The art of living a happy, balanced life…they should teach fulltime classes in it…I bet Pascale Naessens would pass all of them with flying colours. For those abroad where the name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, she’s the best selling culinairy author in Belgium and for many years has been on a crusade to promote a simple pure lifestyle. Next to pure, simple ingredients and healthy living she’s a passionate ceramics artist, furniture and kitchenware designer and extremely keen on anything outdoors. For almost a year she had set her mind on throwing a huge garden party where all her passions would merge and could inspire others. Partnering up with selected like-minded partners and brands past weekend Kappelen’s Wolvenbos was the perfect green stage to host Pascale & Guests…
Spicy girls on cover! Photo credit Feeling Magazine
together with my friend Kathleen we immersed ourselves in the world according to Pascale…both chronic pain patients we both know how important it is to maintain a healthy body and mindset. We had every fibre, pore, and all our senses open to absorbe the good life…hope below photos give proof we did to the fullest!
Wolvenbos castle & event location
Lots of workshops could be followed, some needed pre-registration, some were free accessible like this ceramics try-out…had to post Kathleen’s work of art, mine was a disaster ;-)))
Throughout terrain plenty of cosy corners to relax, follow interesting lectures, have a healthy snack or drink,…
Sips of Grace water flavours
Hoogstraten Belgian tomatoes
Self organic beauty brand
Feeling hungry, time for apero and snack
Stands were implemented into domain with respect for existing green structures and great eye for detail and host and her husband took time to have a chat…
Pascale’s husband Paul, journalist and tv-maker, photo credit @kvbendeg
…and if you felt an afternoon nap was necessary after all that fresh outdoor air, nothing beats a Velda bed in open forest, right?!
Biggest wow to us was the ‘Secret Garden’ area, stage for the yoga classes and more zen and nature inspired sessions…we had a relaxing treat in the Rituals corner where hammocks and skilled hostesses awaited us…
Yoga classes with Evy Gruyaert
Need I say more? We had the most wonderful day and returned home with a big outer and inner smile!
These first days of the brand new year hold lots of hope and promises and looking forward, we can’t help looking back: to remember what’s worth remembering and to quickly dismiss what’s worth forgetting.
Join me on this little 2018 retrospective:
‘The only time you should ever look back is to see how far you’ve come’
Jan-Feb
Similar to nature, the hibernating months…also ‘let’s quickly forget’ months with lots of hospital visits, insecurity on the thyroid matter and ongoing back-related problems. Fast forward, shall we?!
Mar-Apr
Comes Spring, comes joy…and midweek breaks! We, that is husband and me, visited cosy Maastricht in the Netherlands and vibrant London and in own garden colourful bluebells reign
May-Jun
Refuelled we kept chasing sunshine with a trip to Belgian seaside, local food festivals and wonderful Valletta, European cultural capital 2018, on the island of Malta.
Jul/Aug
Returning from Malta brought feet quickly back onto the ground: in full Summer mode my inner cruise control broke down and some weird health issues (on top of the existing back problems) surfaced.
Only a short birthday trip to Utrecht, Netherlands, and a lot of trips to doctor’s office.
Son Nick went to Madrid with srps.me and had his wallet stolen on last day, drama, drama, though still mr cool guy here
Approching end of August, and luckily feeling a bit better again, in own country, sun was still spreading glorious warmth though the various tasting festivals at wine estates, and the daily growing in size of our own home grapes gently suggested Autumn was on it’s way.
And house cat Wiskie closely watches them shift colour…or not…those afternoon naps are important too, right?!
Together with shooting partner-in-crime Eddy I explored Tervuren…
…and joined EffenWeg on some inspiring nature walks.
Sept/Oct
Again most trips were to and from hospital, pain at full force peaking-level.
Had to check calendar, but had one (wow!) sort or less doable weekend/week in those two months, and we used that to explore Flanders Westhoek while staying at marvellous B&B ‘Ons Content’ and another shooting trip with Eddy…when I’m more or less well, or at least something that comes close to that definition in my book, it’s all about making the very best of those little getaways!.
Nov/Dec
Short getaway nature break to Luxemburg’s inspiring Müllerthal. The below photo might seem idyllic and as far as surroundings and company it was of course but with balance and vision letting me down walking took a lot of effort and often needed a walking stick, fortunately branches à volonté in the woods 😉
Back home finally some answers on the health issues: got MS diagnosis and immediate start-up of the medication to prevent further deterioration.
Had a fun and inspiring photoshoot Life-Live, a project that you can read all about here Up, close and personal…
‘Everything has changed and yet I am more me than I have ever been’
And now what?
…We’ll set course for the good life and navigate around the obstacles as best as possible
no fixed plans yet this year holiday-wise, so all options are open, except for a fun and kinda last-minute trip coming up very very soon (read Febr): hubby and myself will be spending some time in Doha, Qatar, together with my aunt and uncle we’ll be visiting my nephew (their son) who lives there, so that will be a family reunion embraced by loved ones and warmth of the sun, the best kind!
Today, September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day and maybe suicide is something you have never ever been confronted with, well, count your blessings then. However, the sad and realistic statistics show that we will all be confronted with it in one form or another…how do you recognise the signs? How do you respond when you see someone you care about or know struggle? What to say or do and what not to say?
