Hello again ☺

A little update and I want to share a wonderful project with you :-)

I've had ups and downs since the last time I posted on my blog.
My family,  Erik ( my lovely man ), FB friends and your comments dragged me through some really dark episodes and I feel I'm getting grips on the illness now.
Last week I even felt like creating again !!! I can't work for long at the time but the feeling is back and I think that is a huge improvement !

My dream is to sell this house in Vianen and entirely dedicate my life to creating art, together with Erik, in our German house.
Well, that's on hold for a bit....
So I wanted to share this dream-project from Jo and Dylan James aka Cart Before the Horse.
I've never had idols in my life, never been the type of girl who could be hysterically cry in admiration of some pop stars. I have to confess, I would have to severely constrain myself if I ever have an opportunity of meeting Jo and Dylan :-) To me these wonderful people are living my dream.
And now.....they have come up with the ultimate dream !
I'd say, read all about it and grant them a piece of their wish by donating a little or big part of their dream.
And there is a bonus ! You will be rewarded !!

Here is the link : 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/992054329/a-mobile-art-studio-for-cart-before-the-horse 

Wouldn't it be great to see this amazing couple living their dream, I know I would !

Helen XXXXX

Apologies and confessions......

First, I have to apologize to all of my readers.
I can imagine you may have questions about my absence and I will explain it .

Well, I've written months ago about the pain in my hip and eventually I did go to the Doctor.
He send me to a physiotherapist, but after 2 months, no improvement, the physiotherapist send me back to the Doc.
I also had a sore breast and well, the Doc put one and one together and send me to hospital for X rays.
After a long day of being send to several hospital departments the Doctor diagnosed me with breast and bone cancer.
He told me there was no cure, not operable, just suppressing the cancer with Chemo.
I said thanks but no thanks to the Doc and went home. 
We ( my family) cried for some days and I began to think of a approach to cure this myself.
I am convinced practically all diseases have their origins in the mind. I know this may sound very harsh to people who are ill but I can't help thinking this and I am like that for all of my life.
I can even tell when this cancer-thing started.
I know I had to do some serious " soul-searching " and...the me that I am...didn't want anybody to know about my illness. When I am ill I'm like an animal, I want to isolate myself until it's gone.
Well, I know now that wasn't the way to handle this, I mean cancer is a serious illness and it involves pain and you can't hide it from your loved ones. I had to let them help me.
One after another came with alternative medicines like exotic fruit and baking soda, and for their sake I swallowed all kind of stuff but I am still convinced I have to do this with my mind, but I understood their concern and especially their fear.
They stand behind my choice nevertheless .
Luckily I have this wonderful man who I can talk to and we cleaned a lot of my garbage together.
And ! Very important ! We are positive ! I don't see this cancer as an evil-doer,malignant,  it's an alarm from my body.
At the moment I feel great, I still  have to walk with crutches but it's getting better and better.
The past months I had sore ribs, the pain travelled from one side from my body to another and I don't know if that's from the crutches or the cancer but I don't want to know.
 I don't want to know any of the symptoms related to this type of cancer.
Because of this painful ribs I couldn't needle felt, sneeze, do the vacuum cleaning :-) but since last week the ribs feel normal again.
In the meanwhile I've told some good friends about it and I could never think of the positive supportive reactions I got ! 
I was afraid that they would try to convince me to take Chemo and would think I'm crazy.
Since I've told my friends, I feel relieved.
I had a hard time feeling a hypocrite when they asked me what was going on and I made excuses.
They are real treasures, these friends.
Another thing I've learned is when you let people get close (  AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD ! I AM A PERSON WHO BELIEVES WE ARE ALL CONNECTED !!! ) you can really physically feel their love !!! although they are on the other side of the world !!
For now, I take one day at the time, live in the here and now, have faith in the ability of my body's self-healing and appreciate and immensely enjoy friendship and the love of my family !

Helen XXX  

Trying to make lemonade

Hello to you sweet readers :-)
Haven't been here for a long time and I apologize.
Life has given me quite a few lemons lately and I'm trying hard to make lemonade of it but I didn't find the right recipe yet.
I've had crates of lemons in the past and I've  managed to make lemonade out of them but there comes a time that you are sick and tired of them and must find a new way to make it digestible this time.
I know we all go through some hard times at one time or another and I will be fine but for now I don't feel fine.
So please have a little patience, I'm trying hard to overcome myself :-)

Helen XXX

WO IST DER UKKI ??? Mystery of the Tomb, part 3

Okay, we went to Germany again on July the 28.

My heart started beating very fast when we approached the Mountain House.

I had this strange premonition concerning Uncle Ukki . . . . 

When we arrived we had the most strange welcome !

There was a gnome sitting on the stairs, he had a big yet a bit alarming smile on his face !

And oh my oh my ! He introduced himself but he spoke in such a strange dialect the only thing I could make out of his words was his name : Adular

We asked him if he met Uncle Ukki and why he wasn't here to greet us but his words were such a puzzling mix of French and Rhineland-Palatinate dialect we didn't understand a thing !

Oh yes, "wine" that was the only word we thought we could make out of his jibber jabber !!?
So Erik and I decided after a long discussion (  usually alcohol doesn't make things simple) to give him some wine.

Well, that was a big help ! NOT !!! After finishing the entire bottle the only thing he did was sing a German song :

"Heil dir im Siegerkranz" (German for "Hail to Thee in Victor's Crown") it was from 1871 to 1918 the unofficial national anthem of the German Empire. Previously, it had been the anthem of Prussia, the melody of the hymn derived from the British anthem "God Save the Queen".

Because of the melody we were utterly more confused and decided to lure him to bed so we could spend some quite time on the terrace and think what to do.

