Picturit 3: A Shutterchance Love Story

 

As the title indicates, this is the third book (created and published this year) in a series of Astrid's Shutterchance photos that I have collected the last 6 years to celebrate her photographic legacy, especially as it relates to her signature "signature."  Get it?

The first volume is here from 2018, and the second volume is here, from 2022, and are under My Photo Books on my left sidebar here.

Picturit 3: A Shutterchance Love Story:

Click on this Picturit 3 Link and then click on the book.  

Then click on "Full Screen" in the top-right corner.

(The book is 12x12 inches, 110 pages, 234 photos.)

Or, if you're at my In Soul photoblog, you can go to my left sidebar and also click on the book there, which will redirect you to this page.

Shutterchance Photo Books: Boat, Bike and Windmill Friday

 

Because these books were created and published this year, I want to make sure they're listed on my left sidebar (under My Photo Books) before the new year arrives.  So, here goes.

Since 2006 (when I lived in America), I have been part of the Shutterchance photoblog out of England, which includes many of what have become our dearest friends all over the world.  Astrid (from the Netherlands) joined the group in 2007 and, as we all know, the rest is history...with our marriage here in the Netherlands in 2010, where we still live.

These three books are "for the record" (for my kids, actually!) and cover the photos I deemed my best form the 3 categories we often use for our Friday posts, first starting with Boat Friday, and then Bike Friday.  I added Windmill Friday because of, duh, the Netherlands!

BOAT FRIDAY:

Click on this Boat Friday link and then click on the book.  

Then click on "Full Screen" in the top-right corner.

(The book is 11x14 inches, 110 pages, 229 photos.)

BIKE FRIDAY: 

Click on this Bike Friday link and then click on the book.  

Then click on "Full Screen" in the top-right corner.

(The book is 11x14 inches, 110 pages, 158 photos.)

WINDMILL FRIDAY:

Click on this Windmill Friday link and then click on the book.  

Then click on "Full Screen" in the top-right corner.

(The book is 11x14 inches, 110 pages, 160 photos.)

Or, if you're at my In Soul photoblog, you can go to my left sidebar and also click on the books there, which will redirect you to this page.

As you can see, it's a series!  And, I repeat, for the record (and in case you're interested)!  And, yes, we both continue to post whenever possible, usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, weekly:

Astrid is at Picturit.

Ginnie is at Hart & Soul.

Amsterdam Light Festival 2024

In celebration of my 15 years here in the Netherlands, arriving on Sinterklaas (December 5) in 2009, Astrid and I decided to finally visit Amsterdam's Light Festival, in its 13th year, on Thursday, December 12.  And while we were were at it, we threw in the Christmas Market (since it was at the Museumplein where we parked and was opening that day), followed by a Wagamama meal.

The festival lights turned on at 5 p.m., so we hit the Christmas Market first, shortly after 1 p.m., an hour's drive from home:

All the familiar sights/stalls, of course.

It was!  Not quite freezing but I wore my earmuffs.

Our requisite very-hot glühwein hit the spot!

People watching.

Good vibes?

And for our first time ever, we ate a Tornado Potato/Potato Twister!

Totally worth doing again, whenever we have the chance.

And since we were there, we walked into the Rijkmuseum's bike/pedestrian passageway,

just to say we did it, before turning around and walking back out...

before heading to the nearby Wagamama a couple blocks away, near our favorite Apple Store.

It's one of my favorite places (and meals) in all of Amsterdam!

All that was the precursor to what we were there for--the Amsterdam Light Festival.**  By the time we finished at Wagamama, the festival lights turned on and we were hot to trot, starting and ending in this order:

[** the route with info is obtained only via an Apple app, for €7.99, and totally worth it.]

"In Bloom:  swirling dance of the flower petals."

"Deepam, the Light:  floating sea of flickering lights in Herengracht."

"Mind Bridges:  created together with 1100 primary school children."

"Solstice:  celebrate solstice in winter and bask in the glory of the sun."

"Mirror Moon:  honoured all around the world."

"Resting VXNXS:  embrace them, but be gentle and caring."

"Lite of Passage:  see how the world reacts to you."

"Omen:  a lightning bolt frozen in time."

"Crows:  cleansers of both land and mind."

"Ice Master House:  is the ice master home?"

"Never Finished:  who knew roadworks could be poetic?"

"Lion Gate:  a gate of light as entrance to the canals."

"Geometrics to Inhabit Time:  hypnotic large-scale projection work."

"Meditation on the Threshold:  a water screen as a canvas."  

"A Community of Resonance:  the rituals of the maritime world."

