A variety of photos taken around town as I followed one of the pride walks / marches. I walked in the other with friends from work; photographed this one around town; and then observed and photographed the boat parade, which we’ve already shown you in great detail :-). And herewith video, for those of you with sufficient bandwith:
My friend and frequent reader Jean admitted, when I resumed daily posting in late March, that she’d enjoyed the “photo vacation” after what she described as my “frantic (and beautiful) postings from 2023.” So this year I started early with the multi-photo posts and hope to continue using up more photos. As long as at least a few of you view and enjoy these, then I’m happy. I’ve built up quite a few on lovely long walks around my local lake – another friend and I have agreed that having a local lake is an excellent thing for one’s health both physical and mental. Definitely so in my own case, when it beckons after a work-from-home day of onscreen meetings at this time of year when the days end ever earlier. I’m making the most of the later onset this year than last of the season of endless rain to stock up fun photos to share in the months ahead. For now – various entrances from summer walks.
There’s a petting zoo in the park I bike or walk through if I’m heading into the city proper, so if I decide on a leisurely stroll one weekend or evening (e.g. the best bakeries are over that way), I get to watch the goats cavorting.
I’ve pondered starting a new series called “transport choices” but just don’t think it’ll ever be visually stimulating enough to get me going or keep your eyes. This would be a good example: a Guardian article sent by a friend a a couple years back told me about this underground & underwater bike parking garage next to Amsterdam Centraal. Various articles on the Dutch (and in particular Amsterdam) choice to seriously invest in bike, foot and public transit infrastructure over and above car infrastructure strike a tone of mixed admiration and derision, I find – and this article was no exception. Having used this precise bike garage now multiple times to conveniently convey myself and my tennis-bag via bike to Centraal, drop the bike in a clean, safe, dry, attended underground lot for a cheap daily rate after the first free 24 hours and then simply walk up the stairs on the other side then directly into the station, I’ll say this use of my tax dollars is a far more welcome use than nearly all the uses my US tax dollars go for. Yeah, that’s my bike in its little spot before one of my Berlin trips this year. The Dutch deride me for my helmet, but I’m as impervious to that as I am to American derision for this fabulous parking alternative.
It took me a year but I’ve finally concluded that, yeah, I live by a lake now just like my brother does during his summers in Wisconsin – where this series had its genesis. (But just to be clear, it’s also part of the canal and water-management system, as is all fresh water in NL, aside from mud puddles in the street.) Above came near the end of my Friday-evening cirumnambulation of said lake (11,000 steps); compare the level of sunset at 19:18 on Friday the 27th to that at 20:00 in the other two from Saturday the 21st: ah, how the days shorten rapidly around the solstices! And the other was going to be part of a Signs of the City entry but it fits as nicely here. Yep, that’s my local swimming hole, unofficial though it may be.
On July 19, having gone even further north (and thus to the left, from the perspective of this image) for more than a month, the sun passed directly through and above this iconic landmark above, on its way back south for the next eight months. I’m already mentally preparing myself to miss it ever more in the months ahead, til I can again welcome it from my bedroom window once its come far enough north again.
The island of the title is at the top left above, middle in the closer-framed image below. We’ve shown you this island before, but taken from above looking down at this lake: my home is in the tallest building you can see just above at the top middle, and you’ve seen and will continue to see many lovely photos taken from my windows near the top left of that particular building :-).
(so much world, so little time....) 