Safety first

 

Even though March is on the doorstep it is very cold here -for our standards anyway-; this morning at 11 a.m. it was still -8°C (18°F) and feeling much colder due to strong winds coming from the east. Brrrr! In the meantime this vehicle is busy mowing the sides of the railroad track as a preparation for the new season of the STAR steamtrain.

Zooming in I noticed the yellow sticker on the side saying: "Zie je mij, zie ik jou" or "When you see me, I see you". A text that can be seen frequently in traffic, like on long trucks. Safety first!

I'm linking to signs, signs.

Blackbird

The blackbird is commonly seen here throughout the year. During cold winter days they love to eat some oatmeal that we put in the bird feeder house for them.

Gasselte church

The Protestant church in Gasselte, known as 'het witte kerkje' or the 'little white church'. The building dates from the 14th century.

With more than a hundred graves the cemetery is one of the larger ones in the region.

Cold morning

Lots of sun today after a cold start this morning. Photo taken around 10:30 am when the grasses in the shade were still frozen white.

Us Mem mural

This mural at the Oostergoweg in Leeuwarden pictures the cow that in Frisian language is called 'Us Mem'. It is named after the perfect pedigree cow, which is a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the North Sea coast regions of northern Germany and the Netherlands. The mural also pictures the city's sustainable ambitions, like placing windmills for renewable energy.
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The mural was painted by Klaas Lageweg in 2010. He is an artist from Groningen city, of whom a while ago I posted another large mural picturing a pigeon pulling a milk cart.

Optician's building

"If you have to live in a crowd, you don't have to look like it" is the slogan of Post & Everaarts optician in the old centre of Leeuwarden. Isn't it a beautiful building?

Oldehove church tower

The Oldehove is an unfinished church tower in the old city of Leeuwarden. During construction -around the year of 1530- the tower began to sag and the project was stopped. In 1595 the then derelict church was demolished, but the brick tower remains. Today it leans more than the tower of Pisa in Italy!

The Oldehove is listed as national heritage. And pictured on manhole covers throughout the city..

Faces

Two seven meter high stone children's heads form a specially for Leeuwarden designed mist fountain. Facing each other with closed eyes, the sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa (1955) is called 'LOVE'. A local boy and girl aged 10-14 were models for the art work.

The city of Leeuwarden is European Capital of Culture 2018, the mist fountain is one of its projects. It is placed in front of the central station, and will start working this Spring. I am curious how it will look like with water!

Happy weekend

We had some snow this morning -I took this photo earlier today. And according to the weather forecast it is going to get really cold next week. Happy weekend!