We were halfway around the 7-km route at this point, near the Central Station, when Astrid and I both needed a break...for a latte macchiato AND, for me, resting my legs up.  It was 6:45 p.m., almost 2 hours of walking on uneven pavement or cobblestones, stopping and going at every whip-stitch, making sure we caught everything!

In that half-hour rest, we both agreed that our bodies had had it and did NOT need to finish the route.  We had seen the "best" side of Amsterdam and loved what we found.  We didn't need to do anything else but walk the 45 minutes back to the car by the Rijksmuseum...and Christmas market... 

 and wave Good-Bye to the skaters there.

Once we got home at 9:30 p.m., Astrid checked her watch and found out we had walked 10+ km/18K+ steps!  No wonder we were tired.  Not bad for these "old geezers" (age 70 and 79), right?!

And since we're talking about a festival of LIGHT, I leave you with this,

from our house to yours:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A(nother) New Car!

 

I know, I know!  It surprised us probably even more than you!  But, in the end, it made total sense....

Yes, we had just bought a brand-new car last year about this same time:

She (Merlot) was a VW UP! that replaced our well-loved 10-year-old Škoda Citigo

BECAUSE, since the Škoda Citigo was no longer being made, she would be the "exact same."

In other words, she was supposed to be a new model of the car we were giving up.

Except that she wasn't!

Very soon, both Astrid and I started seeing that the brand-new car we had just purchased was not an upgrade (or even "same" grade) but a downgrade, even though it was new.  Astrid felt it in the lack of power she had had in the Citigo engine, especially when on mountainous roads in Belgium.  I felt it in the "little" details, like no overhead handles when getting in and out of the car.

So...one day this past July, out of the blue, I asked Astrid if she'd consider upgrading to another Škoda, trading in our almost still-new VW UP! (under 10K km) at the same place where we bought the UP! (which also sells Škodas).  Pedro, our dealer for all 3 cars in our 15 years together, would be good to us, we knew.

Guess what!  Because the Tour de France was just ending (which has been head-sponsored by Škoda the last 21 years!), Škoda was giving a €2K rebate for any purchase of a new car.  THAT was the fait accompli of our decision to order a new car on August 2....

...which still had to be made (in the Czech Republic) and which was finally delivered and ready for pickup this past Tuesday, November 26!

[All of that was for our record, as I always feel obliged to add!]

Drum roll, please!

The Škoda Fabia Selection in "brilliant silver," and automatic (Astrid's first)!

A foot wider and a foot longer than both our Citigo and UP!

ANY IDEAS FOR A NAME???

It took 45 minutes to finish all the paperwork and then another 45 minutes

to learn the entire entertainment center, connected to Astrid's iPhone.

DONE!

EVERYONE VERY HAPPY!

And THEN...Pedro pulled this trick out of his hat:

A gift-pack of 4 mini whisky bottles (5cl each) to honor Sander!

Pedro hadn't forgotten that we drink a "bottom" of whisky each Saturday

after Sander's death in April of last year, in remembrance.

Another tear and smile to celebrate Life as we know it!

Let's all drink to that.

Another Five Years!

The last time I made a post about renewing my 5-year Dutch staying permit was in January 2020, which is another way of saying that the 5 years gets shorter and shorter every time (depending on when the request is made and not the expiration date--an infuriating story that's beside the point).

But, again, for the record!  

This is my 5th permit since moving to the Netherlands on December 5, 2009, and my second time to pick it up in Den Haag/The Hague.  My 2020 post is full of my impressions of The Hague from that wonderful, blustery day, so no reason to repeat any of that.

Just these very special moments:

Driving into this world-famous city gives me goosebumps.

It's home to the International Court of Justice!

(I'm thinking about Putin and Netanyahu right now.)

It's important to get there early, of course, since it's a scheduled appointment.

So we made sure we had time for a very nice latte macchiato first.

My appointment at 11 a.m. was across the street a block away.

No cameras inside, of course, but once outside, always the obligatory, thankful kiss!

We then had a quick walking-errand for Astrid to the nearby Decathlon sporting-goods store,

before heading back to the car for wherever Astrid would take us for lunch--a surprise.

I hadn't seen this building before so, yes, I grabbed it...

just before the memorable landmark of The Hague's Nieuwe Kerk from 1656,

just outside our parking garage.

Astrid's surprise was finding the only Wagamama on a beach,

which happens to also be The Hague's only Wagamama, in Kijkduin, its suburb.

Followed by ice cream next door, also on the beach, of course!

And yes, that's the North Sea that runs into the Atlantic Ocean!

