Body: Health on seeing calves in a slaughter truck

(Hum to: Come All Ye Maidens Young and Fair...)

Meat it is a precious thing
and meat brings all things to my mind
meat with all it flavours
along with all its joys
meat brings all things to my mind.

Babies really
right, wrong,
snouts too small
wry words
cliches
stop my feet

Responsible
ownership
crates or not
I'll own my own
do my do
to own what I do
do what I own
see that:

Meat it is a precious thing
and meat brings all things to my mind
meat with all its flavours
along with all its joys
meat brings all things to my mind.

Home: Kitchen: Recipe Aubergine (Puree) Memories

a lemon is better, garlic crushed
nicer

Broad nails, sturdy hair

steady, solid, grounded.

Earth fragrant he cooks

cause I didn’t learn yet.

Patlıcan poor man’s meat

carrier of garlic and spices

mild, pale, flesh vessel

which when unsure,

sprinkled with salt draws

clear drops of unhindered

bitterness, anger

frustration.

Patlıcan is a love affair

the curve of a wrist

the sure supple

knife flick, slice

the boiling kettle

when coloured and soft

the oven

heating the room.

I: top, tail,

half, drizzle oil

in oven

wait…

chop garlic

mix olive oil

vinegar

salt

pepper, stir.

A lemon is better,

garlic crushed: nicer.

when coloured and soft

separate the skin

mix the flesh into: dressing

mix

crush for chunks

chop garlic

whizz for silk

Annem

I watched her

he smiles a line in his cheek

and it tastes

of Istanbul

not the nomad

not the stories:

of goats, sheep,

nights under stars

it tastes

good and alive

of travel

my kitchen

home.

my kitchen
home.

Family: Gratitude, On: walk mind and thinking feet

feel from feeling

I love walking, doing, movement ... I like to think of life as a place of constant change. Walking helps me to see, to know, to connect and to flow. Doing makes me see solutions and find answers. Movement helps me to keep perspective.

I am blessed in many ways, I have luck galore and the Universe trends to smile when I'm around. Too often I take all of the above for granted and so I hereby would like to express my gratitude, for all of it: the opportunities, the chances, the caring, the love, the wonderful helpers, mentors, teachers, angels, saints, ghosts, fairies, gut, the random, the hope, the success, the diversions, the signs, all that and all that doesn't come to mind straight away... Thank you!

The Promise

Walk mind over heels

Walk mind over heels
through thought wishes
thinking thank words
thanking, thank you

Do daily
do from
freedom felt
feel from
feeling, felt belong

Adventure
follow get
follow do
follow wish
follow thought
follow felt

make all mine
take all get
let legs and
and thinking footsteps
run
so felt
thought
wish and do
get adventure
as advertised.

legs and thinking footsteps

Food: Tagliatelli Carbonara, Italian comfort

I see: 

no egg

no egg I say...

The egg makes it

when taken

set aside 

I see: no egg, no egg I say

waiting

Just after the Tagliatelli

waded through mushroom

creamy flesh

silken soaked 

in heated cream.

Al dente cooked dough

crunchy salted fat

succulent coated

black pepper pig

and the egg

stirred at last

the end

into it

before consumption 

even serving

after fire

is cooking like heating

is comfort like no other

the egg 

the egg I say

makes it.

Family: Good Friday, Easter is on it's way and the Matthäus Passion (Excerpts 1 to 9)

Good Friday
Before I forget:
eggs, sugar, sunshine
and Bach.

Never a lover of St John
it is St Matthew I crave.
His turn of phrase
the way he shows not tells.
.
Childhood memories:
songs, chorales, standing, arias,
sitting, singing, sleeping, listening.

Mrs Toonder repeating again and again:
Open up
open your mouth
Wide
Relax
Project
Stand still...
and watch the conductor.
He will be there,
waiting.

And Bach he too
moving from chorale to aria
melismatic counterpoint
speaking to us
always clear
always precise
two hours and more.

