The Hooverville Hexagon: Sunday Meditations

 

Reflections, quiet or otherwise.

 

While You're Watching the Birds…

by SashaQ

Someone is watching you.

 

Sunday Concert

 

Look at the water and listen to the music. Tell your inner monologue to shut up.

 

Olfactory Memory

You can tell whether people have ever been near this tree. Those who haven't will say, oh, that's a gingko biloba leaf. It's really medicinal and New Agey.

Those who have will suddenly wrinkle their noses and gag.

Photo by SashaQ, memory by DG.

 

War Memorial #8:

Dutch Memorials

by Bluebottle

Every day until the day I still call Armistice Day, Bluebottle will be presenting a war memorial from somewhere. Today he shows us memorials from the Netherlands.

The world wars have inspired the largest amount of public art the world has ever known. Nations all round the world commemorated and remembered their dead with sculptures and statues, memorials and monuments, with new ones continuing to be built to this day. This is true not only in Britain but also the Netherlands, where the Second World War and German occupation continues to be remembered. For example, the Resistance Monument in Workum consists of three stone, white, abstract white shapes that symbolise the three stages of liberation; 'Oppression', 'Resistance' and 'Freedom'. This was built with the help of children from three local primary schools and unveiled in 2010.

 

 Nearby on the shores of the IJsselmeer at the village of Molkwerum is the Missing Airmen Nationaal Memorial. This is a national monument dedicated to the 220 Allied aircrew members who crashed into the IJsselmeer during the Second World War and were never found. The monument is four metres high and weighs about 22 tons (22 imperial or long tons is roughly 22 metric tonnes or 24¼ US short tons), and is designed to resemble the broken rear wing of a Short Stirling bomber crashed into the lake. The monument lists 220 missing men, including my cousin, and was unveiled in 2022.

Yet in September 2023 the remains of my cousin's Lancaster bomber was excavated and human remains recovered, which were subsequently identified as being my cousin and two of his crewmates by early 2025.

Which goes to show how vibrant the stories told in war memorials and works of art are and how their stories keep changing and updating, even now whether 80 or 110 years later.

Quote of the Day

Do they matter?—those dreams from the pit?...     

You can drink and forget and be glad,     

And people won’t say that you’re mad;     

For they’ll know you’ve fought for your country     

And no one will worry a bit. 

Siegfried Sassoon

 

Peace,

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor