A face on a wall, Antwerpen

Gaston Feremans, Toondichter 1907 - 1964

Imagine ...

Zena el-Khalil : co-founder of xanadu*, an art space located in New York City and Beirut, dedicated to helping young artists who are not interested in commercial galleries and, aljisser, a USA based organization that works to promote the work of Arab artists is writing a blog ...

She's writing about how it is to be in Lebanon these days ... about the foreigners she's helping, the dogs they are forced to leave behind, her friend with cancer, the massive oil slick that is destroying Lebanese coastline and how it feels to be an artist who has been told to leave ... leave a sick friend, her dog, her art supplies, letters, photographs, her art...

An extract: but, i do not want to be just another war victim... that perhaps next week you will forget all about me. i don't want to live a life of war. i did not ask for this. i do not want this. i had another life. one that was directed by me. one that i was in charge of. decisions that i made by myself. responsibilities that i set for myself. i don't want to be a war story. do you understand what i am trying to say? i just want to be me. live the life that i spent shaping and moulding for myself. follow my dreams. carry out my projects. paint what i feel like painting, and not what is imposed on me.

Grafitti I

A poem to the public ... found while wandering

John Bolton, George's man in the UN

Despite Kofi Anan's pleas for a ceasefire, despite anything he says, the UN somehow fails to act ... 'The council has been unable to take a stand on the fighting even though it has continued for three weeks. That is partly because the United States, unlike other members of the council, has refused to back Annan's calls for an immediate ceasefire..

I recalled the controversy over America's John Bolton nomination as America's UN ambassador to the UN and went searching for more.

Last summer the Senate rejected the nomination of Bolton, a right-wing ideologue fiercely opposed to all international laws and institutions that constrain U.S. power. Overriding congressional concerns that Bolton would be an ineffective UN ambassador because of his long history of criticizing the United Nations, Bush appointed Bolton to the post during the August 2005 congressional recess.

Let's play ... spot the difference.

I was stunned to read this New York Times that reported the masscre in Lebanon so differently to any other newspaper I've read so far ...

There are little pieces here and there which have already been discounted by other reports.

NY Times: Ms. Rice decided to cut her Middle East trip short and return to Washington on Monday in order to work on a United Nations Security Council resolution that would try to codify a political resolution to the conflict.

The Guardian: The bombing sparked furious protests outside the UN headquarters in Beirut. Lebanon's prime minister, Fouad Siniora, accused Israel of committing "war crimes" and called off a planned meeting with the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Israel apologised for the loss of life but said it had been responding to rockets fired from the village.

NY Times The Israeli Army said that it was puzzled that the strike occurred between midnight and 1 a.m., and hit next to the building, but that the building collapsed around 7 a.m. Brig. Gen. Amir Eshel said it was at least possible that the explosion was caused by munitions stored inside the building.

“It is possible that various things were stored inside the house, things that ultimately caused an explosion,” General Eshel said. “Perhaps things we were unable to blow up in the strike, that could have been left behind. I say this very carefully, but at the current time I haven’t got the slightest clue what could explain this time difference.”

The Guardian: At about one in the morning, as some of the men were making late night tea, an Israeli bomb smashed into the house. Witnesses describe two explosions a few minutes apart, with survivors desperately moving from one side of the building to the other before being hit by the second blast. By last night, more than 60 bodies had been pulled from the rubble, said Lebanese authorities, 34 of them children. There were eight known survivors.

NY Times: Whatever the actual toll, the deaths set off a chain reaction, with protesters in Beirut ridiculing the inaction of Arab governments, ransacking the United Nations offices and burning an American flag.

The Guardian: Anger at the attack erupted in Beirut, where windows in the UN building were smashed and its lobby invaded by demonstrators furious at the rising Lebanese death toll. After extensive coverage on Lebanese TV of corpses being taken from the remains of the building, thousands turned out in the city's main open square to vent their fury. Likewise, in Gaza crowds clashed with Palestinian police after smashing into a Unesco building.

Homesick, again ...

I woke homesick ... the first words out of my mouth were 'I want to go home'.

I'm homesick for my daughter, my granddaughter, my family and friends; for balconys that look out over harbours or gardens; for the smell of the sea or a lake with shores that are empty of people and wild in ways that New Zealand does so very well.

Perhaps I am homesick for that feeling of being so far from the rest of the world, somewhere clean that isn't too crazy or rude; where shopkeepers recommend you pop into 'Pete's store down the road' if they don't have that thing you wanted to buy.

Maybe it was a desire for regional air; the peat forest floor scent of the Catlins or a Fiordland beech forest; the smell of the sea when you walk along any coast; the sweet smell of wild Thyme in Central Otago and ecetera.

Permission to work in Belgium is getting closer, I should be allowed to earn money by September ... touch wood for luck ... I want to fly home for Christmas.

Let's see how it goes.

Oh dear, poor Tony ... his colleagues or George and Rupert?

Cabinet in open revolt over Blair's Israel policy

Tony Blair was facing a full-scale cabinet rebellion last night over the Middle East crisis after his former Foreign Secretary warned that Israel's actions risked destabilising all of Lebanon.

Jack Straw, now Leader of the Commons, said in a statement released after meeting Muslim residents of his Blackburn constituency that while he grieved for the innocent Israelis killed, he also mourned the '10 times as many innocent Lebanese men, women and children killed by Israeli fire'.

...The timing of the revolt is awkward for Blair, forcing him to choose whom to upset: his colleagues back home or his two main hosts on the five-day trip to the US. President Bush and Rupert Murdoch both back the Israeli military action.

English Translation of Zidane's Coup de boule

The Zidane headbutting incident has created all manner of humourous comment ... and for some reason, I can't resist them.

Gert came home full of laughter the other day and played me this Zidane song .

Click the play button under the banner that reads 'Coup de boule'.

The translation to English ...

Watch out, it's the head butt dance
Head butt, head butt
Head butt on the right
head butt, head butt
head butt on the left
head butt, head butt

Come on the Blues! Come on
Zidane has hit, Zidane has struck
head butt X4

The Italian was hurt
Zidane has hit
The Italian's not well
Zidane has struck
The ref saw it on tv
Zidane has hit
We lost the cup
But we had a good laugh

Zidane has hit, Zidane has struck
Head butt x4

Trezeguet didn't play
When he played he messed up
He wrecked it all
We lost the cup
Barthez didn't stop a thing
Even though it isn’t that difficult
The sponsors are all furious
But Chirac spoke well

Zidane has hit, Zidane has struck
Head butt x4

Look out it's the head butt dance
Head butt, head butt
Head butt to the right
Head butt head butt
Head butt to the left
Head butt head butt
Head butt to the front
Head butt head butt
Head butt to the back
Head butt head butt
And now, penalty
Watch out, he is ready to kick
1,2,3 he missed

Zidane has hit, Zidane has struck
Head butt x4

We had a good laugh
Zidane and Trezeguet
We lost the cup
Zidane and Trezeguet
We had a good laugh
Zidane and Trezeguet
We lost the cup
Zidane and Trezeguet

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.

