Waco 2018

Those of my age and older, even those who live outside America, can probably recall the happenings  in Waco, Texas in 1993 being discussed on the TV (that's where we used to get our info on what's going on in the world before the internet).

I can dimly remember my parents watching the evening news and Branch Davidians being mentioned, though at that age I was much more interested in other things so it all hardly registered in my brain. In the past several months, some of the twitter accounts I read kept mentioning it and when I learned that there is a miniseries about Waco siege, I was naturally thrilled to watch it.

As far as I could understand, the series is based on two books, one written by a survivor, the other by an FBI agent. It starts with showing the events at Ruby Ridge, which happened 9 months before. The tempo is quite slow in the beginning, as we make acquaintance with some of the Davidians, with most of the focus on their leader David Koresh and his right hand Steve Schneider, and, of course,  David's wives and children.

As the story progresses, there is more tension built and after the first shots are fired in Part 3 you realise that you can't take your eyes away from the screen (we actually watched all of it in only 2 days). The fact that you know beforehand just exactly HOW it will all end, makes it even more dramatic. The final episode is like witnessing the last hours of a person sentenced to death (and the most horrific death at that). In fact, I have watched many gruesome movies, but Waco is just about the most horrible thing I've ever seen.

The acting is superb, and in general, the series produces a powerful emotional impact. Despite all the weirdness of the main character, it's difficult not to sympathise with him. There is a scene in the movie, when he makes a recording for the FBI saying: "This is my family, may be it's not like your family. But you can't point guns in the direction of my wives and my kids. I will meet you at the door any time." While Koresh is shown as an egoist and, to some degree, a megalomaniac, the other side is depicted as positively evil (with some exceptions).

It made me understand why so many Americans distrust the federal government. After watching the series, you'll be left with basically one question: what exactly have these people done to deserve to be treated in that manner.

Don't watch it if you have weak nerves.

Here is the official trailer.

Tradwife Stuff

Last several days it was like 30+ *C outside. I made some ginger beer. I think technically it's more like ginger ale, because beer has to be fermented, doesn't it? Anyway, I was visiting a local health store on Tuesday when I found this:

A mix to make ginger beer. My husband and I both like it, but the supermarket brands have lots of sugar and other unsavoury things added, so naturally, I was quite excited to try making my own.

I added water to it (1.5 lt) and then I had to cook it until reduced in half:

After this, it needed to be strained:

and sugar had to be added, too. I tried to reduce the suggested amount (150g), but believe me, you'll need all of it to make it taste more or less decent.

After sugar got dissolved, I let it cool off a bit, added some lemon juice and poured it into the same bottle. You need to add (sparkling) water to taste, to serve it. The instruction says to dilute it 1 to 1, but we all found it too strong, so it's more like 1 part syrup, 7 parts water:

It still has a very strong taste, but is great for a hot summer day! Have you tried some new project this summer? Feel free to share!

Personal Update

It's been quite warm around here, and my husband had some time off, so we were enjoying a mini-vacation, hence the lack of posts. I'll update tomorrow or Sunday. Hope you all are doing fine!

2 Income Families Have it Difficult

this year. A nearby school just closed because of several corona cases till the end of the school year.

Life still goes on, the weather is fine again, and most reasonable people are quite enjoying themselves. We decided to join them and visited a couple of zoos. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pics I took on Sunday:

Another YouTube Channel Bites The Dust

The purge continues. They got Pastor Anderson as well:



I guess as long as it's not the government, it must be fine. Conservatives should by all means continue shilling for big business and woke corporations because muh free market. It has worked brilliantly so far...

C.S. Lewis And Socialism

He tried to warn us:

It (The Bible)  tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not to eat. Every one is to work with his own hands, and what is more, every one's work is to produce something good: there will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to persuade us to buy them. And there is to be no "swank" or "side," no putting on airs. To that extent a Christian society would be what we now call Leftist. On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience-obedience (and outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed magistrates, from children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular) from wives to husbands...

If there were such a society in existence and you or I visited it, I think we should come away with a curious impression. We should feel that its economic life was very socialistic and, in that sense, "advanced," but that its family life and its code of manners were rather old-fashioned-perhaps even ceremonious and aristocratic...

Now another point. There is one bit of advice given to us by the ancient heathen Greeks, and by the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to lend money at interest: and lending money at interest-what we call investment-is the basis of our whole system. 

Quoted from Mere Christianity: 3. Social Morality.  

Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone 2001

A movie review. So I did it, I went and watched the 1st Harry Potter movie till the end. Here are my thoughts. It's fairly all right as far as modern movies go. Some things are probably different from how it was in the book, but honestly, I read it like 8 years ago and have only a vague idea of details. The language isn't ideal overall, but not really shocking, either. Didn't care for the "toilet humour" (troll snot), but it there wasn't a lot of it.

Probably less feminist than Narnia adaptations. Harry Potter is clearly the hero who saves the day. Quidditch was much more fun to actually watch than to read the rather boring descriptions of it in the book. The topic "it's soo British and slightly Victorian" is covered very extensively. Harry's cousin is shown as a stereotypical fat overweight brat (is it even allowed in the current year?) There is less focus on actual spells than in the original stories and it's feels more like a fairy tale than a witchcraft manual.

That all said. The phrase that kept popping up in my mind was "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". I know that we have our Christian freedom, but a part of me thinks that we misused it profoundly during the last years or so and that's probably behind some of the unpleasantness we have been experiencing lately.

