Hermits and Internet connections

Do you know that feeling that you want to hide on one of the Hebride Isles? No matter what the weather will be? And preferable no neighbours other than the Seagulls (who can be as noisy as a lively family next door).
And of course the wind, the sound of the sea, the smell and taste of salt on a windy day.

Photo: Helen Varras (Isle of Skye)

In your cottage is a roaring fire, with the typical smell of an Autumn day.
A lazy chair and a cup of fresh brewed tea. The AGA is spreading the tantalizing smell of your evening  meal: Herbed Lamb Shanks with red wine. And you feel if you are in another world. 

At the table in the living room is your laptop, apart from electricity, the only link to the modern world.
Why a laptop in a setting of 200 years ago? Well, you have given up writing a book by hand. Too much paperwork, too much rewriting etc. The only good thing is that rejected pages keep the fire burning.
No, your laptop became a part of you and you tow it around where ever you go.
And with the laptop comes an internet connection.

You love to be a Hermit with an Internet connection.
That is what I call myself regularly for already many years. I am not a Social Butterfly, do not like parties and even managed to hide my own birthdays for others. Not many people know which date that is.
I love my house and the surroundings, I have lovely neighbours and nearby friends. I live in a part of the world that I truly love.
My house, the animals, my furniture, slow cooker (important item in my kitchen!), the garden, the view...... it all makes me feel comfortable and at home. I often think I live in someone else's dream and I value it to the most.
But.... there are times that I want to 'hide', being away from it all. And, indeed, just the sound of nature. No cars, no plains (if possible), no people (not realistic, I know), just me, my animals and the elements.
I love the sun in my face but also the wind or a storm. I love a clear view but also a small foggy world and rain. I love the smell of the sea but also of  fresh grass and wild flowers.

I love........... being a Hermit (but with an Internet connection!)

Just a thought and desire of today.

Happy weekend my dear readers, where ever you are.

Helen

Blog updates and reviews

Only two weeks to go and Summer begins.
Looking at the weather today, you might think we skipped the Summer and are in the middle of Autumn.
No, it is not cold but the forecast for today is thunderstorms, rain, and wind force 8!
Stormy weather isn't too bad when all the leaves are gone from the trees but right now 'high trees catch a lot of wind'. How true is that today.

I planned to go food shopping but wait until tomorrow. I already have an appointment with a dear friend who is also a hairdresser. She is always very successful in upgrading my market value. Unfortunately the value only lasts for two weeks or so ;-)
Instead I have been busy upgrading my Dutch Blog. I know, I did it a month ago as well but I wasn't satisfied with the look.
I plunged into the help section of Blogger to find out how I can add my own Header. It turned out to be very easy (click Lay Out and edit Header, choose if you want to replace it all - like I did - or another option).
Than I made a new Logo (wondefull app called Logopit Plus), went to Picmonkey.com and designed my own header.
It sounds and is as aimple as this but of course before I was happy with the logo's and the background (paper) of the header, it took me a while. It had to match with the colours of the new theme I have chosen on Blogger.
One day, when I have plenty of time on my hands (when ever that will be, I am probably still busy in the home for elderly people in 30 years time...) I am going to design my own theme.

I also added pages to my Dutch Blog.
One with Slow Cooker recipes (currently only one so please feel free to send me your recipes!) and a page with the reviews of my e-book 'Observaties'. The reviews are slowly but surely dropping in. A big thank you to everyone who took the effort to write one!

I also made the Dutch and English Blog easier to navigate; less bulk information, and added a Skype Chat button. Feel free to chat with me on Skype but please stay on topic: books, writing, translations. This will be much appreciated.

Keeping up with Social Media is time consuming and I do not have so much free time but I will do my very best and also added a Pinterest account. The link is in all my blogs next tot the Facebook, Instagram etc. tab under the header.

Off I go, writing on a short story for a writing contest, deadline end of June.

Enjoy your day!

Helen

Are writers / authors normal people?

Before I will try to answer that question, let me first define the word 'normal'.

Normal:
adjective -    conforming to the standard or the common, usual, not abnormal, regular, natural

psychology - approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjusment.

If I hear some one say "I am just a normal guy" my first thought is "Oh dear, I am so sorry!" because 'normal' sounds sooo boring to me! I do not know about you though. Maybe you love 'normal' because it is predictable, no unexpected surprises or actions. You marry a normal person and know it will be like that for the next 60 odd years or so. You know what time the other person wakes up, goes to bed, the newspaper he or she reads, the things you talk about, the job, the holiday destination, the same camp site where other normal people stay each summer again, the same beach, towel and suntan lotion. Just to name a few but here of course, my assumption of 'normal' might be completely wrong.
Maybe you are brought up 'normal' and find happiness, shelter and comfort in 'normal'. And there is nothing wrong with that if it works for you.

But it does not work for me.
In many ways I am not brought up 'normal' which does not mean I was brought up 'abnormal'.
I come from a family not being afraid to look for and find unexpected things in life. But also things that happened to us without looking for it, were hugged to make the best of it.
No, my life has never been and still is not boring, thank goodness.
I am afraid I haven't inherited normal genes from both sides of the family. Changes of directions in life were often more common than uncommon (here is a contradiction! :-)

So... is a writer / author a normal human being?
To me, everybody who is creative is not (quote)conforming to the standard or the common, usual, not abnormal, regular, natural (unquote). If you have the gift to create something from nothing, whether others like it or not, there is a little door in your brain which opens to show you what you can do, create or achieve.
And if you are not afraid to open that door even wider, you can achieve or create more then you imagined at first. Said that, I understand that not everyone is gifted with doors or the same amount of doors. Who cares, you only need one to do something creative.

I also understand that the fear for failure is lurking around the corner and if you fail, what would others think of it. Can you cope with the feeling of failure, are you afraid that people point at you saying you are a looser. Afraid loosing friends.... Oh yes, I can think of many reasons why you prefer to keep the doors in your brains shut.
But does this not stop you from being creative? Exploring your gifts, even if you think you don't have one, is an adventure for life. And you know what is truly beautiful? Your gifts are not all visible at once. It is not so that at the age of  let's say 20, all your gifts suddenly pop up. No, sometimes and more often than not, they are there when something happens in your life. What ever you think of life, one thing is certain, you can not predict it! Fortunately you can't, it would kill all your skills and gifts.

Writers are 'fairly normal' people like you and me. Most of them live in houses, have family and friends, appreciate good food but they have a skill of making stories from scratch. Short stories, novels, poems. They play with words, sentences, chapters. They create people who don't exist who do things that they have never done before because the are invented by the writer. Maybe that is not normal. But definitely not abnormal!

Writing does not always come natural. Of course you must have the drive to write. Not everyone is a writer (or sculptor, photographer, marathon runner, back packer, bungy jumper etc).
It does not matter what you write and it does not always have to be published! If writing is just a way to express your self without offering it to the world, that is fine too. That is not abnormal.

Have I answered the question if writers are normal people? Is it abnormal when I confess I don't know?

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Helen

Fresh free range eggs and trimming hedges

Yesterday at Ascension Day, I gave myself a day off. Such luxury! Doing nothing but reading in the shadow, listening to the birds in the fields. A cup of tea, a sandwich and a meal from the Slow Cooker and home made ice cream  for dessert. I loved it.

It was also a bit charging the battery for today; I promised myself a few hours of gardening.
Due to all sorts of circumstances, the last weed in the front garden was in September last year (can you see me blushing??).
In my part of the world, weed does not grow during Winter and fortunately Spring did not come early this year. But as soon as the temperatures rose and the sun came out in between showers, the weed grew as never before. The front garden looked like a film set for 'The Jungle Book'. It became embarrassing.

Up early, no shower (would not make sense with the high temperatures of today and all the dirty work), a fruity breakfast.
I gathered all the garden equipments and started with the weed. Their never seemed to come an end to it.
After an hour or so, I got out the trimmer for the Box tree hedges. There are quite a few metres.....
I was not even half way and although all my precautions, I cut the wire and there was silence.
Fortunately I have some more but know I need to restore it as soon as possible. Of course it shut off all electricity of that group in the meter box. I went in to switch it on again and managed to trim the rest without any other accidents (I learn fast....)

My neighbour was also working in his garden and together we drank a cup of Wiener Melange, our favourite drink. We talked a while sitting in the shadow of one of my pear trees. Our conversation was about cars.
People who know me, know this is one of my favourite subjects. I dislike talking about shopping! I dislike shopping too. Do you recognize the feeling of entering a shop like Mr. Jekyll and leaving it like Mr. Hyde??

Temperatures rose and rose and at 2 PM I called it a day, the heat was killing me and I have to admit that I am not in the best shape after a Winter Sleep. But today was a true workout. I feel muscles I forgot all about. It feels good, I feel alive!

Around 12 PM the local sheepfarmer, a lovely man in his 70's and the proud owner of a white bushy beard, passed by on his bicycle with a box with 12 fresh eggs in his hand. He stopped for as what I thought one of his enjoyable conversations but this time it was also to give me the eggs. And I did not had to pay for them. I don't have to say that I am very happy with the eggs, they taste delicious and can't be any fresher.
The sheep farmer often stops for a chat and spoiling me with fresh vegetables from his own land. And the taste is so much better than we you buy them.
I am always grateful!
The sheep farmer received a phone call from his wife who needed him at home so off he went half way one of his stories.

There is still a lot to do in the front garden but enough was enough, there is always a tomorrow, even a next week.

The shower took care of all the dust in my hair and anywhere else dust likes to settle.
Yours truly is writing this post nice and clean. Any complains will be deleted ;-)

Enjoy a wonderful weekend!

Helen

Scandinavian thrillers and fresh tasty Ciabatta

The sun is out and the forecast for this week sounds good. I deliberately say 'sounds' and not 'is'.
I don't know about where you live, but here in Holland they can't even properly predict for the next 24 hours....

The sun was out yesterday too but the wind was still too cold and when the wind blows in the direction of my back door, I can not sit in the garden.
Fortunately it turned for the better: two hours of pure joy in the sunshine with the book 'Hofnarren in Murmansk' of the Danish thriller writer Jens Henrik Jenssen 
Somewhere in March I received an invitation on Facebook to like his FB page which I did of course but felt a bit ashamed that I never read one of his books. Although I love Scandinavian thrillers!! As wel on TV as reading.
The first Scandinavian thriller I read (back in the 80's) was of the couple Sjöwall and Wahlöö, known from the Martin Beck adventures, still on TV.
And of course Stieg Larsson (Millennium), Henning Mankell (Kurt Wallander), Emilie Schepp and many others, more or less well known.

But we also have excellent thriller writers in Holland and my most favourite is Isa Maron (Isa Maron's FB page) with 'De Noordzeemoorden': 4 books you need to read (only available in Dutch and German). When I read them I could not put them away.....

Are you a thriller / krimi addict? I am afraid I am!

Not much reading today as I need to write my own book. Usually I start just after lunch, the mornings I use for domestic purposes. I still don't have a Butler and Housekeeper.
But some unexpected administration spoilt most of my afternoon. Well, tomorrow is an other day and I will start writing early; so many ideas in my head!

The smell in my kitchen which is also a living area and my 'office',  is lovely. My Ciabatta bread with black olives and sundried tomatoes is spreading its wonderful scent, it is almost ready and I can not wait to see the light golden colour and to taste a warm slice with olive oil.
I love baking cakes, bread and quiches. I am not an excellent Chef but since I own a Slow Cooker I enjoy tasty meals.
By the way, my slow cooker is some sort of a Butler. I can work all day and the food is ready to eat by the end of the day. And healthy too. Excellent invention.

Mmmmm... please advice.... will I spend the last 90 minutes before dinner in the sun or will I work on my book?

Hugs,

Helen

Not about Skype but about writing

It has been a long time ago since I posted on my Blog Skype Lifestyle.

So much changed since 2009.... only 8 years but it feels like a life time.
First of all I stopped working for Skype. My own free will.
I married the love of my life in 2009, my husband was 15 years older and a pensioner who wanted more in life than offering me cups of tea, lunches and dinners (which was of course ever so sweet of him!) and conversations like "What time do you like lunch, dinner etc?"

I remember one occasion when I was in a webcam meeting when my husband climbed the stairs to my office with a cup of tea. In Tallinn were 8 people gathered around the table, I was on my own, projected more than large on a screen in Tallinn's meeting room. And so was my husband with his cup of tea which caused complete silence at the other end of the Skype connection. Until someone asked: "And who is he?"

We discussed half a sebatical to see if I could live without a Skype life and surprisingly this was the case.
I am not going to say it was an easy decision, my few years at Skype were educative, entertaining, hectic and above all wonderful. I still feel privalidged that I worked for Skype, an experience I will never forget and with colleagues I will never forget. Needless to say I am still in touch with a few.

A new lifestyle with my husband and our motorhome started.
We travelled everywhere in Europe, I took numerous photo's, wrote numerous log books and wrote stories about peole we watched from a distance and who behaved a little different than one would expect. I made up names and back grounds so all fiction but with a little truth in it. The beautiful thing of writing is that you can combine a gentleman in France with a lady from Norway in an odd situation in Germany (believe me, there are far more combinations possible).

I once read the following advices for writeres: "Write what you know and add lots of  fantasy" and "It is not just about writing, it is about making it visuable!".

In 2014 my husband was diagnosed with a heart problem, more specific; two problems and we stayed at home for at least a year. Than we continued our travels. Motorhoming was a wonderful way to travel for him: I did most of the driving, no luguage to carry (no flights, delayes etc.), our own bed (no noisy hotels), his afternoon naps where ever we were at that very moment, staying put on his bad days and driving to the next locations on his good days.

But in November 2016, one week after we arrived home from our last holiday, my husband's heart stopped working, just after lunch. Altough his heart diseases, no one expected the cardiac arrest.
For him it was a wonderful way to go; no pain, no stress, no hospital. Isn't that what we all want?
For me... I don't think I have to explain that it was very difficut to say goodbye. To addopt a diferent way of life without him.

The past six months I discovered that the wordt 'time' is just a word, there are no time frames anymore.
So much happened, the changes were so massive that often it feels like much longer that 6 months since he passed away.
But there are often moments when I sit down and all of a sudden see him in front of me, at the other side of the table, leaning forward. The moment I realized that his heart had stopped ticking. During these moments it only feels like yesterday. Not only the memory but above all the pain.

But life goes on, I do know that and there is no other choice which I am (as in the past 18 years in my life) well aware off.
One of the major concerns is an income. According the Dutch law I don't get a pension of any kind.

The choice wasn't difficult. Of course I still look for a part time job but my main 'job' now is writing, something I have always liked, often did, but never published.
Writing is a huge part of me. I still think it is a miracle to write letters, collumns, short stories, books with only the 26 letters of the alphabet!!

Against all odds I pubished my first little book 'Observaties' in March 2017.
It contains 12 short stories based on unexpected behaviours of people during our travels. But again, they are all fiction!!! And I never write stories about people I talk to! So don't be afraid you will recognize yourself in the book. You will most likely say: "Oh John, this storie reminds me off...."
I think most motorhomers, caranvaners, backpackers etc. will recognize the stories. And I hope that it will encourage others to travel as well.
Unfortunately the book is (still) only available in Dutch and as an e-book. You will find more information of where to buy it (right upper corner) in my Blog www.helenvarras.blogspot.com
Helen Varras is my pseudonym.

But there is not only a Blog, there is also Helen Varras' Facebook and Helen Varras on Twitter.
And Helen offers freelance writing, proof reading and translations. Feel free to e-mail.

I keep my Helen Varras Blog updated and I will try to post on here in English. After all Skype changed my Lifestyle and Skype is still my tool to connect with family and friends!

