... from W.H. Auden....

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public
doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.


He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.


The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Merry Christmas & Joyeux Noel to you all, friends and strangers...May you share peace and love with each other...
French hugs,
Dany

I have been a french woman living abroad for so long that I nearly did not feel french any longer....so this year I decided to drive to France, to look around & travel at my own pace and take my time to discover a part of France I did not know but was always attracted to....Bretagne....
i had made a lose road planning to make sure to include the french equivalent to Stonehenge, Carnac and its fields of more than 3000 erected stones (menhirs), and all the other treasures ; megalites, dolmens, tumultus, cairns....
The wild coast (la cote sauvage) was marvelous, le golfe du morbihan, Quiberon, the countryside...............
but what really happened is that i falled in love....not a little bit, no ....massively, as a block for one magic place in the countryside : the forest of Brocéliande.....we stoped there at the beginning of the trip and could not help but go back to spend 3 more days on our way back....how badly did I fall for it ? So badly that I went to 3 different real estate agencies and already visited 3 houses....I knew it instantly....I have to come back there and get more of the forest... 8 000 hectares of forest, about 14 different lacs...and legends that come alive while you walk in the deep of the forest...all the celtish past of Bretagne, the most "celt:"place in France with a tight and interwined history with Great britain, Irland, Wales....and the french version of Merlin, Viviane, Morgane and Lancelot without forgetting King Arthur all present in the forest of Brocéliande...I swear I did not dream this...I belong there...I am trying to get back into my daily life here in my little village in the netherlands but Brocéliande won't let go....she got hold of me and hold me tight in her green arms...i have to find an old little house to be able to go there 2 or 3 times a year until the time where i can hopefully more there...this is the very first time in many years that i feel that I really belong somewhere....somewhere in France...where i was not raised but where i feel strangely and entirely connected too....It feels Great....May that spell bring me back there soon....

It is over...From friday evening to sunday evening we shared the same space, the same ceremonies and rituals...we worked hard, a weekend of feeling, learning and sharing. 15 people mostly strangers who became one family, one tribe in working together with this land...13 dutch people, one french and one british all sharing their Celtish inheritance together and making contact with this land...The old farm where we stayed had the most beautiful garden, full of secrets places, little paths leading to perfect power places...it was a Celtish, pagan, shamanistic celebration of the sacred union of the masculine and the feminine, celebration of mother nature, full immersion from 7 in the morning until 11 at night with hours of drumming and singing...exhausting and so exhilerating that I could not sleep for two nights !!!
I came closer to my ancestors in this celebration of our ancient european culture...I became one with my drum -for the first time drumming with a group, -drumming for hours in the nature, totally connecting, I discovered my real voice and used it in singing and praying....I felt so empowered in my own path and at the same time discovered the power of a group...I am Grateful.................................

the first batch...