Highland cattle

Last Sunday we walked a marked route in the Borger-Odoorn forest range. Some areas are fenced to allow sheep and (Highland) cattle to wander around and graze, and about halfway our route this beauty was standing in the middle of our path, frozen still. A beauty alright, but they can weigh up from 500 to 800 kg, and those horns demand respect! :)

Highland cattle is known though to be tolerant and easy-going, at least when there are no calves around, and we didn't see any. This one stood there watching us for a while, and then decided to step aside and ignore us, so we could continue safely ;)

I'm linking to Saturday's Critters.

Dutch Summer

This is the kind of weather we are having lately: a mixture of sunshine, clouds, rain showers, an occasional thunder storm, and (most of the time) comfortable temperatures - a typical Dutch Summer I'd say :)
Photo taken near the village of Ter Apel, near the German border.

I'm linking to Skywatch Friday.

Groningen office building

A view through the train window to the 92 m high office building 'Kempkensberg' at the edge of Groningin city, named after the Kempkensberg hill that used to be at this spot ('berg' is Dutch for 'mountain' or 'hill'). Standing out because of its round shapes, the building is locally known as 'Cruiseship Kempkensberg'. It was designed by UNStudio architects and was finished in March 2011.

More paper cranes

Following up on yesterday's post showing folded paper cranes here are a few more photos of the exhibition dedicated to the victims of the MH17 crash on July 17, 2014.

The exhibition with 298,000 folded paper cranes in the former zoo in Emmen can be visited until September 24.

298,000 folded paper cranes

When her colleague and good friend Hieke Raap was killed in the disaster with Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17 was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by the Russians on 17 July 2014 while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board), teacher Tjitske Dijkstra decided she was going to fold 1,000 paper cranes for Hieke together with her pupils in a way to express their grief.

Her project was soon picked up by the media and it didn't take long before many people also began folding cranes. Not only in the Netherlands, but also in Spain, Germany, Indonesia and Africa. And they all sent the cranes to Tjitske Dijkstra.

The result was a collection of 298,000 paper cranes, 1,000 cranes for each victim of the crash. At first it was unclear what was going to happen with the cranes, but now they form the exhibition "Room of Hope" in a building of the former zoo in Emmen. A great memorial and very very impressive.
I will have a few more photos tomorrow.

Linking to All Seasons.

Wooden Shoes Museum

This is the colourful facade of the 'Internationaal Klompenmuseum' (International Wooden Shoes Museum) in de village of Eelde, that we passed during one of our recent hikes. According to their website their collection includes more than 2,200 pairs of different clogs and other footwear with wooden soles from 43 countries, and hundreds of tools from 7 European countries. We took this photo on a Sunday morning when the museum was (still) closed, so a visit will have to wait until another time.

I'm linking to Monday Murals.

Sweepers Clock / Maarten Baas

Another ´Real Time´ item by Maarten Baas (see also yesterday's post) was this 'Sweepers Clock', where a camera films 2 men from high above while they keep the time by sweeping the hands of the clock.

Almost 11:45 here.. :)
The Sweepers Clock is part of the current exhibition 'Hide & Seek' in the Groninger Museum.

Real Time / Maarten Baas

I had a great time visiting the exhibition 'Hide and Seek' in the Groninger Museum last week, with works by Dutch designer and artist Maarten Baas (1978). As the photos show, 'time' is a prominent theme in his work. With clocks everywhere nowadays many people's lifes are ruled by time, and timekeeping has become increasingly precise. With these 5 Real Time clocks Baas visualises time using videos, in which actors -over a 12 hour-period of time- literally keep indicating what time it is by drawing the arms of a clock forward by hand.

And so every few minutes the time was wiped out and then drawn again. It was very funny to watch as it was like somebody was standing inside and you could actually see them draw.

Maarten Baas is considered to be one of the most influential Dutch designers of the beginning of the 21st century. His work is known as rebellious, playful, theatrical and artistic. His website is worth a visit, click HERE.

Buddleja

The Buddlejas are in full bloom now.

Joining Nick's Floral Friday Fotos.

In Summer mood

The Folkingestraat in Groningen city, earlier today.

Drainage-mill

On the other side of the wooden bridge that I showed you in yesterday´s post is a drainage-mill (poldermolen in Dutch) called 'De Boezemvriend', that as one word could be translated as 'buddy' or 'soulmate' however in Dutch 'boezem' also means 'drainage canal' - so it's a pun.

The mill was built in 1871 to help pump water out of the polder to another level, the building next to it is a pumping-station. In 1990 the mill was renovated and is still operational today. On the grass an old wooden screw pump (vijzel or waterschroef in Dutch) is displayed; placed inside a mill and rotating it 'screws' the water up. They were a replacement for scoop wheels.

Wooden bridge

I am continuing with photos from our hike last Sunday. After walking along the Havenkanaal for a while, we crossed the canal through this bridge..

.. and we had a nice wide view on the landscape south of Lake Zuidlaren (Zuidlaardermeer).

Early mushroom

 We were very surprised yesterday to spot a large mushroom in the grass along a canal near Zuidlaren. The season for mushrooms here is Autumn, so around October/November. This was the only one we saw though.

Apparently the ground here and humidity were good enough for it to grow. Nature doesn't check a calender first haha.

I'm linking to All Seasons.

The small boat

During our hike in and around the village of Zuidlaren earlier today we walked a while along the Havenkanaal ('Harbour Canal') and passed this nice small boat.

It looked old, though in very good shape. Maybe it belonged to the owners of the house there on the left.

The Water Exhibition: Diura

Another magnificent piece from the exhibition in Zwolle (see also last Thursday's post) is this inkjetprint by photographer Alex ten Napel (1958). It is one of his waterportraits and is called 'Diura'.

Skywatch Friday

Photo taken yesterday afternoon standing in our garden. A moment later the clouds were gone and the sky was blue again.

I´m linking to Skywatch Friday.

The Water Exhibition: H2Out

This year's Summer exhibition in De Fundatie Museum in Zwolle has everything to do with water. Several months ago an open invitation went out to artists to join and send in an art piece, which resulted in 250 works in 2 or 3 dimensions, print editions, crafts and performance art. The water theme was inspired by the museum´s location in the water rich areas of the province of Overijssel.
The installation on the photo is called 'H2Out', H2O referring to water of course, and the word 'hout' is Dutch for 'wood'. It was created by Johan Visser (1947).

Bicycle route signs

During our hike we saw these 2 poles, showing the colours of both the German and the Dutch flag. Back home I googled and found out that they mark the 84 km long 'Grenzsteinroute' , a bicycle route along the border between Germany and the Netherlands. During the route a number of boundary stones ('Grenzsteine' in German) are passed. hence the name. The route starts in Coevorden (NL) then goes to Schoonebeek (NL), Twist (Germany), Zwartemeer (NL), Rütenbrock (Germany), and ends in Ter Apel (NL). Or vice versa of course :)

I'm linking to signs, signs.

More from our Sunday hike

Two more photos taken last Sunday near the village of Ter Apel. Here our path passes a farm / B&B...

...offering a place to sit and rest.

ATM mural

In one of the side streets from the Diezerstraat in the city of Zwolle I spotted this mural of an ATM machine, looking quite real if you just pass it and see it from the corner of your eye. I had to look twice, can you believe it haha :) There even is a sign saying `Deze geldautomaat is tijdelijk buiten gebruik´ ('this machine is temporarily out of service').

I'm linking to Monday Murals.

Sunday hike

We had a lot of views like this during our hike today in the Westerwolde region: large fields with potatoes. This is near the village of Ter Apel.

The red bicycle

Happy weekend!