On this special day, all over the world awareness is asked for prevention of suicide and mental health problems. Highly necessary, as is appears, only in Flanders Belgium, every day 3 persons decide to take their own lives (we have about 6,5mio inhabitants here). The number of attempts however is 10 times higher, meaning in Flanders each morning 30 persons will not make it till the next morning sunrise because they decide to end their life by suicide. These sad numbers place us very high on the European scoreboard and that is not something to be proud of. It also means at some point in time, in life, you yourself will be confronted with suicide in your direct environment. According to WHO every 40 seconds someone commits suicide…now doesn’t that deserve some of our attention and time?!
Last week, by chance, I got the opportunity to do my bit to put suicide prevention in the spotlight as Flemish comedian and singer Els de Schepper was recording a single and clip here in my hometown Aartselaar and they needed some extra people to fill up the background (little did we know at the time we actually had to sing along the chorus!!!)
Els de Schepper welcoming us and giving background info on the initiative
The song is called ‘noodrem’, that’s Flemish/Dutch for ‘communication cord’, like in pulling the communication cord or emergency brake, and with it Els de Schepper and Centrum ter Preventie van Zelfdoding which is the organisation behind the call line Zelfmoordlijn wants to make this topic less heavy to talk about as it is still something that hides in the shadows, major taboo label on it. Over 30 Flemish celebrities joined forces with initiator Els and willingly participated. Kirsten Pauwels is the director of the Flemish Prevention Centre Centrum ter Preventie van Zelfdoding and she said (freely translated)”Through this song we can support people having suicidal thoughts and also their close environment; we let them know we care, giving them a message of hope and throwing them a lifeline, we won’t drop them.”
Els de Schepper herself lost two persons she cared very deeply about to suicide and strongly felt the need she had to do something, say something, step up…being a performer gives her the opportunity to raise awareness of this matter so close to her heart.
Why was my attention drawn? What’s my personal link to suicide prevention? Well, those of you who have been following this blog for a while know through some of my previous posts that I am a chronic back pain patient and this for over 35 years due to severe scoliosis. I have pain on three different levels with the acute pain attacks hitting randomly being the worst of the three. They vary from some hours to three days and needless to say I do not see the world as all wonderful and happy when undergoing a full attack. In fact I had an attack the evening after the recording ánd the day after. Luckily these heavier attacks disappear, to come back again, but at least it gives me some pause to recharge though it is often a very short break… I would be lying if I said that during such an attack I never thought: “Wouldn’t things be better if it all just ended?”, but I have never acted upon, in fact, those were millisecond thoughts, but still, they were there…it’s the pain you desperately want to end though, not your life, there is a, to me, very significant difference…I have a strong and loving husband and son, a cat giving little licks as if he feels when I need to be cheered up, caring family and friends, I try to focus on the things that bring me joy and positivity and that keep my mind distracted. However, through what I experience myself on a daily basis I think I can somehow relate how someone who is in constant pain, physically and/or emotionally, every minute of the day and who does not have someone or something to fall back on decides that enough is enough…The lyrics of #noodrem are very powerful, taken from real life and they might help you understand what someone having suicidal or mental health issues is going through.
Tough subject, right?!, Yes, well…it is after all Monday today 😉
Let’s throw in some light: pull the communication cord and pause, that is after all the message in #noodrem…
For my English-speaking followers who kept reading till this far, on a post about a Flemish song, big thank you…will try to give you an idea of what the song is about, so you get a general feeling of what they sing about when you click on the link below.
Where the verses try to captivate the struggle, sadness, desperation, the pain, that feeling of losing control, feeling of isolation, not being understood:
living every single day with this intense pain…
sorry for me pulling the communication cord…
The bridge and chorus on the other hand emphasise the hope, the lifeline, that ray of light how small it may be and, most important, knowing that asking for help is nothing to be ashamed of:
Above are some behind the scenes shots from last week’s recording day. We were welcomed and registered in by lovely Anneke, Els thanked us for our willingful participation and filled us in on the project, we got a glimpse of singer Barbara Dex and producer/director Dirk told us when it was a wrap 😉
Could not take pics inside the recording studio for obvious reasons, but studio and organisation kindly sent us all this group shot…for the curious ones, I am very hidden, on the second row, last one on the right side.
Group shot, a big heart for those who need it
Now what you’ve all been waiting for, below is the song and clip. Feel free to share and if you’re thinking: “I don’t speak or understand Flemish, what’s the use?” Just remember: music is universal, caring about each other is universal, lending an ear, a hand, opening up your heart and giving a hug or some minutes of your time just might save someone’s life!
When sharing, and please do, please use #noodrem #ikleef (that means I’m alive) #1813 #zelfmoordlijn1813
When living in Flanders Belgium, thinking of suicide and in need of someone to talk to, you can find help with Zelfmoordlijn to be reached calling 1813 or through www.zelfmoord1813.be
(in Dutch that is) Denk je aan zelfmoord en heb je nood aan een gesprek, dan kan je terecht bij de Zelfmoordlijn op het nummer 1813 of via www.zelfmoord1813.be
When living outside Belgium, please check out local initiatives as actions are held worldwide today and give them your support or check how you can lend a hand and you are of course very welcome to share this post!
The Back Road Chronicles 