Before I get started (don't you love that we can start before we start!)...
CONGRATULATIONS are in order for my "little sister" Ruth
becoming a g'ma for the first time this past week:
James Lawrence Robinson was born on his due date, January 18.
Can you see G'ma Ruth's pride in how she took this image less than 24 hours later!
Hopefully Astrid and I will be able to meet him in May when we fly to Michigan.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
In my last post I mentioned that my laptop broke at the hinges and had to be taken to the shop. I had never heard of such a thing but it apparently happens a lot, according to the techie. Lucky for me, I had 4 more days on my 24-month warranty. Lucky also that they will do the annual maintenance gratis. I think they really felt sorry for me...or embarrassed.
So my new learning curve for 2-3 weeks ("I'll tell the Chinaman to rush the parts," the techie said) is to work the internet "like normal" from Astrid's laptop...including her Corel PaintShop for image manipulation. Almost all the images below, the ones in the collages, are from her program. I'm indebted to her, of course!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Winter here in the Netherlands still has not arrived!
Temps for the most part hang around 40-45 F, with lots of rain.
See how full our Merwede river is!
On my daily walk around our citadel city, I say HI to our "sister city" Woudrichem.
I love seeing her main church and windmill waving back from across the river.
In spite of all the rain, once in awhile the sun does shine,
so I enjoy seeing where I live with new eyes.
With my 300mm lens I can zoom in on Sister Woudrichem
to see how she's really doing.
But it's usually my side of the river I want to see, like the Dalempoort.
Some of this you have seen before...but I never tire of it.
And see, there's our water tower in the background.
There's a bridge on the river side of the Dalempoort crossing a wee canal.
I love to see the dog-walkers out there...and the seagulls when someone brings bread.
Same bridge, and if you look up, you see De Hoop windmill.
Same place, same station...but different music.
I love it here!
It so happens it's in this area that our Poort 6 housing authority is building
a huge apartment complex overlooking the river....
See the Grote Kerk in the center image way in the background?
That's the church that's only 2 blocks from where we live,
so that gives you a feel for where this is.
Did I ever tell you how much I love cranes?
Construction cranes, that is!
They've been going at it non-stop for several months now.
When I posted the above collage at my Shutterchance blog,
a friend thought I'd like this YouTube.
OMG! It's hauntingly beautiful!
Over by the Linge Harbor around the corner, I smile every time I see this British canal boat.
I'm not sure what it's doing here but if I ever find out, I'll let you know:
I imagine it swam over from the UK, right?
It looks so different from the wider Dutch canal boats.
Did I ever believe I'd know the difference?
But not to be confused with the myriad barges that go back-n-forth every day....
...not only along the Merwede river, where I started above,
but along our bigger canals passing through our city
where all the drawbridges stand up and salute.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
And yes, we finished another Jan van Haasteren jigsaw puzzle yesterday!
This one is De Storm (The Storm), 1500 pieces (image from JvH's site).
The details, let alone humor, are amazing.
No wonder we're hooked.
Now, until next week, let's see what other excitements are in store....
CONGRATULATIONS are in order for my "little sister" Ruth
becoming a g'ma for the first time this past week:
James Lawrence Robinson was born on his due date, January 18.
Can you see G'ma Ruth's pride in how she took this image less than 24 hours later!
Hopefully Astrid and I will be able to meet him in May when we fly to Michigan.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
In my last post I mentioned that my laptop broke at the hinges and had to be taken to the shop. I had never heard of such a thing but it apparently happens a lot, according to the techie. Lucky for me, I had 4 more days on my 24-month warranty. Lucky also that they will do the annual maintenance gratis. I think they really felt sorry for me...or embarrassed.
So my new learning curve for 2-3 weeks ("I'll tell the Chinaman to rush the parts," the techie said) is to work the internet "like normal" from Astrid's laptop...including her Corel PaintShop for image manipulation. Almost all the images below, the ones in the collages, are from her program. I'm indebted to her, of course!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Winter here in the Netherlands still has not arrived!
Temps for the most part hang around 40-45 F, with lots of rain.
See how full our Merwede river is!
On my daily walk around our citadel city, I say HI to our "sister city" Woudrichem.
I love seeing her main church and windmill waving back from across the river.
In spite of all the rain, once in awhile the sun does shine,
so I enjoy seeing where I live with new eyes.
With my 300mm lens I can zoom in on Sister Woudrichem
to see how she's really doing.
But it's usually my side of the river I want to see, like the Dalempoort.
Some of this you have seen before...but I never tire of it.
And see, there's our water tower in the background.
There's a bridge on the river side of the Dalempoort crossing a wee canal.I love to see the dog-walkers out there...and the seagulls when someone brings bread.
Same bridge, and if you look up, you see De Hoop windmill.
Same place, same station...but different music.
I love it here!
It so happens it's in this area that our Poort 6 housing authority is building
a huge apartment complex overlooking the river....
See the Grote Kerk in the center image way in the background?
That's the church that's only 2 blocks from where we live,
so that gives you a feel for where this is.
Did I ever tell you how much I love cranes?
Construction cranes, that is!They've been going at it non-stop for several months now.
When I posted the above collage at my Shutterchance blog,
a friend thought I'd like this YouTube.
OMG! It's hauntingly beautiful!
Over by the Linge Harbor around the corner, I smile every time I see this British canal boat.
I'm not sure what it's doing here but if I ever find out, I'll let you know:
I imagine it swam over from the UK, right?
It looks so different from the wider Dutch canal boats.
Did I ever believe I'd know the difference?
But not to be confused with the myriad barges that go back-n-forth every day....
...not only along the Merwede river, where I started above,
but along our bigger canals passing through our city
where all the drawbridges stand up and salute.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
And yes, we finished another Jan van Haasteren jigsaw puzzle yesterday!This one is De Storm (The Storm), 1500 pieces (image from JvH's site).
The details, let alone humor, are amazing.
No wonder we're hooked.
Now, until next week, let's see what other excitements are in store....
