Straddling Desire. Northern White-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus magnus, on Aster novi-belgii, New York Aster, Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Training south I decided to stretch my legs on the other side of the railway track at Arnhem; that's the north side where there's a marvelous park: Sonsbeek.
I'd been there before but had never noticed a small engraved plate next to one of the paths dedicated to Poncke Princen (1925-2002). Perhaps my eye caught it because I'd been the enthralled and horrified reader over the last several days of Rémy Limpach's newly published, almost 1000-paged De Brandende Kampongs van Generaal Spoor (The Burning Kampongs of General Spoor). It's the consumate study of Dutch systematic war crimes during the 'decolonisation' of Indonesia in the late '40s, the first such thorough study. It makes for absolutely devastating reading. Those actions are comparable to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and worse because sanctioned by the highest authorities. Princen went AWOL from the Dutch army toward the end of that war and joined Indonesian forces. Later he became an Indonesian citizen and was utterly reviled in The Netherlands. Active in libertarian movements he also had great difficulties in his adopted country. A band of libertarians in The Netherlands kept his cause alive, and that small plaque was put down in the park in January 2016. According to its text, the memorial is hidden somewhere in the park: 'although not visible, it is here. Lest we forget.'
My mind wandered away to beauty as I ambled to the pretty little Silent Garden abutting the Sonsbeek Wood. There I saw the Autumn Asters, some hoverflies, and this pretty Bumblebee. I think it's Bombus magnus, Northern White-tailed Bumblebee. It's to be distinguished from Bombus terrerstris, Buff-tailed Bumblebee, by the yellow band which runs to well beneath its wing sockets. But please correct me if I'm wrong...
Straddling Desire. Northern White-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus magnus, on Aster novi-belgii, New York Aster, Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Training south I decided to stretch my legs on the other side of the railway track at Arnhem; that's the north side where there's a marvelous park: Sonsbeek.
I'd been there before but had never noticed a small engraved plate next to one of the paths dedicated to Poncke Princen (1925-2002). Perhaps my eye caught it because I'd been the enthralled and horrified reader over the last several days of Rémy Limpach's newly published, almost 1000-paged De Brandende Kampongs van Generaal Spoor (The Burning Kampongs of General Spoor). It's the consumate study of Dutch systematic war crimes during the 'decolonisation' of Indonesia in the late '40s, the first such thorough study. It makes for absolutely devastating reading. Those actions are comparable to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and worse because sanctioned by the highest authorities. Princen went AWOL from the Dutch army toward the end of that war and joined Indonesian forces. Later he became an Indonesian citizen and was utterly reviled in The Netherlands. Active in libertarian movements he also had great difficulties in his adopted country. A band of libertarians in The Netherlands kept his cause alive, and that small plaque was put down in the park in January 2016. According to its text, the memorial is hidden somewhere in the park: 'although not visible, it is here. Lest we forget.'
My mind wandered away to beauty as I ambled to the pretty little Silent Garden abutting the Sonsbeek Wood. There I saw the Autumn Asters, some hoverflies, and this pretty Bumblebee. I think it's Bombus magnus, Northern White-tailed Bumblebee. It's to be distinguished from Bombus terrerstris, Buff-tailed Bumblebee, by the yellow band which runs to well beneath its wing sockets. But please correct me if I'm wrong...