Gulls Ready for a Tasty Catch

A day full of contrast. I awoke at 5AM, got up, made tea and lit a candle. Then I started my reading of the Book Job. It is clear that you have to read&reread this story thoroughly before you could even begin to understand the first chapter. Anyhow, it gave me a feeling of relief to finally have found a new beginning here. By the time Willemien got up I had fallen asleep again not over my Bible. But over that surprising and original work of James Hillman The force of character...Breakfast time! After espresso and toast I went to the sea to enjoy this bright morning.

And there she was, ondulating along her shores. Less wind this time. A few gulls hanging out for a catch. Far away Cormorants lining up over the darkblue rippling sea. Again today I succeeded in crossing the laguna canal without getting a gulf of water in my wellies. On the peninsula I took my time to walk and stroll over the wet sandbars, falling dry. Someone was standing at the surf. Apart from this fisher the island seemed almost deserted. Except that one dog walker you see on the photo. And, as I discovered later: the kite surfer in the background.

Then came the second part of the day. making a long long train journey to reach the rural village region where we once lived for almost three decades. We were joining the birthday celebration of my sister-in-law Lou. First we had to walk and run full speed to catch the tram. Which we did catch it in time - on our way back home we would miss the thing for a second. In some way our journey could be seen as our life review-track: The Hague - Leyden- Woerden.

The middle one as the university town where we both lived, worked, studied and met each other. Our sister Lou still lives near place where the Antiquariat had been settled.

This is all history now. But nevertheless it was an enjoying experience to meet again many old friends. Many have grown older, I mean: in a visible way. Whether this aging implies also spiritual maturation, wisdom and serenity is another question. Only to be answered by listening carefully into the deep motivations of the many guests gathered there to engage themselves in loud conversations, like Gulls ready for a tasty catch. We both enjoyed it all and now, tired but luckily home again, we prefer Sleep above looking back into the topics of this birthday party.