Public urinal

One of the most disgusting things in Amsterdam I think, are the public urinals for men. We call them "curls" and this one is prominent situated along a canal. The smell when you pass is awfull and the look of legs below makes me turn my head the other side. Public toilets for ladies are not available in Amsterdam, you have to enter a cafe or a department store or pee in your pants when these are not in the neigbourhood.

Dutch (female) people are always surprised to see how great big cities abroad these things have organized and wander why the city counsels here ignore such a normal need.

Two clever business men have started recently a commercial toiletbusiness "2theloo" with clean toilets  in the busy shoppingstreet "Kalverstreet" and it is so succesfull, they are expanding to 12 other places. So ladies, you are warned when you visit a city here, don't drink too much.

Taphophile Tragics # 10

I am browsing my old photos for cemeteries and found this one in "Bourton-on-the-Water" in Great Britain which I visited in 2010. I only remember it was an old village in the Cotswolds where the houses were built with special "Cotswold stone".

We wandered around a bit and found this "St. Lawrence's Parish Church" with a cemetery.  The history of the stone church goes back to 1110 and has changed many times in the following years.

The graves look pretty old to me too, but I am afraid I can't tell you more about it.

This is my tribute to Tapholphile Tragics

Monday Mural

This mural is painted on the walls of an Italian restaurant in our neighbourhood of Almere Haven, named Pulcinella, the tragic-comic clown from Naples. The food is very good  and we have had diner here many times.

When I retired I had a farewell-diner with my colleagues in this intimate reataurant.

See for more Monday Murals here

Killer

As I was recovering of the flu on the couch I suddenly heard  a lot of noise in the backyard. Birds were screaming and I saw something big flying. There was one bird sitting on the ground I had never seen before. I called my hubby to get his camera with a big telephoto lens and he made these photos of a sparrow hawk.

All the birds had gone, only he was on the ground and he was pulling something he had under his foot. I saw feathers flying around and he was killing a little birdie sparrow in front of my eyes...... yeeeekk!!!  It didn't make me feel much better.... 

Knocked out

I am ill at the moment, knocked out by the flu. Hope to be back soon. 

New career?

A few months ago my former employer, the Public Library asked me if I would like to have some photos made they could use for publicity flyers. Me and my husband of sccollections posed for a professional photographer and here are the results. Can you find us?

Taphophil Tragics # 9

This is another grave at the cemetery Zorgvlied in Amsterdam where many dutch famous people are buried. Here lies "Ton van Duinhoven" (1921-2010). He was a dutch journalist, actor and copywriter, but he is best remembered as a comic in a satirical television program "Hadimassa" and his commercial spots for a biscuit firm "Jamin". He was married to the actress "Ina van Faasen" who died in 2011 and is buried in  the same grave. Her name is on the little sign, but I think it still has be carved out in the stone.

This is my tribute to Taphophile Tragics

Munday Mural

This huge mural covers the whole side of a house, only the windows on the left are real. It is made as a tribute to the sporting event " Holland-Triathlon" which takes place every year in Almere Haven for more than 25 years now. The mural shows the multisport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance sports, 3,8 km swim in open water, 180 km bike, 42 km run (marathon).

It was a bit (too) sunny day for a photo, so the light and shadow devides the painting in two halves.

See for more Monday Murals here

Sunday Bridges

This bridge we passed last sunday on our way to Rotterdam. Have no idea what the name is or which river we passed, but it was a snowy and cold sunday as you can see.

Have a look at more Sunday Bridges here

Back to normal

 Amsterdam with the "Waag" (Weighing-House) in winterlight. The Siberian winter we had during two weeks has gone in one day this week. Snow and ice melted away very quickly with normal temperatures of 6C (42.8F). It was a short time of fun for many people with skating and we never know when it will return. Last time people could skate on the canals in Amsterdam was 15 years ago.

Skywatch Friday

Almost every afternoon between 5 and 6 we hear an increasing noise and a huge swarm of starlings is flying over our house. They make two or three rounds and then disappear. They are with a few hundreds of them.

See for more Skywatches here

Marcel Brindejonc des Moulinais

These old magazins I photographed in a shopwindow of an antiquarian bookshop. When I enlarged the picture on my screen, I could read the name of the person on the left. I found out it is "Marcel Brindejonc des Moulinais" (1892-1916),  a French aviator who died in World War I, just 24 years old.

From an early age he was besotted with aeroplanes and became a wellknown aviator in his time. He  made many flight competition trips which was common in the early years of 1900. For his performances he was knighted in the order of  Legion of Honor in 1913, the youngest of  Legionnaire France. 

In 1913 he was called to perform military service and was incorporated at an aerospace group. His plane was shot down on 18 August 1916 in Vadelaincourt near Verdun.

This magazin dates from 19 August 1916 and announced his death "at the field of honor".

Funny afternoon

Last week we enjoyed the opening of an exhibition of poetry in the City hall of Almere. The poetry writer Nico Scharn we know for a long time, as he lives in our neighbourhood, but we never knew he wrote poems.

It was a funny happening with music, wine and performances, it felt we were in the sixties again.

Also the children were having fun.

Taphophile Tragics # 8

This is the grave of "Willem Wagenaar" (1909-1999) at the cemetery Zorgvlied in Amsterdam.

He was a painter, art gallery owner, art teacher and surrealist. He owned a little art shop in Utrecht which he made a magical centre of the dutch surrealism in 1930. During WWII almost all his paintings were destroyed an he even was prisoned. After the war he worked as movie-operator in a Amsterdam cinema.