Benjamin Disraeli

Pam writes about the recent Seattle shooting of Jewish people by a man who claimed to be angry with Israel ...

She begins:
I’m angry with Israel too. I’m angry about a lot of things.

I’m angry that people can’t make the distinction between Jews and Israelis.

I’m angry that people can’t make the distinction between governments and individuals.

These are distinctions we must keep in front of us ... her list continues and it's worth reading.

Some write, others shoot, and still others engage in 'dialogue' in luxury retreats hosted by the man who owns a media empire ...

The Observer writes: From its manicured golf course with the breathtaking ocean view, to its pampering spa, the Pebble Beach resort in California should be an ideal spot to unwind. But the guests checking in next weekend - globetrotting politicians, hotshot analysts and senior executives from Rupert Murdoch's mighty News Corporation - are not here to relax. They will gather for one of the media empire's legendary conferences, an intellectual beauty parade before one of the most powerful men on the planet.

Careers will be made and broken this weekend, millions staked or withheld. The man described by a Downing Street spin doctor as the hidden member of Tony Blair's cabinet is looking to the future: and the decisions Murdoch makes could change the way you read, watch, consume and, perhaps, even vote. Which is why Blair is going.

The fortunes of New Labour and News Corp have always been entwined, but just how closely is now emerging. The Observer can reveal the extraordinary efforts Blair and Murdoch make to conceal their relationship, even arranging clandestine meetings abroad because the tycoon regarded Downing Street as too public. Also clear for the first time is the belief among senior aides that Blair would have held a referendum on the euro had it not been for the Eurosceptic Murdoch newspapers.

Orhan Pamuk, 'Who Do You Write For?'

Erkan's blog ... source of many interesting things offered up this Herald Tribune article by renowned Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk.

That is the question.

For the last 30 years - since I first became a writer - this is the question I've heard most often from both readers and journalists. Their motives depend on the time and the place, as do the things they wish to know. But they all use the same suspicious, supercilious tone of voice.

...It is because all writers have a deep desire to be authentic that even after all these years I still love to be asked for whom I write. But while a writer's authenticity does depend on his ability to open his heart to the world in which he lives, it depends just as much on his ability to understand his own changing position in that world.

There is no such thing as an ideal reader, free of narrow-mindedness and unencumbered by social prohibitions or national myths, just as there is no such thing as an ideal novelist. But a novelist's search for the ideal reader - be he national or international - begins with the novelist's imagining him into being, and then by writing books with him in mind.

Truth and Beauty

Sometimes, I feel the need to mix beauty and truth ... both exist.

Sunflowers in full bloom, stories of entire families wiped out while they sleep.

The innocence of children as opposed to the body counts from places like Rwanda, Iraq, Lebanon and New York city's 9/11.

Anne Frank's hiding place and canalside cafes on a summer's day.

All exists, side by side, I do know it ... but I wonder, if we remain silent, are we complicit?

Dag from Belgie

Marlon, Belgium 2006, originally uploaded by - di.

How do we explain the news to the children ... or do we hide it from them, like the parents in Lebanon tried to before ... like parents in every conflict?

G'day from Australia

Joshua at the wedding, originally uploaded by - di.

Kia Ora from New Zealand

Georgia, originally uploaded by - di.

Merhaba from Turkey!

Istanbul, originally uploaded by - di.

Stone People II

A Henry Moore sculpture, seen Di's way, Middelheim Open Air Museum, Antwerpen 2006, originally uploaded by - di.

These stone people seem like appropriate images to use to explain this feeling I have after reading that part of the world's news that follows these photographs.

Stone People

Middelheim Open Air Museum, Antwerpen 2006, originally uploaded by - di.

Iraq coalition casualty count .
U.S deaths: 2574
U.S wounded: 18777

Iraq Body Count .
Database
Minimum number of Iraqi dead: 39460
Maximum number of Iraqi dead: 43927

Sunday Papers ...

The LA Times reports this morning ... Israel Ends Gaza Raid, Leaving a Trail of Death and Destruction .

War Photographs

German Cemetery, Flanders, 2006, originally uploaded by - di.

Up to 8 soldiers per square gravestone, many unknowns and a mass grave of almost 50,000 all in one German cemetery in Belgium.

An Interesting Article

“The trend toward secrecy,” Associated Press president had been pointing out, “is the greatest threat to democracy.” writes Alison Weir in her article titled Associated Press Omissions.

Class 101: consequences of holding the wrong type of passport ...

Who knew Micheal Moore had a website

I was searching for comparison figures ... 9/11 child deaths as compared to Lebanon ... just curious, you know how it is.

9/11 outraged the world and brought together a nation ...

Lebanon has only outraged the powerless public and we have ringside seats while those voted into power by 'the people' play silly power games which could have repercussions that effect all of us.

A bow to world governments who have failed to act on what it is to be human and another bow to those who feel they can ignore the UN ... finally a bow to those governments who rescued people based entirely on what passport they carried.

My anger ... while we were sleeping or pehaps choosing our breakfast pastries this was happening in Lebanon - Israeli missiles destroyed several homes in a southern Lebanese village early Sunday, killing at least 40 people in one building. Fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah guerrillas broke out along the border.

The missiles struck as people slept in the village of Qana, leaving dozens of people trapped beneath flattened homes. Between 40 and 50 people died, said Salam Dayer, a civil defense official at the scene.

Rescuers dug through the rubble with their hands and evacuated shell-shocked elderly residents. At least 20 bodies wrapped in white sheets were taken away, including 10 children and elderly residents.

Castel Sant' Angelo

The rooftop angel of Castel Sant' Angelo, originally uploaded by - di.

Antwerpen II

Middelheim Open Air Museum, originally uploaded by - di.

Antwerpen

Middelheim Open Air Museum, Antwerpen 2006, originally uploaded by - di.

An interesting angle on the story ...

Laila is a Guardian journalist living and working in Gaza.

However she's presently travelling in America and wrote this: Its difficult blogging from way over here. I feel impotent, a far-and-away observer, distant and a little too comfortable. and I don't like it. its so easy to get lost here in your own little world, whatever that world is; its not wonder the average American knows-and cares-so little about the outside world; Between the longest work hours on the planet and corporate-controlled media in the hours you do have to yourself, I don't blame them in some ways. That, and insanely expensive health insurance. More on this later.

Her friend writes to her from inside Rafah ...

Robert Fisk, Journalist and a story of the International Red Cross in Lebanon

The latest article from Robert Fisk in Lebanon.

It was supposed to be a routine trip across the Lebanese killing fields for the brave men and women of the International Red Cross. Sylvie Thoral was the "team leader" of our two vehicles, a 38-year-old Frenchwoman with dark brown hair and eyes like steel. The Israelis had been informed and had given what the ICRC likes to call its "green light" to the route. And, of course, we almost died.

