The Enkhuizen, NL, Experience

Remember when we took grandson Nicholas in July to the Zuiderzee open-air museum in Enkhuizen to get an overall experience of Dutch culture, both then and now?  And how at the last minute (of his 2-week trip) he bought what he called his "clutch gift?"

Well, it was ready for pick-up before our trip to Atlanta next week, so...Astrid and I went to pick it up this past Saturday, a 1.5-hour drive to the north of us.

We parked near one of the city's landmarks, the St. Pancras Church (Zuiderkerk) from the 15th cent.

 From the church, we walked to calligrapher Harrie's city atelier (not the one in the museum) 

to get the goods:  a family-name plaque for Nicholas..."Grannan."

He's gonna love it.

Harrie gave his best of Dutch hospitality, offering us koffie and lots of chitty-chat,

while, you know me...I snapped away at the organized mess!

THAT was the main goal of the day.

We could have turned around and gone home, of course, but...no way!

We walked through the city on our way to see the one part of the open-air museum 

we hadn't yet seen in our two times there...the indoor ship exhibition.

After walking all the way to the end of the city's pedestrian street,

we found the portal that looked out on the open-air part of the museum and got our bearings

(with those 3 chalk-factory chimneys as a landmark).

Back through the portal again we immediately found the indoor museum.

Near the inside entrance, before you see the ships, is this work of art by Clare Twomey.

It's called "Monument" and is "a playful interpretation of the concept that the remainders 

of household goods do have a cultural value."

OMG.  I have mixed emotions about this one...with shades of holocaust in mind.

But the ships.  The wooden ships.

"These historical, wooden vessels belong to the most valuable items in the museum’s collection."

Every little detail....prop...just as it once was.

 Yes, we were short of eyes.

 You want to know about sailsmanship?  Look and be amazed.

Totally worth the stop!

And on that note, we walked back into town for lunch.

Astrid deserved every mussel she ate...there at the Zuiderzee.

 Coming and going, you know I'll find them if they're there!

  By now it's hard for me to miss them...the many gable stones.

Enkhuizen got city rights in 1355.

At the peak of its power, it was one of the most important harbor cities in the Netherlands,

losing its position later to Amsterdam.

But take me to the Zuiderzee and to Enkhuizen any day.

Even for Astrid (and her "guardian angel," Stuart) it was a restorative day.
Thank you, Nicholas, for making us go back...and see you next week!

Watercolor Sunday and Saturday's Color: September 2015

This is what I plan to do after every month now, adding "for the record" what I'm posting on Facebook of my present two memes.  And yes, I decided to make a meme out of my coloring, calling it Saturday's Color.

First, here's what I did in September for Watercolor Sunday:

September 6 (photo manipulation):

"O Tiger-lily," said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, 

"I wish you could talk!"

"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily: "when there's anybody worth talking to."
-- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

September 13 (photo manipulation):

"If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment."
-- Carlos Santana

September 20 (photo manipulation):

"But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime
after the midpoint of September, it stays like an old friend that you have missed."
-- Stephen King

September 27 (photo manipulation):
"You can observe a lot by just watching."-- Yogi Berra

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Then, since I was coloring like a mad woman, I started adding my colored designs to Facebook.  After all, they're saying coloring as adults is good therapy, right?  Okay, it may not be considered "professionally therapeutic," but it sure is fun.  Besides, what do they know!

Back at the beginning of September I already added 3 of my colored designs, so I won't duplicate them here.  But here's the next designs I added to Facebook.  I've decided to leave Saturday for coloring on FB, calling it Saturday's Color:

(finished on 6 September 2015, posted on FB 8 September 2015)

This was a hard design to color.  Bejeweled?
I kept wondering what sister Ruth would do if it were a quilt!


(finished 31 January 2004, posted on FB 10 September 2015)

As you see, I decided to dip into my archives (an idea from son Mark).


(finished 1 February 2004, posted on FB 12 September 2015)
Speaking of son Mark, there's a lot of symbolism in this one.
He's a GEORGIA Bulldog grad, with red and black colors.
Their nemesis is GEORGIA TECH, with Black and yellow colors.
 I played around with their rivalry.


(finished 12 September 2015, posted on FB 19 September 2015)
It seemed fitting to post this at the end of the summer season.
I chose the 4 primary colors and thought of beach chairs/umbrellas and sailboats.


(finished 8 February 2005, posted on FB 26 September 2015)
This design, from my Native American Mandalas book, represents the Sun Symbol of the Huichiol
Native Americans.  I chose it because of the Autumnal Equinox.

 So, there you have it...for the record!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Speaking of the Autumnal Equinox and the full BLOOD MOON on September 28th, early morning our time, we actually set the alarm for 3:45 a.m. and watched the whole thing from our outside balcony walkway until 5:30 a.m....and then went back to bed!  Seriously.

While we both weren't totally happy with what we were able to capture with our separate cameras, we will never forget what we saw, not only with our bare eyes but on my camera screen, enlarged and in focus.

 Even at 1200mm, that was the best my camera could do of the blood moon.
But those first 3 images are within a span of 23 minutes, followed by the blood moon 18 min. later.

But look what Astrid got!