and rock, there are basins, hidden under big rock formations, and to be sure, the sweet water did not go at once to the sea, the entrances were closed.
But nobody had thought, to ask the people, who did live that long in this country.
And by themselves, there were not enough of them, to open up all the necessary entrances, so the water could go down, but was not wasted.
All and everyone did help, while the other people did see the Aboriginals opening the way to the basins, did lower the water.
They were not wise enough to see the dwarf, only the kids could, but on that moment nobody had time to listen to that stories: the land had to be dry again first.
When all was done, not all the water was gone underground, but most, and the sun would help, even as the new growth on the new harvest, that now could be planted.
And Wander, the elf and the fire dragon?
They had the time of their life: such a large helping adventure.
They did meet a lot of other little people, fire dragons of another kind, and did do as we all try to do: help nature, just when it does need that little bit of extra help.
For the next years there now was stored underground water, that slowly would fill the tiny water wholes in the inland through the small cracks in the mountains.
Nice to know, is it not?
© Nan van Daalen.
Today, while stirring a big pot of thick, wintery soup, my little friends did get an emergency call.
How? It went piece by piece, every time given on to the next fire dragon or big, long flying bird.
And before you ask why, I will tell so: Our dwarfs and elf in Holland have a lot of experience with floods, very wet weather.
That they have not so much on the other side of the world on a continent, that is called Australia.
So the last messenger from there was a Storm-petrel, a bird that mostly can fly for days on end on the winds and airflows.
And so it went on until it arrived over here, and had to ask help to get warm, while it so terribly cold now.
The moment it did clapper with his beak, but could speak again, it said: “I am hungry!”
The other birds of the sea, the seagulls, who had flown with him for the last miles, went out and were catching him a lot of herring and other fish.
After eating Petrel the finally could tell what he came for.
“We do know you are terribly busy with winterfeeding, saving animals of the ice and so on, but can you please share some of your dwarfs and elf to help us?”
“What do they have to do? If we know, we wake the right ones. And the ones, we can miss for a couple of months, for Australia is not just around the corner!” one of our friends commented.
“You see, only once in a very large number of years there does fall that much rain, we have a flood. This year there is so much rain, even the dried out seas in the inland, that only had water 2 times the last 100 years, are overflowing now.
That is a tread for a lot of animals, that usually do live on dry land, even desert like surroundings.
Do you have some older and wiser dwarfs and elf to spare, who can give us directions, how we can handle things?
You see, we also like to store the water for next years, while it might not rain for a lot of years to come, so that makes it a double problem.” The Storm-petrel said, looking very hopeful.
Luckily, after some deliberation, they did remember Wander, the dwarf with the fire dragon, that so much liked to travel.
They also remembered, he had studied all the water works over the world, with this making the long messenger trips he had made, les boring. So he was the perfect dwarf for the job.
There also was an very tiny elf, that seldom came out, while he easily was blown away.
By that reason, he wrote all the stories, everybody told him in the books of the dwarfs and elf, so no knowledge went lost.
“But how do you want to bring an elf to the other side of the world, when on the ocean there is always wind, so I mostly glide on it, to use as less as possible energy?” the Petrel asked.
“We do have, from a time about 50 years ago, a kind of armor of leather, which should fit around him and can over your neck and under your belly.
You only have to ask other birds during the trip to feed you, for he cannot hold his breath that long, or would freeze when wet.” The Petrel nodded.
“After a good night rest and some more food from my friends, can we go? It really is an emergency”.
All agreed, and the next day Wander and his dragon, with a small rucksack with food and a book of the elf flew besides the Petrel, with on his back, just before his wings the tiny elf, in thick, warm clothes and also with some elf food on his back.
3 days they flew, and the message went faster, while the birds with nobody on their back, and only a small piece to fly, took care, there was on every resting spot food and for the elf and dwarf a fire, if wood was available.
In Australia they went not only to the wisest of the dwarfs, no they too went to the elder of the Aboriginals, knowing, they also did remember story’s of thousands of years.
