When I was a kid my mother was against school uniforms.
When I was a kid we emigrated to Australia in a BOAC plane that had to stop three times to refuel.
When I was a kid my parents rented a television for one night. They watched a movie that had something to do with a leaking submarine. Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Education, Elections, Emigration / Immigration, History, Lists, Movies, Society, Technology, Television, Travel, Writing Prompt Responses
Tagged Age, Australia, childhood, history, humor, memories, politics, school, society, technology, television, the '60s, the 1960s, Writing prompt Age
Today’s writing prompt is the perfect excuse to revisit the post about my raft book collection.
I’m not big on collections. I used to be. I had all sorts of collections. If I saw something I liked, I would start a collection. Until I felt that I was surrounding myself with things just for the sake of surrounding myself with things, and I got rid of most of them. Continue reading
Posted in Books, Nature, Sports, Uncategorized, Vacations, Writing Prompt Responses
Tagged adventure stories, book collections, books, raft books, rafts, survival stories, writing prompt adrift
Image: nbc.com
Dear Blacklist producers,
I’ve been binge-watching season 3 on Netflix. Since you probably won’t actually be reading this and others will, allow me to set it up.
James Spader plays a larger than life, debonair master criminal who helps the FBI bag other master criminals, but really, the FBI is helping him in plans it has no knowledge of.
It’s an enjoyable enough series, but the end of episode 10 got my goat. Don’t worry, producers, I won’t spoil anything. Continue reading
Posted in Holland, Language, Open Letters, Television, Travel
Tagged letters, NBC, Netflix, Open Letters, Opinion, stereotypes, technology, television series, The Blacklist, The Netherlands
A quick photo prompt post: This is an old slide, and not great quality, but pobody’s nerfect, am I right? I took this photo in the Lake District in England in 1989, and I believe H and I camped on that little flat spot by the tarn in between those two streams down below–which was already up there. As part of reclaiming my hiking identity, my quest is to get to this spot again some day and camp by that tarn.
Posted in Emigration / Immigration, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged backpacking, hiking, Lake District, photo prompt, quest
image: happyhousewife.com
As I’ve mentioned before, I hadn’t had a good look at camping gear in decades, because it was too painful. Now that I’ve been surfing Pinterest for hiking and backpacking articles, I’ve found a lot of stuff a serious lightweight backpacker doesn’t need, but also several items and ideas I’m going to incorporate. Here they are: Continue reading
Well, I might as well keep going and make this a series.
Of course, the most important item for backpacking is your tent. It has to be as light as possible, keep you absolutely dry in driving rains that last for days, be able to withstand pretty windy conditions without tearing or flying away, and preferably have enough space to be comfortable, even in driving rains that last for days.
I absolutely love my tent, for all the above-mentioned reasons and then some, so I’ve got to brag about it a little. Continue reading
Today’s prompt is conveniently Hike.
I’ve been on Pinterest a lot, lately, pinning stuff related to hiking, backpacking and lightweight camping, and Wow! There’s been some improvements these past twenty-five years! The best hack I’ve seen is using a walking stick as a tent pole. Especially since my tent has just one pole, this is perfect. Assuming you use walking sticks, of course.
There is also more stuff out there that looks cute, but that you probably don’t need. Continue reading
Posted in Consumption, Travel, Vacations, Writing Prompt Responses
Tagged backpacking, camping, equipment, hacks, hike, hiking, lightweight hiking, outfitting, pinterest, tips, writing prompt
Image: H
It’s amazing what one successful hike and a pair of good hiking boots can do. On the road back to Texas, I found myself scanning the maps of Canada, looking for canoe trips T and I could take in the future. Maybe an easy, non-portage one to begin with, like a part of the Peace River… Suddenly everything seems possible again!