The Independent, 07/28/06

el vergel

I went wandering yesterday in Brussels and was introduced to el vergel ... the traditional latin american and mediterranean restaurant on Rue du Trone.

The company was superb - 4 women, 3 nationalities; interesting women and good conversation, with much laughter as stories were told.

The food was delicious and the staff were friendly which is something I've learned not to take forgranted in the way that I did back in those days of living in friendly old Istanbul.

Afterwards, Shannon and I hunted down and caught a bus out to Everberg ... much Belgian complication and things I won't write of until I feel human again.

Some things are hilarious only when presented in a particular light and driving through Brussels after 2am on the way home isn't conducive to finding the angle to create laughter as I reconstruct that tale for you.

Meanwhile, meet Shannon and Gabe's newest addition to the family ...

Poetry Thursday

Erica Jong is a favourite poet of mine, and much as I wanted to post one of her poems about sex for last week's Poetry Thursday assignment, I chickened out after about 30 minutes and took it down ... she's explicit and delicious but I feared for those unfamiliar with her beautiful, bold writings.

This week's Poetry Thursday assignment is a poem about food ... and as Erica has poems for every occasion, I thought I would share something sweeter from her.

Her poems are here

It begins like this:

The Raspberries in My Driveway
Nature will bear the closest inspection . She invites us to lay our eyes level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.
-Thoreau

The raspberries
in my driveway
have always
been here
(for the whole eleven years
I have owned
but have not owned
this house),
yet
I have never
tasted them
before.

Always on a plane.
Always in the arms
of man, not God,
always too busy,
too fretful,
too worried
to see
that all along
my driveway
are red, red raspberries
for me to taste ...


You can read the poem in its entirety here .

Foreign Policy in Focus

As usual, Erkan posts on a wide range of interesting topics.

Much has been made in the U.S. media of the Syrian- and Iranian-origin weaponry used by Hezbollah in the escalating violence in Israel and Lebanon. There has been no parallel discussion of the origin of Israel's weaponry, the vast bulk of which is from the United States.

A True Story ...

The heat is unravelling me ... I swear.

I've worked all morning and had no clue about my psychological decline until I found myself, tv remote in one hand and bath towel in the other, heading off to shower.

I made a note to self to return the remote to the lounge after my shower ... of course I forgot.

Suddenly aware of hunger pangs, I had decided to shower before loosing myself on the general public. We were briefly down around 22 celsius as a thunderstorm made a punitive attempt at arriving ... we're now experiencing an intensely muggy kind of Singapore heat and my body has become a braided river system of sweat. (Apologies to those with delicate constitutions).

I set forth ... painkillers and crossiants were my goals.

We have 3 apotheeks close to home ... THREE!

But to backtrack, this is Belgium, land of the unions ... a special country.

The land where the neighbourhood Post Office closes between 12.30 and 2pm so the staff can lunch together; the nearby supermarket closes on Thursday's ('Is it really Thursday?' was my conversation with self on reaching its closed doors.) Ahhh well, that's probably why the first of the 3 Apotheeks was closed (Pharmacist for those back at home, hmmm Eczane for Turks).

Okay, I retraced my steps some and wandered off along the main shopping street ... checking my favourite white bread bakery was open as I passed by, terrified it too might close for lunch while I was searching for painkillers.

First corner ... and the 2nd Apotheek was closed.

I walked on, knowing they couldn't all be closed on a Thursday but you know how this story goes ... of course they're all closed ... it's Belgium, it's holiday time, it's lunchtime, it's Thursday ... who knows why they're all closed, sweat was running over my eyes, blurring my vision by now.

And so it was back to the bakery, still open thank god but my usually helpful baker lady was having a 'special' kind of day.

I asked for 'een whit broed'. She reached for the wrong one, I said Nee, and pointed to the shelf above. She brought both to the counter.

I said 'Niet cut' struggling as ever over the Dutch word for 'cut' since the Dutch word for 'divorced' settled into my mind during the crucial 3 second moment of learning a new word.

She got that so we moved onto the fact I only wanted one loaf of bread. I think she was playing with me ... it's the only explanation. I said more than once, quite sweetly too, 'Een whit broed'. Gesturing with one finger even ...

She wasn't budging and it was too hot to continue and so that's why it is that I have two uncut loaves of rather nice white bread in the kitchen ...

Now to test whether my tongue has formed a callous at the point where it rubs itself against my sharp little broken back tooth ... I'm talking again, although I think I was too grouchy for Gert to have enjoyed my 24 hours of silence-by-broken-tooth.

May the gods of happiness be smiling on you ... because I do believe they were playing with me.

A new angle on the Zidane headbutting incident .

I can't read Italian so hope the written content is okay ...

Street Photographers ...

iN-PUBLiC was set up in 2000 to provide a home for street photographers.

They write: Our aim is to promote street photography and to continue to explore its possibilities. All the photographers featured here have been invited to show their work because they have the ability to see the unusual in the everyday and to capture the moment. The pictures remind us that, if we let it, over-familiarity can make us blind to what's really going on in the world around us.

Over the last few decades the phrase 'Street Photography' has come to mean a great deal more than simply making exposures in a public place. Photographers like Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and Joel Meyerowitz have forced a redefinition of the phrase that has many new implications.

Primarily Street Photography is not reportage, it is not a series of images displaying, together, the different facets of a subject or issue. For the Street Photographer there is no specific subject matter and only the issue of 'life' in general, he does not leave the house in the morning with an agenda and he doesn't visualise his photographs in advance of taking them. Street Photography is about seeing and reacting, almost by-passing thought altogether.

For many Street Photographers the process does not need 'unpacking', It is, for them, a simple 'Zen' like experience, they know what it feels like to take a great shot in the same way that the archer knows he has hit the bullseye before the arrow has fully left the bow. As an archer and Street Photographer myself, I can testify that, in either discipline, if I think about the shot too hard, it is gone.

If I were pushed to analyse further the characteristics of contemporary Street Photography it would have to include the following:

Firstly, a massive emphasis on the careful selection of those elements to include and exclude from the composition and an overwhelming obsession with the moment selected to make the exposure. These two decisions may at first seem obvious and universal to all kinds of photography, but it is with these two tools alone that the Street Photographer finds or creates the meaning in his images. He has no props or lighting, no time for selecting and changing lenses or filters, he has a split second to recognise and react to a happening.

Secondly, a high degree of empathy with the subject matter, Street Photographers often report a loss of 'self' when carefully watching the behavior of others, such is their emotional involvement.

Thirdly, many Street Photographers seem to be preoccupied with scenes that trigger an immediate emotional response, especially humour or a fascination with ambiguous or surreal happenings. A series of street photographs may show a 'crazy' world, perhaps 'dreamlike'. This is, for me, the most fascinating aspect of Street Photography, the fact that these 'crazy', 'unreal' images were all made in the most 'everyday' and 'real' location, the street. It was this paradox that fascinated me and kept me shooting in the 'everyday' streets of London when many of my colleagues were traveling to the worlds famines and war zones in search of exciting subject matter. Friends that I met for lunch would, just be back from the 'war in Bosnia' and I would declare proudly that I was just back from the 'sales in Oxford Street'.

