An Old Dog's New Tricks

Before anything else, Prayers for Norway! My heart goes out to our old and new friends there....

Ironically, this is the image I had queued for my Shutterchance blog today before last Friday's tragic attacks occurred. I ponder such things in my heart. This is the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway.
God have mercy on us all!

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It's been like an albatross around my neck for over a year now, after purchasing my 100mm macro lens in Novemeber of 2009, just before moving across the Big Pond.

So, at the beginning of this year, 2011, I made the commitment: learn to use it "or else" by the end of this year!

Now that half the year is over, I'm finally starting the learning curve on all the settings:

• Full vs. .5m vs. .3-.5m?
• Auto Focus vs. Manual Focus?
• Aperture Priority vs. what?
• High vs. low aperture?
• Single vs. multi-focus points?
• Tripod vs. hand-held?
  
• Etc., etc.

I started off a week ago and every day learned something new. Oh, and Victoria over at A Photography Addict's Showcase gave me inspiration and tips. THANK YOU, Victoria.

This was my first attempt, here inside our apartment.
NO WIND! Very important.
I started out with a tripod and a single-point focus on that one left 'eye'.
I was feeling cross-eyed after multiple attempts.
As Victoria said, I need to know what effect I want!

One sunny day on my walk, I decided to try hand-held shots outside, in spite of our almost constant wind. I was not gonna let this thing control me. I wanted to control IT!

I was excited to think I had found a bumble bee.
WRONG! Victoria told me it's a hoverfly...another learning curve.


At least this one didn't fly away!

Then on Saturday morning Astrid and I were invited for koffie over at Thelma and Siem's. Thelma is an Indonesian woman living here in The Netherlands since 1960. Dutch Siem met her in 1964, they fell in love and have been married now for 46 years! Astrid and Thelma used to play tennis together and have remained in contact.

Lucky for me, they have a HUGE garden with every kind of flower and bush imaginable. Talk about a macro-lens paradise. EXCEPT FOR THE WIND. I LOVE the wind here in this country but when it come to outdoor macro shots, it's my enemy. Still, after 304 images, I was able to narrow them down to 30 okay/decent shots...for my learning curve, that is. Here are some of them:

Even after the link from Victoria about hoverflies vs. bees, I still don't know if this was a bee.
It sure seemed different from all the hoverflies I saw, but...who knows!


But these for sure are hoverflies. Hundreds of them everywhere.


And one dragonfly to end the day.
[click on any image to enlarge]


Hanging on for dear life midst all the wind!


I was such a happy camper in Thelma and Siem's garden!
And the good news is that we will go back again and again, just as we've done before.

In the meantime, I'll keep practicing to figure out what it is I want with macro shots. That may be as much of the learning curve as anything else?!

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Now that the Tour de France is done and over with for another year, HURRAH to Cadel Evans from Australia for pulling the whole thing off. HURRAH also to the Schleck brothers from Luxemburg who came in 2nd and 3rd. It was a 'first' for Australia and a 'first' for two brothers! Pretty exciting stuff...and yes, true to form, I cried like a baby at the end. (sigh)

Drøbak, Norway

With this post, our long Norway saga comes to an end. Finally!

And what a place to end it after all we saw in Oslo our April 1st weekend, followed by our 6-day Hurtigruten sea voyage from Kirkenes north to Bergen south. Then we did the cross-country 7-hour train ride from Bergen back to Oslo (last post).

It was Tor's 66th birthday that Sunday when we returned to Oslo (remember, we're twins. born 2 months apart!). The next evening we were scheduled to fly back to Amsterdam, so he graciously took Monday off to show us a part of Norway, in the outskirts of Oslo, that is dear to his heart: Drøbak. His paternal grandmother, Martha, was born there in 1882.

Our parking spot was across the street from the Drøbak Kirke from 1776,
so that's where we started a lovely, leisurely walk around the city centrum.


I love churches that have cemeteries on their property.
Somehow it just seems appropriate.


On the other side of the church is where the commander of the Battle of Drøbak Sound is buried and memoralized, Colonel Birger Eriksen.. The start of the war in Europe began here against the German invasion, 9 April 1940. We stood on that spot almost exactly 71 years later, 11 April 2011.


