that's My World, ABC Wednesday, X for X shaped logo

 

What does this X shaped logo represent? Is it a dove? It looks like the dove of peace and that's exactly what the community of Taizé is praying for and aiming at. X is also the symbol of Christmas and of the great unknown. We will meet people who are strangers to us on 28th December, but after a few days we feel like one great family sharing our ideas and getting to know other cultures and traditions.
The video shows how the young adults will celebrate Christmas and New year's Eve in the Netherlands, like they did last year in another country.



Taizé - European Meetings - english from Taizé Community on Vimeo.



That's my World is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World


With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with X.

Merry Christmas to all blogging friends!

When I saw this video I was very moved by it. All these people singing with devotion!
When I was at highschool I was also a choirmember and we sang parts of the Messiah, one of them was the Hallelujah.These people were pleasantly surprised and I guess that among the singers there were many others who joined in the singing. I would have!

ABC Wednesday W for Wildlife in Australia.

Red back, funnel web, blue ringed octopus
Taipan, Tiger snake, Adderbox and Jellyfish
Stone fish and the poison thing that lives in a shell, that spikes you when you pick it up

Come to Australia
You might accidentally get killed

Your lifes constantly under threat
Have you been bitten yet?
You've only got 3 minutes left
Before a massive coronary breakdown

Red back, funnel web, blue ringed octopus
Taipan, Tiger snake, Adderbox and Jellyfish
Big shark, just waiting for you to go swimming
At Bondi Beach

Come on

Come to Australia
You might accidentally get killed
Your blood is bound to be spilled
With fear your pants will be
Filled
Because you might accidentally get killed

Before I came to Australia in 1996, I had no idea of the variety of wildlife. There were animals I had never seen before, even never heard of. It was a completely new world I entered. The sound of the birds was different. Australian birds are more beautiful and colourful than European ones, but their sound is not as lovely as those of our birds. Of course I was looking forward to seeing kangaroos, but I didn't know that the smaller kind of them were called wallabies, and the young ones joeys.Most photos of the animals in this slide are taken by Australian photographers, and I didn't see them myself! I did my best to see a platypus, but this animal is very elusive. I heard dingos barking, but never saw them.I only saw a croc after my seventh stay in Oz. I saw a goanna for the first time in 2008. And there are many more animals I still want to see!!Well I collected some photos of wildlife on this beautiful continent.

that's My World

 
 
 
 

This is my world now. I love snow, but I know that many people hate it, because they are having problems on slippery roads. Public transport is jammed. Trains do not run, plane flights are cancelled. Anyway today I did my shopping on foot. I didn't dare to cycle. I had time to take some photos.

That's my World is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World

 
 
 
 

Sky Watch,Weekend Reflections.

 

I believe in the sun,
even when it is not shining.
I believe in love,
even when I do not feel it.
I believe in God,
even when he is silent.

Lines scrawled on a cellar wall in Cologne
which was destroyed by bombing in worldwar II.

Sky Watch is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia
Thank you so much for this great meme, it's always a pleasure to participate, and see all the other skies around the world. If you want to see some other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.

Weekend Reflections was started on 27 September 2009, by James. You can join this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go to James to tell him that you are on, or click on the logo in the sidebar.This meme is created for any type of reflection.

that's My World, ABC Wednesday, V for Vincent

In September I wrote something about the Kröller-Müller museum in the national park "De Hoge Veluwe". Now I'd like to write about Vincent van Gogh, whose paintings are well represented in this museum.

Wikipedia says:"Vincent Willem van Gogh, born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, in the province of North Brabant in the southern Netherlands, was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colours and emotional impact. He suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life, and died largely unknown, at the age of 37, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Little appreciated during his lifetime, his fame grew in the years after his death. Today, he is widely regarded as one of history's greatest painters and an important contributor to the foundations of modern art. Van Gogh did not begin painting until his late twenties, and most of his best-known works were produced during his final two years. He produced more than 2,000 artworks, consisting of around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches.
Van Gogh spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers and traveled between The Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught in England. An early vocational aspiration was to become a pastor and preach the gospel, and from 1879 he worked as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium. During this time he began to sketch people from the local community, and in 1885 painted his first major work The Potato Eaters. His palette at the time consisted mainly of sombre earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration that distinguished his later work. In March 1886, he moved to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. Later he moved to the south of France and was taken by the strong sunlight he found there. His work grew brighter in colour and he developed the unique and highly recognizable style which became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888."


That's my World is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with V.

that's My World, ABC Wednesday U for Universe

This post is about OUR world, so I thought that the Universe was a good subject to think about. We are all part of it and it is amazing that we earthlings cannot live in peace with each other, and that we are arrogant enough to tell the rest of the world what one should or should not do. So let's think big, think Universe!!

The size of the Universe is beyond our imagination. We know that our planet is a small one, that our sun is much bigger and yet it is an insignificant small star in this universe.

That's my World is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started a new round of the fascinating meme of ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with U.

My Thoughts are for Israel

Noah's Ark













The convenant of my peace shall not be removed"...Isaiah 54: 10.

ABC Wednesday, T for Taizé

Iedere nacht verlang ik naar u, O God,
ik hunker naar u met heel mijn ziel.

Every night I long for you, oh God
I long for you with all my soul.


From 28th December tens of thousands of young people, members of the Taizé Community in France, will come together to Rotterdam from all countries of Europe. They are looking for ways of mutual trust, and having confidence in other religions, and various Christian traditions.All these young people have to find a place to stay for five days in Rotterdam and in villages and towns in the neighbourhood of Rotterdam. So I volunteered to have four people as guests. They will celebrate New Year's Eve with us and on New Year's Day they will have a service together with us. It's going to be a great happening!


The Taizé Community is an ecumenical Christian monastic order in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of about 100 brothers who come from Protestant and Catholic traditions. The brothers come from about 30 countries across the world. The monastic order has a strong devotion to peace and justice through prayer and meditation. It was founded in 1940 by Brother Roger Schutz.The community was known for helping Jewish refugees during the war.

The community has become one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work. Through the community's ecumenical outlook, they are encouraged to live in the spirit of kindness, simplicity and reconciliation

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with T.

that's My World, Australia, Art, Queensland, Roy McIver

 
 

Please click to enlarge!

Why do I post this entry about Australia in "that's My World"?
Well actually Queensland's Cooktown has become part of my world, because of my younger daughter, who has lived in Australia for more than 16 years now. She was first married to an Aboriginal man of Hopevale, and got two children by him. His family regard my daughter as a relative, as one of them.Because of her, I am also one of them now! My daughter has always been very interested in the lives and culture of the people of Hopevale in Queensland. So for more than three years she had been writing down the stories of Roy McIver, her uncle by her first marriage. Roy is a gifted artist and has had an interesting but not always easy life. What my daughter did was listening to his stories and record them on audio tapes, then write them down. She printed the stories and her friend Margie corrected them and together they helped Roy to write down his stories. Now the book is about to being launched. I am so sorry that I can't be there, for I know most of the people who will be in the Nature's Power House next week.
BTW the title "Cockatoo" refers to the two tribes of Aboriginal people living in Cape York. The white and the black Cockatoos are their tribal animals. It also refers to the black and white Australians

That's my World is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World


 

Please click to enlarge!