Bootblog travel

Bootblog's code of ethics made me giggle some ...

A sampling:

1. Listen to your gut

2. Find your own piece of quiet

3. Spend a lot of time seeing not much rather than not much time seeing too much and that will allow you to strike up a conversation with at least one local an hour even if they do not understand you nor you them ...

9. Any member seen riding an open-top double-decker tour bus around any major city shall be subject to immediate dismissal.

10. Suitcases (even the rolling backpacks) are not acceptable and grounds for dismissal.

11. Take your troubles from home along with you, but ditch them by the side of the road at the first opportunity.

12. Be so polite that you are occasionally mistaken for a Canadian.

A denial of human suffering ...

I just read this thoughtful article titled The Dismissal over at Slackertravel.com.

It's worth checking out, particularly if you have experience of beggers who have broken your heart a little.

The author, AJ Hoge, is a wandering freelance writer and the editor of Hobopoet A Weblog for Neo-Nomads. He currently lives in Bangkok, Thailand.

A few sites I like

I've been web-wandering this morning and decided to share some of my favourite sites ...

Dan Eldon was a Reuters photographer, stoned to death by an angry mob in Somalia back in 1993 after the UN bombed the suspected headquarters of General Mohammed Farah Aidid. He was only 22 and had already lived an interesting life.

His sister and mother picked up where he left off with daneldon.org It's extensive and full of interesting things.

David Rozgonyi has a travel site that is delicious to wander though. His homepage seduces me both with its colour and content.

Far Flung Magazine seems to have some rather good writers and I found Molly Beer's article titled 'As You Set Out For Ithaka' a pleasurable read.

Part of me wishes I had researched Amsterdam before the two visits I made without Alison. Gonomad has a nice little brief guide to Amsterdam .

Just a few ... wanted to record them for me.

Tot ziens.

You know when it's 36 celsius (at least) and like most Belgians, you live in an unconditioned house, and when the air outside is hotter than the hot air inside and you fall asleep on the floor in the lounge and wake grumpy because one of your teeth broke yesterday and the sharp edges rub against your tongue painfully whenever you talk, eat or drink water and the tram that you have to catch has absolutely no air conditioning and it's hotter inside the tram than the very hot outside and the lawyer who is writing up the 300 euro contract that District Huis says you need keeps you waiting 20 minutes after you rushed through the heat to him to avoid being late out of courtesy ... then you remember he kept you waiting that long last time which was why you packed that book in your bag.

It was one of those days.

Roma

A hallway in Castel Sant' Angelo (Hadrians tomb), Rome 2003, originally uploaded by - di.

Tap Fountain, Ieper

Tap Fountain, Ieper, originally uploaded by - di.

An unusual fountain at the entrance of Ieper (Ypres).

The Stanford Prison Experiment : In 1971 researchers at Stanford University created a simulated prison in the basement of the campus psychology building. They randomly assigned 24 students to be either prison guards or prisoners for two weeks.

Within days the "guards" had become swaggering and sadistic, to the point of placing bags over the prisoners' heads, forcing them to strip naked and encouraging them to perform sexual acts.

The landmark Stanford experiment and studies like it give insight into how ordinary people can, under the right circumstances, do horrible things ...

Conclusions of the failed experiment: The experiment's result has been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology and social and institutional support..

In psychology, the results of the experiment seemed to entail that the situation caused the participants' behavior rather than anything inherent in their individual personalities.

In this way it is compatible with the results of the also-famous (or infamous) Milgram experiment, in which ordinary people fulfilled orders to administer what appeared to be fatal electric shocks to a confederate of the experimenter.

Jonathan Cook, a British journalist based in Nazareth, Israel who writes articles on the Middle East which are published in international newspapers, English-language Arab publications and specialist magazines since 2001.

Here is his latest article on the Lebanon crisis ...

Ummmm ... what?

I just saw this on BBC, changed to CNN and even they were reporting the story in the same way ...

The UN in Lebanon says the Israeli air force destroyed the post, in which four military observers were sheltering.

It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery.
A rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble.

"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," Mr Annan said in a statement from Rome.

Intriguingly, a little later and I'm watching Larry King Live on CNN, where Kofi Annan is having rather severe criticism directed at him by both Israli and American politicians for his statement.

Perhaps they didn't know 'It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery ... over a six hour period, with various phone calls to Israel to tell them they were shelling too close.

Ummm what's not to understand?

You see, if I had 14 shells directed at me, as an unarmed UN observer, and all my phone calls were ignored by Israel until they bombed me to death in the bunker and then bombed the rescue team trying to get me out should I have survived ... I don't know ... call me emotional, call me foolish ... but I'd take it personally.

Meanwhile, America can't even negotiate with Israel to get their people safely out of Lebanon ... as Kevin Sites reports .

Kevin is there in Lebanon and went on to report 'that two ambulances were out on a run the night before when they were hit by Israeli missiles. They all took shelter in a building, he says, while the aircraft made a second attack.

And adding injury to injury, one of the three injured men that the paramedics had picked up lost both legs in the attack on the ambulance, Joudi says.'

And from the ground?

"Who is this war against," says Raed al-Husseini, 20. "Is it against Hezbollah, the Lebanese Army? We don't know. But it's united our people and we won't leave our country. But you must tell Israel and America to stop this. We've adapted to war, but what about our children?"

The Face, Antwerpen

The Face, Antwerpen, originally uploaded by - di.

I've photographed this piece of graffiti before but I had to go back today with the Canon EOS 350D ... I love how it captured the image.

Statue in Handschoenmarkt, Antwerpen

Graffiti Park, Antwerpen

I love this suit and a baby piece on the wall there ... the grass growing out the shirt is a nice touch.

A small insight into living with Europe's heatwave

These days I dream about air conditioning, fans and a swimming pool out on the balcony ...

And do you know what horrifies me about this?
It's that I complained about all those months of zero celsius and no sun in winter.
Now it's all about 30 celsius+, sweat and mosquitoes.

I've just returned from a mission to the bedroom.
I removed every piece of clothing and bedding.
I swatted every mosqito that moved.
AND THEN I sprayed insect killer.

I hate insect killer.
I won't have plug-in insect killer in the house but the 90 million mosquito bites itch when I sweat ...

All I want to do is lie on the floor because the floor doesn't reflect my higher than average body temperature back at me but the floor isn't comfortable.

Perhaps I'm a spring/autumn kind of woman ... definately a complainer.

Excuse me.

Anthropologists weigh in ...

Erkan posted this interesting site ... Anthropologists on the Israel-Lebanon conflict

Quite simply, the goal of terrorism is to create terror and fear.
Fear undermines faith in the establishment.
It weakens the enemy from within ... causing unrest in the masses.