Posted in Emigration / Immigration, Vacations
Tagged backpacking, Cairngorms, emigration, hiking, identity loss, immigration, lightweight camping
In my previous post I described how I bought a new pair of proper hiking boots. (Don’t ask me how on earth I managed to lose my old pair; I have no idea.) So the next day T and I went on a hike rated “moderate”, and about 12 km round trip. I didn’t look at the survey map, because just looking at those made me feel blue, so T told me that it was two kilometers along Lake Louise, which should be pretty level, and then 4 km uphill to a tearoom near the Plain of Six Glaciers. We had all day and if I didn’t feel up to walking to the tearoom by the time we got to the end of Lake Louise, I would turn back and T would go on alone. Continue reading
T wanted a fitness tracker for his birthday, so the kids and I went to REI. Back in the day I would have been in hiking heaven at REI; nowadays it’s depressing and I usually get what I need as quickly as possible and leave again. But I had the kids with me and though I knew I was asking for trouble, I felt I should look around with them and point out gear that resembles mine, and tell them how I used to do this and that, and hey look, that’s about the size my backpack was, etc, etc. Continue reading
Posted in Emigration / Immigration, Psychology, Vacations
Tagged emigration, hiking, hiking boots, identity loss, immigration, mourning
So in yesterday’s post, I mentioned some of the ways in which immigration has changed and/or affected my identity. Continue reading
Photo challenge: Cherry on Top:
In 2013 we went on a family trip to the Rockies. My daughter took her stuffed unicorn along, and it shows up in several pictures. I like the effect.
Posted in Photography, Vacations
Tagged cherry on top, photo challenge, vacations, Yellowstone National Park
image: nairaland.com
On July 14, a man ran his truck into crowds of people enjoying the Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, France, killing eighty-some and wounding so many others.
Bastille Day celebrates the birth of the French Republic, with its motto, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Fraternity means, among other things, communal support, friendship, brotherhood. Continue reading
Posted in Austin, Government, Police, Religion, Society, Travel, US Politics, Violence
Tagged Bastille Day attack, Baton Rouge, human connections, opinie, Opinion, peace, police shootings, Police Violence, politics, religion, six degrees of separation, society, terrorism
Posted in Photography, Travel
Tagged Climate change, forest fires, Lodge Pole Pines, Look up, photo challenge, photography, travel, Yellowstone National Park
This week’s photo challenge: Harmony.
Last summer we stayed a week in upstate New York with my wonderful brother and sister in law. They took us to visit their friends’ small farm. About thirty acres, if I remember correctly. A stream, a pond, wooded area, swamp, meadows. An open barn where the animals can come and go as they please. Continue reading
Posted in Consumption, Photography, Vacations
Tagged farming, food, harmony, mixed farming, natural farming, New York State, Opinion, photo challenge, photography
The week’s photo challenge is Seasons.
I took this road trip photo last May in Wyoming, but it sure looks like winter to me.
Posted in Photography, Vacations
Tagged photo challenge, photography, road trips, seasons, winter, Wyoming
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Ornate.”
Homeless woman in Philadelphia
November 7, 2015 in Photography, Travel
Tagged homeless, ornate, philadelphia, photo prompts, photography, travel
Not the best quality image but it was the first that came to mind. I converted this from a slide from the 80s. This is on the path up to Mount Snowdon, in Wales. It was cloudy, incredibly windy and it was my first ever mountain. It definitely felt dreamy.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Mount Snowdon, Photo challenge dreamy, photography, Snowdonia, travel
image: terrain.org
The daily writing prompt asks what skill I’d like to have in my back pocket.
Well, years ago I saw a truck driver back a semi into a parking space between two other semis, straight as a ruler and with about a foot to spare on both sides. Now that’s clever. Continue reading
Posted in Transportation, Travel
Tagged bucket list, camping, DPchallenge, If I had a hammer, kamperen, parkeren, parking, reizen, Robin Hood, semis, travel, truck driving, vrachtwagens, writing prompts
You can’t walk around New Orleans’ French Quarter or the Marigny without coming across street musicians.
They’re all amazing. Continue reading
The Weekly Photo Challenge is “Abandoned“. The post has to be created for the purpose of this challenge, which this one is. But there are two stories connected to it, if you’re interested. Read this one first to understand the second one.
Loving, New Mexico, taken January 2014
Posted in Photography, Vacations
Tagged Abandoned, abandoned buildings, Loving New Mexico, photography, weekly photo challenge
image: bestofneworleans.com
When you think of New Orleans–if you ever think of New Orleans, that is–you think of music and Mardi Gras parades.
