The weeks are flying by. Last one was a week without rain, so every night I was out with my watering can to take care of the tulips and wannabe vegetable garden. Today mother Nature watered the plants for me, which is much easier. I also got involved in the fight against the dandelions in …
Interfaith dialogue
For me, the power of faith has never been described more eloquently than in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. The book is about Piscine, a 16 year old boy from Puducherry, India. After he is shipwrecked, he goes through a terrible ordeal. His love of God pulls him through: The blackness would stir and eventually …
Fasting for peace
The British people never cease to amaze us with their crazy habits. For example, we recently discovered that the day before Ash Wednesday is called ‘Pancake Day’ here. They organize actual pancake races, whereby participants toss a pancake up and down in a frying pan while running. We are always in for pancakes, so tomorrow …
Darwin at Tahiti
Because today is the birthday of Charles Darwin, I have browsed the essays of Stephen J. Gould to find something to write about. Gould was an evolutionary biologist, with a great interest in the history of science. He is one of my favorite authors. We have one book of him, a yellowed Penguin edition of …
New Year’s Revolutions
Our Christmas holidays were great and full of visitors. The last days of 2014 were sunny, with the moon as a white watermark on the bright blue sky. We celebrated Christmas at church and at home with crackers and ‘boughs of holly’. We have been to Rochester and London. In the Victoria & Albert museum …
Cows ethics
For me, a vegetarian diet is an important part of striving for nonviolence. Writing about this puts me in a vulnerable position, because the great majority of people do not share this belief, while it is very central in my life. Vegetarians can also make the impression of being moralistic; Thieme calls this the ‘accusation …