Terrorism is not an expression of rage.
Terrorism is a political weapon.
Remove a government's facade of infallibility, and you remove its people's faith.

D. Brown

Graffiti, Antwerpen

Antwerpen Snail, originally uploaded by - di.

I was out and about early this morning ...

Predicted temperatures of 30 celsius+ inspired me and so there I was on the 8am tram with Gert and the camera.

I wandered through old haunts with the digital eos. As usual, the graffiti park pulled me like nothing else. I find some of the talent there slightly stunning.

By 10am, anything that resembled cool air had left Antwerpen city and I caught the tram home with few new photos to share.

Good luck tomorrow and thank you Al

Al, originally uploaded by - di.

Amy Gahran posted this interesting article on internet users:

Yesterday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released an intriguing new report: Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers

A few highlights:

* 39% of net users (about 57 million American adults) read blogs -- a significant increase since the fall of 2005. And 8% of net users (about 12 million American adults) keep a blog.
* Most US blogs are personal journals. Most bloggers do not consider their blogging journalism. However, 57% of bloggers include links to original sources either "sometimes" or "often." And 56% spend extra time trying to verify facts they want to include in a post either "sometimes" or "often."
* 54% of bloggers are under 30.
* US bloggers are evenly divided between men and women -- so anyone who continues to ask "where are the women bloggers?" is probably not really looking. (I'm sure this will be a huge topic of conversation at the upcoming BlogHer conference, which I'm attending.)

These were the most common primary blog topics cited:

1. "My life and experiences:" 37%
2. Politics and government: 11%
3. Entertainment: 7%
4. Sports: 6%
5. General news and current events: 5%
6. Business: 5%
7. Technology: 4%
8. Religion, spirituality or faith: 2%
9. Hobbies: 1%
10. Health: 1%

Pew surveyed 7,012 US adults by phone, including 4,753 internet users, 8% of whom are bloggers.

Lebanese journalist killed in strike in South Lebanon

July 23, 2006

Lebanese security officials reported that a photographer working for a Lebanese magazine was killed Sunday when an IAF strike hit near her taxi in southern Lebanon.

Layal Nejib, 23, is the first journalist to die in Israel's offensive in Lebanon, security officials said.

Nejib, who worked as a photographer for Lebanese weekly Al-Jaras, was racing to cover the flight of the villagers. Nejib’s taxi was hit by shrapnels, and she was seriously injured. She died on the spot, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press. Her driver survived, they said.

“The tragic death of this young journalist illustrates once again the priority that must be given to protecting media staff covering armed conflicts,” said International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) General Secretary Aidan White. “This conflict is daily becoming more dangerous for media staff. Again we appeal to all sides to recognise that journalists are non-combatants who must be allowed to do their jobs safely without fear of being targeted.”

“We are appalled that the Israeli army is taking so few precautions to avoid civilian deaths or casualties, especially among the media,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said in a statement of condemnation. “We demand that the Israel government investigate the shooting that killed Nejib. We will not be satisfied by the army’s standard response that the targets were military ones linked to Hezbollah.”

District Huis Monday ...

I knew it would go wrong ...

We arrived early and were allocated a number. Our turn came and it was the woman who had previously approved the papers I had, telling me I would have to get another birth certificate, with Apostille ... the woman who told me that my passport wasn't enough proof of ID, the one who wanted one other paper as well.

I wasn't sure that I liked her ...

So she took our papers and went back to some paperwork she had been working on when she invited us in.

I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Gert. He raised an eyebrow too.

We were patient, I had a book and two booklets in my bag. I muttered to Gert about reading.

When her paperwork was completed, she looked through our papers and said they were fine but she wanted originals.

I said, 'See I told you something would be wrong' to Gert.

He pointed out she had approved them last time. He showed her the ticks she had made on the list she had presented me with ...

When someone finally riles Gert, he is impressively businesslike and rational while being firm.

She came round.

Oddly enough, this woman who had the power to say I had to bring in original documents, suddenly had the power to accept the copies.

She disappeared with the papers and came back with a colleague. They were discussing someone else's problem. I pulled the cultural centre's booklet out of my bag, Gert and I discussed coming movies she and her colleague worked on some other more interesting problem.

Eventually she returned, the phone rang. She answered it.

Call over, we moved on ... cash was required, we were 5euro short.
Gert raced out to the money machine.

Gert had just returned with the money when one of the district alderman came in and said him, 'I saw your car and I've been searching the building for you'.

I didn't see our immigrant processing woman's face but she must have wondered some why the alderman was looking for Gert.

The aldmerman left after a short conversation but within moments the district council chairman popped in to chat with Gert (open plan office).

The immigrant processing woman was looking less comfortable at this point in time.

Finally papers were signed, it was over ... one hour and 10 minutes after beginning.

We burst out laughing on the stairs. Gert would never use anything about what he does to get different treatment however it was a hilarious ending to an appointment this immigrant woman had been dreading.

An Open Door, Belgie

An Open Door, Belgie, originally uploaded by - di.

Two sides of the story...

The Lockheed Martin sight headlines: LOCKHEED MARTIN'S CENTRAL FLORIDA COMPANIES HAVE MAJOR ROLE IN MULTI-BILLLION-DOLLAR JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER WIN.

Training, weapons systems and support areas are worth more than $1 billion to Orlando facilities

Both The Independent and the Guardian newspapers ran this out of Lebanon: The Israeli air force fired a missile into the rear minibus, killing three refugees and seriously wounding 13 other civilians. The rocket that killed them is believed to have been a Hellfire missile made by Lockheed Martin in Florida.

Ardennes, Belgie

, originally uploaded by - di.

Fathers and Scouts Football, Ardennes, Belgie

Fathers and Scouts Football, Ardennes, Belgie, originally uploaded by - di.

We were in the Ardennes today ... rolling hill country just like back home.

No one knew the score of the match but much fun was had.

It's about being human ...

Wandering woman posted this moving story about some Spanish shrimp fishermen who cared enough to risk a lot.

'The destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children and so many people: these have not been surgical strikes.

If they are chasing Hizbollah, then go for Hizbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation.'

The minister added: 'I very much hope that the Americans understand what's happening to Lebanon.'

Kim Howells
British Foreign Office Minister

A little bit of butterfly in a crazy mixed-up world

A little bit of butterfly magic in a crazy mixed-up world, originally uploaded by - di.

I knew I should have used a macro lens but I couldn't get close enough and as usual, I was using my big telephoto lens at the time ...

Apparently, I remember a friend telling me, the children who were concentration camp inmates drew butterflies on the walls of their prisons ... and so it seemed an appropriate image to post with so much death abroad in the world tonight.

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross visited the Maidenek concentration camp in 1946. When she got to the children's barracks, it was particularly sorrowful, with toys and shoes strewn about, but there was something else, too. The walls were covered with hundreds of butterflies, scratched and etched with fingernails and pebbles.

Imagining Ourselves ... IMOW

Unable to sleep, I read.