From now on signed,

Helen

Skype and the Hungarian Sheepdog called Kuvasz

What does a Kuvasz has to do with Skype? Not much I am afraid.
Although Skype Tallinn is known for loving and keeping pets, I have not seen a Kuvasz yet in the office.
Unfortunately because I love this breed.

Long time ago, back in 1985 I bought my first Kuvasz at the age of 18 weeks. Badly neglected and very ill.
But it had a strong will, good care and medication and it survived.
From a poorly, scruffy dog, it changed into a beautiful healthy, active intelligent dog. She was called Älg (Swedish for Elk).

She definitely was a handful, a mind of her own. But I knew that after reading about the Kuvasz and talking to other people.

I fell in love with the breed after visiting an elderly couple that owned a large male dog called Yoszka.
He was at easy with himself, intelligent, raising an eyebrow when his owner (who really wanted to be the boss………) commanded something.

The decision which dog to look for, was made and Älg arrived.

With enough space in and around the house and Älg being a very friendly dog for other dogs, I bought our second when Älg was two years old. Kuvasz no. 2 came from Sweden from the kennel “Trevnadens” in Mariefred near Stockholm. She was cald Kajsa Kavat (after a book of Astrid Lindgren)

Both dogs got along very well. They were big, beautiful, loyal, furry and loved people.

Unfortunately Kajsa died at the age of 6 due to a brain tumor. It was hard to say goodbye to such a lovely animal.

Älg felt lonely and I looked for a new friend. Again from Sweden came Invandra (Swedish for immigrant).
I collected her when Älg was still at home. How happy she was when she found Invandra in the car!

Both dogs travelled up and down Sweden with me.

Älg died at the age of 12,5 years which is old for such a large breed.

Invandra was 2,5 years old at the time and moved with me from Sweden back to Holland to live in Friesland.


She was very special. Very much at easy where ever she went, hardly barked, very cuddly (especial for kids).
If you can call a dog polite, she was it.

She was my biggest friend and when she died at the age of 12 I cried many, many tears.
I promised myself to get another Kuvasz when living in a bigger house with much more free time on my hands.

But I met Tjep and he already was waiting to get his dog, a Basset Fauve de Bretagne puppy who we called Dée.
One month after we got Dée we also adopted her brother Frits who did not socialize with a breeder who had 10 more dogs.

Although we live in a much bigger house with a much bigger garden, there is no room anymore for a Kuvasz.
We are both very happy with Dée and Frits and are (not yet) temped to buy a Kuvasz.

But you can imagine how tempting it is when dear friends, Han and Marjory Koogje of the Kennel “Egymásra Találtunk”, one of the best breeders I know, call you to tell you that they have 5 beautiful pups looking for a home. (Unfortunately the economical crisis is also hitting them).

Tjep and I tried to convince each other that two very active dogs in the house are sufficient.
And we do not only have dogs but also twop cats, a crow, a sparrow and 8 chickes.
We also own a sailing boat but far from big. Easy to hoist two smaller dogs on board but not a bigly like the Kuvasz……

Although we took the decision not to go for a big dog long ago and although we are telling each other how sensible people we are not wanting a third dog, there is with me that homesick feeling for those big white fuury, gentle, much at ease, stubborn friends who were for 23 years part of my life.

I met Han and Marjory Koogje in 1986 being a member of the Dutch Kuvasz Club. A year after I became a Board Member, ever since we are friends.

I got to know them not only as wonderful people but also as responsible breeders. They are stars in socializing pups. Therefore I regret that they can’t find a good home for their last litter. I promised to help them and hope to find new owners through my blog.

Please be aware that the Kuvasz is not a dog for inconsequent people. Reading about the character of the dog is a must. But if you and the Kuvasz are a match, you are a match for life and you will not regret it for a second!


Very important to me is that the Kuvasz is a very old and pure breed. Not manipulated, how good is that uh?


Please visit the site of Ham and Marjory and say hello from me when you get in touch with them.

Links: Breed Description Character Egymásra Találtunk e-mail Egymásra Találtunk