We saw the very first parade of the season: the Krewe du Vieux. Apparently it’s always extremely crude, but we didn’t know that. Continue reading
South of New Orleans the land turns into real swamp and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. This area is generally called Barataria Country or just the Barataria, which includes swampy land and Barataria Bay and Barataria Sound. The elevation is no more than a few feet. The movie The Beasts of the Southern Wild was filmed here. Continue reading
Posted in Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged alligators, Barataria, New Orleans, photography
Due to the high water table, most of New Orleans’ dead aren’t buried but rather entombed in “cities of the dead”. More info here.
If you visit Nawlins, a cemetery should be on your must-see list. Continue reading
Posted in Travel
Tagged above-ground cemeteries, New Orleans, Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1, travel
image: dancecenter.com
An empty lot in the middle of the Rue Royal had been taken over by sellers of hand-made jewelry and such. It was evening and getting cooler. One lady sat in her folding chair, laboriously pulling hot pink (much hotter than in the photo), ruffled, nylon bloomers on over her leggings, explaining that there’s nothing like synthetic bloomers for keeping your thighs warm. Continue reading
We went on a little trip. Guess where.
Don’t know yet? Here’s another clue:
On the third day of my road trip away from Las Vegas, I came to this little crossroads in New Mexico called Loving, near the border with Texas. On the other side of the road from these poor things was a warehouse, and not much else. Continue reading
In October I saw that there was going to be a New Media Expo (NMX) in the beginning of January and I decided to go. It was in Las Vegas. I hate superficiality, I hate the idea that bigger is always better, I hate unbridled greed and I hate sexual objectification of women.
What could possibly go wrong? Continue reading
Posted in Consumption, Media, Travel, Vacations
Tagged horrible trips, Las Vegas, New Media Expo, NMX, Opinion
These were my first hiking boots. Not the best brand, but they made my feet look smaller than the better kind, and it took a bit of serious hiking to find out that I didn’t care as much about looks as about my feet and ankles getting me where I wanted to go. Continue reading
Posted in Vacations
Tagged Dartmoor, DPchallenge, England, hiking, hiking boots, these boots are made for walking, wandelen, wandelvakanties
image kenmore-wa.showmethead.com
(Response to Daily Prompt “There’s No Place Like Home”.)
America is full of nomads, aka retirees. They live in RVs, some moving around from one beautiful spot to another, others staying in one place.
Posted in Healthcare, Housing, Society, Transportation, Travel, Vacations, Writing Prompt Responses
Tagged America, DPchallenge, housing, recreation, retirement, RV's, society, There's No Place Like Home, travel, vacations, writing prompts
After Yellowstone we took a day and a half to drive around Montana and Idaho a bit more. On the way back to Salt Lake City, we stopped at the Craters of the Moon National Monument. It’s a humongous lava flow area. I’ve posted about the lava flow in Valley of Fires in New Mexico, but this is much more spectacular.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, lava flows, lava tubes, nature, photography, travel, vacation, volcanic rock, volcanoes
This is what I get from trying to do these vacation posts by theme. I end up with leftovers–pictures that don’t fit in any theme, or I don’t have enough pictures on a topic to merit a whole themed post. Yet I feel like showing them. So this last post about our Yellowstone do-over is pretty unorganized. Hard to accept for a former librarian, but there it is. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Vacations
Tagged Chinese tourists, nature, Opinion, photography, travel, trees, vacations, Yellowstone National Park
Like I mentioned before, the central part of Yellowstone is a caldera, a piece of land that collapsed over a volcanic hotspot. Lava heats water that seeps down through cracks in the broken earth’s surface, and the steam and water find their way back to the surface in hot springs, geysers, mudpots and fumeroles. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Vacations
Tagged bacteria, extremophiles, fotografie, fumeroles, geysers, heat-loving bacteria, hot psrings, mud pots, nature, natuur, photography, thermophiles, travel, vacations, Yellowstone National Park
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged fotografie, landscapes, landschappen, nature, natuur, photography, reizen, skies, travel, vacations, Yellowstone National Park
The bottoms of concrete structures, dead trees–whatever next? Well, the bottoms of dead trees, of course. There are a lot of them in Yellowstone. Isn’t the bottom of one dead tree much like the bottom of another, you ask? Not at all; like the bottoms of bridges, each deadfall has its own personality.
