North Holland & Amsterdam

Small Wonders.272

…just for the record: NOT taken on a beach or near a current coastline. Probably landfill, or bird-drop, captured in the park across the street :-).

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City Lights.91


Small Wonders.271


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Urban Entrances.161


Signs of the City.121

A collection of “signs” images from the past few months in A’dam, including two at the bottom from the national memorial service on the 80th anniversary, to those lost in WWII and the colonial war which followed and led to Indonesia’s independence.

Urban Garden.231

The joys of a contemplative, stress-free walking exploration of one’s local park & lake. E.g. I finally climbed up the top of a little hill with a sculpture on top, which I’d always just looked at from that path down below, previously. I’m lying on said sculpture in the image above. Also, a photo exhibit at the south end of the lake about building dialogue between communities.

Skylights.11

Please note the lovely sliver of moon in the top left 🙂

Country Canals.101


Urban Canals.201

In the center left of the photo above, you’ll see a bit straw sitting on the water, and a coot swimming slightly to the right. That’s a coot nest, of one of two in the mini lake – canal thing that wraps around my building here in A’dam (yep, the tall on reflected in the water there) that I’ve enjoyed watching this season. All the various shots in this post are from the past few months on the interconnecting canals and lakes in my neighborhood.

Urban Canals.200

Sunset on June 20, left; sunrise about seven hours later on June 21, right. Were we up in the arctic circle on these days, the sun would journey all the way around, continously above the horizon. Maybe next year I’ll get up there again and photograph that! The joy of summer solistice is followed by the pain of ever-shorter days as the sun migrates further south again from this annual high point. Ah, well, c’est la vie.


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Country Canals.100


Ah, Royalty.59

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.

Urban Garden.229

Kids’ play areas and outdoor games in my local park – above and bottom right just this past Sunday; the others from mid-February same general area.

Bridges.29

Above, the footbridge / steps up and over the highway wedged between the lake and the mountains in Bissone. Below, left to right: foot and bike paths next to a big bridge across the Ij during my bike ride out to Muidersloot last May; bridge in Parc de Bercy last October; and a foot bridge at Ålesund in January.

Country Canals.98