My Siberian Husky website is done ! Ready to be parked at our National Archives.

It took some perseverance.  Became  more of a pelgrimage and an emotional one at that. Underestimated the time and work it took. Not finishing it – no matter what – was never an option.

Here it is   http://www.kolymakennels.com   go have a look! We are proud of it!

Jeff Saward. 

                                                Thank you Jeff that you took this journey with me.The     Spirit and beauty of Labyrinthos there in every page.

Majoleine de Klerk                        

    All those Thursday evenings of spagetti, lessons and  help to get the information to Jeff.. Big hugs for that and  till soon I hope!!

And with the Champagne the next project was born. 

                          With Kimberly Sawards help!

Pfff…into the garage with those darn  boxes..

..and all the stories I wrote about the breed??

No idea!

Back to my Base. Back to Self

There are periods in life when it seems you allow life taken out of your hands.

You way of thinking, your spiritual approach to things the overall grip on it eludes you.  FaceBook can be one of the negative infulences in this respect. Its often sad and  ridiculous posts. The disapointing reactions.

Neigbours maybe. Friendships that were not what you assumed them to be..

Once you are aware of this happening the moment must come that you tell yourself : “Wait, this has to change. I have to do something about it. Right Now”.

So, back to Fathers armchair, Sister Nen’s small pillows, Mother’s  small bedside chess and Grandmother Mona’s Bookcase…

…….back to my meditation corner.. it has been too long..

My Elflings smile                                              The Runes guide

       

The Labyrinth Wisdom Card’s support..   

                                                  .. and start walking labyrinths again  ..

                                                                    I will get there !!

                            

Tourist Plans !

After my dolmen trips in Drenthe en Overijsel, time to visit our castles coming year. All it takes … my car with Sarah and her basket&dogfood in the back, my sleepingbag and toothbrush in front, my TomTom hopefully showing me the right way… and keeping my eyes open for labyrinths ofcourse.

This guide wil help.

First visit ? Castle Doorn where Wilhelm II was granted asylum after held responsible for losing WW1 and his Imperial Crown was taken away from him.

Going Back in time..

..and here he is ..

www.kolymakennels.com – copyright 2011 – E.O. van Lierop – Website by Labyrinthos.

 For over 30 years 4 big plastic boxes with slides, films and pictures of our dogs and teams and those who went the same trail with us getting the sleddogsport in Central Europe going with the Siberian Husky, got dragged along to every new home I found. “I have to do something with it, I know… because when I leave this world all this archive I have  both in my head and in those boxes, will be lost. But how ? When?”

Well, it took the development of this our digital world to solve that problem. Getting deep into the labyrinth world to find the  webmaster in…

  ..  Jeff Saward to help me get the job started.

Some tenacity and a deep  love for my dogs and the breed to finally get to that moment to sit down , drag those boxes from under my bed and say to myself :

“Now, let’s see, what do I actually have here ?”

This is just the beginning of an ongoing project. The layout, the way Jeff and I finally decided upon how it would be right for us both, now stands ….

          …and my dogs and the sport I never stopped loving will keep me going !

I will keep digging and Jeff will keep adding.   Are all my data correct ? I doubt it, but I hope I will be corrected by those who were there with me!  Will I forget someone ? that’s what worries me. Will my story be complete ? my archive isn’t so it can’t possibly be!

When will it all be finished ? No idea, probably when I topple over and will leave this world to join all my loved ones, family and dogs.. in that spirit world up there somewhere !

But whenever that may be, it will not really get done if Marjoleine de Klerk does not keep coming every Thursday evening to give me her digital lessons!

The Autumn of My Years…

With my 75th birthday coming up The Autumn of My Years ( as Frank Sinatra sings) have truly arrived. Thinking about this while browsing through a bookshop I found this gem of a story.

The story is based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River area in Alaska.

Two Old Women are left behind by their People as they are starving from hunger and feel they can not longer sustain them.

Ch’idzigyaak and Sa’ – 80 and 75 years old – are shocked and very angry by this, but after a few days they come to a decision. They are going to make an efford to survive.

Their motto : Let us die trying!”

What follows is this absolutely amazing story of relying on their intuition and survival experiences learned when they were young. They set out for a place they remember having a lot of wild animals and take more then two weeks to get there facing the long Polar night, low temperatures and incredible physical hardship.

Making snowshoes

                                Arriving at their new Camp

What is needed to survive and prepare for the coming winter in the short summer is byond believing. But their physical  condition improves considerably in the process and they manage to supply themselves with an abundance of extra food for their second winter.

The People meanwhile are on the brink of death. Guilt and sorrow caused by their decision to have left The Old Ones undermines the morale and finally the Counsel decides that – having discovered that The Old Women have moved and might have survived – send out their Trackers to find them. They do and – after tough negociations dominated by fear by The Two –  The People are allowed to settle close by under strick regulations. Thanks to the Old Womens supplies the People survive.

