Adventures of a house wife 3

Needed to do some minor shopping. That’s not something difficult you may think. You’ll never know.

Thought of doing it quick in one retailer…it was not meant to be.

Started on ROFL-mode when entering AH and seeing the big poster hanging from the ceiling:

DOWNLOAD NOW YOUR VEGETABLE GARDEN APP FOR ALL THE HELP YOU NEED WITH YOUR MINI VEGETABLE GARDEN.

For outsiders: for every 15 euro purchase you get one mini-vegetable-garden. The grown vegetable is just enough to feed a small garden gnome. And what the hack is the difficulty with those mini things you need an app for?

Laughing out loud, I passed the gate and started shopping. Sausage, bread, soya milk, water – easy finds. I also was looking for….

All the approximately 3 meters of mayonnaise from different brands – NO Rémoulade !

The first KID I found filling the shelves, I grabbed to ask if he know where I can find the Rémoulade. He looked desperately at me and then around to find another employee to help me. An older man slowly walked towards us and asked what’s the problem. “She is looking for Rémoulade.” “Must be in the mayonnaise row “, he said, let’s have a look.”  Together we went over there and he searched the 3 meter of shelves to find what I was looking for. “Not here, maybe out of assortment.” he suggested.  “All the Kühne – made with love – products are on the shelves and only Rémoulade is no longer available?” I answered.  “We have to look in the computer, please follow me.”

Had to follow him through the complete store back to the entrance where the office is. Had to go into the office and sat there to watch him looking for my product. “Can you please spell the word Rémoulade to me?” he asked. Deep within me, some part of me almost fainted by inward laughter. All the products came up but no Kühne Rémoulade.  “See!!! we only have Remia Rémoulade Sauce!”  he triumphed. “Let’s go back and look for Remia.”  I followed the man in blue back to the 3 meters mayonnaise where we both started looking for Remia Rémoulade Sauce.

– NOTHING – NADA – NOPE –

“I have to go to the computer for the product number, then find a terminal and then, with the product number, I can find the place the Remia Rémoulade Sauce is to be found within the 3 meters mayonnaise. It’s not that simple as all customers think.”

Hell of a job – the voice inside was awake again. Another woman suggested we have a look at the salad dressings. Proposal dismissed.

“It has to be here, shall I go to fetch the number?”

“No, thank you very much for your useless friendly help, I will buy it at Dirk v/d Broek.”

Meanwhile 3 other searching customers lined up to grab him. Have a lot of fun I thought sarcastically. Fetched the last products I needed and left the store after payment.

Got 2 mini vegetable gardens!!!

I donate them to the elderly home where they are put into a seed table just for show! The elders love watching them grow.

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adventures of a housewife

There is definitely change all around. Sudden change – without warning and there you go.

Yesterday and today were more Murphy’s Law then Change. There is no post office anymore. Letters and packages are sent at a post agency hosted by our local tobacconist. We only have one in the Center. Had a heavy envelope to post, bike over there just to see that it was closed due to renovation and new look. My letter was urgent so I went to grocery AH and weighed the letter on the vegetable scale – 305 gram. Calculated the necessary stamps and finally dropped it into the mailbox. Duration 40 minutes.

Today more of the same. An appointment by phone failed. I was extremely tired all day long. 17:00 I pulled myself together to do the necessary shopping at the grocery Dirk v/d Broek. They just had installed a new self-scan system…… It didn’t work properly. The old system broke down very often too. Finally, after several attempts to make it work, the employee gave up. I had to pay at an old-fashioned cash register. Change is beautiful.

Next stop Kruidvat drugstore. There were two employee’s. One was helping a child who was sent to buy medication for an one-year old baby and on conference call with his mother at home simultaneously. The employee tried to explain that you cannot put whatever medication in a baby and she advised to call a doctor. The mother, on the phone, made a fuss and finally, after having called her boss, the employee gave the medication. Meanwhile other customers had to wait for her because they had some questions and I had to return something. The young cashier was extremely tired too and had not the authorization to handle return. Standing there for 30 minutes, cake and coffee would have been nice. When the other employee finally came, she couldn’t get into the cash register …. The other customers still waiting patiently. After several attempts she got into the cash register.

