Buddhist Geese

No music today(?)

Now that I have been writing about birds quite a lot lately, one more little thing. I biked home the other day and was nearly run over by a car driving backwards. On the side of the car, a huge goose was pictured. And there were words, saying 'The Buddhist Geese Asylum'.

In the Dutch version, it is very clear that the word `Buddhist' refers to the asylum, not to the geese. But a Buddhist of course would say that the word `Buddhist' refers to Everything, including the geese - or to nothing, really, if he is a real Buddhist - or to nothing and everything at the same time, if he is a really real Buddhist - or, if he is a really really real Buddhist, he would prefer to say nothing, or something competely unrelated, or whistle a tune.

And he would say that this little blog entry is indeed not related to music, and/or it is, and/or would I like coffee, and or whistle the theme of the first movement of Beethoven's fiddle concerto.

Schiermonnikoog, Selborne and the States

I was sitting at a breakfast table in the renowned Hotel Van der Werf (nicknamed Fawlty Towers by some, which is not completely fair as it is a great place to stay) and had a chat with an American colleague and his wife. Van der Werf is located at Schiermonnikoog, one of the islands in the Wadden Sea, renowned for its calm (no visting cars allowed, 900 regular inhabitants) and its birds. The colleague's wife was in a state of happiness and excitement - she had just seen a pheasant!

Music, Partying and the Stopping of Time

I was thinking about the small subject of Music and Time. This thinking originated while contemplating the interviews I held with 30 more or less randomly chosen Dutch citizens about what music means for them and what it does with them.

One of the major things music does is connecting people with the past - and especially with their personal past. Yes, yes, listening to Beethoven symphonies connects people with "Beethoven's time" - sometimes; but mostly it connects them with memories about when they were a student and were eating hot apple pie on a frosty Sunday morning while listening to Beethoven with friends.