Friends

This time I want to introduce my fury friends.
Since I had a place of my one I always had cats. Sometimes two at a time, sometimes more.
In 2007 I got 2 new ones. In line this are numbers 11 en 12

Viktor & Rolf, named after 2 famous Dutch fashion designers

Sometimes they find strange places to rest.

Merry Christmas to you all

                                       

Etsyversary

 Yesterday one year ago, I opened my Etsy shop. We celebrated with some sweet goodies in the afternoon.

A new Bridge

In 1944 soldiers (for instance American, Canadian, British, Australian) 

crossed the river the Waal in little canvas boats to liberate Nijmegen.

48 of them died.

Yesterday a new bridge was opened on the same spot.

To remember those who died, every evening when it gets dark 

48 lampposts on the bridge light one by one.

Some of those veterans are guest of honour at the openingsceremony.

There was a big firework and lots of music.

Photographs: De Gelderlander

A short video about building the bridge, from start to finish

Shop update & free shipping

Every now and then Society6 offers free shipping on their products. This offer is 

not automatically available, only through this link.

Yesterday and last week I added new prints to the shop

Recently, Society6 added mugs and totes to their product line. 

Museum Speelklok

Last sunday me and my daughter visited a beautiful museum in Utrecht, called Museum Speelklok.

Museum Speelklok collects, preserves and restores a large collection of self-playing mechanical instruments from all over the world. One of it's major roles lies in spreading it's knowledge of the collection to a wider audience.

The Museum is located in a former church, on the picture is the first floor.

Music box

This kind of organ you find in the streets of Amsterdam

 On the ground floor you find tombstones.

If you would like to know more about the museum, you can find more information here

A Walk in the park, part 3

In july I made a blogpost named 'a walk in the park'. Last week,
at one of the last sunny days of the year we went again.

 Gaius Julius Civilis, an ancient hero who led the Batavians to revolt against the Romans
 during the 1st-century lived here.

.

The Belvedere was built in the 15 century as a watchtower.

Nowadays it functions as a fancy restaurant. The view over the river is magnificent

 Shield at the front of the tower

De Waalbrug (bridge over the river Waal)

In 1944 over this river and bridge the liberators came to free Nijmegen.

Manhole Covers

A couple of years ago I visited Lisbon with my daughter. 

We went to the former Expo, wich was held in 1998. 

I spotted a manhole cover made especially for this event.

 Since that time I looked in cities for a manhole cover showing someting about the city.

Don't think I only look at the ground :)

 Copenhagen

Copenhagen

 Copenhagen

 Prague

 Berlin

And this one is in my hometown Nijmegen

On Pinterest I have a board of manhole covers.

Playing Scrabble

Every weekend I go to my mom's place for a couple of hours.

She is 90 years old, but still lives on her own. Every now and then she bakes delicious cakes. 

She likes to play Scrabble.

So every weekend we play Scrabble.

Etsy finds

To my surprise one of my notebooks got featured on an edition of Etsy finds last week :-)

Beautiful sky

 This morning I looked outside and there was a beautiful sky.

The sun coloured the vapour trails in beautiful colours.

Jopie Huisman (1922-2000)

Jopie Huisman was born in Workum in the north of the Netherlands in 1922.

During WWII he was forced to work in Germany, he escaped in 1943.

He wanted to be a painter, but he earned not enough so he started a business in old metal and old clothes.

He started to paint objects as clothing and shoes, but also landscapes.

The outside of the museum

The inside

Selfportrait

My favorite is the red coat hanging on the clothesline. Have you heard of Jopie before?

The first two pictures were taken from the website of the museum, the other
ones are scanned postcards.

Old pictures

Sunday was a grey day, a good day to look in the box with old pictures.

My parents married in september 1947, two years after WW II.

Moms dress was made from an old parachute.

In city hall to sign the official papers.

The houses in the back were a gift from the Swedish government

because there were many houses destroyed in the war.