Grain harvest

In the fields behind our house, yesterday evening..  Mainly due to a dry and warm Spring the harvest is really early this year.

Gejut

This parked bicycle in the village of Egmond aan Zee advertises with a sign that says 'GEJUT' (Dutch for 'combed from the beach') and 'Geschäft', which is the German word for 'shop'. GEJUT sells all kinds of things made from pieces of wood, rope, plastic etc. found on the beach, bringing each visitor -as they say- in closer contact to the sea.

Many signs in villages along the North Sea coast are bilingual by the way, responding to the many tourists that come here from Germany.

Linking to Lesley's signs, signs.

Summer evening

Back from work, it´s great to make a (short) cycling trip in the early Summer evening .. There are many cycling paths in our region like this one.

Reflection

This was our view from the bench where we sat and ate our sandwiches during a hike near the village of Onnen.

Come and have a seat, my dear..

..and smell the flowers.

Some of the flowerbeds had nicely painted chairs, like this one. 

At the Gartenschau in Papenburg, Germany.

From the archives #27

Iceland (2008)

An old church in the north of Iceland.

Pears..

'I feel rotten'

'Weird birds'

Both paintings are part of the exhibition 'Illusion in art' in Museum De Buitenplaats in Eelde. I love them!
They are made by Dutch painter, illustrator and designer Marius van Dokkum (1957).

Don Quichot

The fact that this sculpture is made from stone bricks makes it rather unusual. I quite like it! This version of Don Quichot, or 'Don Quixote' in English, is from the hands of architect and sculpturor E. Reitsma.
The Oeckelenhof in the village of Glimmen (near Groningen) is a large manor and garden, named after the family Van Oeckelen that once lived here.

Sad

As was announced yesterday by the Dutch government, today is an official National Day of Mourning for all 298 victims from the attack on flight MH17 last week. 193 of them were from the Netherlands.

More illusion

Sometimes you don't believe what you see, or what you don't see. Even standing in front of this door, the instrument ´hanging there´ seemed very real to me. But it wasn't, and it is not a painting either! Actually the door itself was painted, and by scraping the paint from the door, the violin became 'visible'. A double 'Trompe l'oeil', so to speak.

The exhibition Illusion in art, in museum De Buitenplaats in Eelde, shows a number of fine examples of Trompe l'oeil (French for 'deceive the eye').

As can also be said from the note underneath the violin, referring to the French neo-classical painter Ingres:

the violin in the eye

is the illusion of Ingres

"but no, on the contrary"

Matthijs 1974

By Matthijs Röling (1943), a Dutch painter.

Illusion

Since my last visit to museum De Buitenplaats in Eelde someone dug a deep hole in the ground floor..
It's all part of the current exhibition `Illusion in art´. You better watch out!

Sculpture group

Detail of one of the groups of sculptures at and around the fountain on the Bruges square 't Zand. For another view of the sculptures, and the fountain, that I posted before click HERE.

From the archives #26

Madeira (2008)

Dark skies but still sunny here when we passed this small mountain village.

Museum garden

In the museum garden of De Buitenplaats in Eelde.


Expressing my sympathies to the families, friends and other loved ones of those who were on flight MH17/KL4103 yesterday.

Lion heads

Detail of a fence with 2 lion heads, along one of the many canals in Bruges.

Door decoration

Bruges, Belgium. I don't know but I can imagine that this must have (had) a meaning or purpose? Anyway I think it's beautiful.

A kite surfer..

..who was just leaving the water of the North Sea.

Give me a hug..

..if you dare!
This "beauty" was posing for me in the Sea Aquarium of Bergen aan Zee.

Bikers Menu

The restaurant halfway the Afsluitdijk welcomes bikers (in English) to have a stop at their place.

From the archives #25

Athens, Greece (2010)

This is the renovated Attalosstoa, nowadays next to the modern Agora Museum. A long time ago the local people of Athens came to this place to shop for their daily goods. It is located on a park-like area in the centre of the city, next to a large open square with government buildings around.

Statue of Lely

Cornelis Lely (1854-1929) was a Dutch civil engineer and statesman. He oversaw the passage of an act of parliament authorizing the construction of the Zuiderzee works. This huge project turned the Zuiderzee into a lake. A statue of Lely was placed halfway the Afsluitdijk. (see also yesterday's post).
And how about the dark sky! It started raining soon after I took this photo..

The Afsluitdijk

This is a view of the Afsluitdijk (in English: Enclosure Dam), a major road connection constructed between 1927 and 1933, running from the province of North Holland to Friesland over a length of 32 km (20 mi). It is a fundamental part of the larger Zuiderzee works, damming off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea, and turning it into the fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer.
Nowadays, halfway the dam there is a monument, a statue of the Dutch civil engineer Cornelis Lely (you can see it in the distance on the right side, I will show you a more detailed picture of the statue tomorrow), and a restaurant. This photo was taken standing on the footbridge that connects the parking spots on both sides of the A7 motorway.

Dangerous current

It's not safe everywhere along the North Sea coast.

Linking to signs, signs.

Lighthouse

Taken from the exact same spot as yesterday's photo, but with the sea behind me now.

(thanks Peter :) )

Main street

Egmond aan Zee, with the beach and the North Sea on the left.

Down to the beach

We enjoyed a mini-break at the North Sea coast this weekend. We had sun and some rain too, but the temperatures were really fine. Here is one of the 'entrances' from the dunes down to the beach, in Egmond aan Zee.

From the archives #24

U.K. (2011)

Enjoying a Summer day in Robin Hood's Bay, along the coast of Yorkshire.

Summer season

The tourist season has really started now. Here boats are leaving one of the many locks in the Stadskanaal.

Wooden shoes as art

Rembrandt´s famous ´Night Watch´ is on the wooden shoe at the front. The one at the back also has a beautiful painting.
They belong to an exhibition of painted wooden shoes that we saw in Garderen. They are quite large, about 1,5 metres in length, so not for wearing. We found them all very unique!

Weather vane

We saw a variety of weather vanes in Bruges. How about this running dog?