maerkelig

[maerkelig]

I work, or am at least paid, to save the #world, although when I see #bees visiting the #wild #flowers in my gutter boxes, I can't help feeling that is what truly makes a #difference - #beefree #thinkglobalactlocal (at Brussels, Belgium)

#difference #beefree #bees #thinkglobalactlocal #wild #world #flowers

[maerkelig]

We #travel all over the #world marvelling at all sorts of #natural and #manmade #wonders, yet each year at this time one of the least understood and extraordinary natural #phenomena comes to us: #migratorybirds. Some of them cross the #equator to spend the #summer with us. #Swifts #scream through the #streets of #Brussels like #StarWars #tiefighters, and #spiral above the #traffic clogged #roads. Today is World #Migratory #Bird day, something really worth celebrating, so look up & revel at our #feathered #visitors. (at Scharbeek)

#summer #starwars #equator #streets #phenomena #tiefighters #roads #bird #swifts #travel #spiral #brussels #manmade #visitors #traffic #world #feathered #natural #migratory #migratorybirds #scream #wonders

[maerkelig]

The #sun sets on a late #April day of #rain, #hail and #snow: #seasons are #topsyturvy, fluctuations in the #NorthAtlantic Oscillation have created a "#blob" of cooling ocean water - to us this #climatechange is depressing, to migrating #birds and countless other #communities it is far far worse ... (at Scharbeek)

#topsyturvy #climatechange #sun #snow #hail #april #northatlantic #rain #communities #seasons #birds #blob

[maerkelig]

#EarthDay and it will be illuminated by a #FullMoon tonight - so whether standing firm on #earth or laying on your back in the #ocean: look up ... #bask (at Scharbeek)

#fullmoon #earth #earthday #bask #ocean

[maerkelig]

Bubbling, #gurgling #mountain #stream, rising up like a #lump of #ice, incredibly clear. Some day I gotta collect some of this #water and make #coffee, until then #flow on - #Ireland #Kerry

#mountain #coffee #kerry #stream #flow #ice #water #lump #ireland #gurgling

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics X

I knew of Billy Bragg as the left wing English folk singer as I was growing up, but was never a fan. Then one cold Saturday driving through Virginia I heard an interview with him on NPR (http://www.npr.org/2013/05/06/174735889/billy-bragg-on-world-cafe). Not only did the interview cultivate a greater appreciation for him and his work, but I was struck by the songs, and in particular, No One Knows Nothing Anymore.

“But what if there's nothing, no big answer to find? What if we're just passing through time?”

Bleak maybe, but also cutting to the kernel of, “Let's stop pretending we can manage our way out of here. Let's stop defending the indefensible.” War, crisis, social media, economy, millennials, obesity, anxiety - all pervading, all the time. The song launches with reference to Cern and the Higgs Boson, from the outset you know he is going to test and provoke. And boy, he does: “But what if our ancestors had stayed up in the trees/Who'd be sleeping weighed down by these worries?”, in this, the age of the anthropocene, this is a very pertinent question.

#Anthropocene #Crisis #Higgs Boson #Cern #Lyrics #Billy Bragg

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics IX

This is honest, the lyric, the instrumentals. The trumpet heralds us into the song, “I left drinking on the city train, to spend some time on the road ...”. “I'm just walking in a haze ...”, and so the music invokes. The guitar and trumpet, battling to both bring you down and lift you up.

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics VIII

"I'm going away to leave you, I'm going to leave you in disgrace Nothing in my favor, got the wind in my face I'm going home, hey, hey, hey, over the hill Over the hill, hey, hey, hey, over the hill”

There was a time when this was the song I wanted for my funeral, it would still be up there. The wistful lyrics, the mandolin and of course the obvious imagery of going over the “hill”.

#mandolin #funeral #lyrics #music

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics III

"they call home the land of snow", Acadian Driftwood, nestled in The Band's Last Waltz 2003 box set is more than a goosebumper, it is a soul stirrer. If Canada were ever to seek out a new national anthem they would not have to look any further. The plight of Acadians of the Maritimes is little known. These were hardy folk who not only endured expulsion from France, they eked out a living on Canada's East Coast suffering long winters. They were banished, many of them contributing to New Orleans famed richness.Written by Robbie Robertson, this song captures the emotion of feeling of these begotten folk, and The Band's enduring connection to its origins. Joined by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell this is a tour de force for the northern influence.

#Canada #Neil Young #The Band #Acadia #Robbie Robertson #History #Music

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics VII

“There's something happening here What it is ain't exactly clear There's a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware”

The lines still haunt, and even more so in the present climate. Soldiers patrolling the streets, a sense of fear and disbelief. The context may have changed in the fifty years since Stephen Stills penned these words, but they are just as applicable. They are an anthem for change, for looking around, for not copping out but getting engaged - be the architect if what surrounds you ... 

#Brussels #revolution #change #campaigning

[maerkelig]

Lazy #beds are an #eery reminder of the #communities who lived in some of the most #exposed and #remote parts of #Ireland in pre-#famine days. They are raised rills in which #people typically planted #potatoes. Over a hundred and fifty years later they are still there, often greener than the surrounding #mountain side, sometimes #walled in. This one in the #Killarney National Park, has #Carrauntoohil and the #MacGillycuddysReeks looming over it.

#famine #carrauntoohil #remote #killarney #exposed #potatoes #people #walled #beds #macgillycuddysreeks #ireland #communities #eery #mountain

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics VI

It is hard to pinpoint what is it about the song that does it. Written by Leon Russell (playing piano here), but it is the way that BB King sings it, with his guitar taking you to such peaks, The crescendo that the song builds too is extraordinary, the baking vocalists straining at the altitude. And at all times BB’s guitar plucking at the emotional strings of the lyric.

#bbking #guitar #emotions #piano

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics V

With COP21 just around the corner, and all sorts of ocean awareness building, there could be no better power, guitar fueled anthem. Courtney covers a range of pressing environmental issues, with honesty and frankness:

“If you can't see me I can't see you/More people die on the road/Than they do in the ocean/Maybe we should mull over/Culling cars instead of sharks”

And all packaged with a clever reference to the sign often seen on trucks, “If you can’t see me ...”. 

#cop21 #environment #ocean

[maerkelig]

Goosebump Lyrics IV

I clearly recall going to bed one night in tears of anger and frustration: how could Europe be repeating the mistakes of a recent past? How could European states stand-by seemingly unwilling to stop what was clearly an outrage in its own region. Srebrenica, is a tragedy that should never have befallen Europe, along with so many other events that made up the trauma of conflict in the #Balkans in the early 1990s. Miss Sarajevo evokes the pointlessness of the conflict and the great courage shown by those who suffered at its hand. It should be played loud ...

#srebenica #conflict #u2 #sarajevo #history #europe

[maerkelig]

Move over #Jupiter and #Venus , the buck #fullmoon is rising through a dusty sky ... (at Brussels)

#fullmoon #venus #jupiter

[maerkelig]

Confessions of a #Hypocrite #1

My friends will attest to the fact that many of my rants start, “when the #revolution comes ...” and includes disparaging remarks about UHT #milk (a rather timid revolt). However, this weekend marks a reversal of my opinion - UHT works just fine. I was on a two cycling trip with some great granola for breakfast, UHT [centre picture] was the obvious choice, so I tried it. Call the revolution off ...

[maerkelig]

#bikes & #trains are great, but when you combine the two in search of #adventure ... (at Luxembourg)

#bikes #adventure #trains