Sveetie & Julian In The Not So Distant Future

and then there's the

Brother's Grimm and then there's Hans Christian Anderson.

The Elves and the Shoemaker

The Elves and the Shoemaker

got that wrong as well. ah, me..There was once a shoemaker, who worked very hard and was very honest: but still he could not earn enough to live upon; and at last all he had in the world was gone, save just leather enough to make one pair of shoes.

Then he cut his leather out, all ready to make up the next day, meaning to rise early in the morning to his work. His conscience was clear and his heart light amidst all his troubles; so he went peaceably to bed, left all his cares to Heaven, and soon fell asleep. In the morning after he had said his prayers, he sat himself down to his work; when, to his great wonder, there stood the shoes all ready made, upon the table. The good man knew not what to say or think at such an odd thing happening. He looked at the workmanship; there was not one false stitch in the whole job; all was so neat and true, that it was quite a masterpiece.

The same day a customer came in, and the shoes suited him so well that he willingly paid a price higher than usual for them; and the poor shoemaker, with the money, bought leather enough to make two pairs more. In the evening he cut out the work, and went to bed early, that he might get up and begin betimes next day; but he was saved all the trouble, for when he got up in the morning the work was done ready to his hand. Soon in came buyers, who paid him handsomely for his goods, so that he bought leather enough for four pair more. He cut out the work again overnight and found it done in the morning, as before; and so it went on for some time: what was got ready in the evening was always done by daybreak, and the good man soon became thriving and well off again.

One evening, about Christmas-time, as he and his wife were sitting over the fire chatting together, he said to her, ’I should like to sit up and watch tonight, that we may see who it is that comes and does my work for me.’ The wife liked the thought; so they left a light burning, and hid themselves in a corner of the room, behind a curtain that was hung up there, and watched what would happen.

As soon as it was midnight, there came in two little naked dwarfs; and they sat themselves upon the shoemaker’s bench, took up all the work that was cut out, and began to ply with their little fingers, stitching and rapping and tapping away at such a rate, that the shoemaker was all wonder, and could not take his eyes off them. And on they went, till the job was quite done, and the shoes stood ready for use upon the table. This was long before daybreak; and then they bustled away as quick as lightning.

The next day the wife said to the shoemaker. ’These little wights have made us rich, and we ought to be thankful to them, and do them a good turn if we can. I am quite sorry to see them run about as they do; and indeed it is not very decent, for they have nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold. I’ll tell you what, I will make each of them a shirt, and a coat and waistcoat, and a pair of pantaloons into the bargain; and do you make each of them a little pair of shoes.’

The thought pleased the good cobbler very much; and one evening, when all the things were ready, they laid them on the table, instead of the work that they used to cut out, and then went and hid themselves, to watch what the little elves would do.

About midnight in they came, dancing and skipping, hopped round the room, and then went to sit down to their work as usual; but when they saw the clothes lying for them, they laughed and chuckled, and seemed mightily delighted.

Then they dressed themselves in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and capered and sprang about, as merry as could be; till at last they danced out at the door, and away over the green.

The good couple saw them no more; but everything went well with them from that time forward, as long as they lived.

Whoops

whoops.

Julian only meant to post the Australi/Europe map and interesting facts. However, now the other stuff is there............um. Apologies, Eelco?

oh, & btw, the frog lives in the hollow in the spa where the buttons live. The cover covers the edges apart from the buttons, where the frog has found himself a hollow. Hence, Frog Hollow. Julian is surprised to find that he likes it warm. That's amphibian for you..........

The Elves and the Shoemaker

There is a Hans Christian fairy story that it used in marriage, or at least the wife calls upon it.
She recounts about the poor shoemaker who finds clothes made for him and his wife in the mornings. He is bemused, and so stays up late one night to watch and discovers little people who come and make these beautiful handmade clothes. He wants to thank them, and so he leaves food and small leather boots. They accept with glee, but never come back. The moral of the story is if one is poked, accept the poking without asking for more. Take what is given with appreciation and don't push for more. Mind you, let's find out what it means to accept the food and the little leather boots and never come back.........that's slightly different.
There was a time in a distant past and a distant country place

Photos and stories from Australia — friends & family only — love, Eelco

March 10, 2010

Al Di Meola

Guitar legend Al Di Meola played at Town Hall yesterday. I was rather surprised to see an artist of such fame in such a small town, but apparently the local sound guy (a girl named Annie) convinced them that Bellingen is a cool place to be. Particularly the virtuoso accordion player Fausto Beccalossi made an incredible impression.

I illegally recorded a little soundbite on my iPhone.

