MYSTERY, THERAPY, AND MARTIJN DOOLAARD

 

A series of essays….

“THERE’S A CERTAIN ‘LIVING PAINTING’ ROMANTICISM
TO THE ENTIRE ENDEAVOUR.”
MARTIJN STANDING NEAR HIS GARDEN AT HIS HOMESTEAD
WITH THE TWO STONE CABINS IN THE BACKGROUND

Courtesy Sharp Magazine

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Plunging right into the deep end, I will admit that daily life has felt like a burden for me, lately. Carrying my emotions on my shoulders has taken its toll, taken me along a path I dislike trekking down, if I can possibly help it. When you don’t feel as though you have any control over your life, the mind wonders, the soul responds, and life, suddenly, reacts in mysterious ways by taking you on a trip into the unknown.

Sometimes even small, daily tasks become a struggle. There is always more beneath the surface than you know; waiting to be extracted, tampered with, and teased. 

Admittedly, this unpredictable journey has been a powerfully good ride this time around. Mark my surprise because, generally, this isn’t the case. While entering the dark tunnel of sadness and confusion, I discovered a man named Martijn Doolaard. Have you heard of Martijn? Each time I dig a little deeper into his current story, I find out new and captivating aspects of his life that engage the storyteller instincts within me and season my life with joy and happiness. What a truly fascinating character he is!

First of all, may I say how much I enjoy having YouTube in my life? Never a dull moment with YouTube at your fingertips! That’s exactly where I went and there I found Martijn, high atop a mountain in the Italian Alps, just south of Turin near the French border, strategizing about his restoration of two hundred-year-old stone cabins on a few acres of land that he’d recently purchased.

VIEW OF THE ITALIAN ALPS FROM
BETWEEN THE CABINS

Courtesy Sharp Magazine

Around a year ago, he devised a two year course of action which included doing most of the work by himself. Following his heart, as well as every rule and legal description handed down by the Italian government, Martijn began recording his progress and sharing it with us via YouTube. Sharp Magazine accurately described Martijn Doolaard and his self-sustaining lifestyle in the Italian Alps in an article written back on October 11, 2022:

In practice, homesteading promises self-reliance, a disconnection from the modern world and the traps of day-to-day life. “I think my travelling ignited this. In all the amazing places where I had set up camp for only one night, I thought, ‘how would it be to live in such a place?’. I’d met a lot of people interested in permaculture, exploring new ways of living, combining some parts of a peasant life with modern-day comforts, all while staying connected,” Doolaard explains.

Doolaard is a Dutch photographer, graphic designer, cyclist, and travel writer. Born in 1966, he grew up in a small town in the Netherlands where fishing and camping holidays with his three brothers formed the inspiration for his current outdoor life. At the age of 57, he has brilliantly marked a life of extreme natural beauty, solitude, and modern ingenuity. 

Martijn’s slow, methodical approach to restoring the two stone structures has been compared to ‘watching paint dry’ by several YouTube fans, but in a good way. Every movement is slow, methodical, ceremonious, and purposeful. His quiet, gentle work has been described as ‘Visual Poetry.’

PLANTING HIS FIRST GARDEN

Courtesy Sharp Magazine

Damn, if this display of contentment, hard work, and joy didn’t open up the flood gates of abundance deep down inside of me, at a time I most needed it! As Martijn began to master what was before him within each passing day while surrounded by nature’s beauty, his journey left a deep impression on me and made me want to know more and more. 

Martijn’s talents leads the viewer into his world with a gentle caress and dreamlike meditation that envelopes the mind and the senses with floating clouds, mountain hikes, abandoned villages, and a neighboring Catholic priest saying mass each week online.

Don’t be fooled. Slow, simple living is about finding the joy and happiness in the most mundane moments. It’s about carving out pockets of time to do things that make you happy. These are the rules employed by this soft-spoken man making a life for himself high up on an Italian mountainside. 

MARTIJN BREAKING BREAD WITH FIVE
TRAVELERS FROM ALABAMA
WHO SET OUT TO OFFER HIM SOME HELP

Courtesy Sharp Magazine

So, we make a great effort to apply these (if not, similar) principles within our own lives, struggling to be true to ourselves while absorbing the collectivity of moral and ethical standards; decisions based on truth rather than expediency.At the same time, we must acknowledge that feeling a whole range of emotions is not only normal, but healthy; learning that everyone has their ups and downs no matter how good the mask they wear on the outside may be.

Observing Martijn clear the land, plant a garden, bake bread, build an off the grid solar panel and battery powered electrical system, source clear, refreshing mountain water to live on, and then drop everything in order to take a hike up to the highest peak or speak with his neighbors on a sunny afternoon, brings me such joy. As the clouds roll into the valley and softly obscure the mountains beyond, I close my eyes and dream about the feeling of Zen that Martijn Doolaard brings into my life and I am very, very grateful. 

Watching him break bread with visitors and live a natural life of freedom and purpose, I have found his personal documentary my new source for meditation. Everything he does is like a reverential ceremony. His tall, lanky, Lincolnesque appeal is forthright and charmingly calming. I really can’t remember what drew me to Martijn on YouTube in the first place, especially at a time when I needed something like him the most. I am thankful that I did. Life often works in truly mysterious ways.

Courtesy Sharp Magazine

Copyright © 2023 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

APPRECIATION FOR THE RHYTHM OF LIFE

 

A series of essays….

~RHYTHMIC PULSES FROM INSIDE A WORK OF ART~
THE BANJO PLAYER ~ WILLIAM SYDNEY MOUNT
DATED 1850-55

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Listen. Close your eyes and really listen to the world around you. 

Are you sitting in a public park, walking around in your local mall, having a meal at your favorite restaurant, or reading the morning paper within the familiar confines of your own living room? Where you are truly doesn’t matter! The important thing is that you are listening to the beat of life that surrounds you, in real time.

I have always found joy by listening to what is going on around me. And, when I am in my personal environment, I can be so attuned to my surroundings that an unfamiliar sound will catch my attention almost immediately. It's like an experienced mechanic who takes a customer's car for a drive to listen for inappropriate clanks, rumbles, and squeals over and above any particular complaints the customer might have..

This morning I awoke to the slightly off-balanced clickety-clack of the ceiling fan above me; its rhythm and timing was exceptionally precise. My fingers tapped out its cadence on the folds of the crisp, white bedsheet. 

Listen. Close your eyes and listen to the rhythm that surrounds you. What are you hearing right at this very moment? 

The sounds around us create the patterns of regular or irregular pulses; familiar and unfamiliar within our daily routine. The battery powered clock clicks its rhythmic pulses as I sit here and type each day. If it were to be taken away right now, would I be able to type at all? A familiar routine can empower us; can persuade us to believe in its creative normalcy, and we are programmed, after a period of time, to expect to function because of its existence. Most likely, we may not even be aware of what’s happening to us.

Ask a person how their day went after having to skip their daily routine at the local coffee shop. You may wonder if their day was compromised because of the timely loss of caffeine or the break in their morning routine. Given time, all of us become, in one form or another, creatures of habit and our 'life rhythm' holds strategic importance to our daily well-being.

When I was young, I became hooked on the National Geographic Specials on television. They took me to places I could only dream about and introduced me to multiple generations, amazing people and lands, different customs, and international flavors — all without having to purchase a ticket to go there. I was hooked! My dear Mother knew it and, somehow, understood that subscribing to the magazine was the right thing to do. I remember that the wonder of the amazing photographs I discovered on the thick, glossy pages nestled between those iconic yellow covers taught me to love photography and all the magical powers of even the simplest of cameras.

It was the rhythmic clicking sounds of the South African bushman tribes that lingered in my mind and made me want to so desperately visit the Continent of Africa — as I still do to this day! Like the guttural sounds of many French words that are produced in the throat and can sound harsh, the Khoisan African languages, I understood, shared click consonants and the people spoke with such a unique sound that it captured my youthful attention and curiosity.

Having read later as an adult about the stylohyoid muscle and digastrique muscle contracting, causing the hyoid bone and the connected glottis to raise, and the forward articulation is held, raising air pressure greatly in the mouth so when the oral articulations separate, there is a dramatic burst of air and even the Adam's apple may be seen moving simultaneously. I couldn’t have been more fascinated.

All this didn't matter to me back then. I just wanted to listen to the clicks and clacks and watch the rhythmic flow of their colorful robes as they danced to the beat made by their staffs being pounded into the dusty, African soil. The clashing sounds of their beaded necklaces and bracelets added to the glorious symphony of delights that thoroughly engulfed my senses. Such a beautiful experience this was and one I will never forget. Perhaps, one day, I will see them in person.

Dan and I are cultivating new rhythms associated with our lives back here in Michigan, over four years after retirement. For now, it’s listening to the crisp, swirling leaves that dance dervish-like in our back yard on a windy autumn's day. It’s the soothing crackle of a roaring fire contained within our stone fireplace on a frosty winter's evening. It can be the tingle of warmth we feel inside our hearts when seeing good friends walking through a spring drizzle coming to say hello and welcome us back home.

I invite you to listen; check all of the senses while you observe the world around you. Delight in the beauty of the rolling hills of an Irish countryside bathed in its many shades of green. Speak to the locals of a small French village in their own language, whenever you can. Walk around the narrow streets of Paris in the evening and listen to the families having dinner; recognize, from an open window, their polite talk and the gentle clash of silver cutlery being maneuvered on hand painted plates. Stroll through an open market and take in all of the aromas the local cuisine has to offer. And, feel the warmth of your lover's skin while you walk hand-in-hand along a cozy Mediterranean beach in the moonlight.

Listen to nature's music playing all around you the next time you take a solitary walk through the forest. Clap your hands and tap your feet as its rhythm sinks into your very being.

You get to decide which beats you wish to follow in your lifetime. But, with a stage as grand and glorious as the world we live in, it may be difficult to narrow the field. Wherever you go and whatever you do, always remember to take a moment to sit back, listen, and appreciate the rhythm of life going on around you.