And reading led me through the world, quietly researching the stories of people until I stumbled upon this really interesting site

Can a conversation change your life?

Founder and Director of Imagining Ourselves writes: I started the Imagining Ourselves project in the Fall of 2001, in the wake of September 11th. I felt helpless about the state of the world, and struggled with how to make a difference. The spark came during a casual breakfast with a girlfriend. We brainstormed about showcasing the vitality of our generation as a way of inspiring young women to action.

Since then, I have talked with thousands of young women in every corner of the globe, and have been stunned by the courage and accomplishments of our generation. We are not only participating in record numbers in the workforce and educational arenas. We are also charting new paths in our families and in our personal lives-- and contributing positive solutions to the most serious problems facing our communities.

Many doors have been opened to our generation of women. It is now up to us to decide how to use these privileges to create the world we want to live in for generations to come. By adding your voice to this conversation, you have the opportunity to inspire your peers to create the better future that is possible only through our collective efforts.

World Pulse Magazine is worth checking out too.

Another Anne Frank ...

People become stories and stories become understanding ...

The Guardian printed this intimate piece of writing by 30-year-old Lebanese artist Zena el-Khalil.

About Zena el-Khalil
Zena el-Khalil was born in England in 1976. She grew up in Nigeria where she read a lot, participated in karate competitions and listened to iron maiden. Her favorite color back then was purple. It still is. She is the co-founder of xanadu*, an art space located in New York City and Beirut, dedicated to help young artists who are not interested in commercial galleries and, aljisser, a USA based organization that works to promote the work of Arab artists.

As Israeli bombs rain down on Beirut, the people of the city are once again living with the horror of war. In an intimate diary, Zena describes helping foreigners escape, the nightly rocket attacks - and how she couldn't leave her sick friend behind

At 3.28am I woke up to the sound of Israeli jets flying low over our skies in Beirut. I was just beginning to finally fall asleep, had racing thoughts in my mind all night, cramps in my stomach, fear ... Then the sound of jets, followed by one explosion after another. It has calmed down now. I hear morning prayers in the distance.

I am at home with some friends who have taken refuge with us. A lot of them are foreigners. We are trying to explain ... who, what, why. But we are also trying to be normal, because being normal is what got the Lebanese people through some 20 years of war. We are joking about how the airport is on fire because of all the alcohol in the duty free.

Up until now, Israel has done the following: blown up our international airport, runways, gas reserves for planes (no one can leave or enter the country); blown up small military and domestic airports (both in the north and south); blown up all bridges and roads linking Beirut to the south; blown up villages in the south, everything from the deep south to Sidon; blown up - as I type this now, another jet is flying by, it is so loud - blown up the suburbs (Dahiya); blown up the Beirut to Damascus road at several points. We are surrounded by sea as well.

Biggest cynical statement of the day: Israel has told people to evacuate from the south because they are going to annihilate the south of Lebanon. However, the people cannot leave because all the roads have been destroyed or blocked. And yesterday, when people did try and leave, the Israelis opened fire on them.

Zena's husband , Wael, is an Environmental Scientist and works for Greenpeace in Lebanon. He is currently a Regional Campaigner covering Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco and is focusing currently on campaigns for the Mediterranean Sea and Peaceful Energy.

Schona Jolly, a British citizen trapped in the Lebanese port of Byblos, recounts her weekend of fear and frustration too ...

Sunflowers

Sunflowers, originally uploaded by - di.

Two interesting letters and Breaking the Silence.org

'We are the Chinese young man standing in front of the tank. And you? If you are nowhere to be seen, you are probably inside the tank, advising the driver.

Asaf Oron
One of the Israeli Reservists who signed the letter protesting Israeli actions beyond the 1967 borders, written about below.

Breaking the silence.org writes Since our discharge from the army, we all feel that we have become different. We feel that service in the occupied territories and the incidents we faced have distorted and harmed the moral values on which we grew up.

We all agree that as long as Israeli society keeps sending its best people to military combat service in the occupied territories, it is extremely important that all of us, Israeli citizens, know the price which the generation who is fighting in the territories is paying, the impossible situations it is facing, the insanity it is confronting everyday, and the heavy burden it bears after being discharged from the IDF – a heavy burden that hasn’t left us.

That’s why we decided to break the silence, because it’s time to tell. Time to tell about everything that goes on there each and every day.

We all served in the territories. Some served in Gaza, some in Hebron, some in Bethlehem and the rest served in other places. We all manned checkpoints, participated in patrols and arrests and took part in the war against terror.

We all realized that the daily struggle against terror and the daily interaction with the civilian population has left us helpless. Our sense of justice was distorted, and so were our morality and emotions.

The reality we experienced was made of: Innocent civilians being hurt, Kids not going to school because of the curfew, and parents who can’t bring food home because they can’t go to work. This reality has stayed us and will not go away. After discharge from the army, we decided that we shouldn’t go on. We shouldn’t forget what we ourselves did and what we witnessed. We decided to break the silence.

Our first initiative was the exhibition. The “Breaking the Silence- Fighters Tell about Hebron” exhibition grew out of our will to show at home what we had never shown before. For the first time, we opened a window to the world of soldiers serving in Hebron. The reaction was overwhelming. Thousands came to see the exhibition: citizens, members of parliament, and perhaps most important – soldiers and their families.

We began to investigate, interview and document hundreds of former combat soldiers. All this was done under guarantee of full confidentiality to all those who contact us in order to testify. The amount of testimonies we have gathered proves time and again that it is not a matter of “exceptional cases” or “stray weeds”. It is a dangerous phenomenon growing from day to day. Things that were once exceptional have become the norm. Israeli society must know the price it is paying for every soldier serving in the occupied territories. Israeli society must realize the trap we are caught in, because while the army is trying to deal with the threat posed by terror, it is creating a disaster.

We are discharged soldiers who have decided not to keep silent. To stop keeping to ourselves everything we’ve been through in the past 3 years. So far, hundreds of discharged combat soldiers have decided to break the silence and every day more people follow.

During our combat service we’ve handled many different missions. We have one mission left: to talk, tell and not keep anything hidden .

“Breaking The Silence” (“Shovrim Shtika” in Hebrew) should serve as a warning sign to Israeli society. We are alerting about irreversible corruption.

A letter from Israeli filmmakers to Palestinian and Lebanese filmmakers
Friday, 21 July 2006, 15:21

We, the undersigned Israeli filmmakers, greet the Arab filmmakers who have gathered in Paris for the Arab Film Biennial. Through you, we wish to convey a message of camaraderie and solidarity with our Lebanese and Palestinian colleagues who are currently besieged and bombarded by our country’s army.

We unequivocally oppose the brutality and cruelty of Israeli policy, which has reached new heights in recent weeks. Nothing justifies the continued occupation, closure, and oppression in Palestine. Nothing justifies the bombing of civilians and the destruction of infrastructures in Lebanon and Gaza.