Al Di Meola World Sinfonia

Line-up: Al Di Meola – guitars, Fausto Beccalossi – accordion, Gumbi Ortiz – percussion, Peter Kaszas – drums, Kevin Seddiki – guitar, Victor Miranda – bass

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4$ Salad

This is the small salad at Hearthfire Bakery. Garden salad with avocado and feta and grilled veggie salad with eggplant, tomato and choko’s. Naturally it’s 100% organic. 4 Aussie dollars is €2,70.

If there’s any establishment in Holland that can beat this, I’ll change my ticket and fly back tonight…!

4$ Salad

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March 7, 2010

Frogs

What is green and makes a hell of a noise?

These buggers start making noise at dawn, together with the crickets and the arrival of the mozzies (mosquitos) and the flight of the flying foxes from across the river.

Frog

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Raw Food

This weekend I attended some uncooking classes at Denene’s health and living foods retreat. They demonstrated how to make key lime pie and raw cashew nut cream, sprouted choc fudge cake with macadamia cream and cashew nut gelato. And last but not least a green smoothie with freshly picked greens from the side of the road river.

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March 6, 2010

For the Birds

All sorts of birds gather on the telephone lines in front of the house. My favourite is the regal Kookaburra, which the Aussies like to call laughing bird.

When they ruffle themselves up they’re pretty big—I almost mistook one for an owl the other day. This picture was taken this morning.

Kookaburra on Telephone Line

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March 5, 2010

John’s Garden

‘John the Gardener’ is our neighbour. He has a wealth of knowledge about gardening and is often willing to share. His bio organic garden is very impressive.

He provides mixed salads, with about 20 different varieties and some edible flowers, for a few local grower’s markets and for his neighbours too!

Inspired by a series of photos that Nicole shot—she used to be a professional photographer—I gave myself the assignment to imitate that series. This is a preview of the results.

I also made a little slideshow that you can watch fullscreen.

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March 4, 2010

Gelato Bar

The Gelato Bar consistently has the best coffee in town. Hence it is my office of choice. They also have home made gelato. Good stuff!

Ice Cream at the Bellingin Gelato Bar

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March 2, 2010

Big Country

This is Europe superimposed over Australia. Have I travelled Australia? I feel I’ve only scratched the surface (but then the same holds true for Europe).

Look at the map and consider these numbers: Netherlands – 16,5 million people, Australia, 22 million people.

It’s been said that in Europe 200 kilometers is a long way, while in Australia 200 years is a long time.

Big country, big ideas—Australians invented notepads (1902), the surf lifesaving reel (1906), aspirin (1915), the pacemaker (1926), penicillin (1940) the Hills Hoist clothesline (1946), the plastic disposable syringe (1949), the wine cask (1965), the bionic ear (1978), dual-flush toilet flush (1980) anti-counterfeiting technology for banknotes (1992) and long-wearing contact lenses (1999).

posted by Eelco Menkveld The Hague 2010
thank you Eelco.

http://randompaul.blogspot.com A Tribute

"As a part of my job, I tell stories and teach people how to tell stories. So I thought I would share two main tips for creating a solid, entertaining and clear story.

Tip Number One

The structure of a story really hasn’t changed since the times of the Greeks when Aristotle came up with a format that he named after himself; The Aristotelian Structure. Image two axes, the one going up and down which we will call “Dramatic Action” and the horizontal one is “Time”.

Now Aristotle started the dramatic action low and it rises through time. He called this “Conflict”. At the peak, something happens. He called this “Crisis”. Then there is a downward slope which the French decided to call “Dénouement” because they were far too pretentious just to say “wrapping things up”.

Of course, not all stories follow this shape. Becket’s Waiting For Godot, about two guys waiting for another guy called Godot, who never arrives, is a flat line. Nothing happens!

Kafka’s Metamorphosis, about a dull accountant who wakes up one morning to discover he has turned into a cockroach, starts low on the dramatic action axis and just keeps dropping as his life gets worse.

However, the classic story, say the story of our Lord, follows Aristotle’s laws. Jesus is having trouble with the Jews, with the Pharisees and with the Romans (conflict), they arrest him and nail him to a cross (crisis) and his friends wait around pretty sad then he comes back, gives man self-determination which kind of negates God (Dénouement) leaving the rest of us to kind of wait around for the second coming, a bit like Becket’s characters. Of course, if we were Buddhists, we may have the opportunity to come back as a cockroach.

I wonder which Buddhist came up with the laws of reincarnation. According to them, after we die we get reborn as another sentient being, their definition of sentient being being something that can think other than computers, robots and those weird things that tell you when your turkey is cooked. So we could come back as a cockroach but not a saltine cracker. If you came back as a cockroach you obviously did something bad in your previous life. To come back as say Tom Cruise, you would have to have been pretty good in your previous life which would piss the Scientologists up no end.