Personally I wouldn't let my young children watch it. After a certain age? May be, if it were still a thing. Kids always want to fit in, and it's not really that bad an example of popular culture. In the end, it's something which every parent will decide for him/herself, but I have come to the conclusion that my initial opinion of Harry Potter hasn't changed. So that's it.

Harry Potter Is Cancelled

The author apparently not woke enough. 

I'm not a great Harry Potter fan. As my long-term readers probably remember, I even wrote a critical review about the series once. I actually managed to read three books and watched about half of the 1st movie.

However, I'm now severely tempted to finish reading the series and watch the films, before they are gone with the wind, too... 

A Father's Day Without A Father

It's going to be the first Father's Day when my husband's father is not with us. Yesterday we visited his grave and brought him flowers. It was very sad. Last year he was very sick already, but still with us and you could congratulate him in person, shake his hand, talk to him, moreover, the doctors told us he could still live several more years...

I think we often take our parents for granted, and only realise how much they meant for us when we lose them. This should not be the case. If your father is still alive, value the time you spend with him, because you never know when he is taken away from you.

Honouring your father is more than just visiting him regularly, though. It means not breaking faith with your kindred in general. Here is a good article which goes into more detail on this topic:

On fidelity

How To Defeat Woke Capital

Some useful suggestions
I have been thinking that I really can't boycott any of these companies since I stopped using their products long ago. I don't do Starbucks or McDonald's or anything similar, I don't subscribe to Netflix or Amazon Prime, in fact, I hardly ever watch TV at all. I don't buy brands, I don't use makeup etc etc. I still buy many of my clothes new, and I could probably buy more stuff at the market instead of supermarkets now that it's back, but ours aren't as woke yet, luckily. I nearly always go for the generic and the cheapest products and visit small ethnic shops like Polish for instance.

There is one more thing to consider though: by using credit and taking huge mortgages you support the most wicked of them all, the moneylenders...

Update On Commenting

I finally got down to moderating comments. As you probably know, any comment on a post older than 14 days is subject to moderation. I usually get lots of spam for the old posts anyway, so I don't check this file very often, and now with my father-in-law dying and all the other things...I'm afraid it took me longer than usual, but I finally went and published them...Sorry if yours was stuck in limbo, it was completely unintentional.

She Is Now 8!

Our littlest cat turned 8 months yesterday. Allow me to introduce (something I have been planning to do for quite some time), Loki Sigyn:

She has a double name because first we thought it was a tom, lol:) It was quite a shock to me when the vet told me they were ALL girlies, because I had sold them as males, but luckily, nobody appeared to object.

Here is she with her mom:

And here is one more picture, it's a couple of moths old probably, when her mother was still taking some interest in her. Now they mostly fight, but both have a great relationship with Uncle Finn who sometimes forgets he is neutered and tries his old tricks, unsuccessfully, of course:)

I always had to deal with autistic toms who chiefly wanted to go outside, fight and breed, and never imagined a cat could be so sweet as Sigyn. She always comes when you call her and often jumps on your knees whether you like it or not. She adores company, but only our company, as she is quite shy around visitors, may be because we had none for quite some time.

It'll probably change when she starts going outside, but I'm determined to not let it happen until she's sterilised, as having to deal with one nest of kittens was quite enough, thank you very much:)

It's Finally So Far

Just to cheer you all up in these difficult times:) I finally completed my last year Christmas project:

I was planning to finish this would-be pillow cover based on a cross-stitching pattern (something I'll never try again, as it's too much hassle) somewhere in November but then the kittens started demanding too much attention and then it was always something else interfering, but finally it's so far!

I can officially leave Christmas 2019 behind and start something new instead:)

Freedom At Last!

Sitting outside enjoying a cup of tea/coffee on a terrace of a lunchroom or eating out in any form except takeaway is something we last did more than 3 months ago...Boy, did it feel good! Sorry for the state of the cake, we nearly ate all of it before I remembered to take a picture. Life is getting back to normal, kiddies start school full time this Monday, and we finally got some rain, too! Hope you are all doing fine and staying safe.

A Morning In The Garden

Those are from Tuesday. After a long time, I started drawing again. Anyway, the weather has changed so hopefully I'll have more time to post!

Pentecost Weekend News And Iron Age Village

So today is the 2nd Pentecost Day, an official holiday here in the Netherlands. The reason posting has been so scarce so far is simply because we continue having some exceptionally good weather. At least good for us common folks, not for agriculture as we are experiencing a drought right now. Water level is so low in our water tank in the garden that we have to use water from the nearby ditch, as most others do, too. Luckily, we still have enough as some of the smaller ditches in other parts of town have dried out.

Anyway, it's great weather to be outside (especially now with the long weekend) and not a good weather to sit behind the computer screen!

In other news, it's a great day today. Churches finally opened their doors to public in the morning service, though the amount of visitors is currently restricted to 30. Ours operate on a schedule starting with the letter A so obviously it won't be our turn to go for quite some time yet. Zoos and museums opened, too, but you have to book a place online beforehand. May be, if they still have place we'll go next weekend.

And, last but not least: today at noon all the restaurants, cafes and pubs will open their doors to public. To sit inside, you have to book, but as far as I know, terraces are open to anyone. Saturday evening we went to the beach first time this year and they were all busy preparing. I'm not sure I'm going to drink something somewhere right away, but I'm sure going to look:) It's nice to know that life is getting back to normal.

What does it all have to do with Iron Age though? Simple, yesterday I found this great documentary which I'd like to share with you:




I hope you'll enjoy it!