Almost Nostalgic

I thought of Mono Monday and the theme of 'love', and then I wondered what it is that I really love.  'Who' I love will never be a problem.  Maybe, also, it should be what I 'like' because 'love' should be reserved for fellow humans.  Maybe ... but I don't agree.  I think it is also possible to 'love' things but I think that it will be closer to the truth to say that it is because those things that we 'love' symbolize other, more important, things -- the simplicity of life as it used to be, 'home' as we remember it if it was a happy place or as we would have liked it to be if it was not, even folks we used to know who are no longer there or who we would have like to have been closer to.  These days, in bed, I have been reading the latest book by Rumi, actually by his most famous and popular translator, Coleman Barks, and it is called 'Bridge to the Soul'.  It is all about how silence can bring us back to where we want to be.  It is not easy, and this past weekend was no exception, but I think an hour of real peace and quiet is worth a thousand times its weight in gold.  If there is anything that I love, it is that -- peace and silence.

This was shot in the little village of Drunen along the A59 towards Den Bosch, formally called 's Hertogenbosch.  It was beautifully sunny today, about 5 degrees with hardly any wind.  I thought I would take advantage of my free day + the lovely weather to go windmill-hunting.  Indeed, Drunen has a windmill and it's behind me here, and you'll get to see it another time.

Some Dutch lessons:
'bosch' sounds just like 'bos' = 'forest', and this is where you get the word 'bush'.
'hertog' = 'duke'
'hertogenbosch' = 'forest belonging to the duke'
's Hertogenbosch = 'from the forest belong to the duke'
's Hertogenbosch is the capital of the province of Noord Brabant, which used to be called just plain 'Brabant'.  The dukes of Brabant were the wealthiest in Europe, so much so that the French and Spanish kings wanted his land.  However, the counts of Holland wanted it, too.  And so began the Eighty Years War of 1568-1648, which ended with the Treaty of Munster.  The Spaniards said it was the Catholics against the Protestants = religion.  The Dutch said it was Holland against Spain = politics.  Actually, it was all about the money, as usual.