Allow us to tell you that your films, which we try to see and circulate among us, are extremely important in our eyes. They enable us to know and understand you better. Thanks to these films, the men, women, and children who suffer in Gaza, Beirut, and everywhere else our army exercises its violence - have names and faces. We would like to thank you and encourage you to keep on filming, despite the difficulties.

For our part, we will continue to express through our films, with our raised voices, and in our personal actions our vehement opposition to the occupation, and we will continue to express our desire for freedom, justice, and equality among all the peoples of the region.

Nurith Aviv / Ilil Alexander / Adi Arbel / Yael Bartana / Philippe Bellaiche / Simone Bitton / Michale Boganim / Amit Breuer / Shai Carmeli-Pollack / Sami S. Chetrit / Danae Elon / Anat Even / Jack Faber / Avner Fainguelernt / Ari Folman / Gali Gold / BZ Goldberg / Sharon Hamou / Amir Harel / Avraham Heffner / Rachel Leah Jones / Dalia Karpel / Avi Kleinberger / Elonor Kowarsky / Edna Kowarsky / Philippa Kowarsky / Ram Loevi / Avi Mograbi / Jud Neeman / David Ofek / Iris Rubin / Abraham Segal / Nurith Shareth / Julie Shlez / Eyal Sivan / Yael Shavit / Eran Torbiner / Osnat Trabelsi / Daniel Waxman / Keren Yedaya

A section of a letter signed by 550 Israeli reservists back in 2002, declaring that they would not continue to fight the War of the Settlements nor go beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.

They stated that they would continue serving in the Israel Defense Forces in any mission that serves Israel’s defense but that missions of occupation and oppression did not serve this purpose and that they would take no part in them.

They declared a willingness to continue serving in the Israel Defense Forces in any mission that serves Israel’s defense but that the missions of occupation and oppression do not serve that purpose and that they would therefore take no part in them.

One of those soldier's stories of why ...

District Huis, Monday ...

I can't describe how good it feels to wander in Amsterdam, come home, download and work with the photos I took ...

I'm glad I am alive to enjoy the advances in digital photography.

I always 'see' things, being able to record and play with the results immediately is sublime ...

Moving countries has cost me, photography was part of the 'loss'.

District Huis visit Monday ... let's see what they have to say to me this time. I've been in Belgie a year now, I'm curious to hear what new thing they might offer up as an obstacle.

A friend laughingly asked me to record my response to anything ridiculous, since the pressure is clearly building inside me.

I held back when an official called me a liar, stating with certainty that her staff wouldn't have said that ...

Ohhhhhhhhhh yes they did lady, two of them did.

Next visit and a quiet smile of disbelief when they told me that my passport wasn't enough proof of ID ... and I had to pay various offices to copy my passport details onto an official piece of embassy paper and then have it stamped over at their foreign office.

Oh yes, I do love District Huis visits ...

Meanwhile happy happy summer ... it's raining today, I do believe the temp is finally under 30 degrees C.

Down by the river, Amsterdam

Down by the river, Amsterdam, originally uploaded by - di.

The Red Amsterdam Bicycle

The Red Amsterdam Bicycle, originally uploaded by - di.

Bridge ... Amsterdam

Fountain, Amsterdam

In the news ...

The Independent had this interesting front page, with story.

Kevin Sites, journalist.

I was reading Kevin Sites latest report and decided to write him up again for those who are curious about conflicts around the world from the perspective of those caught up in them.

This link takes you into the archives of previous interviews and stories he has written out of places as diverse as Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Colombia.

He puts a human face on the news reports, telling the story of both the Israeli woman who survived a terrible suicide bombing and the Palestinian woman blinded by Israeli soldiers with tear gas when she was a child.

He offers both sides of every war and is a source I have often referred to on the odd occasion I dare voice an opinion on some conflict or other.

We need people like him out there, letting those caught up in the conflicts that batter our world tell their own stories, introducing us to the various shades of grey so that we see the humanity caught up the games people play.

Woman on a Bicycle, Amsterdam

The colours on her skirt added to the colour in the riverbank scene.

Amsterdam Bicycles

I love the bicycles there ... this may become clear.

Wandering in Amsterdam

We were walking here Wednesday, on one of the hottest days of the year ... today I'm back home in Belgium and again, it's too hot to dream of moving, except to the edge of the pool that we don't have.

An interesting article

Robert Fisk reports in the Independent Online ....

Published: 21 July 2006
How brave our warships looked at dawn. Spread over the pale blue Mediterranean, bristling with cannons and machine guns and missiles, it was an armada led by the destroyer HMS Gloucester and the USS Nashville andYork and the sleek French anti-submarine frigate Jean-de- Vienne. They represented Us, those ships upon which the Lebanese stared with such intensity yesterday. They represented our Western power, the military strength of our billion-dollar economies. Who would dare challenge this naval might?

It was, our journalists told us, to be the greatest evacuation since Dunkirk. There it was again, the Second World War. And it was another cruel lie which the Lebanese spotted at once. For these mighty craft had not arrived to save Lebanon, to protect a nation now being destroyed by America's ally, Israel, Lebanon whose newly flourishing democracy was hailed by our leaders last year as a rose amid the dictatorships of the Arab world. No, they were creeping through the dawn after asking Israel's permission to help their citizens to flee. These great warships had been sent here by Western leaders (Jacques Chirac excepted) too craven, too gutless, too immoral, to utter a single word of compassion for Lebanon's suffering.

Also Ground invasion looms

Did your government ask you for permission to ignore Koffi Annan's pleas for this war to stop?

But perhaps world governments are frightened too ... this was an interesting article

The shocking silence from No 10 by Mary Ann Sieghart

Blair’s tacit support for Israel’s grossly disproportionate actions sends the wrong message

IT IS A CASE of the Blair that didn’t bark. Why hasn’t the Prime Minister publicly condemned the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza? Most British — and many Israeli — citizens are horrified when they see the devastation wreaked by Israeli bombings. There were 80 such raids in the early hours of yesterday alone. By late afternoon, some 327 civilians had died in Lebanon, compared with 34 Israelis. Go figure, as they say.

If this is a proportionate response, I’m a satsuma. Even the most hardline supporters of Israel, who justifiably point to the country’s right to defend itself against attacks from Hezbollah, must by now have come to realise that the “overkill” will have the opposite of its desired effect. For every member of Hezbollah who dies, another ten will be recruited to its cause. The world will be full of sympathy for the benighted residents of Lebanon who had thought, at last, that their country had secured itself a stable, peaceful democratic future. Half a million of them have been forced from their homes because two Israeli soldiers were taken hostage. That hardly looks like justice.

I can't sit back because I can't stop imagining how terrified I would be if I was a foreign national caught in there; I can't stop imagining how I would feel if I was an ordinary Lebanese citizen; I can't stop knowing what it is to be human ...

Why do the vast majority allow the few at the top to carry out these atrocities in our name????

