Tree of Life overlooking a Cemetary

Let me start to tell about today in the reverse order. Just for fun. I had to make a choice which photo to upload. One was part of my afternoon seaside adventure, which again had been very thrilling: wild surf with white sailing ship on the horizon, calmly between the two blues. It looked like a haiku poem of my favorite Dutch painter/poet/calligrapher Willem Hussem (1900-1974), but not exactly. Something didn’t fit. So I came to the conclusion that I will have to make that photo again under different, more summerlike weather conditions. Or perhaps even better: paint it first myself.

Though there was still a chilly April wind blowing we had diner on our small balcony, coats on. Mischa telling about her training experiences at her Lu Kung Fu-school. We talked about the visible effects of this old Taoist fighting art on your general health condition. Apparently eastern martial arts stand in a closer inner relation to spiritual-bodily health, than western sports. I will not go into this further here and limit myself suggesting that in the end in eastern philosophy and practice you will not find a sharp distinction between knowing and living, but a dynamic unity.

After lunch I had a marvellous playful barefoot adventure at the sunny seaside with the tide, the waves, birds, boats and the uncountable razor shells. Splashing through the cold waters in my shorts. When I returned for a hot tea, I was cold into my bones, but full of energy and joy. Bringing my Lumix-card back full of hundreds of useless shots, except some very expressive ones. It made me forget the paperwork and reading I did round midday.

Early in the morning we went together to a nearby park-wood, especially that magical corner called the Hyacinth Grove, almost entirely covered with violet-blue Hyacinths. By the time we arrived there the sun had vanished behind the clouds. So most fairy like perspectives lacked the golden lightening. One photo emerged from between the few remaining ones: that mysterious old beech, standing in a corner and overlooking the cemetery which lays behind a wall. Here at the edge of life and death you can meet the Tree of Life, which may awake you to your original face.