I’ve trimmed them down a fair bit with past posts, and deletion or editing…but there are still a ton of photos in this last Lake Living post from Lake Lugano in Ticino Canton of southern Switzerland. Mostly I devote whatever I do post on this blog to reminding myself (and readers) how much beauty there is to see and be grateful for in the world around us, if we manage to engage with it directly by walking out our doors and feeling the wind in our hair, water and sun on our skin, and live a bit. So please pardon the excess … but answer me this: is excess beauty ever really too much? 🙂
My love of orchids is long-standing, and in fact a post I put up on the blog many years ago remains one of the most frequently-viewed posts, all about a magnificent orchid show on the grounds of PNG’s parliament house back in 2013…These here, including two which may or may not be orchids or close relatives, are all from a magnificent and historic temple compound in Chiang Mai.
During an early-morning walk in Barcelona a few weeks ago, I savored the lovely sliver of moon fading in the sky as the sun came closer and closer to the horizon 🙂
Final ice sculptures from inside the Snowhotel in Kirkenes. The idea of this series arose from ice, snow, ices sculptures and waterfalls I saw during my Swiss train travels last November, then carried forward with these ice sculptures. Probably letting the series sleep again, til I either photograph another fountain as nicely as I did to start this series, or see more ice sculptures somewhere. Water really is one of those things one should stop to appreciate now and then, though, eh? 🙂
The coasts, wetlands and tidal canals of Vlieland were teaming with migratory waterbirds nesting or raising their hatchlings during our long walk around the coast and interior two Fridays ago.
This is the lovely little city of Harlingen, whence depart the ferries to and from the Frisian islands of Vlieland and Ameland. During Sam’s recent visit, we managed a short and very rewarding visit to Vlieland. Here we’ll share the lovely canal loaded with tall ships in Harlingen as we explored the town during the hour or so between arrival of our train and departure of our ferry, two Thursdays ago.
We’re in Troms County, Norway for this post. Above and below left, the city of Harstad & vicinity around 7:20 during our short morning port call, and below some snow-capped mountains along the coast 1-1/2 hours later as we continued north.
Harlingen harbor, whence the ferries to the Frisian islands of Vlieland and Terschelling depart. My blog pause will continue, just dropping an occasional reminder to keep you close, dear readers :-).
I didn’t do a very good job of capturing the vast crowds of happy orange-clad folks out enjoying Kings Day here in NL, last Saturday. I was too immersed in enjoying the mix of weather and energy in the crowd. Note that the main thing folks in A’dam do on Kingsday is wear orange, party and drink. Still, given that it’s the official celebration of the actual King’s actual birthday, it’s clearly Ah, Royalty qualified :-). This’ll be my last post for a while. I’ll take a break now and enjoy spring in Amsterdam, a couple of visitors, and the celebration in two days of the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day here in NL.
Final photos from last September’s stroll along ‘the world’s longest sandy beach,’ where my idea of numbered series began as a way to get myself out the door for walks in the early days of January 2019. Til that point I’d never been a very steady blogger, so it’s interesting to note that today mark 399 days in a row on which I’ve posted at least one, often two, posts per day. Fear not, friends, after tomorrow you’ll get another break of indeterminate length, since I’ll reward myself for reaching this new milestone by just hitting pause on the blog for a bit.
At the top, two last photos from my day in Zurich; just above & gallery below, last shots from the several hours wandering around Schaffhausen before and after dusk the day before.
(so much world, so little time....) 