Do something good for nature

Why not support a nature organization this season? yes, you can!!!!! Like the Nature Conservancy, for instance, which beats the system by buying valuable natural areas before they get developed - isn't that brilliant!

Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)

is this doesn't cheer you up, then I don't know what will .... it's as much fun to watch the expressions of the onlookers as the dancers!

fathers day

What kind of dad gives up his day to go birding with the family --- why, stijnieman!!!!! We did make him champagne breakfast, with strawberries, spoonbread (Virginia tradition), eggs, bacon, toast - yummmmmmmmmm! And let him catch a nice bike ride ... but then we packed him up in the van and drove out to watch the barn owl and little owl babies get ringed at one of my Belgian friends' barns in Oost-Vlaanderen. Was soooooooooooooooooooooo neat to see these little furry fuzzballs!!!!!! They were adorable!

Comptine d'un autre ete : L'apres midi (Planet Earth Video)

just heard this piece by Yann Tiersen, called Comptine D'un Autre Ete L'apres Midi - also on the soundtrack from Amelie. Heard it at the girls' piano recital, and we all fell in love with it immediately! Great to see it with this footage from planet earth -- another of the kids favorites! Alex wants to play this piece someday --- hopefully not too far off in the distant future ....

spring flowers

Got to know some spring flowers this year .... like this purple hyacinth, for instance
and this wild garlic, which smells divine
here's slanke sleutelbloem, also known as wild primrose
and bos anemone, which is also "anemone" in English

from underneath the anemone is even prettier, but you must rise early for this treat

earthday birthday

We celebrated EARTH day today!  Made food webs, talked about how we're all connected in this beautiful thing called LIFE ...   

Made an earthday cake and blew out the candles!
Learned why insects are important ..... #1 - so birds can eat them, of course!
 How did you celebrate?

Belgian dunes

During easter break, we visited de Panne near the French border (Westhoek natuurreservaat), and got a much-needed dose of nature.  Thanks to these donkeys and other grazers, the kids were happily entertained while hiking about!

Scattered around the dunes were green oases (although not looking so "green" here), filled w migrants like whitethroat, blackcap, chiffchaff, willow warbler, grasshopper warbler, stonechat, crested lark.  
The kids just wanted to play on the beach, but our planned detour through the dunescape to search for grazers (wild ponies for Phoebe) delayed us 1.5 h reaching the beach, but as you can see, the kids didn't suffer too much.  
Bont zandoogje is the Flemish name for this vlinder ---- and they were everywhere.  Not a rarity by any means, but definitely a beauty.
Alex was so happy to rescue this toad on the road and deliver it to safety, near the Nachtegaal (Nightingale) visitor center.  We heard so many nightingales!!!!!  But saw not a one ....
The willow warblers grow like weeds here, but they wouldn't behave and give me a decent foto.  Always hiding a beak or a tail ..... guess i need more patience.
Duindoorn, which translates to dune thorn, but again i should look up the proper English name, was spectacular in bloom, and overgrew the trails at Oosthoekduin natuurreservaat, creating the most picturesque views.
love this shot of father and son ...
The kestrel was hard at work, and so fun to watch.  We waited and waited for him to make a kill and were thoroughly entertained by his aerial dynamics. 
The dunes, sands shifting, winds blowing .... nothing lasts for long here ... which only adds to the charm and beauty.

Playing For Change: Song Around the World

an inspiring message for all my dear friends in this world ....... peace to you all :-)

Silly mandalas

After watching this video with the kids on Mandala making, I was happily surprised to wake the next morning to find these beautiful mandalas made by the kids for my birthday!!!!  They filled hula hoops with things they found around the house, and look what amazing creations they made!  Can you tell who made what?

mandala birthday cards for mum!

Voeren en Beloeren

A bullfinch couple entertained us this weekend, which is always a rare and delicious treat.  But this weekend was the Flemish equivalent of Audubon's Great Backyard Bird Count, and so we were doubly pleased to include such a beauty to OUR list!  The males are striking, but this female I found particularly attractive, esp. when perched in the holly bush.  Doesn't she look like a mini killer whale?

We had a record finish this year, with 25 species and 67 birds total, including a Tawny owl (Bosuil) that hooted and howled Friday night AND Saturday morning!!!!!!  Stijn and the kids heard it too, which is as rare as hearing thunder in Belgium.

Survey results ......

2 blue Tit   (Pimpelmees)

5 great Tit   (Koolmees)

2 coal Tit   (Zwarte mees)

1 marsh Tit (Glansklop)

2 long-tailed Tit  (Staartmees)

2 crested Tit (Kuifmees)

2 nuthatch  (Boomklever)

1 robin (Roodborst)

4 dunnock  (Heggemus)

8 greenfinch (Groenling)

2 chaffinch (Vink)

2 blackbird (Merel)

1 g. spotted woodpecker 

(Grote Bonte Specht)

4 brambling (Keep)

1 hawfinch (Appelvink)

2 bullfinch (Goudvink)

1 ring-necked Parakeet

(Halsbandparkiet)

2 collared dove

(Turkse Tortel)

14 wood dove (Houtduif)

2 magpie (Ekster)

2 crow (Kraai)

1 goldcrest (Goudhaan)

2 jay (Gaai)

1 starling  (Spreeuw)

1 tawny Owl (Bosuil)

peace

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.       Mahatma Gandhi

Peace does not dwell in outward things but in the soul.        Fenelon

Peace rules the day where reason rules the mind.       Collins

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.      Buddha

remembering grandma ....

