Mart Martorell's Open House

In my last post I wanted to whet your appetite with lots of faces from the glassblower's Open House in Laren (Gelderland), Netherlands back on June 9-10.  By now, Mart Martorell has become our friend...and to think it all started at the Christmas market in Düsseldorf last year!

It so happens Astrid told one of her co-workers about the Open House because she knew Sjarien (pronounced Sha-REEN) was excited hearing about Astrid's experience with blowing glass.  If Sjarien came, she could possibly have a chance to blow glass herself.

And she did!  And her sister came to watch (upper right).

Nothing like passing on the thrill of the moment.

Actually, Sjarien came on Sunday, the second day, so I'm ahead of myself....

After Saturday's festivities, once the huddled masses were gone, the remaining "workers" stayed in the shop/gallery to watch the first Dutch soccer game of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship.

 We all quickly went into game mode!

We hooted and hollered.  We did everything right.

But alack, alas, Holland could not pull off the win...then or in their next 2 chances.

HUP HOLLAND was out and buried early on in the tournament.  Sad but true.

Still, we had fun and were able to get to our nearby hotel before 9 p.m.

It was so nearby, we could have walked to the Ehzerwold Hotel from the glass shop.

What a delightful, restful former hospital in the midst of the woods!

We slept 10 hours that night and had all morning on Sunday to just enjoy the place.

While Saturday's open house was for anyone and everyone, Sunday's was specifically for Mart's family, colleagues, and friends as well as random visitors (like Sjarien).  So if you look through this YouTube of both days, the second part is of very special people to Mart, including his parents.

I processed 410 images in an album for Mart to use as he wishes.

Then I reduced it down to 300 images for this YouTube.  That's a LOT!

My first draft was 300 images in 4 minutes at .8 second each.  Way too fast!

Mart told me he wanted all 300 images and didn't care how long it was.

So that's why it's now 7.35 minutes at 1.5 seconds each.

I guess you could say it's something only the attendees will want to see.  HA!
(does anyone know how to slow down the opening slides with credits???)

What a grand experience!  And now Mart will let things settle during the next weeks, after which we'll go back to take individual shots of glass pieces for his website.  It's a story that has no end...yet!  I love it.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Before you go...today is my turn at Vision and Verb again....on Our World is Not Flat!

 ...and other Big-Fish stories.

I was inspired by a blogger friend, Geoff Dunn, to buy a 3cm clear-glass oculus

and take pictures through it.  How fun is that!
The images are upside down through the oculus, so you have to flip them.

How 'bout having the whole world in your hands!

 

A 2012 Amsterdam Outing

When we found out blogger friend Tor was going to be in Amsterdam for a week visiting his "sister" Sylvie, we knew we'd accept his invitation to join them for a day.  Which we did a week ago Friday!  Remember Tor from Norway?  Yes, that Tor.

[To add to the excitement, I'm trying out a new collage program passed on by blogger-friend Victoria.  All the images that follow today are from PicMonkey.  After one time, I really like it...an added option to PhotoScape!]

Anyway, our rendezvous spot in Amsterdam was the Rembrandtplein.  

So we drove to the Amsterdam AJAX soccer stadium where we parked for the day with 2 roundtrip tickets to Rembrandtplein for €8 total.  Unbeatable price if you know anything about European parking!

Rendezvous time was noon but since we were early,
we walked around and took lots of pictures, of course.

We caught the sun on his back when we arrived...and on his face when we left!

There he is, my twin brother (born 2 months early).

Sylvie is originally from Chile but has lived in Amsterdam for 25 years.

Now we're all brothers and sisters!

Both before and after spending most of our time in Vondelpark,

we walked around Amsterdam spots I almost knew by heart.  So fun.

We even ate lunch over by the Leidseplein, near the apartment from my past life...

...just a hop, skip, and a jump from Vondelpark, Amsterdam's 120-acre urban park. 

 And that was the beginning of all kinds of photo ops!

 

(click any image to enlarge, of course)

Don't you love being a little kid?! 

I couldn't resist the "toppers," of course....

 Or the gevelstenen, as we walked from here to there.

This city holds so many memories from so many years and Astrid said,

as we headed home by ourselves, that we now need to go back to Utrecht!

Some of your know we're in the middle of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship

 right now, hosted by Poland and the Ukraine.

That Friday, June 8, was the first game of the tournament,

decorated to the nines both in Amsterdam and back at our apartment complex.

Since then Holland has played and lost 3 games...and is finished!  Boo Hoo.
But as Astrid says, they're more EGO than TEAM and deserved to lose!
Hup Holland!  Zo was het.