In 1980 a meeting place for surrealistic artists in a Amsterdam cafe was started where a few artists met each other among Willem, although he was very old, he was still very smart.

This painting of the famous Spanish bullfighter Manolete he made in 1942.

This is my tribute to Taphophile Tragics

Last winter picture?

After a family visit in Rotterdam we had to drive back home in a snowstorm. There were all kinds of weather-warnings to be carefull on the roads because the snow was going to change in rain and that would give a very ice road. We managed to come home safe but later in the evening many traffic-accidents happened. Pffffff. Temperatures are rising now to above zero, so winter is slowing down.

Sunday Bridges

On every piece of frozen water people are skating at the moment. This is close to where we live and we have skated here many times when the kids were young. Now there are other little children learning to skate with the help of a chair on the ice as almost every child in the Netherlands has done.

Look for more Sunday Bridges in the world here

Icy river

Some ice in Amsterdam had to be broken because ships have to go through. This is the river Amstel with the Skinny Bridge. It is since 15 years that there is so much ice in the rivers and canals. We still have temperatures of -11 C (12.2 F) at night.

Amsterdam with ice

The canals in Amsterdam are frozen which is rather unique because the winters are almost never cold enough. But this winter you can skate and walk on the ice.

To put the skates on people use the little boats to sit on.

I didn't go on the ice, it is to slippery for me and a bit difficult to get on and of here by climbing over the boats. Skating I used to to when I was younger, but I am to scared now to fall and break a leg or shoulder, which happened to a friend of mine of the same age.

Eleven Cities Fever

Each country has its own folklore, we don't have a Super Bowl but the "Eleven Cities Tour".
A skating tour of 200 km in the northern province  Friesland done by professionals and amateurs. It can only be organized when there are very low temperatures for a long time, because so many people have to go over ice and don't want to get through it into the icecold water. That's the reason it has only been done 15 times in 100 years. When you win the tour, you are a legend by life. Well we have some pretty cold nights now so the Media started their hype about the tour this whole week "will it come or not?" and when? There was no other news on televison or in the papers than "how thick is the ice?"

The fever increased and a whole village started to sweep away the snow from the ice to get it better.

Hotels were booked, the whole press was in the north and the weatherforcasts were given each hour.

Would it be this weekend?  A "Eleven Cities Society" of wise men has to give the green light and yesterday they decided it was not going to happen, the ice was not safe enough. The whole country collapsed and the media with them. Temperatures are rising now so the ice is loosing its quality.

But maybe the frost is coming back next week, who knows?

But everybody can still skate in the Netherlands and make their own one city tour like here in Almere.

If you want to read more about the Eleven Cities Tour look here

Winter cold

As you know we are having one of the coldest winters now. This is the window of a room we don't use so we don't heat it. With temperatures of -18 C (-0.4 F) at night it looks this way in the morning, covered with ice. During the day the ice disappears because we have lots of sun too.

The ducks and sea-gulls have got together in a hole in the ice.

I like to walk around and make pictures. I can cope with the cold, last winter I bought in sale great boots lined with fur, so no cold feet anymore.

By the way the red shoes I ordered lately are sold out!

Taphophile Tragics # 7

This is our local cemetery in Almere Haven. It dates from 1974 when this village was built. It is situated right behind the dyke and divided in circles with hedges around. I pass here many times on a walk to the dyke, but never enter the circles, I think it is to private and to new, I feel a bit as an intruder. I liked this one of an apparently cat-lover.

Some circles are only for childrens graves, which is very touching. I was shocked by the amount of them.

An overview of the cemetery from the dyke. The hedges are brown now because of the winter, but in summer they are green.

This is my tribute to Taphophile Tragics

Monday Mural

This one is at the same industrial area in Almere I mentioned last monday here. I have no idea what the painting does imagine, but it looks funny.

See for more Monday Murals here

Winter fun

It is cold but the sun shines and it is great to be outside now. Always when there is a lot of snow here, everybody is going to the dyke to have a sleighride down with the children.

We used to do so when our children were young and as an adult to go down too. I saw the parents still doing the same, feeling yourself a child for a moment.

The Gooi-lake was frozen in one night, our province had the coldest temperature of the whole country  -22.9 C (-9.4 F) and since 1956! It is weird, in one week time we are living in a complete other world.

At the horse-riding centre this horse was making his rounds quietly.

Doting dad

I was watching through my window a daddy who dressed up his little girl with so much patience in snowclothes, scarf, cap, gloves until she was ready to go for a ride on the sleigh.

Than number two was lifted out of the car.

And ready to go.

It is a bit paparazzi like of me, but I have not been outside to make pictures yet, because it is sooo cold today. When we got up it was -14.9 C (5 F) degrees. In the city Lelystad, 30 km from here, it was -22C (-7.6F) degrees! this morning. So I have to muster courage to go out. 

First snow!

After a pretty soft winter this morning the first snow came at last. With very low temperatures at night still -10 C (14F) and -3 C (26.6)  during daytime, we jumped right into chaos. The whole country came to a standstill, trains had delays, cars stood in endless trafic-jams from 9 till 5. Thank goodness we don't have to go to work anymore.

The snow felt for hours with a pretty strong wind and I think we have some 5 cm now. I enjoy it, feel always excited, that the environment can change so quickly as you can see at my last post of yesterday, when the sun was shining.

And there is always a car that won't go.