Posted in Bottoms of Bridges, Nature, Photography, Vacations
Tagged deadfall, humor, nature, photography, travel, tree roots, trees, uprooted trees, vacations, Yellowstone National Park
A large part of Yellowstone National Park is a caldera, land that collapsed and crumbled after volcanic activity. Water seeps through the cracks and is heated by the magma below the surface. Pressure builds and steam and water burst to the surface in geysers. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged geysers, nature, Old Faithful, photography, travel, vacations, Yellowstone National Park
The wildlife was incredible. Of course there were the buffalo–or the bison, as B kept correcting us–and this time they had calves, so we kept our distance a bit more, except when we were in or near the car. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged badgers, bison, black bears, blacktail deer, buffalo, bull snakes, elk, grizzly bears, marmots, nature, photography, pronghorns, travel, vacation, wildlife, Yellowstone National Park
Our three-week RV trip of the Rockies and Yellowstone National Park last summer (which started here), ended sadly when B’s appendix ruptured and we spent the last four days in the Cody, Wyoming hospital instead of in Yellowstone. This summer we had one week, and lots of T’s flying miles, so we went to Yellowstone for a do-over.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Vacations
Tagged Bear Lake, Idaho, Montana, nature, Rocky Mountains, Salt Lake City. Utah, travel, Yellowstone National Park
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism,
where it resides under the title:
“Are You a U.S. Citizen?: Crossing Internal Checkpoints While Alien”
(Image from mappery.com)
The Evolution of X recently wrote a post about maps versus smartphones. Unlike E of X, I do like using the narration on my smartphone. It saves time, money and gas.
When I look at a map to get somewhere in a city, I have to look several times because I have a memory like a sieve. Now, looking at a map while driving is never a good idea, not to mention Continue reading
Posted in Austin, Technology, Travel
Tagged GPS vs maps, smartphones vs maps, technology, travel
I’m not big on collections. I used to be. I had all sorts of collections. If I saw something I liked, I would start a collection. Until I felt that I was surrounding myself with things just for the sake of surrounding myself with things, and I got rid of most of them. Continue reading
(Image from biography.com)
I will have a question in my next post.
But first the story.
In the summer of 1989, two years before I met my husband, my girl friend H and I went backpacking in the Cairngorms in Scotland. We took the ferry from Rotterdam to Hull, hitchhiked to the Cairngorms, Continue reading
This is cool. And Dutch.
Posted in Emigration / Immigration, Holland, Technology, Travel
Tagged emigration, immigration, innovation, Innovative roads, Netherlands, new road technology, science, transportation
(Image: charlesdickenspage.com}
Since I’ve been blogging about Victor Hugo’s stories, let me jump over to England and Charles Dickens.
This winter break I had the bad luck to get the flu. For days I could barely get out of bed. But every cloud has a silver lining, and this cloud’s lining was that I got to read Martin Chuzzlewit in a few days. Continue reading
Posted in Books, Education, History, Society, Travel, US Politics
Tagged 19e eeuw, 19th century, America, American, Amerika, Amerikaans, books, Charles Dickens, Engelse literatuur, English literature, maatschappij, Martin Chuzzlewit, Opinion, society
I was very tempted to use a bridge photo, but that would be a spoiler for a future post. I like this one, too, though, because it shows reflections of different things in different sections.
In Yellowstone National Park, dogs are allowed in cars and campers, but not outside except for in the campsites, on leashes. I took this picture of a small dog in a huge RV in a parking lot near a waterfall. I was wondering when I was going to use this picture. Thanks for the challenge!
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged campers, dogs, honden, reflections, RV's, weekly photo challenge, Yellowstone National Park
As I was going through recipes for Thanksgiving, I came across a small list from almost nineteen years ago. I always come across this list around this time of year, because I keep it in my recipe book. Which, the last couple of years, I only open around this time of year. Continue reading
Posted in Emigration / Immigration, Lists, Travel
Tagged benodigdheden, cadeaus, Christmas, community, emigratie, emigration, gifts, immigration, kerstmis, Lists, necessities, Thanksgiving
(Image from Wikipedia)
The lava flow of the Valley of Fires in New Mexico was formed about 5,000 years ago; it’s one of the youngest lava flows in America. The vegetation still looks like it started popping up rather recently. And in geological time it has. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Carrizozo, lava flow, nature, New Mexico, photography, travel, Valley of Fire, weekly photo challenge
My then boyfriend T in our canoe in Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada, 1991. I actually took this picture in broad daylight, so it’s technically a pathetic failure but I love the result. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Vacations
Tagged Algonquin Provincial Park, camping, Canada, canoeing, fotografie, kamperen, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge
A much younger R
Well, let’s see.
