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.
One wfh-morning, a week or so before I flew to Bangladesh, I decided that I really did need to finally go for a swim across the street, before the weather got continuously cold and rainy again. Why wasn’t I doing this every sunny morning all summer????
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 :-).
Indeed, right inside the city of Amsterdam but in the lovely park I’ve been showing you since I moved to my new place last year :-). Above, looking west one evening last week and below, looking east from the same foot / bike bridge over the canal. For orientation, in the photo below, the apartment from which I’ve taken all the various photos of this lovely lovely lake would be on the far side of the lake and to the left a bit (northeast).
The days around the solstice brought spectactular sunsets from my apartment. This was nearly 11pm on the 22nd of June :-). I must cherish this, when we’re six months on and I’m winter-depressed again…
Taken four minutes apart early last Wednesday, my first week back at work after the long break. Rainy and cold weather lately, but some consolations like this 🙂
This’ll be my last daily post for a while, ending with a reminder to seek and value small wonders in our lives. The cherry blossom pics below were taken on December 30! I first saw some of these trees in bloom on a gray late-November walk in 2021, and was delighted to see some trees in this same set again blooming again more than two years later at the tail-end of the wettest-in-history NL autumn of 2023. (The 2021 blooms were more pink-tinged, so might have been different specific trees but all in the same place.) What a blessing, given how monotonously, monstrously, constantly gray the autumn and winter months can here. Thanks to whatever urban and parks planners associated with the city of A’dam chose these trees to plant here. 🙂 The mushrooms above would have been photographed on my exploratory walks around my new neighborhood, after I moved to this new place in early August. Enjoy this break from daily posts and alerts, as I intend to. Who knows when I’ll be back to dailies.
One of the big summer storms knocked down a few trees around town including this one in a park next to our office. Gallery below…every remaining A’dam 2023 photo with significant greenery in it 🙂