So together they found the solution, one that the humans that came to live over there much later than the Aboriginals could not know.
In some parts under the dry seas and rock, there are basins, hidden under big rock formations, and to be sure, the sweet water did not go at once to the sea, the entrances were closed.
But nobody had thought, to ask the people, who did live that long in this country.
And by themselves, there were not enough of them, to open up all the necessary entrances, so the water could go down, but was not wasted.
All and everyone did help, while the other people did see the Aboriginals opening the way to the basins, did lower the water.
They were not wise enough to see the dwarf, only the kids could, but on that moment nobody had time to listen to that stories: the land had to be dry again first.
When all was done, not all the water was gone underground, but most, and the sun would help, even as the new growth on the new harvest, that now could be planted.
And Wander, the elf and the fire dragon?
They had the time of their life: such a large helping adventure.
They did meet a lot of other little people, fire dragons of another kind, and did do as we all try to do: help nature, just when it does need that little bit of extra help.
For the next years there now was stored underground water, that slowly would fill the tiny water wholes in the inland through the small cracks in the mountains.
Nice to know, is it not?
© Nan van Daalen.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Green leafs and promises of coming spring; Author Nan Van Daalen
45: Green leafs and promises of coming spring.
The spring is slowly traveling North. That is the way it looks, when you live on earth. But when you were an astronaut, traveling in a space station around the world, you would see something different.
The world is turning around the sun, and while it is not a straight line from South-pole to North-pole, but that line is a bit oblique, we got seasons.
You can ask mom and dad how that works, or the teacher can draw this on the blackboard.
Now the seasons in the north are coming to spring, while that side of the earth is turning very slowly more to the sun, while in the south part of the earth it is just the other way around.
I did see the first Snowdrops before it began to freeze again, but luckily the are created this way, they can survive some frost.
I really do hope, the frost stays away now, but certain, we can only be in my country, when it has been the first half of the month of May.
Than all trees start getting green leafs, and not just the very early ones. It is than, the spring dwarfs and elf, the fairy and new fire dragons are very busy to make the world the most lovely place there is!
And do you know what? I am going to help them this year a bit extra. How?
Well, I will do it in several ways, and for most we do not need that much.
A pot with earth, a plastic bag or half a see-through plastic bottle and some seed.
I did lay extra last year some seed of the peas, instead of eating all.
And I dried some beans and put them in a sachet with the name on it. After that I did store it on a dry, but not freezing cold space, with some flower seed and cress.
And with the last I will start, while it does taste so well, and it even will grow on a layer of cotton wool, when mom will give you some plant-food to put in the water.
Hmmmm, I do like cress on my bread! And it only needs a day or 10 to grow, before you can ask if an adult will use the scissors, to take of some to eat.
The other things need a secure timing. Why?
When you do plant a bean, after you have soaked it over night so it is not dry anymore, you have to put in your pot with earth, water it, and cover it either with the plastic bag or the half bottle.
That you do, while that way, you make your own little green house, just like in the grown up world a lot of farmers do, so we also have fresh vegetables in winter besides the ones, that are preserved or frozen in a shop.
But is it not much nicer, to see for yourselves how things grow in the window sill? And to keep looking every day, if the earth in the pot is not to dry, while inside it does not rain, that YOU have to provide.
When you have done this in the right time, than all plants you had under a cover, are so big, you can plant them a bit apart in separate pots with very, very careful fingers, so the roots do not damage.
There will be an adult around, who can tell you, how to do this, I do hope.
Than the big moment comes: there is no frost anymore, and in the same time your seedlings have grown so big, you can plant them in the garden.
That way, you have earlier than others your own beans to eat.
But also your own plants, that give such a colorful display in spring.
And all of that is, while you got a little bit homesick for green leaves and spring coming, even when you do like ice skating or skiing in the snow. The one thing you do outside, the other you do inside the house.
