Going the quick way would have been only 20 miles but, as usual, we set Tom-Tom to the scenic route...driving along the same dijks we drove last year January when we were at near-flood stage. Except that this time it was a sunny day!
This was the very first image I took this trip...
which turned into a bit of a story.
The lady of the house came out to see what we 2 "old ladies" were doing with cameras!
Point a camera and ...well, you can imagine what people start thinking these days.
Guess what her husband does? Yup. you guessed it.
She said they found the weathervane on the internet!
which turned into a bit of a story.
The lady of the house came out to see what we 2 "old ladies" were doing with cameras!
Point a camera and ...well, you can imagine what people start thinking these days.
Guess what her husband does? Yup. you guessed it.
She said they found the weathervane on the internet!
As we continued driving, I began seeing things I remembered from our last drive there,
and even started anticipating the landmarks...like the windmill without sails
and the crazy chair and gun atop that chimney!
Then, before anyone could say BOO, Astrid caught the storks out of the corner of her eye!
A Herwijnen stork village was created to multiply their population in the Netherlands,
after nearly dying out the first half of the 20th century!
We counted at least 10 nests, for a pair each....
(click any collage to enlarge)
...and even saw one couple do a "quickie." HA!
She fluffed her feathers while he dive-bombed himself away.
After all, it IS spring when all such things turn to love.
Hopefully the babies will come in their expected time.
"It takes a village," of course!
after nearly dying out the first half of the 20th century!
We counted at least 10 nests, for a pair each....
(click any collage to enlarge)
...and even saw one couple do a "quickie." HA!
She fluffed her feathers while he dive-bombed himself away.
After all, it IS spring when all such things turn to love.
Hopefully the babies will come in their expected time.
"It takes a village," of course!
And wouldn't you know, 3 days later our city newspaper had this very Herwijnen "village" on its front page:
Lentekriebels = Spring itches.
Spring really IS the time for love.
Babies were everywhere to be found as we drove around!
Babies were everywhere to be found as we drove around!
We saw HUNDREDS of these liddle lamzy diveys!
That must have made us hungry because we were ready for our koffie met apeltaart when we saw this restaurant right there on the dijk: Het Dijkhuis = The Dijk House.
Did I ever tell you how much the Dutch LOVE the sun?
I thought Americans were sun worshippers!
You ain't seen nothing yet. Astrid was in heaven.
This church was a stone's-throw away...on the outskirts of Tiel...
I thought Americans were sun worshippers!
You ain't seen nothing yet. Astrid was in heaven.
This church was a stone's-throw away...on the outskirts of Tiel...
...and when Astrid saw these bird houses by the side of the road, near the church,
she had to explain them to me. One word: Flipje.
Flipje is the mascot of Tiel, but more on him next week.
Continuing along the dijk, you can't miss this bronze monument by Cor Litjens:
Huizen op de Dijk = Houses on the Dijk, from 1997.
See how Astrid gives it scale...for all the big landmarks around the world.
This is my image on Shutterchance today from the monument,
a tip of the hat to Big Ben and all our English friends!
(Shutterchance originates from the UK.)
As we often say, we were short of eyes...and we hadn't even arrived in Tiel proper!
To be continued next post....
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
she had to explain them to me. One word: Flipje.
Flipje is the mascot of Tiel, but more on him next week.
Continuing along the dijk, you can't miss this bronze monument by Cor Litjens:
Huizen op de Dijk = Houses on the Dijk, from 1997.
See how Astrid gives it scale...for all the big landmarks around the world.
This is my image on Shutterchance today from the monument,
a tip of the hat to Big Ben and all our English friends!
(Shutterchance originates from the UK.)
As we often say, we were short of eyes...and we hadn't even arrived in Tiel proper!
To be continued next post....
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
As a teaser, here are the weathervanes we saw that day, in and around Tiel:
Happy first week of April.
Happy Easter Week!
Happy Easter Week!
Where to start? Another amazing set of images Ginnie! The storks are wonderful, spring is definitely sprung methinks :) Isn't the sunshine great! though we are getting forecasts for SNOW now.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing the weathervanes.
Anne: The storks really ARE wonderful. Every time I see them I'm reminded of how I grew up only hearing about them but never seeing them. Now I see them on almost every outing.
ReplyDeleteI must have mis-spoken myself but these are the only weathervanes from this trip. No more to be found until the next trip.
Oh, what wonderful photographs. Again. I love the animals, and the architectural details, everything. Happy spring!
ReplyDeleteKaren: Thank you! I love the animals, too...especially the wee ones. :) Happy spring, indeed. I know you must be delighting in your garden these days!
ReplyDeletedid anyone conduct a study on who has the most weathervanes yet? i'm guessing it's netherlands, by the posts and images you've shown. they are very fanciful too.
ReplyDeletei love the church.
i'd take the long way to anywhere too, if i'm not going to work.