What if you could come back as a non-sentient thing, like a saltine cracker, what would you have to do in your life as a saltine cracker to improve your lot?

I figure if you were smeared with come tasty Tasmanian Brie and willingly woofed down at a party in Darlinghurst with a nice Chablis, you may come back as a mango or a fairly attractive turnip. If you were crushed up and sprinkled between the sheets in some high school camp prank then your next life would be as beer mat or a sanitary napkin (as opposed to a non-sanitary napkin?). If, by some odd chance, you were the first solid food that a 18 month old Rwandan child had had in 6 months, then you might crack it to a minor sentient being like a tape worm of a cockroach.

I think at this point we can be fairly sure that Kafka’s accountant was not a particularly nice person.

Tip Number Two

Try not to get side-tracked."


Paul Tolton.

One For Sveetie Babushka....& Mr Lovely Goodness, Hermione is Outta Here....

Fry bacon in your stew pot or Dutch oven until crispy. Remove the bacon. Leave the fat. Cook the onions and garlic in the fat until they are tender. Remove the onions and garlic. Leave the fat. Brown the beef in the fat.

Add the flour add stir until the beef is coated. Gradually stir in about a cup of the beer. Add the bay leaf, brown sugar, salt, thyme and pepper and stir. Mix in the onions and garlic. Add enough beer to completely cover. Drink the rest.

Boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 to 1/2 hours - until the beef is tender. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the vinegar.

It's Flemish. Forget the Swiss and move over the Dutch.

Memories. MIsty Water Kinda Memmmorreeees.

Once upon a time, Giles, (Paul, and Julian, (denene) were walking across a football oval. They had been drinking something at a club that they had never been to before or since. They were talking, despite the pleasures of the Socratian bodies not yet having faded, although it was to Giles mind that Julian was drawn to.
"What do people like to talk about, Julian?" Giles asked,
"Um," said Julian.
"Themselves," said Giles.
Julian pondered this and came to the conclusion that it was true.
Julian also recalled her first meeting with Giles. It was at a party held by a Scandinavian man, and Julian thought that Giles was possibly attracted to him. He ignored her completely, and there is nothing quite so compelling as to be ignored by someone's mind that you are drawn to.
Julian can still recall the rather amazing Swiss/Dutch casserole that he made. She asked him for the recipe and was impressed by the fact that it used beer in the stock.
Julian was now rather interested in this 30 + year recipe and wanted to find it. She was cooking food for some older Welsh freinds whose house had almost burnt down. This one would work, that and lamb shanks with Dorrigo mash potatoes.

Beloved Ba-Babo

The Editor From Hell.

Once upon there were 2 editors from hell. One lived close by and began his story by encouraging Juian to write again.
"Why?" she said, but she couldn't remember what he said. It was good enough advice to follow, however, so she began to write.
"You'll regret it," Stuart told him, but he didn't believe Stuart at first. Then he didn't like it and had the power to delete everything that she had written. Julian was incensed. She had thought him a freind and he didn't realise that this stuff was .............ahhhh, there's the rub. The words were hers and he had rubbed them out. How angry she had felt!
The other editor had given and then taken away, and then continued to push and prod because of a little thing called a google cache.
"It's still there," he said, again and again.
Julian had deleted and removed his attributed words, but it seems all to no avail.

This business was getting ridiculous. Can one really own words? bit like land really....

Roger Federer's defeat was in the paper before you could say 'by your leave', and it was on the internet even faster, as was Andy Murray and the England losing to Australia in cricket. The same paper reported that Naomi Campbell, the model for those not in the know, would be called to a court for war crimes in Africa as the recipient of a known blood diamond. Also noteworth was that the leading source of death in Korea for those between 20 and 30 was suicide. A young man with a good career in acting and singing had been found hanging by an electrical cord. His 62 year old father who is terminally ill will miss him. And last, but far from least, women who were raped in Rwanda during the

April and June of 1994, in which an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days.

One woman was raped on three occasions in different locations and by many different people, so her daughter wanted to know if she was Hutu or Tutsi. This mother loved her from the moment of her birth, whereas other women had problems with their offspring. They saw machetes and pain and hurt when they looked at their children. One woman considered flushing her baby down the latrine, but now walks the streets with him. He is 16 and still doesn't know his terrible origins.

and 51 horse skeletons were unearthed in a ditch in the Netherlands after a 17th century battle.
The pic is proving elusive.

and introducing Sveetie 'babushka' Manifold, who had been married before and had the 33 children to prove it.