It was fun to follow the Oslofjord around the back of the church and hilly terrain to the harbor.
It was such a delightfully warm and sunny day, as you can see.


And did I mention...a LAZY day!
Tor seemed to know just exactly what the doctor ordered.


We weren't the only ones!


All good things come to an end...but only to make way for the next good thing, right?
We were on our way to the harbor and had to check everything out.
The top-left image (above) is an old-timey lighthouse, compared to the one on the right!


And before we could say Jack Sprat, there they were: the Three Mermaids.
They're a gift to the city from Ingeborg Lane, sculpted by Reinard Finsrud. They're not as famous as Copenhagen's Little Mermaid but just as impressive, if not more so.


Now you know why there are THREE mermaids guarding this lovely harbor.
I have been to the harbor in Copenhagen where the Little Mermaid sits: no comparison!


From the harbor we started walking through this idyllic seaside town to the town square...


...and to the Christmas shop.
See the Santa sign Tor is holding? He bought that for us because the Drøbak Julehuset is open year-round with its own postmark. A big deal for children of all ages (which we are!).


Astrid was able to capture one of the signs as we entered the city.


Then it was time for lunch. Tor knew exactly where to go.
It was the perfect way to end our delicious day and trip...before leaving for the airport.


But first, one last surprise from Tor...a collage I have already shown when he took us to the vantage point high above Oslo, showing the same mountains in the background where Edvard Munch was inspired to paint his "Scream."


Remember my Opera House post? What a different vantage point!


...and 4 more churches to add to our Norway collection...

And one last weathervane captured by Astrid! A perfect one for ending the trip, sending us off on our brooms back to The Netherlands. HA!

Talk about the trip of a lifetime. How many times have I said that! We can't recommend it enough, which is one of the resons why I worked hard on all these posts to finish them. If you ever have the chance, GO. You'll never regret it.

But then, you could also just come here to visit us and be equally as entertained. I promise.

The World's Best Train Ride: Bergen to Oslo, Norway

From west to east across Norway's bottom-heavy configuration, starting in Bergen, ending in Oslo, is billed the finest train trip of the world. I believe it. All 7 hours of it. (click on map to enlarge)

When we first had the idea to do it, at the end of our Norway trip, we had nothing but confirmation that it was the thing to do. In fact, it would be a sin not to do it. Our 6-day Hurtigruten sea voyage ended in Bergen and we had to get back to Oslo for our flight back to Amsterdam. It was a no-brainer.

We didn't know what the weather would be like but thankfully, it did not rain at all the entire time. It wasn't always sunny, but not to worry. We were able to see!

Our MS Vesterålen ship had arrived in Bergen on Saturday afternoon at 2:30. That meant staying the night in Bergen before catching our train at 10:28 the next morning. No problem, since we visited with blogger-friend Charles and his husband, Odd.

So, first thing Sunday morning, we were packed and raring to go to the train station just 10 minutes away...taking pictures, of course, as we moseyed along.


Astrid and I are both on the same page when it comes to time: we'd both rather be waaaaay too early than even on time. It helps us calm down before we get started.
These are important things to know about each other, of course.
Once we walked into the station, we had plenty of time to get the lay of the land, look at the art, and people watch. Oh, yes, and to grab a bite to eat for breakfast!


Did I tell you how much I love trains?!
Don't worry, I set up the laptop only long enough to upload the images from the night before,
after which it was shut the rest of the trip.
Notice the outside temp of 20 °C at almost 5 p.m. I believe it was 6 °C when we started
and went down to 3 °C once we were in the snow-covered mountains.


Did you see the knitter in the collage above this one? She sat behind us,
creating this very typical Norwegian sweater. Don't you wish you knew her!
My guess is she is not a tourist but a frequent traveler on this train.


It didn't take too long before our tickets were carefully scanned and confirmed.
He was so cute and dedicated, coming through the train after every stop.
I should have asked him how long he's been doing this?


In 7 hours, we had 20 stops, including Oslo:
Arna, Dale, Voss, Myrdal, Hallingskeid, Finse, Haugasøl, Ustaoset, Geilo, Ål, Gol, Nesbyen, Flå, Hønefoss, Vikersund, Hokksund, Drammen, Asker, Lysaker, and Oslo.
Every station was unique.