Erbarme Dich
Blute Nur
Over and over
every year.
I sit and listen
hum, sing along, feel, learn,
know, remember.

Easter is here.




This 1994 dramatized version of the Matthew Passion has been my favorite for some time. Rather than the big Amsterdam's Concert Gebouw setting we sung at as children it is small the soloists partaking in the chorales but no children's choir. Unfortunately the full version doesn't seem to be available anymore. But here are the excerpts which are wonderful... ... Enjoy|!

Family: Kittens! ...Mi-mi-ao Mammy!

Look there are kittens in the box!

...four ball of fluff have to go hunting...

I've been trying to get a good shot of them. It doesn't work. The corner that seemed just perfect - out of reach of Guide Dog Yeltsin, lodged between the piano and the harps - is too dark and just a little tight. So I'm left with nothing else to do but wait until they're big enough to climb out into the light.

For now it is screeches and screams when mammy moves. Tiny wails of despair as four balls of fluff have to go hunting for tit. Sometimes it isn't the mum moving but their brother-of-a-different-generation trying to squeeze in on the warmth. She's his mammy too. And if he could, he definitely would, even though he's too big a boy now which she lets him know all the time.

Three are just like their mammy and one is darker just like the different-generation-brother.

Truly, I never thought I'd enjoy seeing all that new life so much. It never was my thing. Yet here I am, oohing and aahing over the Wild Cat from Blarney Street being such an amazing parent. Patient, protective... ...she's different to how she normally is. She's given in to being a mum. Not because she chose but because nature demands it of her.

She's given in to being a mum

She turns onto her back so the little ones can reach better. She looks at me looking at her. I assure her it's ok. Much more so than it ever was for her mammy. Would she choose all of this if she could?

She squints at me and I tell her about where she's from, the spring she was born under the oil-burner and how she moved here with her brother, so she could have a better life. Because it's important to know where you're from.

She licks a head and a belly, puts a paw over one and her tail over the other. For now, their only response is to drink, wail, sleep and crawl towards the warmth.

I'm looking forward to blue-eyed and climb-out-of-the-box kittens soon.

There's purring going on.

House: Kitchen, Moving away from the old

I don't like stuff much, and stuff on work surfaces
makes me ugh...

They say the kitchen is the centre of the home.

We lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in the Kinkerbuurt in Amsterdam.

The galley kitchen was separate from the other rooms. With in it just enough space for one person.

Mum.

There's nothing like doing the dishes to
make me feel good

Now the kitchen is mine.

Things are done a certain way.

When children, gardeners or others use it I can't help but be territorial.

Now, I've decided I'm letting go.

I'll clean up the mess and worry about it no more.

I'm not to do anything after anybody doing something in the kitchen ...

I'm moving my workspace upstairs.

The best feeling: clear and clean worktops

I do dishes, worktops, grill, stove, fridge and floor.

I look at it and feel good.

Wipe down cupboards.

Rinse the espresso pot.

I know how to have it like this always.

And finally a sink unobscured and clean!

I'm loving you kitchen!

I'm loving you like you've never been loved before.

I'm hugging and kissing you and making you feel good.

I'll clean tops of the cupboards, wash out shelves and under the sink.

I'll even clean the lamp and maybe give the extractor a wash and change...


You wait and see. This kitchen will stay pristine!

Family: Paddy's Day

The spuds are in
the robin taunts me
all morning.
In, out, in, out
here, there, gone.

We go for green 99's

all here to see, smile, celebrate

and wait for the parade.
I'm a Rover
Oh Danny Boy
The Tidy Towns

There's shamrock
stout and bodies.
Green, orange, white and gold
all here to see, smile, celebrate
the leaving of the snakes.

Mountain dew tea
drives out the day
like Patrick himself the snakes.
Another one gone forgot

the robin is here to stay.








Anja Bakker