Construction starts next week

Muffled world outside
Netting in front of windows
Inside a cacoon. 

#booksIlove: A Country Year

Title: A Country Year (Living the Questions), by Sue Hubbell
When I read it: early mid 80s and a few times more

It is hard to describe this book because it threads various storylines throughout, but they are hidden and quietly, slowly explored. The framework is life on a small farm in the Ozarks, Missouri. Sue Hubbell brilliantly explores the changing seasons and her existence over a year.

The book is auspiciously a nature book, but what I found more fascinating is how she manages to share her journey of discovery with the reader. Her marriage of 30 years has broken up, and she has to decide whether she will continue to live on the farm that was a shared existence. She explores whether she can claim or build a new life rather than daily grieve a life that no longer exists. 

Pinching myself to see if it is true

Since retirement
Always check my calendar
Lots of emptiness.

Rushing to the train station

Stumbling along 
I have a broken suitcase
Story of my life.

#booksIlove: An Interrupted Life

Title: An Interrupted Life (The Diaries Of Etty Hillesum 1941-43), by Etty Hillesum

When I first read it: in the mid 80s and in stops and starts throughout my 20s and 30s

Hillesum's diaries witness her journey on a spiritual path interwoven with the treads of social turmoil and terror of the Nazi invasion and occupation of the Netherlands during WWII.

This book, as well as Oliver Messiaen's Quartet For The End Of Time, gave me a sliver of understanding of how humans can survive such atrocities.

I am... a mentor

In forty years of working as a trainer and (agile) coach in various German companies, I have often been asked whether I would be willing to be a mentor. Usually, I was the only woman and foreigner in my department, so it is not surprising that those who asked for mentorship were often women and/or foreigners. Strictly speaking, my mentorship did not focus on opening new doors for the mentees, but acting as a sounding board.

Women and foreigners generally lack what Germans call Vitamin B. 'B' stands for Beziehung, or personal relationships or a strong network of people who are willing to help advance your career. It is almost impossible to break into the Old (White) Boys' networka that rule in most German organizations or corporations. I've only known a handful of women, two or three foreign men, and three foreign women (Shoutout to Charlotte, Dagmara, and Marine, whose tenacity in this high-stakes game has been nothing short of inspirational) who have managed to pursue a successful and dynamic career within German companies.

So, when I say I am a mentor, it is a matter of helping them get an invitation to an interview, negotiating better contracts or salaries, or coming up with strategies for moving up one or two steps on the executive ladder. Once or twice in recent years, I have delighted in helping a mentee realign their career paths. It is exciting to accompany someone transitioning from one industry or field to another.

What I like about being a mentor is seeing a mentee become serious and intentional about their careers. It is a process of supporting them while they make their dreams come true. Even having a dream is a rare thing for those whose otherness have been stripped of ambitions. Each success story is a testament to the quiet power of resilience and a reminder that even in the most rigid systems, change isn't just possible—it's inevitable.

A lesson in how nature works

Out of my window
Baby pigeon stands all day
It's waiting to fly.

#booksIlove: Four Quartets

Title: Four Quartets by T.S. Elliot
When did I first read it: incessantly during the late 70s and beginning of the 80s 

This book (four poems) transformed my life much like The Book of Ebenezer Le Page did. It made me believe that the world I lived in was larger than what I had been told it was. I read the poems over and over again, and I even bought the audiobook of Elliot reading them.

His voice was mesmerizing, both deeply present and deeply detached. I would not have understood his work without listening to the cadence of his words.

When I now read excerpts of his work 45 years later, the voice inside my head and the drum of my heart finds a dear friend with every turn of the page.

A good week of good news

Tano got a job
Kay won, at last, her court case
Now I celebrate. 

#booksIlove: The Book of Ebenezer Le Page

Title: The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, G.B. Edwards
When I first read it: when it came out in 1981 and a thousand times since

This in another book that Pat gifted me that in some microscopic way transformed my life and they way I thought of life. It is a brilliant story told by someone who was a master observer and storyteller. 

The fact the book was published posthumously is tragic as it is beautiful. Gerald Basil Edwards never received the acknowledgment he deserved. 

Chewing gum

Many years ago, I went to pick up Julien at the kindergarten. He said he was really hungry, so I gave him two pieces of gum to chew. (I do not remember if it was the first time I gave him gum.) I was hoping the gum would keep him quiet until we got home.

And it worked! He didn't make one peep the whole way home. When I went to take him out of the children's bicycle seat, I flew him around in a circle before putting him on the ground. Instead of looking happy, he looked distraught.

When I asked him what was wrong, he cried out. The gum was now stuck together. All the way home, he had chewed one of the pieces of gum on the left and the other on the right. He didn't know they were meant to chew together. No wonder he wasn't able to talk to me.

I gave him a big hug and brought him upstairs for a snack.