Copyright © 2023 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

A DECADE OF REALITIES

 

A series of essays….

A GOOD REASON TO CELEBRATE 

       Courtesy of Red Earth

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Comprised of ten years, or one-hundred and twenty months, which equals five-hundred and twenty-one point seventy-eight weeks — I’ll stop right there! Leap years happen every four years and are important so that our calendar year matches the solar year — the amount of time it takes for Earth to make a trip around the Sun. Leave it to our Earth — always in a hurry!

A decade can be a lengthy, short, or moderate amount of time depending upon our personal perspective. As a baby-boomer, adding ten healthy years to my life expectancy can be a toss-up between good and bad: yeah, I’m happy to have lived another ten years or, no, unfortunately, I am ten years closer to…well, you know, the end of my personal rodeo. Whereas, an eight-year old might be thinking more about independence or going off to college in ten years time. 

A ten year time span can be gauged positive or negative depending upon various factors such as health, economic means, quality of life, support from family and friends, or our own futuristic prospects, goals, and dreams. I read somewhere that if and when we stop dreaming, this is when a productive life begins to wane, decrease in its momentousness. Holding on to our hopes and aspirations will always give us something to look forward to, as well as a raison d’être, a reason for being, no matter what our age might be!

Even through the most difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic, my dream of travel was never completely undermined; just delayed. I believe my writing and Blog essays kept me going most of the time and still do, today. 

It all began a decade ago, due to our Irish friend and traditional Irish music artist whom we reunited with back in 2013, Adrian O’Connor. Adrian lives in the colorful village of Doolin, located in County Clare, with his amazing wife, Bev. Doolin is considered a trad music hotspot, as well as a gateway to the ancient sites on the Aran Islands, which are just offshore. The towering Cliffs of Moher lie southwest of town. Farther north and east, the Burren is a stark area of limestone beds and extreme beauty, not to be missed.

CRAGGY ISLAND BED & BREAKFAST

Dan and I met Bev and Adrian on a previous trip to the Wild Atlantic Way along the west coast of Ireland when they hosted our stay at Craggy Island B&B in Doolin. Adrian sat with us back then in his parlor and gave a history lesson in Irish traditional music (folk music) and how he has played a part in it over the years. That visit solidified our love for the west coast of Ireland. Adrian and Bev made us want to return. And, we did! We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary there in September of 2013. 

Unfortunately, due to health reasons, they had to give up running their two-story, white stucco home as a Bed & Breakfast so that Adrian could recoup his health and become stronger. Unfortunately, Bev was out that afternoon we stopped by Craggy Island. Even though it had been seven years between visits, when Adrian came to the front door I saw the ‘twinkle of recognition’ in his dark blue eyes. We sat outside in the gracious Irish sunshine and talked about everything. Eventually, I asked him about a promise he once made to me seven years before.

ADRIAN O’CONNOR PLAYING
THE SMALL SET OF PIPES

He silently sauntered back into the house as if remembering the kettle was on, and I knew what he was after as tears already began to flow from my eyes. Adrian returned within moments carrying a small set of pipes that appeared as old and craggy as our dear friend, himself. He promised to play the pipes for us seven years ago, but we’d all been too busy for this private concert to take place. Now, through his illness and recovery, as sure as the salty Atlantic winds continue to lash relentlessly across this amazing coastline, Adrian’s music washed over us like a Mother’s sweet breath as we stood swaying back and forth…promise fulfilled.

I could barely make out his face through my tears. As sure as the Irish sun was shining down upon us, I knew we were in the midst of a power so mysterious and strong, it was bigger than all of us, yet was all of us combined. Love isn't complicated. You just have to be aware of it with every breath you take. My 'tears of happiness' equaled nothing short of pure peace and much needed solace. I can’t thank you enough, my friend.......!

Many things crossed my mind as we were pulling out of Adrian's gravel driveway and waving good-bye to our friend and soulmate. He was a survivor and possessed talent beyond compare. He made you believe in yourself. And, his unselfishness spread warmth and kindness to the four corners of County Clare and beyond. 

Adrian made me do it! His will to carry-on within the uncertain world we live in coupled with his desire to continue to cherish everything he loved, told me I needed to share this story with others. On Friday, October 18, 2013, I published my first Blog post that was simply entitled, Adrian. MOVING ON…..2013 was officially born! 

I will always see Ireland as a rich, artistic performance, alive with nuance, as in forty shades of green! With nearly five-hundred stories/essays behind me, basically, one essay per week of Blogging, I know many of them reference my beloved Ireland and how this magical place piqued my interest as I gathered friends there and so many memories; so many stories to write about.

Accordingly, Dan and I will continue traveling this September (our favorite time of the year) collecting more stories to be shared with all of you. We plan to celebrate our 50th anniversary in Wales with side trips in Devon and the Cotswolds. There will be so many rich stories to relay to you upon returning home, once again. I can hardly wait…!

Copyright © 2023 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved