Jan Rot & Rick de Leeuw - Op een mooie pinksterdag (1991)

That one classic in a rather modern coat!!!
Perhaps many don't like the guys who sing this but it the content that matters!
Annie MG Smith did not like this one for a bit!! But I do think it can make you smile while the sun is shining outside and the world looks some much nicer.

Op een mooie Pinksterdag

May was weather-wise not the best month of the year but it seemed that someone up there decided that we had to get something extra for once. This weekend the sun is shining bright and the sky has that one divine color!! On top of that it is an extra long weekend.

The first toe slippers and shorts are visible in the company of many white legs! Sunglasses are signaled in the supermarkets and many prefer our steak grilled out side instead on the five star grill in our kitchen. Friends start calling out of the blue asking what you are doing tonight! Before you know you end at a long table enjoying nibbles and sweets in the company while the sun is going under. The sky then calls for a bright moon and some glowing stars!

We had one of those splendid evenings and on that there landed that one animal that still stands for hope and luck: the may bug!! That was for me the ultimate bliss of the season. While sipping of my mojito, on my lap A (in his nighties), our good and truthful friends N&G who had invited us unexpectedly into their breathtaking garden with swimming pond and P next to me discussing away I felt very content about life!

So this morning I woke up and realizing that this is for sure a Pentecost never to forget. I do remember many more rainy ones then sunny ones! This one will last for a very long time in my memory and for once I can play that one classic song that my parents started to sing only that one day:'Op een mooie Pinksterdag!!!' (On a beautiful Pentecost day)with starring at the sun and being grateful for all those things and people that color up my life!

Clear for once and for all!???

As a teacher I do use the expression here above more then I wish for. And as a parent I also found out that I need to check a million times with A if he got the message straight! 'If you stop doing this, I will be stopping doing that!', I told him this morning.

A was making up strange sounding rhyme words that had a stinky smell to them. On top of that was a three year old one and his mum walking in front of us who looked quite puzzled of the issues I was having with my son. But hey, I do consider foul language not the most appropriate way of walking into school.

Me:'A please, stop doing that, okay!!'
A:'Hey, Stinky Winky!!! Lalalalala!'
Me:'It is Tinkywinky and not Stinky Winky!'
A:'Stinky Winky, Stinky Winky!'
Me:'Please, stop saying that!'
A:'No, you stop saying that!'
Me (by this time I was turning red):'No, if you stop I will stop! That is how simple it is! Is that clear?'
A (looking very puzzled):'No, that is not clear!! One two three four five six, keutel!'
Me(by now I wanted to run of):'Stop it, I don't consider this funny!'

We had managed to pass the duo in front of us and A then showed me his cutest smile and send me away with an extremely wet kiss!!! While walking to the car I came to think of the fact that many things that we do consider rather simple or/and straight forward are not!

No need to think that far before I do encounter something that can be easily solved but still is not. I feel rather devastated lately because so many people don't seem to notice what I do. It is like I am walking through a desert where I only meet a few people who seem to share the same instincts.

The bright sun and clear sky seem to blind still most people who have the force to change things. It would not matter that much if my heart would not tell me that it does matter what is happening around me. It would make me less disappointed if I knew what these humans inspires to act the way they do! It would inject me with more energy and aspirations if I would feel trusted and taken seriously. It would turn my daily habits into something that still feels like a mission instead of a dragging activity.

I am lost out there because the spot where I found a long time ago inspiration, motivation, principles and values to live by, energy, hope against all the odds and tons of other very clear defining forces seems to have vanished. It seems to be out of reach because it seems more likely only a 'fata morgana'! Once I reach for that old image and think that we can rekindle all that what seemed to be lost, it vanishes with the next sand storm.

For the moment I feel like many people still don't dare to go to the core of it all! It takes courage and tons of faith to go to that one spot where we find the solution and face new challenges! Fear and disbelief still are in the way while I dare to walk along that road! I have tried to rub out the sand of their eyes but they seem still to fight back and hide!

