An Autumn Break

As most of you know by now, this is the time of year when Astrid and I fly back to America to be with family and friends.  We leave early tomorrow and return on Wednesday, 1 November, three weeks later.

While we're gone, I'll leave you with some images from two of my recent citadel walks from where we live here in Gorinchem, NL.  It really IS autumn!

This is the collage I posted on Facebook after my September 20th walk.

Okay, not technically autumn yet, but who cares!

From my collage posts, I love picking out a few images for my Shutterchance photoblog.

How can you resist the little children leading us!

See how easy it is to dramatize an image?!

Sometimes I "see" it in my mind's eye and just have to play around with it.

The next week, September 27th, was a foggy day, which I love.

The Nooit Volmaakt windmill is just two blocks from our back door.

The sun was trying to burn through the fog.

Then I saw the first of Erik Buijs' 7" mini-sculptures along the citadel path.

It's the one of a man playing "fetch" with his dog.

In fact, the top image is from March where you can see the full view on its 5-ft pole.

Not that I've seen the series but, up close, he reminds me of The Walking Dead!

Our other Gorinchem windmill is De Hoop (The Hope), standing as a sentry midst "foggy" times.

When I posted this on Facebook last week, it felt appropriate after the Las Vegas mass shooting.

Just past the windmill is our Dalempoort, through which you look out to the Merwede river.

On a foggy day it felt so magical.

Today on FB I have posted this collage as a Good-Bye to all my lovelies where we live.
When we return on 1 November, I'm sure there will be many autumnal changes.

We'll spend our first week in Connecticut with friends Ted and Jane.

Then we'll have time with the kids in Atlanta, followed by Bob and Peggy south of Atlanta,

and then the North Georgia cabin in the mountains with the kids before flying home.
For those of you who follow us on FB, we'll try to keep you updated there.

We LOVE this time of the year!

Watercolor Sunday and Saturday's Color: September 2017

And now it's AUTUMN!  My favorite time of the year.

These are my Watercolor Sunday posts on Facebook for September 2017:

September 3 (photo manipulation):

"Before the reward there must be labor.  You plant before you harvest.

You sow in tears before you reap joy."  --Ralph Ransom

Happy Labor Day weekend to all my American and Canadian family and friends.

September 10 (photo manipulation):

"Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You;

And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by."

--Psalm 57:1

"You may never know what results come by your action,

But if you do nothing there will be no result."  --Mahatma Gandhi

September 17 (photo manipulation):

"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

--Bob Marley

September 24 (photo manipulation):

"You are like a chestnut burr, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel,

if one can only get at it.  Love will make you show your heart some day, 

and then the rough burr will fall off."  --Louisa May Alcott

"The thing about love is that you will never run out of it.  It's an ever-flowing river.

So go ahead and LOVE.  What are you waiting for--death?  --Kamand Kojouri

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

My Saturday's Color posts on Facebook for September 2017:

(finished on 8 May 2017, posted on FB 2 September 2017)

It's September but it's also still summer!  So enjoy the last blooms while you can, 

especially you in America and Canada on this Labor Day weekend.

(from my 12 x 12 Mandala book)

(finished on 29 July 2017, posted on FB 9 September 2017)

Here's another repetitive-pattern design from my Techellations book.

I was still in Piet Mondriaan (Dutch painter) mood when choosing my colors.

I know it says something about me but I'm a glutton for these designs.  :)

(finished on 12 September 2017, posted on FB 16 September 2017)

These are the things I've been thinking about lately:  Change.  Metamorphosis.

Transformation.  Rebirth.  The Phoenix, rising from the ashes....

(from my Art Deco book)

(finished on 14 September 2017, posted on FB 23 September 2017)

Native American blood was coursing through my veins when I colored this 

Color Me Fearless design.  It is incumbent on each of us to "shoot straight as an arrow,"

being true to ourselves as we walk through life, no matter what anyone else thinks.

(finished on 10 September 2015, posted on FB 30 September 2017)

This is a centerfold spread of two pages from my Book of Kells designs.

I suppose this is what it looks like when "things" end up in a tangled mess,

as seems to be happening a lot lately?!  (sigh)


Now that it's October, the month will fly for us because we travel to America next week.
But more on that before we leave....