Today my world was turned upside down and inside out. Back to the core of life.
So I need to share a bit of beauty: my favorite insect, dangling upside down without the slightest effort. (Click for the original size.)
And thank you, Michael Bublé, for singing to me tonight 🙂
The fishing village of Clovelly was a pleasant surprise on our trip in the south of England,
as was Corfe, village of Dorset, with its famous castle.
More villages in Jake Sprinter’s Sunday Post.
Six Word Saturday:
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Our friend Monnik celebrated her 40th birthday today, by inviting seven friends for an afternoon of street golf and a very special barbecue on water. Though we only reached four golf ‘holes’ – two trees and two concrete blocks – and almost knocked a woman off her bike, we had big fun. The boat had a lazy engine, which got us stuck under a bridge for a while, and also a lazy barbecue (the round device in the middle of the orange ‘boat’), but in the end the boat and wine floated and the food got hot so we could finally dig in. The nice skipper kept his thoughts to himself hehehe.
Thanks Monnik, for sharing this special day with us.
Have a fine weekend!
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Last night, a thunderstorm threatened to break loose. But after a bit of growling, it settled down again.
I shot these photos with my iPhone, using clarity and a touch of HDR to bring out the clouds better.
Yesterday we went to Nijmegen, one of the oldest cities of the Netherlands. In fact, Nijmegen claims to be THE oldest, together with Maastricht and Voorburg. If you are interested in Nijmegen: a link with more information.
I would like to share a couple of photos with you:
… and then redirect you for these and other photos to Nijmegen in al haar pracht on my Dutch blog Doldriest. Just skip the texts over there, it is only silly Dutch anyway 😉
To my surprise and delight, I encountered up to three Citroën 2CV on today’s stroll. This deux chevaux-vapeur (meaning ‘two tax horsepower’) was an economy car produced by the French car manufacturer Citroën between 1948 and 1990.
It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with uncompromisingly utilitarian unconventional looks, and deceptively simple Bauhaus inspired bodywork, that belied the sheer quality of its underlying engineering. It was designed to move the French peasantry on from horses and carts. It is considered one of Citroën’s most iconic cars. In 1953 Autocar in a technical review of the car wrote of the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford. It was described by CAR magazine journalist and author LJK Setright as the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car.
The Citroën 2CV was designed for low cost, simplicity of use, versatility, reliability, and off-road driving. For this it had a light, easily serviceable engine, extremely soft long travel suspension (with height adjustment by lengthening/shortening of tie rods), high ground clearance, and for oversized loads a car-wide canvas sunroof (which until 1955) also covered the boot.
The 2CV belongs to a short list of vehicles introduced in the middle of the 20th century that remained relevant and competitive for many decades, such as the Jeep, Land Rover Series, Fiat 500, Mini and Volkswagen Beetle.
These cars are called Ugly Ducklings in Holland, but I think they are adorable! When I was young, we used to have a Citroën Dyane back home, and I loved driving in it.
What do you think? Are these really Ugly Ducklings, or Beautiful Swans? 😉
Yesterday I stared into the eyes of a complete stranger. Non-stop, for ten seconds. No talking involved. It was interesting and weird. Afterwards I asked for his name, so he (Koen) was no stranger anymore 😉
It was a challenge during the annual Education Day of our university. The speaker told us that the average time married people look full into each other’s eyes is eight seconds a day. Only eight seconds?! Can anyone confirm that? I stare into V-man’s eyes much longer, but perhaps that is because we don’t live together.
On our way back to the academy, I saw this statue, with a fancy fair in the background. I jumped onto the bicycle path (yes, we have plenty of those in Holland), was almost run over by several vehicles, but managed to take this photo. The Fair Man.
Six Word Saturday
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Food that will take your breath away, only to be replaced with a richness of taste and flavors. You don’t need oxygen when you are eating at Hotel New York!
This hotel/restaurant is located in the magnificent former headquarters of the Holland America Line in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), also called The Grand Old Lady. It was built in 1901 in Jugendstil / Art Nouveau by the architects J. Muller, Droogleever Fortuin and C.B. van der Tak.
In 1977, the head quarters of the Holland America Line moved to Seattle. The Grand Old Lady at the Wilhelmina Pier was for sale. Fortunately someone saw the potential of this very special building, which resulted in the grand re-opening of her nostalgic doors on May 5th, 1993 as a hotel and restaurant.
If you ever find yourself in Rotterdam, you really should have dinner there. Or at least a cup of tea or coffee. With a chocolate chip cookie.
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Want to play along? All that’s necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words.
<< Click the button for more Six Word Saturday.
Figments of a DuTchess 