The lessons learned by The People : You better respect and learn from The Old Ones instead of discarding them..as they have the Knowlegde, Wisdom and Patience.

Thank you Ch’idzigyaak and Sa’ for giving me Hope and Inspiration and I promise you now :

 ” I will  die trying”   and like you both  ” die a truly happy Old Woman”  

exactly the way your Story ends.

There and Back Again

Where to start with my magical New Zealand experiences?  Had no idea so nothing happened.

But you know, one of the inspiring ideas I picked up was that almost every New Zealander uses its garden and flowerpots as vegetable & herb garden.

 Few flowers or bushes.

Parsely

Potatoes

Just go outside to get some salad, tomatoes and beans for dinner!

… So here  my small balcony vegetable and herb garden…

… with carrots, radishes and salad…

Whyever not ?

Off to Tolkien Country

We go to the other side of this our world to see our family and friends.

It has been too long.  But…..

Samwise lives here

Will I meet Sam in Hobbiton ? 

Ofcourse I will. The Lord of the Rings Saga country is New Zeeland.     

But she will miss Firnjen

 

 

Will I meet Eragon and Saphira again ?

When they left Alagaësia for good, I am certain they went to New Zeeland.Where else can they raise the small new hatchling dragons in peace and quiet ?

 

Like this one

 

Will I find some labyrinths ?  If not.. I will just make some myself. 

 

 

 

Am I forgetting my Siberian Huskies ?

Ch. Alaskans Babiche of Anadyr

 

Ofcourse not ! I will find them !

He got me home

 

 

 

  

Here is my Babiche..   he loved to show himself.. a joy.. and he always got me safely home!

And Last but not least… 

…hope to find a I.O.O.F. “Odd Fellows” Lodge and experience fellowship and reflexion – just like at home – with my Rebekkah Sisters.

Facebook, Email or regular post… you will hear from me somewhere somehow !

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Husky Faces and Professional Friends

When you try to keep up with the digital world of today you need Teachers. Professionals.

Wobask

Having taken up the project of making my Siberian Husky Archive – such a great part of Dutch and European  breed & sleddogsport history – digital, a website has to be created.

This Professional Website Builder I found.

Red

Pictures, slides and films have to be scanned in.   Every week she comes in – this Pro –  and gives me a two hours lesson. .. leaving me with plenty of homework.

As for my WordPress Weblog.. the same story.  So much more can be done with it and so often I get mixed up in this language and the problems that I encounter.  My WordPress Teacher shows me the way.

Liberty& Emily

Babiche

The great privilege is that all three Professional Teachers are very good friends.

Needless to say that in the process I see all those dogfaces again… and the memories that go with them.

Here are some of them.  Part of my soul.  All of them.

SOMETHING SPECIAL

Just another College Class.

We finished our final exams on a very special Highschool together in 1957. 
We never lost track of eachother,  the ten of us. Never lost touch. 
Somewhere in time we decided to just continue our yearly school outings, organizing it in turn.

I took the girls to the small Castle Sypestein  in Nieuw Loosdrecht.

 

The garden has a lovely Maze.
You have to go that way >

 

< and I found  this beautiful gate

 

 

And in the castle I found this print of a very special labyrinth pattern.

 

Looking forward to next year!

From the Beaches of Normandy to the Labyrinth of Chartres. A Pilgrmage

So  many times you say it in thought.  When the 6th of June arrives again :   “Thank you that you came… for me.”

But then comes the day you have to go there.  To stand with your bare feet in the sand on the beaches of Omaha, Gold, Juno, Utah and Sword.   Trying to visualize how it must have been that early morning at sunrise.  The immense fleet.. these thousands and thousands of young men storming those beaches. Their courage… their fear… their lives…

To face my own nightmares that will come again…

From behind that horizon ..little one … they came… for you..

Omaha Beach

Deep in thought you walk between the magnificiently maintained cemetairy behind Omaha Beach. You read names. You read how young … how old they were.  Davidsstarts on many a cross.

“Here rests our Honoured Comrade in Arms.  His Name known only to God”. Here too I leave a small pineapplecone.  My hand rests on his cross  and   my   Thank You leaves my soul.

On the German Cemetairy young people too. Names unknown… 16.. 17 years old.   ” What choice did you have ?” I ask them. ” What was your fear watching this immense fleet coming towards you?”

Chartres Cathedral was dark and empty.  The Labyrinth movingly beautiful and ancient.

I walked it… and after an hour… walked it again. Then – finally – peace came into my soul .. and I knew the nightmares would end.

Yes, I went to those beaches and many small stones  and shells  found their place in a basket at home. My monument for them all..

“Thanks you that you came. For me. Sothat I could live my life in freedom and peace”.

My Thank You…