No sign of Ukki ! 
Suddenly we heard some noise along the road and look who was there !

It was Paula !

She came running down to our terrace and gave us a warm welcome.

We asked her to sit with us for a while because we needed her help.

We explained our concern about Uncle Ukki and maybe she would like to help us ? 

"Indeed I will " she said with her beautiful soft voice.

Immediately she started sniffing the grounds and began to walk through the house and the garden.

 

"Someone covered his tracks" she said with a disappointed face.
We were totally desperate ! We hugged Paula and wished her good night and with heavy hearts we went to bed.
Next morning we had breakfast outside when all of a sudden Pinky started yelling at us.

She wanted us to follow her . . . 

HERE HERE !!!!
Oh my goodness ! Look what she found !

Two polaroid photo's of what seems to be Uncle Ukki !!

We couldn't leave it at that, this looked like a mysterious disappearance !

Well, for us there was no other option then to call the local newspaper, someone must have seen or heard about Uncle Ukki !

Unfortunately, we didn't thought about the little ones at home and some smart Barn Owl brought them the newspaper.

The little ones were enjoying the nice weather outside when the owl appeared.

The newspaper was in German of course but smart Higgins who speaks all languages including Bird language and German started translating .

"I'm sorry but I have to tell you that Uncle Ukki is missing"

"Oh no ! That can't be true ! " and the little ones started to cry.
"Wait a minute ! Wait a minute !!! " said Higgins.
"Uncle Ukki is a very wise gnome, you don't think he will let himself get into trouble ! You must not believe anything that is written ! I think Uncle Ukki is on a very exciting adventure and he will be all right ! We know him and he will not come back before he finds out what is going on with the Tomb."

Well, that was a true statement of Higgins! 
The little ones broke out in laughter, Higgins never spoke so many words but he was right, Uncle Ukki would be all right and they felt a huge relief and they all sat down and enjoyed the sun again.
"I'm sure we will hear from Uncle Ukki soon" said little Arthur.

I KNOW THEY WILL . . . . . .

Helen XXX

OUCH !

I'm so sorry you may have been on the lookout for Uncle Ukki's story about his adventure :-(

I strained my hip before we went to Germany and I could hardly walk. I couldn't take pics ( it involves bending and crawling between the rocks and bushes ) and Uncle Ukki is on his own now in Germany :-I.

Because of that hip-thing I lost my Mojo.

 I'm normally a person who doesn't walk but run ( not on purpose I can't help it) and I'm so frustrated about it. I walk like Quasimodo and as a result my knee hurts too, hahahaa I sound like a little kid.

Can't take Pinky for a walk ( he does his walkies with Erik and Arthur) and I'm shuffling a bit between my kitchen and the bedroom.

I've got real painkillers today ( !!!) and I hope it will be back to normal soon.

The little "vacation" in Germany was nevertheless wonderful.

The minute we arrived our neighbour came almost running to us and told us that there were two fox cubs sitting on our doorstep some 10 minutes before we arrived !

Well, this neighbour is a real outdoors man, lived his entire life in this woody area and still he was so enthusiastic !

In the week that followed we had a visit from a fox cub on our terrace but this time Pinky went berserk and the cub ran off.

Erik was invited by our neighbour to watch a soccer game and when he came into his house the neighbour whispered to him : come quick, look out the window !

And there she was ! The Mama fox ! The neighbour has a big box of old bread outside which he feeds to his rabbits and Mama fox just came by to grab herself a loaf :-)

Ha ! Apparently she collected the loafs, in the bushes next to our house was a big pile of bread loafs ! 

In the evening you could hear nibbling sounds and I imagined the complete fox family having dinner.

There is a little stream behind the house, the house is on a hill and you can look down on the stream if it wasn't such a jungle :-). The stream attracts animals of course ( YAY ! ) and besides the fox family ( there were 4 cubs ) we heard wild boar late at night and early in the morning there was a deer. 

The deer came every morning and Erik managed to take a pic :-)

And and much to our surprise we saw fire flies !! Never saw them before ! 

We tried to take pics of them but as you can see ( hopefully) it's just a little dot in a lot of black.

I show it anyway because I think it's funny, seeing hundreds of them and ending up with this pic !

Oh before we left, Pinky needed her Rabies shot and well she went kind of funny :

See the foam on her mouth ! :-)

Well, we did manage to do some work on the house, we finished the shutters !!!!

( If you look closely you can see Uncle Ukki in the window. . ) 

Uncle Ukki will keep me posted while he is still in Germany but so far no word from him.

I won't worry about him, he seemed to be okay staying there and he is still investigating !

Helen XXX

Ukki says Goodbye

Uncle Ukki packed his bag, rolled up his sleeping mat and waves goodbye.

To answer some questions he would like to explain that the Tomb is indeed several of hundreds of years old.

It's supposed to be surrounded by a "field", all creatures great and small can see the Burial-sight because they have this so called " impression vision".

Uncle Ukki will explain later what that means.

Humans don't have the "impression vision" any more, well that is to say, rumours are more and more humans are rediscovering this ability.

And that is why Uncle Ukki is so anxious to find out who took these photo's and why these photo's were send to him.

 

The Mail-mole is deaf-mute and blind, so no hope on an explanation on his part.

 I'll see you all in a week !

Helen XXX

Disturbing news . . . .

This week Uncle Ukki received two photographs by Mole-mail ( as in the animal ).

Very very disturbing, the photo's are from a Gnome tomb.

Gnomes are buried too but it's on a secret location and no human ever discovered their whereabouts.

There are several locations on the world and luckily Uncle Ukki recognized this Tomb so he is going away for a while to investigate.

All he will tell us it's in Germany in a hill called "Schloß Berg " .

He expects to be back Saturday June 30.

Helen xxx