At some of the stations we saw other varieties of trains,
some older than the hills, others fit for the future.


You should have seen me!
I was up and down, passing from one empty seat to another on both sides of the train to get in as much as possible. Sometimes Astrid stayed put on her side and I on the other, just so we could both take pictures of the different things we were seeing.
Thanks to Astrid for a few of her images here-n-there!


In a second I'll show you the part of Norway in the center where snow was still in abundance
and skiers were still having a heyday, even on 10 April.
But on either side of that, we saw the rivers and lakes of Norway's middle earth.


And structures of every kind....


And churches, of course!
(I doubt if one is a church but I included it anyway--2nd from the top right.)


And all kinds of Misc.


But it was the snow that blew us both away!
THAT is a LOT of it....


A paradise for skiers!
No wonder Norway wins so many Olympic medals during the winter games!

With this post I am winding down on our Norway trip, with one more to go for next week from when we visited Drøbak with blogger-friend Tor. For over a month now, Astrid and I have stayed put around home, partly for me to get these posts done before adding other photo hunts into the mix.

But all that is changing this weekend when we will visit Roden on a photo hunt with other bloggers...and the following weekend in Gent, Belgium. But more on that later. Don't want to jump the gun!

The Norway Weathervanes, etc.

Part of the etc. of this post is that it's my turn at Vision & Verb again...

...where I talk about what happens when you feel snubbed/hurt.
I loved that I had this image in my files from a gift shop in Stokmarknes, Norway.

After the last few posts on our Hurtigruten sea voyage, especially the last post on the Norway churches (during Blogger's black-out!) which took a lot out of me, I needed something a bit lighter for today. Nothing better than weathervanes, right?!

How's that for all the weathervanes I captured from Olso to Kirkenes to Bergen and back to Oslo again! Most of the ones with dates were on the top of churches, telling the world when they were built. Notice how there are a few that remind me of what we have here in The Netherlands: the sailboat, cock, dog and owl.

Speaking of which, what better time to show the weathervanes I've collected here the last few weeks around our neck of the woods, some as recent as this past Saturday:

See how easily you can tell when it's sunny or not!
But what amazes me the most is that every single one is unique. There are many that are similar but one tiny thing may be different, like the horse's tail being up instead of down.

So soulful for me...and funl!

Now look at this and tell me what you see:

No. Or yes. A trick of the eye?
The image on the left is a stork weathervane. On the right is a stork's nest....
but it's a fake nest, all of it, including the storks, not real. Storks are common here in The Netherlands and build their nests on top of chimneys, if they can. Astrid says they return year after year to the same nest.
So, see how creative this family is...to keep real storks from nesting on their chimney!
BTW, if you want storks to hang around, you build a stand for them for their nest as seen here (scroll down).

How about some more etc....

We went to our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant the other week and found this special of the month: asparagus with ham and egg sauce. OMG! We liked it so much we hope we can go back and have it again before the season is done and over. Asparagus in Europe is WHITE, not green, and has to be peeled.
So different from what we're used to in the States.

Since we have to go out into the countryside to get there (above), we always see so many interesting things. Astrid is almost always ready to stop on a dime for me, bless her:

Spring is in the air everywhere. Babies being born, you know!


Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey.
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?


Swans are everywhere. I have seen more swans in one year than in the rest of my life combined.
Ditto for herons. The canals are perfect habitats for them both.


Speaking of herons, you can imagine our surprise one day to see one inside our senior-living courtyard at the fountain. He obviously flew in, ate a goldfish (Astrid saw him do it!), and then flew away. The bugger!


And speaking of babies, the geese in town are having a heyday.
It takes a village, you know, to raise a family!


Couldn't do etc. without adding a windmill, this one from Meerkerk.
It's a hollow-post mill from 1665, used to control the water level in the polder.

And finally, one of my favorite houses seen every time we go to the pannenkoeken restaurant:



Once again, a reminder that today is my Vision &Verb post....and now have a great week with all your etc's and so forths and so ons.