Since we couldn't be in Virginia for Grandma Phoebe's funeral yesterday, we decided to have our own little party here at home ..... and what better way to remember her than by lighting some fireworks!  Oh, how Grandma LOVED fireworks!
She loved making breakfast and having a looooooooooooooooooooooong talk at the breakfast table ... so we made salmon cakes, fried apples, spoonbread and eggs, a few of the traditional Virginian staples.  In grandma's words, it was "delicious, delectable and divine".
We lit candles ... we shared our memories ... we laughed ... we said a little prayer.
pictures of grandma, her favorite flowers - yellow roses, Fredericksburg, old letters from grandma, a dictionary she gave us, Degas dancers dancing ... she was on her way to Cambodia to dance when Granddaddy proposed!                                           grandma, WE LOVE YOU!

The Goodies - Kitten Kong (Part 1 of 3)

I remember watching The Goodies when we lived in England, and now it's so fun to sit with my own kids and watch them laugh hysterically. Very silly, but fun humor. The Goodies are a trio of British comedians (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie), who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy. Enjoy!!!!!

world's biggest bird watch

This weekend we spent hours counting birds for RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). Just because we don't have a British postcode, it doesn't mean we can't participate!  The birds flying over the channel don't read postal codes!  It's possible that birds overwintering in our garden could end up breeding in Britain, like this beautiful hawfinch (appelvink), for instance.  Or the bullfinch couple (goudvink) that's been taking advantage of our easy pickins' all winter .....

PLUS, the kids LOVE it, and they bond with mummy for an hour while drinking a cuppa tea, which makes the whole experience doubly worthwhile.  We always see some interesting animal behaviors too ..... take for instance, the goldcrest that's taken to feeding on our suet cakes and peanut-butter pine cones!

drums rolling, the weekend tally is ......  first British bird name (then Dutch):

2 blackbird (merel)

2 bullfinch (goudvink)

3 blue tit (pimpelmees)

4 brambling (keep)

4 chaffinch (vink)

2 coal tit (zwarte mees)

1 collared dove (turkse tortel)

2 crow (kraai)

4 dunnock (heggenmus)

2 goldcrest (goudhaan)

3 great tit (koolmees)

12 greenfinch (groenling)!!!!!!!

1 hawfinch (appelvink)

1 jay (gaai)

1 long-tailed tit (staartmees)

1 magpie (ekster)

1 marsh tit (glanskop)

1 nuthatch (boomklever)

3 ringneck parakeet

(halsbandparkiet)

1 robin (roodborst)

4 wood pigeon (houtduif)

1 wren (winterkoning)

# species = 22

# individuals = 56

dreaded emails

today i got an email from mom: grandma is gone

felt like a sword speared through my heart when i read it

did she really mean grandma is “gone”? for good? the one who lived so long you figured she'd keep on going, like the energizer bunny! On April 4, 2009, she would've been 103.

The one who wrote me so many letters that i cherished as i was growing up, the letters i saved because i thought they were so beautifully written, back in the days when correspondence was “popular”.

The one who’d sit with me for hours and ask me so many questions about what i was doing, where i was going, how i was doing. She made me feel cared for, really loved, totally cherished. Maybe it was because she was my godmother. Maybe it’s because she liked to think about things, and so do i, so we shared that lust for exploring ideas and revelled in it together.

I will always remember sitting at the breakfast table at 1105 Princess Anne Street, eating plateful after plateful of grandma’s yummy eggs, salmon cakes, toast, bacon (going back for 2nds, even 3rds, was always appreciated) --- she always made yummy breakfasts, which went on and on and on and on and on .... because we’d eat and talk and eat and talk, and then keep talking and talking and talking and talking. This went on for hours ....... and hours ........

Most of all the time i spent with grandma i remember just talking. And looking at photographs, which she enjoyed so much. The thing that made grandma so special was that she came into “your world” ..... even though she might not know that much about what you were doing OR where you were living, she showed a sincere and genuine interest, and asked a 1,000,001 questions to show she wasn’t just sitting there. She always paid attention because she really wanted to know! She was truly curious about the world and the ways in which we live.

That explains why this day is so hard .... because I’ve lost a true friend. I’ve lost a friend that was generations away in age, miles away in distance, but yet remains so deeply lodged in my heart. A soul I could so deeply connect with, even though we never spent more than a few days together at any one time. Was it because ...... she listened ...... she inquired ...... she mused ...... she pondered ...... she cherished ...... she loved life?

I still remember how our conversations would go on and on and on ............... forever. They were like 10-course meals: delicious, delectable and divine. I still remember how Grandma loved to say those words.......oh, how she loved words ....... and oh, how she knew how to use them.

dear grandma Phoebe, i miss u already!