From Knowledge to Wisdom

Trying out SlideFlickr.com

This is just to try SlideFlickr.com. Here is my current set of photos of Eindhoven.

Blogging Jeremiah on Flickr

Early this year I received a camera from my family for a birthday present. And then I discovered Flickr. And got hooked. So I seem to spend more time in awe of the amazing pictures uploaded by photographers around the world, than using my own camera.

In May I participated in the 24 Hours of Flickr Day. And on 07/07/07 I shot photos for that project. The 24 Hours of Flickr book was published a while ago. The selection of photos for the 07/07/07 book is just now appearing.

This weekend via Firefighter with a camera I found the little Bible pool with a beautiful collection of pictures of Bibles and texts from the Bible and the Torah. Click here to watch the slide show. I was inspired to make a contribution to this group based on the passage from Jeremiah that I read at our gathering this (Sunday) morning.

As the footnote shows, the translation of some words in the passage is doubtful. And a comparison some of the main translations into English (easily done on BibleGateway.com) shows quite some divergence.

Nevertheless, the main line of the passage is clear. God, speaking through the prophet, is lamenting over His chosen people who have broken their relationship with Him and gone off to serve and worship worthless false gods.

And the people are suffering as a result. The power and blessing of God is no longer available to them to bring healing.

A tragic situation that brings tears to the eyes. So much loss. So much opportunity of fellowship with a loving God has been wasted and lost by the people turning away in stubborn rebellion. 

Karwan and Ruth, Ruth and Karwan

Updated 2007-07-22

We recently paused at an important family milestone. On 30th June our daughter Ruth and her betrothed, Karwan, were married. The ceremony was in Amsterdam.

Family of the bride and groom came from far and wide - Italy, Poland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Switzerland. And many friends from Amsterdam, Eindhoven and elsewhere joined the celebration.

It was a special celebration in many ways - Ruth is the first of our children to marry. The bride and groom chose to give the ceremony and programme its own unique form. Most significant is their choice to marry as an expression of their commitment to one another at a time when it seems marriage is out of fashion and only indulged in by people in their thirties.

It was a civil marriage ceremony according to Dutch law, but around the legal process there were many elements reflecting the diversities of culture and world-views coming together in this union.

For several years both Karwan and Ruth have been active in the International Socialists. The choice of location for the ceremony reflects their world-view and historical awareness. The ceremony opened with an introduction to the building by their friend Maina. Catherine, sister of the bride, was master of ceremonies for the occasion and provided translation from Dutch to English where necessary.

Maina explained that De Burcht had been designed by Berlage at the end of the 19th century for the Diamond Workers Labour Union. At that time the diamond industry was the second most important industry in Amsterdam, with 10,000 employed. However the workers had not been strongly organized, being split along religious, Jewish and Christian, lines. Eventually a general strike took place involving all those engaged in the industry. Out of that strike the Diamond Workers Labour Union was established and Berlage, himself a socialist, had designed this building for them. The building now functions as a museum of the labour union movement.

Summer Balloons

Summer is here! I've just seem my first hot air balloons of the year. They drifted right over my house. One very low and the other quite high, right overhead.

You hear them first. We had just gone outside when I heard the familiar dragons roar of the hot flame and looked around to locate it. Dogs barked in the neighbourhood, disturbed by the strange thing in the sky.

Ever since we came to live in The Netherlands I have associated hot air balloons with summer evenings. In previous lifetimes we lived in coastal areas of the English speaking islands and I don't think I ever saw a hot air balloon. But here on continental Europe, safely in from the coastline, hot air balloons appear on summer evenings when the wind goes almost still and it's light till late.

So I take these as heralds of the real summer.

It is raining again

Here in The Netherlands we had 44 days without rain. Instead we had seemingly endless bright sunny days and temperatures way above normal. This week it is raining again and the plants in my garden are growing like crazy.

I love these plants that catch droplets in the fibres on the surface of the leaves. They remind me of a poem that I learned from the poet in my youth when I was hitch hiking south from my home in Edinburgh, Scotland. It went something like this:

Great tae be hunderds a' burds,
'n set 'n trees
'n wash w're nebs i' rainy leaves.

My 24 Hours of Flickr day

I joined the "24 Hours of Flickr" group and set out to shoot a photo journal of my day on 5 May 2007. It was a rather ordinary Saturday. No special appointments.

After the usual getting up and dressed stuff I went on my shopping bike to the supermarket and my favourite bakers for a few breakfast supplies.

In the Netherlands 5th of May is the day on which liberation from the German occupation at the end of the Second World War is celebrated. So there were national flags hanging out on some houses. On 4th May the dead of that and other wars are remembered. So there were some flowers at the village war memorial. This part of The Netherlands was liberated in September 1944 as US and British troops fought their way north in operation Market Garden. Two soldiers died in Nuenen and there are war graves in nearby villages where many more a buried.

Eindhoven station

Eindhoven station
Originally uploaded by Andrew B47.

Recently started using Flickr somewhat seriously. This is one of my favourite shots.

This is also a test of posting to my blog from Flickr.

(Updated some stuff after the successful post from Flickr.)