Far off to the right we saw the nearby beach and city of Scheveningen,

another of our favorite memories over the years, especially with our kids.

This time I couldn't help but think of what's ready to happen across The Big Pond

with Trump's 2nd Presidency.

And I said to myself, Whew!  

Another 5 years to be a legal immigrant without fear of being deported!

I'll drink to that....but God have mercy on everyone else?!

 

Our Atlanta Trip 2024

 

So swiftly fly the years!

Once again, it's the schedule/routine we've grown to love:  one week with daughter Amy, a week at the cabin, followed by a week with son Mark.

1:  At Amy's, October 17-24.

First and foremost, we met her new cat, Nacho, her lover-boy!

And then reacquainted ourselves with her neighborhood on our daily walks

at this fun time of year, with Halloween and Thanksgiving just around the corner.

That first weekend we rendezvoused with Mark and g'son Nicholas for Mexican,

celebrating all our birthdays in one swell foop.

[photo credit:  Astrid]

And then Amy and I voted.  [More on that at the end.]

Even Nacho wanted to vote:  "Please, oh, pretty please???"

I think Kamala wanted to let him!

As we had done in 2015 with Dennis and Nicholas, we decided to go back to Six Feet Under,

the restaurant across the street from the Oakland Cemetery, with just the 3 of us.

Oakland Cemetery is Atlanta's oldest "public park," worth seeing over and over again,

which I'm sure we'll do maybe even next year...again.

But what was new for us this year was Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground.

It's one of Georgia's best-kept secrets I never knew!

And we saw only part of the 300+ acres!

[photo credit:  Astrid]

2.  At the Cabin in the North Georgia Mountains near Blue Ridge, October 24-28.

It was a new cabin this year and, even before opening the door, I took this pano iPhone pic

and immediately said to g'son Nicholas, "This is the one!"

[photo credit:  Astrid]

4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 1 powder room, for 8 people (but only 6 of us).

A kitchen for Amy (the cook) to die for, great walking access, and a view for the soul.

Absolutely nothing to complain about; everything to praise!

And we finally got to meet Mark's girlfriend, Melissa!

Sorry for the duplicate image but what a joy it was to meet her

and to see them both happy and in love with each other.

[right-middle image is from Mark's house the next week]

Speaking of good walking access, Astrid and I got back inside just before the only rain of the stay.

And, yes, that's actually a rainbow in that top-middle image.

One day Mark drove Astrid and me to the nearby Stanley Rapids off the Toccoa River.

[Melissa had to go back home early--long story--and wasn't with us, sadly.]

Lots of Swoop (new card game), movies, football, and GOOD FOOD,

thanks to Amy who loves orchestrating the breakfast and dinner meals.

All I did was bake Mark's all-bran  muffin mix each morning and wash the breakfast dishes!

3:  At Mark's, October 28-November 5.

First order of business once down the mountain at Mark's house

was getting reacquainted with Piper, his cat of 14 years.

As Nacho is to Amy, Piper is to Mark!  She's very loyal to him.

Besides lazing around and playing lots of Five Crowns, the 3 of us took 2 trips.

The first was to the quaint city of Dahlonega for lunch, 33 miles away,

followed by a visit to Amicalola Falls another 20 miles further.

Both were past memories I wanted Astrid to see.

The second trip was to the Cherokee Bluffs Park less than 5 miles from Mark's house

and a new place for all of us, which we will definitely want to visit each year

for the exercise and the therapeutic, soulful beauty.

We had one last chance to see Melissa, who came over for a game night,

while grieving the loss of her dog of 10 years, Watson, who had to be put down

because of terminal cancer (which was the reason why she had to leave the cabin earlier).

All that plus movies in Mark's newly-upgraded home theater, plus one evening of football

for GEORGIA (Mark) and OREGON (Nicholas) and MICHIGAN (moi).

The grand finale with Mark, 3 years in a row now, was his Dungeon's & Dragons potluck,

where Mark cooked a brisket on his pellet grill.  Enough food to sink a ship!

Needless to say, we left for home with full tummies and hearts and souls.

* * * * * * * * * *

That was the 5th, Tuesday, Election Day for America's Presidential Election.  We arrived home in the Netherlands the next day, finding out soon thereafter that Trump was to become our next President.

This is the only story I can tell right now, a week+ later, following the initial gut-punch:

Kamala Harris did NOT lose.  

She ran one of the greatest campaigns in American history FOR the middle class.

Trump did NOT win.

Sadly, it won't be long before Americans and the world find out why.

DISINFORMATION won!

And it's happening all over the world, including here in the Netherlands.

Can we figure out how to counter it?  I sure hope so!