I'm furious and disgusted. Bush vetoes stem cell research thereby becoming hero of the unborn child lobby while completely disregarding the fully developed embroyos trapped in Lebanon ...

I wonder what George would have done if his daughters were caught in Lebanon ... I wonder what we would have all done if our families had been there. I can't forget the Australian man crying after spending 7 days in an underground garage in Lebanon ... with his children.

I know there are Israeli doctors and others who risk their own lives going into Palestine to work with the people there; I know Israeli soldiers have protested the actions they've been expected to take in Palestine; and yes, I used to pick up Israeli hitchhikers and discuss Israel with the young ex-soldiers who were having their post-service time out travelling in New Zealand; I read Haaretz, always curious to know the Israeli perspective ...

A friend wrote:
Lebanon - a fledgling government not even really a year old, with a very weak hold on power, is bombed because it didn't disarm Hezbollah in the few months it had. Yet the full force of the Isreali Defence Force invaded Lebanon, fought Hezbollah for two decades, and couldn't disarm them either.

Interesting that the media has picked up that the kidnapping of two soldiers "started" the conflict, yet a month before that, the following happened
- Israeli jets bombed Lebanon, about 27 May
- Mossad let off a car bomb in Sidon on May 26.
- Olmert threatened to attack Lebanon
- Likud said Beiruit should be bombed.
- Hiafa started removing toxic chemicals from it's port area in preparation for war.

Flower Markt, Amsterdam

Flower Markt, Amsterdam, originally uploaded by - di.

Home again ... suntanned and tired, having had a truly marvellous time wandering Amsterdam, first with ML and then two more days in the city with Alison .

I've walked a million miles over these last few weeks however that aside and in spite a temperature in excess of 35 degrees celsius yesterday, Alison and I wandered on.

She introduced me to her favourite canal-side cafe, a fabulous Mexican restaurant and an old neighbourhood over on the island behind Centraal Station.

And I've just read that ML arrived home after delayed planes caused missed connections that saw her travelling on for 24 hours after saying goodbye in Amsterdam ...

A Quick Post ...

From the Ibis Hotel in Amsterdam, where they charge .30cents per minute for computer time, a fact I find slightly distressing.

ML flew out to the States this morning and Alison is coming through on the train from Brussels as I type this. We're off to play with our cameras in Amsterdam ... wish us luck.

Yesterday I was reading my map in a square ... as you do, and a clown appeared at my shoulder. The clown hijacked me and as he led me by the hand through the pub I noticed the 200+ spectators watching and laughing as he incorporated me into his act.

Kisses were exchanged, I escaped in full blush, as kiwis do when kissed by a stranger in front of many strangers ... ahhhh, Amsterdam eh.

Obviously lingering on this computer means I'll go without food. Back home in Belgium tomorrow, with a full update and photographs from this sojourn.

1.17 minutes to go ...

Tot ziens from the expensive place.

Laughter in our Elevator ...

Who could have imagined that pressing one's face up to the small frosted glass window on the tiny elevator door that services our building would have caused Gert and ML to roar with laughter that could be heard all over the building as they travelled up to the top floor?

There was me, trying to be adult but for the accidental pressing-of-my-face-against-the-window-as-they-passed-by, trying to laugh quietly while gasping for breath as I continued to climb the 100+ steps.

Yes, I've been climbing the stairs ever since the night of the trapped-in-the-elevator-with-3-others incident.

Laughter, as in childish delight from moi, combined with my gasping for breath, mixed with sounds of raucous hilarity from inside the elevator ... whatever will the neighbours think?

Balloon over Antwerpen

Balloon over Antwerpen, originally uploaded by - di.

This just flew over the house ... 8.30pm and still 30 oC.

Perhaps this post over on Belle's blog says it all ...

Back Stairs, Passchendaele Museum, Belgium

Back Stairs, Passchendaele Museum, Belgium, originally uploaded by - di.

Sculpture, Brugge

Sculpture, Brugge, originally uploaded by - di.

Lest we forget ...

Lest we forget ... 2, originally uploaded by - di.

Taken by Gert using the Rollei 4000.

?

Perhaps we should be less concerned about what the large news organisations are publishing as truth and more interested in what the independent reporters on the ground are writing and what the people themselves are experiencing.

We have always waited years for 'the truth' of the various conflicts ...

Who taught us to discount the credibility of those people who are actually there, like the reporter and citizen of Gaza or the woman twice-nominated for literary awards for those outside observers who work for large multi-nationals?

Why not read accounts from those 'on the ground' like Jonathan Cook and Robert Fisk ... people who have published books that give other views ... what frightens people so much about studying all angles?

We're living in 'interesting times; I feel like one of the mass led by a few in terms of what is done in my'name' ... do we become culpable by virtue of our silence?

Sculpture, Flanders Fields Museum, Belgium

Flanders Fields Museum, Ieper., originally uploaded by - di.

This sculpture has been haunting me some ...

The Canon EOS 350D

My photography has changed or so it seems to me ...

ML surprised me by gifting us my longed-for Canon EOS 350D camera body when she flew in from the States. And so it is that I no longer require a dog or a cat ... I have a camera that carries no film or developing costs; truly sublime.

I've had trouble putting it down, I feel like a kid who wants to take the EOS to bed and wake up with it still in my hand.

Sometimes friends simply surprise me in the most stunning of ways ...
A huge thank you to the woman who has always flown into each of my worlds, packing laughter and kindness into the many suitcases she carries on the back of her world-wandering broomstick.

The Last Post, Ieper

The Last Post, Ieper, originally uploaded by - di.

On the 13th day we rested ...

Oddly enough, household chores seem like a much-needed break and after a morning of cleaning all feels almost normal in our still hot Antwerpen world.

ML has known no other weather while here, complaining to her may prove impossible in the winter ... Europe has only shown her the hot and the sun-filled type of day.

So we've set up the balcony furniture in anticipation of reading and eating out there. The plants have survived our absences and bookmarks have held places in books.

Yesterday we wandered into the city, dropping off films I had taken of ML and Al before leaving last week. We spent a couple of hours exploring Ruben's house with audio guides. It's well worth wandering through if you find yourself in the city. He was one of Antwerp's most famous sons, a leading painter and businessman back in the 15th century.

Lunch was a Brussels waffle ... (whisper) covered in whipped cream with ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Barely able to waddle, we caught Tram number 8 and rode out to the new Court House, picking up the second set of translated Birth Certificate documentation for moi.

I have to visit the local District House with the new set of paperwork Monday ... I'm expecting them to ask that I experience rebirth in order to be allocated a completely new birth certificate, and I imagine they will want me to be born into another family with a new name thereby invalidating all previous paperwork I've gathered for them during the last year.

Far-fetched and downright impossible you think? I'll let you know Monday afternoon.
But wait ... there's more! I forgot, the Notary needed a lot of time to draw up a contract for us. Okay, so the District House visit is off until he gets back to us at the completion of his very serious task ...

We picked up photos and rode home on Tram 11, completely exhausted.

Clean and quiet today.