Happy Easter

     
    Happy and blessed Easter with love and warmth to all of you!

Religion, Good Friday,

RECITATIVE. (Accompanied - Tenor) Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness:-Prepare ye the way of the Lord: make straight in the desert a
highway for our God.

AIR (Tenor)
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight and the rough places plain.




Good Friday is for me the day that I feel the deepest sorrow and the greatest expectation  of a new life after the death of an innocent man, who wanted peace, love of our fellow humans and God's creation. We cannot blame the people of his time to be responsible for this terrible execution. Had he lived now, he would not have been understood either. Humanity has not changed at all. In many countries people are killed because of their religion or convictions. I am fortunate that I live in a country where there is freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

ABC Wednesday, L for Life and L' chaim.

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics  by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905.  The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and Jewish religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. He must cope with both the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters—each one's choice of husband moves further away from the customs of his faith—and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.

To life, to life, l'chaim.
L'chaim, l'chaim, to life.
Here's to the father I tried to be!
Here's to my bride to be!
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

To life, to life, l'chaim.
L'chaim, l'chaim, to life.
Life has a way of confusing us,
Blessing and bruising us.
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

God would like us to be joyful,
Even when our hearts lie panting on the floor.
But how much more can we be joyful
When there's really something to be joyful for?

To life, to life, l'chaim.
To Tzeitel, my daughter.
My wife.
It gives you something to think about,
Something to drink about.
Drink, l'chaim, to life.

(Reb Mordcha!
Reb Lazar!
Drinks for everyone!
What's the occassion?
I'm picking myself a bride!
Who's it to be?
Tevye's daughter Tzeitel!)

To Lazar Wulf! To Tevye!
To Tzeitel, your daughter!
My wife!
May all your futures be pleasant ones,
Not like our present ones!
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

To life, to life, l'chaim!
L'chaim, l'chaim, to life!
It takes a wedding to make us say,
"Let's live another day."
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

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

Sky Watch, Israel,

My previous SWF post disappeared. I don't know why, but I put it back in a slightly different way. And of course all 8  comments also disappeared.

 The first view every morning from my balcony! Not a very spectacular view, but for me a peaceful and happy atmosphere with birds singing which was the only sound I could here.

I have been back in the Netherlands since last week Thursday, but every day I think of this peaceful place.


Sky Watch is hosted each week by the Sky Watch team of Sandy, Wren and Sylvia. And this week as every week, we remember Klaus and know that he joins us in spirit! .

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 other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.

ABC Wednesday, K for Kibbutz

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started round 10 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 K.


A kibbutz is a collective community based on acriculture in Israël. The first kibbutz, Degania Alef, was founded in 1910.

Men and women had to work in the fields, and factories. The children were playing and later studying under the supervision of trained nurses and teachers.
Everything was shared. People didn't get payed for their work, but they had everything they needed, like board and lodging, education. Meals were taken together

In addition to its 350 cow dairy herd, crop fields, almond orchards, banana, date and avocado plantations, Degania Bet industrialized in the 1960s with Degania Sprayers, now a green industry; in 1984 it opened the Degania Silicone factory. An additional source of income is its kibbutz cottage tourist accommodation, and it specializes in organized bicycle tours. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism. In recent decades, some kibbutzim have been privatized and changes have been made in the communal lifestyle.

On our trip to the north of Israel we stayed in the kibbutz Deganya Bet and from this place we took dayly the bus to visit the sights around the Sea of Galilee.
Our group consisted of 44 members.



.




.

ABC Wednesday, J for Jerusalem

From Israel I send this post 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 J.


Wikipedia says:"Jerusalem is a holy city to the three major Abrahamic religions— Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Judaism, Jerusalem has been the holiest city since King David of Israel first established it as the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel in c. 1000 BCE, and his son Solomon commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city. In Christianity, Jerusalem has been a holy city since, according to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified in 33 AD and 300 years later Saint Helena identified the pilgrimage sites of Jesus' life. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city. It became the first Qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (Salah) in 610 CE, and, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later. As a result, and despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 sq mi), the Old City is home to sites of key religious importance, among them the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.

During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world. The old walled city, a World Heritage site, has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were introduced in the early 19th century. The Old City was nominated for inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger by Jordan in 1982".

All photos are borrowed from Wikipedia and others.