Coming out of the drugstore only to see that the main entrance, a revolving door, was out-of-order again. This trip had the duration of 1 hour 30 minutes. At home,  one of my sons called to tell he was sick having problems with his throat and voice.

Major changes often come from unpredictable chaotic, and random events. Even tiredness, sickness and broken store systems.

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Demolition Pt2

Sunny Sunday Morning – nobody awake – Hoofddorp as dead except for some workers who has to install some tents for a two days show-off of our Mayor and the City Council Members at our beautiful old City Hall. For this occasion, for the first time in history, they planted pretty flowers and rose bushes around the old trees and grass alongside the street.There is also a man busy to water the plants (not often seen in this city) and cleaning the newly refurbished street and plaza in front of the old city hall. The City Council almost sold the tent but massive protest could prevent it. Now they are happy to still have the place for their show-off.

https://haarlemmermeergemeente.nl/nieuws/haarlemmermeer-ontvangt-vng-jaarcongres

 

Did not take any photo and bike to the demolition area at former Woodward garden. The following pictures show the sad, painful extent of the destruction.

Birds are all over the place and in the pond a heron was calmly waiting for some fish to have survived the demolition.

This monumental tree, I hope, is to stay.

UPDATE 24-07-2016

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Demolition

I am furious!

In 2013 I was allowed to visit the fantastic garden of Woodward Nederland BV. The garden had wonderful healthy big trees of all sorts. There were plants imported from America because it is an american company. A gardener took care of the garden and the big pond where the employees could rest during lunch time or take a walk around the big garden.

I took photo’s while walking there and enjoying the beauty of nature surrounding me.Have a look for yourself.

The company moved to another building. Today I came along the area and there was NOTHING. All trees are cut down – only stumps left. All the healthy wonderful big trees and blooming shrubs are gone. There were a lot of animals living and I saw one hare amid the demolition area. This beauty had to make room for this: http://www.noorderkwartierhoofddorp.nl

The irony of it all is to be found on the website of the builders:

Novaform Real estate developers realize an attractive, mixed residential area with lots of green

Just for the money as usual

The official who authorized this demolition should get life imprisonment for crimes against nature.

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The Journey to Reggio Inspired Practice: Making Your Own Road

It is a wonderful approach on teaching children.
…there is a belief that children have rights and should be given opportunities to develop their potential. “Influenced by this belief, the child is beheld as beautiful, powerful, competent, creative, curious, and full of potential and ambitious desires.””Rather than being seen as the target of instruction, children are seen as having the active role of an apprentice.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach

Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research

By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. It is heartening to see that there is much interest in the Reggio Emilia Approach and a genuine desire expressed by many to begin the process of becoming Reggio inspired. Thinking about our practice as a journey  has me pondering. Metaphors are a useful tool to promote reflective thinking about practice and I am reminded of the Malaguzzi quote that likens the process to a journey down the water of a river.

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10 Things to keep in Mind When Loving a Highly Creative Person

It has been proven that highly creative people’s brains work quite differently than other brains.

Source: 10 Things to keep in Mind When Loving a Highly Creative Person

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The Neurobiology of Re/enchantment

GODS & RADICALS

My gods come to me when they find my heart open.

They come when I am walking in the forest at twilight.   They come when I am watching the wind blow across water that was still just a moment before.   They come when I am lying in bed at the edge of waking, calling first in the voices of Owls and Ravens.   They come when my lover and I are alone on a winter’s night by the woodstove.   They come when I am at the gym and the rest of the world slips away and in the moment before they arrive there is nothing but the weight pressing down and my muscles pushing against it.   They come with the scent of Hawthorne blossoms and the feeling of cold rain on bare skin.

They come when I am deeply embodied and open to connection  —…

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