While waiting out there they only thing I can do is hoping for a miracle and putting on my sun glasses! Two items that help me to find the right direction in my life! Deep down I do know what way I need to take but for the moment I am still applying sun screen and wearing an umbrella in the hope that that most of my fellow travel companions to dare to take of their sunglasses!!

'Stinky Winky!!!! One, two,three, four, five, KEUTEL!!', I think is A his way of dealing with the world!! Very simple, very straigh forward, no complications, no miss communication because those sentences stimulated communication. My son still talks to me and he still does it very clearly!!! T! As a mother I am blessed!!!

Leaping through May

I don't seem to have enough time to write a decent blog entry. Not that I have not tried. But May is one of those months that time seems to catch up with me side nature is telling me very clearly that green is very fashionably. Temperature wise I don't want to believe but at least the trees seem to take the calendar seriously

The last few weeks many things, places and people passed by:

- A walking into our bed room on Mother's day. He was dragging along a self made cookie jar filled up with school made cookies. As top of the bill he then called out a very cute verse especially for me.
- C, P & kids finally passed by!! It took them ages because of the rather unpredictable winter weather we had been dealing with. This month we finally could fill up the champagne glasses!!!
- Tons of computer websites and shops I checked out with P. In a few weeks I will have to say farewell. Not that I will miss the big wide stripe in the middle of my screen. In the end I settled for the most fruity one of all!
- H on the phone. We ended up spending more then 90 minutes talking to each other. Result: I looked like a zombie that Monday morning when I walked into work.
- A classroom filled up 5&6 year olds. A made me sign up to come to his class to tell a story. My respect for kinder garden teachers only increased after that half an hour.
- Our Spanish niece A who was over with her parents. She produced tons of smiled away and made us eat to much colorful and tasty cup cakes made by H.
- Holiday brochures and websites. P still seems to think that vacations can only be spend in a back yard. So I am planning once more all by myself how I am going to spend my summer.
- A box of divine chocolates designed by Dominique Persoone. He was so nice to open up now a shop in Antwerp. Meaning that I do not have to wait till we make it to Bruges. My personal favorites: the cherry sticks and the COLA (I am not kidding!) ones were DELICIOUS and will force me to return asap!!!!!
- My phone bill will be exploding next time because I am trying to relocate soem of those I have not seen in a while. My diary still has some blanks waiting to be filled up with reunions!
- Comenius meeting in Alden Biesen where you can meet up with still idealistic teacher who still believe that you can change something for the better. If you dare to believe and trust against all odds!
- The first Belgian Strawberries!!!! I run wild for those red delicious pieces that can cheer up my day! A seems to think alike and sometimes prefers them above ice cream! But wait till he tastes the combination of both!
- A and I enjoying a funny movie in the company of pop corn, a huge soda and our friends M&M! It was rather strange to see A laughing and enjoying something that I also enjoyed so much as a kid. Wicky the Viking still rocks and now we both are rubbing our noses when we come up with a ground breaking idea!!!
- A letterbox filled up with a bird's nets and tiny little white-brown eggs!
- Saying farewell to my dad his Rover!! My mum who inherited that car got to hear that the car is really dead! And so the last item that was a constant reminder of him for her will be going to dumpster! Strange that this happened in May!!! So now we are trying to give her tons of advice what car she has got to buy!!
- Moving my cheese! Like the last two years I do consider May the perfect moment to change directions in my life! Once more I ended up in a conference room with curious people who fired away tons of questions! It is in those talks that I do meet up with my own ambitions, my dark side, my stronger personal traits and my urge to keep up my faith in my people, places and things!! Even when it is against all odds! What is left and has to make the difference in many situations is the leap of faith!! For me May that is the ultimate season to leap wild!!!

P.S.: I do know that the cool and cute Ralph sings this song also in Dutch!! But the original song is in German and so is the show and movie!!!

Marco Borsato - Dochters (officiële videoclip)