The Muiderslot Castle in Muiden, NL

Back to finish up Astrid's birthday weekend in the Huizen/Muiden neck of the woods, this is the castle she wanted me to see from her childhood.  She could hardly wait to go back to see it herself, just 20 km away from Hilversum, where she was born and raised.

I, too, was excited when we first spotted it from afar.

That's a castle...considered the best-kept and most beautiful Medieval castle in the Netherlands!

 It even has it's own weathervanes, of course (bottom 3 images).

Everything else we saw as we walked from our car, along the harbor.

And yes, we got to use our museum card for this.

Can you imagine having an inner courtyard like this for your humble abode?

 Lucky for us, a half-hour tour came free with the ticket.

Do you think it'd be fun to live during that day and age?

The castle was built in 1285.

The tour was totally worth it.  It's all in the details, you know.

Then we went off on our own to the tower and checked out the view from there.

That body of water is the IJsselmeer, Western Europe's largest lake (fresh water).

As we explored the castle, I started thinking about living there.

HA!  And playing hide-n-seek.

Kids of all ages have so much to see and do there.

And this is just a smattering.

What would YOU be tempted to buy?

We bought a white stone bottle of the Tesseltje Likorette, since we collect stone bottles.

It's made on Texel Island and is sold only there...and at this castle!

Once we were done inside, we went out and walked around the castle to see all sides.

 Remember my oculus?  I couldn't resist.

Couldn't resist the plum trees outside the castle moat, either, with no Do Not Touch signs.

Astrid grabbed 2 each as a nice little appetizer for our walk into town for lunch.

 Have I mentioned how much I love the Dutch harbor towns?!

Even on a rainy, overcast day!

Astrid had already picked out where would eat:  the Ome Ko Café just outside the harbor lock.

It's a brown cafe that is part of her young-20's years growing up.

After the huge breakfast we had had at the Fletcher Hotel that morning (this post), 

the panini-tosti lunch was exactly what the doctor ordered.  We always share, you know.

It was the perfect way to say Good-Bye to a BIG 6-0 birthday celebration weekend.

Lots of memories for Astrid to share with me from her former neck of the woods.

It was as though it were my birthday!

A Week's Mish-Mash

First of all, today is my turn at Vision and Verb again....

...and it's about coloring outside the lines.

This is my second time in 3 years to pick up the 12 books I brought with me

when I moved here to the Netherlands, collected from 10 years ago.

I feel like I have found a much-neglected friend!

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Secondly, Astrid and I went to see Les Miserables yesterday, Sunday, at our nearby theater's 11a showing.  We were the only ones there!  It was our own private presentation...and meant I could cry unabashedly every time I wanted to.  OMG!  I don't care what anyone else says, it was W O N D E R F U L.  

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Thirdly, my laptop was in for its manual maintenance for 4 days last week.  OUCH!  I do NOT like being without my friend day in and day out.  Sure, I was able to use Astrid's and did, thanks to her gracious generosity.  But as you know, it's not the same.  For one thing, I didn't have access to PhotoShop and therefore did no processing of images.  HEAVENS!

BTW, I had never heard of an annual maintenance for a laptop, but I've faithfully done it now for 3 years...and it appears to be paying off.  And the reason why it took 4 days instead of one is because they found a virus that by-passed our Norman security.  That little bugger!

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Now, with what was left of the weekend, I was able to process images from a couple weekends ago when we drove out into the polder...after getting more snow.

 I suspect one day I will sing "I left my heart in the Polder!"

That's how much I love it.

 Astrid took a slight detour from the way we ususally drive home after the pannenkoeken restaurant. 

Lucky for us, we found a small stretch on one of the canals where skating actually was good.

Most of the canals this year have had slushy ice because the snow fell while it was freezing.

Astrid can give you the whole science behind it.  Trust me.

 But it was the sheep...always the sheep...that stole my heart.

How can you resist them!

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Did I ever mention that Astrid has a green thumb?  As second nature as it is for her to bike-ride and ice-skate, she thoroughly enjoys growing flowers and plants on our window sill.  So, I got out my macro lens while my laptop was gone.

 She bought 3 amaryllis bulbs...one pink...

 ... and two red.

Oh yes, I also got out my oculus, as you see.

Those plants totally blow my mind.  Have you ever watched them grow??!!

And seen how strong their stems are to grow so tall and hold so much weight!

 But THIS blows my mind even more!

Astrid buys hyacinths throughout the winter but this first one is, as you see...in water.

I had never seen this done in my life, with a vase made for it.

Not only did she never add water after the initial fill, it never turned cloudy or dirty.

You all know by now it doesn't take much to make me happy!  Which reminds me to remind you about my coloring post today at Vision and Verb! 

On Firetrucks, Military Vehicles, Gardens and Such

So, now that the London Summer Olympics are in full swing (YES YES YES), how about  a sweeeeet little commercial.  One of the best I've seen:

Yup.  Astrid and I are gluttons for the Olympics.  This year I'm rooting for 3 countries:
USA, Netherlands, and Great Britain.  Well, add Canada, too.  :)

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Now, a bit of my own olympic mish-mash of this, that and the other....

First, a bit of nostalgia when one recent Saturday the nearby Stoomspuit Gorkum ("steam-spout" firehouse museum) displayed their goods.

  We heard the clanging bells and ran to our balcony off the kitchen.

We almost didn't get the shots in as they quickly passed one floor beneath us.

Notice the old geezers...having so much fun (click any image to enlarge).

I still pinch myself when I see such things!  (Here's a YouTube.)

(And yes, those are the apartments behind us, ready to be torn down.)

Speaking of museums (and old geezers), they're all over the place here in the Netherlands.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  One of the "others" is a walk away from us here in Gorinchem:  the Rijdend Unifil Museum (military vehicles).  It's open every weekend and we decided to finally go visit it, on the day they also had a flea market on the premises (yup, you heard that right).

From the outside, it started to make sense...the juxtaposition of the flea market with these dinosaurs.

Once inside, it was a photo op for these old geezers.

Thank God for the Red Cross.  But don't you wish they weren't necessary!

And as regards the flea market (which I didn't shoot, for some strange reason), I bought a new orange polo shirt for €1.50 (important for those important Dutch holidays!) and together we found 18 DVDs for €25.  Crazy, you say, but it's one of our favorite pastimes...watching movies together.  We now have over 400 in our library.  :)

I won't call Thelma and Siem old geezers, at age 75 and 76 respectively (since I'm too closely following suit!), but we went to visit them in their lovely home last weekend, giving me another photo op with my macro lens:

 Oh yes, and I took the oculus with me (bottom right), just in case!

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This past Saturday we drove 100 km north of us to Wijk aan Zee to meet up with new bloggers for us, from Sweden:  Mr. and Mrs. Lifecruiser!  So my week is cut out for me, processing those images with the TV screen in front of me.  

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!

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.

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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!