So, now I do not have time to tell more, for in my part of the world spring is in 6 weeks, so I slowly have to start with my ‘helping nature and myself’ thing.
I already made an empty spot in the window sill for the cress, and in a few days I will soak the beans.
With the flowers I will wait another week, but that is not so easy, for this seed is so small, I have to be careful, not to put to much on the same spot, but I did it well last year, so I will do it this year too.
For I do like a flower-full garden with Easter, so than all has to be out.
Therefore I start now. And you?
Will you start too, or do you have the patience to leave all to the nature and our little friends?
Me not, I do like to see as soon as possible the green leafs, that are the promise of coming spring!
© Nan van Daalen.
The spring is slowly traveling North. That is the way it looks, when you live on earth. But when you were an astronaut, traveling in a space station around the world, you would see something different.
The world is turning around the sun, and while it is not a straight line from South-pole to North-pole, but that line is a bit oblique, we got seasons.
You can ask mom and dad how that works, or the teacher can draw this on the blackboard.
Now the seasons in the north are coming to spring, while that side of the earth is turning very slowly more to the sun, while in the south part of the earth it is just the other way around.
I did see the first Snowdrops before it began to freeze again, but luckily the are created this way, they can survive some frost.
I really do hope, the frost stays away now, but certain, we can only be in my country, when it has been the first half of the month of May.
Than all trees start getting green leafs, and not just the very early ones. It is than, the spring dwarfs and elf, the fairy and new fire dragons are very busy to make the world the most lovely place there is!
And do you know what? I am going to help them this year a bit extra. How?
Well, I will do it in several ways, and for most we do not need that much.
A pot with earth, a plastic bag or half a see-through plastic bottle and some seed.
I did lay extra last year some seed of the peas, instead of eating all.
And I dried some beans and put them in a sachet with the name on it. After that I did store it on a dry, but not freezing cold space, with some flower seed and cress.
And with the last I will start, while it does taste so well, and it even will grow on a layer of cotton wool, when mom will give you some plant-food to put in the water.
Hmmmm, I do like cress on my bread! And it only needs a day or 10 to grow, before you can ask if an adult will use the scissors, to take of some to eat.
The other things need a secure timing. Why?
When you do plant a bean, after you have soaked it over night so it is not dry anymore, you have to put in your pot with earth, water it, and cover it either with the plastic bag or the half bottle.
That you do, while that way, you make your own little green house, just like in the grown up world a lot of farmers do, so we also have fresh vegetables in winter besides the ones, that are preserved or frozen in a shop.
But is it not much nicer, to see for yourselves how things grow in the window sill? And to keep looking every day, if the earth in the pot is not to dry, while inside it does not rain, that YOU have to provide.
When you have done this in the right time, than all plants you had under a cover, are so big, you can plant them a bit apart in separate pots with very, very careful fingers, so the roots do not damage.
There will be an adult around, who can tell you, how to do this, I do hope.
Than the big moment comes: there is no frost anymore, and in the same time your seedlings have grown so big, you can plant them in the garden.
That way, you have earlier than others your own beans to eat.
But also your own plants, that give such a colorful display in spring.
And all of that is, while you got a little bit homesick for green leaves and spring coming, even when you do like ice skating or skiing in the snow. The one thing you do outside, the other you do inside the house.
So, now I do not have time to tell more, for in my part of the world spring is in 6 weeks, so I slowly have to start with my ‘helping nature and myself’ thing.
I already made an empty spot in the window sill for the cress, and in a few days I will soak the beans.
With the flowers I will wait another week, but that is not so easy, for this seed is so small, I have to be careful, not to put to much on the same spot, but I did it well last year, so I will do it this year too.
For I do like a flower-full garden with Easter, so than all has to be out.
Therefore I start now. And you?
Will you start too, or do you have the patience to leave all to the nature and our little friends?
Me not, I do like to see as soon as possible the green leafs, that are the promise of coming spring!
© Nan van Daalen.
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