Thursday 20 September 2018

September silence



September is one of my favorite months and Autumn is the time for the fresh starts. This year a lot of energy has gone for preparing and starting a new step along with my son. He started a secondary school (middelbare school) a couple of weeks ago. He will stay in this school for the next 6 years if everything goes well. A lot of new information to absorb and a path of new independence in creation, spread horizons ahead of us. At the same time happiness and joy of seeing my son to grow and making long steps, making new friends. I am learning to let  go and at the same time to support him in this change. This is also inspiring me and reminding me of my old school years. I think I appreciate the school more now than I did during my own school career:) 

Instead of just reading the books and learning new words in French, English or Latin, we have to remember to go for walks in the Nature. Last weekend we went for a "green round" in Amsterdamse bos(the forest of Amsterdam). You can't find a total silence or peace in this lovely area thoug - The Schiphol Airport is too close, but you can find nice walking & cycling paths deeper in the forest. You can also borrow a canoe or a boat, swim with the small kids or visit the goat farm. There is so many sporty activities you can join and many sport clubs for regular hobbies.




Play time for the whole Family








Sometimes the air traffic is very noisy in Amsterdamse bos


one of the 116 bridges in Amsterdamse bos

Living in a city can be a challenge sometimes if you love to be connected with the Nature and teach your children to appreciate the living world around us. Luckily we can see trees through our windows at home and the dutch school program with the period of "schooltuinen" (school gardens)is supporting with the natural education. In the groups of 6 and 7 in the elementary school, some schools are taking part to this opportunity to teach the children some basic elements of our close green environment. Every child gets her/his own little garden to grow some vegetables and flowers. This process of planting the seeds to the soil with your own hands and taking care of the growing garden, is a good thing to do in this modern world. 

In the end of the summer I got wonderful gifts from my daughter: flowers, potatoes, eggplants, zucchinis, carrots, beans...and many other organic products to our kitchen. Every child was very proud of their garden and their own vegetables. They even learned new recipes for cooking. I am very thankful for this dutch idea of letting kids to explore and learn about environmental issues in a practical way. As I was there with the kids a couple of times, I noticed that some children were afraid of getting their hands dirty or worried of their clothes getting some earthy marks. But mostly I saw happy faces and enthusiasm. 










WORK

And I started jogging again after a summer break. Sometimes I just like to listen to the birds during my run, but every now and then I need some good instrumental music to keep me going. This is one of my favourites at the moment. Not only for jogging, but also just relaxing and escaping to my own world for a while. Finding the silence from my mind.