ABC Wednesday, I for Israel

Last week I went away for a short holiday to Israel, where I am staying at a lodge belonging to Dina's neighbour. Dina met me at the airport and we are going to see first the surroundings and lateron Jerusalem. All photos are not mine as I haven't got the chance to file them in my library yet.
Wikipedia says:"The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, and Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.

Following the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared Israel a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine."

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 I.

I shan't be able to answer comments until the 23rd or 24th March because of this holiday in Israel. We shall be in northern Israel this week and there will be no time to work on the computer. So dear friends I hope you'll excuse me for the time being. My posts are scheduled.


Deze foto van Israël This photo of Tel Aviv is provided by TripAdvisor
Deze foto van Israël ( This photo of Capernaum is provided by TripAdvisor)

Our World Today Tuesday, ABC Wednesday, H for Hope Vale in Queensland

During the Second World War, Cooktown became an important base for the war effort. The civilian population of Cooktown was encouraged to evacuate in face of the Japanese advances and by 1942 the vast majority had left. The Aboriginal people of the Lutheran missions at Hope Valley and Bloomfield were forcibly removed - most being taken south to Woorabinda in May, 1942, while some of the elderly people were sent to Palm Island. The senior missionary, Pastor Schwartz (known as Muni to the local people), was arrested and placed in internment as he were suspected as being an enemy sympathiser,but he was not an enemy sympathiser, he was German, highly respected and loved by the Aboriginal people, who have been greatly thankful for his efforts to give them a proper home and work and education. The Aboriginal people were not allowed to return to their homelands until 1949, well after the end of the war.They got a new region to build their compound, which was more in the west of Hope Valley. This new abode of the Aboriginal inhabitants is called Hope Vale. Many Aboriginal people died when moved from their traditional lands, and many Aboriginal and white families never returned from their exile.
Yet many of the elderly people are without feelings of revenge. One of the elders once said to me:"I don't feel that I am a VICTIM, I feel that I am a VICTOR".

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our new logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.

Australia is part of my world too for my youngest daughter lives here, and she has written down the lifestory of one of the uncles of her first husband in a book called: "Cockatoo", My Life in Cape York. See http://www.creativespirits.info/resources/books/cockatoo-my-life-in-cape-york

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 H.


Below Hope Vale with its spacious streets and houses, all built after 1949. To see more details you can click on the photos.

The Reconciliation or Acceptance Story.

Willie Gordon tells:"In the 1930s there was a decision made by my clan to accept a little girl, my Auntie Ruby, into their midst, even though she had a lighter coloured skin. We called this event the Reconciliation or Acceptance Story.

First of all my Auntie Ruby, when she was old enough to understand, was asked to put her handprint in a cave to symbolise her acceptance into the clan. A hand stencil was made to give the hand's true shadow and to record that she was there. (Aunt Ruby's hand is the first on the left.) The stencil was made by blowing ochre through a hollowed bone to create the spray effect. Thagu, the left hand, was used as this is generally regarded as a person's signature, and because it is the peaceful hand; whereas nganhthirr, the right hand, is generally the first used in anger.

Then the artist and the story-teller sat down to document the event. They had to find a symbol they could paint to represent the story. So in a cave close to the handprint cave, they painted a big fish to symbolise the good decision made.

The reason they painted a fish is because when fish are swimming they sometimes turn and reflect the light. This is called gandal. Light has always been the symbol of spirituality, where good spirits are found. Darkness is where the bad spirits linger. So the reflection of the fish reminds us of how we should be accepting of all people, regardless of skin colour or culture".

Cooktown & The First Reconciliation
The Aboriginal Family: Moieties & Marriage
Yirmbal, the Creation Story

www.guurrbitours.com

This is what Willie and Judy wrote to me:"Wil - Wonderful to see all your lovely photos again, and to know you remember your time with us. We remember your visit well, and hope we'll see you again some time soon :) Stay well and happy. Willie & Judy".

The Netherlands, Royalty News

Two weeks ago Prince Johan Friso, the second son of our Queen, got a terrible accident due to an avalanche. He was buried for more than 20 minutes under a thick layer of snow while he was skiing in the neighbourhood of Lech, Austria, and then resuscitated for 50 minutes, which is too long and normally not done.He suffered massive brain damage. He will probably never regain conciousness. Our thoughts are with the royal family. Queen Beatrix was still in Lech and Friso's wife Mabel and two little daughters too. The Queen and Mabel visited him daily. Today we heard the news that the prince has been taken to a special hospital in London, where he and his family live.