PC: I wonder if they have a Dutch database for weathervanes like they do for windmills, lighthouses, and gevelstenen? Probably not but maybe they should. :) They're so fun to find and almost always unique.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Maria, for your comment, as always.
When that lady came out of her house, I thought.... oh brother, here we go again.....
ReplyDeleteI am glad she took it well. I wonder if she did look at this post.
It is so much fun to track down the weathervanes on the road. It was just a pure coincidence that I spotted all those storks. Wouldn't it be fun to go back when the eggs are 'out' (little storks get their 'flying lessons')
Trips like this are so much fun. We had a great meal at the Vietnamees. I hope that we have many of these days, this comming year. IHVJ.
Astrid: All's well that ends well, right? The lady was nice and realized we were there in her driveway for a good reason. I think she was proud of their weathervane. :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to see the baby storks. Maybe we can figure it out, time-wise. Wouldn't that be fun.
Next week I'll show the Vietnamese restaurant. You're jumping the gun on me.... :)
Wow. Just imagine what a person misses who doesn't look up! These attentions to the rooftops, both by the owners, the storks, and the photographers, are so gratifying.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, there are babies everywhere! It's spring! :D
Ruth: Yes, you are so right! One of my mantras ever since moving here is "Always look up!" The weathervanes, of course, have everything to do with the importance of the wind here and from which direction it's coming. It tells you if cold is coming or a warm spell and what will do good or bad for the crops. Wind is everything...and lucky for me since I am a lover of Wind!
ReplyDeleteBecause of the animals out-n-about everywhere we travel, spring has had new meaning for me here in this country. I love it!
Don't look now, but I believe you ARE the Dutch database for weathervanes and gevelstenen. I am still cracking up about that Granny Clampet chair. Wish I had one of those when our daughter first started dating :-D
ReplyDeleteLove the ooievaren! Reminds me of the baby quilt my mother made for our daughter. No, I don't have a digital photo of it, just a slide. I hope to get a round tuit soon.
That arch would be the envy of any St. Louisan.
DB: HA! Actually, Astrid found a site for windwijzers the other day and I LOVE it: http://www.bef-nijmegen.nl/Windwijzers/album.html. It even is in alphabetical order by city. Hmmmm. I may need to consider something similar. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, those storks are just wonderful to watch. We'd like to go back and see the babies soon. I'd LOVE to see that baby quilt!
Thank you, DB, for stopping by, as always.
You certainly saw many interesting things on your trip! The collages of the storks are stunning. So many young ones, and as my mother told me “storks bring babies” and I believed that just like Santa brought presents down the chimney, storks brought the babies down the same way…..Astrid sure looks happy under the sun rays! I just baked an apple cake and thought about you. I had not baked one in a long time but this was a mix from the big apple company in East Ellijay – and it is good.
ReplyDeleteVagabonde: Thank you! I always heard about the storks bringing babies, too, but that was before I ever actually saw storks all the time! HA. I feel so lucky.
ReplyDeleteI bet your apple cake was scrumptious!
Once again, seeing the Netherlands through your eyes is such a treat! The images are all so marvelous but I do especially like the weather vanes and stork images from this post. I think as a child I thought storks were made up birds! I would love to see some 'in the wild' one of these days.
ReplyDeleteMy iPhone photography workshop in Napa, CA ended today and my brain is full... so I decided to have a break and catch up with your blog before practicing some of the skills I learned. :-) Tomorrow I'm doing a wine country tour that will visit 4 wineries... by bus so I don't have to worry about driving myself! :-)
Victoria: I love showing to the world what I see here in the Netherlands because I feel so lucky. Besides, I think when you're from another country, you always see things differntly than how the "natives" see them. I know Astrid is seeing things here now through my eyes and she's becoming more and more proud of her heritage. I'm glad for that.
ReplyDeleteWhat your iPhone is able to do is beyond incredible. It is totally changing photography today as we know it! Enjoy your wine-country tour and take lots of pictures...if you can remember and see straight. HA! Thank God for the bus. :)
As always, I like your weather vane photos. :) Your stork photos stand out, too.
ReplyDeleteTim: Thank you kindly. I really love the huge variety of weathervanes I've seen here. It amazes me!
ReplyDeleteOh, how I love that crazy chair 'n gun atop that chimney! So hilarious!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had really nice spring weather too - and now I'm so jealous because yesterday we got some snow again - yikes! though I bet it will be gone tomorrow already since there should be sun tomorrow.
LCT: Thank you! The things we see in this country! That day was gorgeous and a few days since but now we're getting much-needed rain. The temps still hover between 40-50 F but spring is definitely here to stay. SNOW? Yes, that, too, shall pass. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the "corner of her eye" was working :) I adore those storks and how they wrap around one another. The weathervanes are really something... wish we had more here in our country!
ReplyDelete