Literally one of the hardest things was the first time I dived off a diving board. This was in a swimming pool in Switzerland. I was twelve, and on vacation with my then best friend Dees. We went to that pool several times, and she dove in like a pro. Toward the end I finally took what was meant to be the plunge. But it was a belly flop instead. Although the term belly flop doesn’t really cover it. A flop sounds soft. This was not soft. In fact, I can still remember just how hard it was, slapping flat onto that water. Very hard indeed. Continue reading
Posted in Books, Emigration / Immigration, Lists, Sports, Transportation, Travel, Vacations
Tagged diving, emigration, flying, immigration, Lists, portaging, romance novels, travel
Just some more milking. This is in Silverton, Colorado.
Posted in Photography, Vacations
Tagged Colorado, photography, Rocky Mountains, Silverton, ski fence
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged nature, photography, Rocky Mountains, travel
They say that any American alive at the time can tell you exactly what he/she was doing when JFK was shot in Dallas. September 11, 2001 was one of those days as well. Continue reading
Posted in History, Travel, US Politics
Tagged 2001, 9-11, emigration, immigration, September 11
On our trip through the Rockies, we stopped in Silverton. On one of the back roads I came across several old, rusty trucks, with their tires half sunk in the ground.
I loved taking pictures of all the rust and the different paint layers becoming exposed.
Cartoon by O’Farrell
One of my readers asked me a while ago to give my take on the apparent ambiguity between the American “melting pot” diversity and America’s dissociation from the rest of the world. Well, here it is. My take. I’m fully aware that I’m generalizing the heck out of this, but the question itself is generalizing, so that makes it totally okay. Continue reading
Posted in Education, Emigration / Immigration, History, Society, Travel
Tagged american dissociation from the world, culture, education, emigration, immigration, politics, travel, world
Okay, I’ve put it off long enough. I’ve managed to prolong our vacation through these photo posts, but now I’ve come to the end. Not that there won’t be more photo posts about the Rockies, but they can wait. Continue reading
So we saw bison and elk, and two wolves at the river’s edge. They were playing and taking their time, and people were taking pictures from the other side, but just when I was finally almost close enough to start taking killer photos, they decided to leave. Aaaarrrghhh! The photos of the elk in the previous post were my photography high point of the vacation, and these wolves were my biggest photography frustration. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged grizzly bear, nature, photography, travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park
The other animal that we saw a lot of in Yellowstone was elk. Apart from when you’re in the car, it’s not a good idea to get too close to bison, but I got pretty close to a beautiful male elk. I think I was about eight feet away at some point. That’s also not recommended; the grammatically annoying signs everywhere say that “all wildlife are dangerous”. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged elk, nature, photography, travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park
Apart from the mud volcano and the mud pots and a few fumaroles at the beginning of our day, we mainly saw animals. So many that we never got to the next geothermal feature. And mostly we saw bison. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged bison, nature, photography, travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park
The next day we woke up to find ourselves in a wonderful campground, with lots of trees and little trails going off behind our site. Not that we spent any time there. We left after breakfast and didn’t come back until well after dark. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged caldera, fumaroles, mud volcano, nature, photography, sulfur pots, travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park
So the last three posts were all about one day, and it still wasn’t over. We got to Jackson Hole in the evening. You can tell by the gas station that it’s a prosperous town.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged elk antlers, Jackson Hole, nature, photography, stagecoach, travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park
This series of posts wouldn’t be complete without me complaining at least once. So here goes.
I didn’t fully appreciate how clean Colorado is until we crossed the border into Utah. And Wyoming is worse. Every roadside and every rest stop is trashed. When we got down from the RV, we immediately had to watch where we walked, to avoid all the broken glass, and I regularly picked up trash that was in the way of a good picture. And all this despite the steep fines for littering. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged dead coyotes, litter, photography, trash, travel, Wyoming
I drove after the stop at Big Sandy Reservoir, and being in control of the breaks meant that I could pull over a lot to take pictures.
After that reservoir we drove through the endless plains of western Wyoming. You can drive for tens of miles and not see a single structure, other than the barbed wire fencing along the road.
After our afternoon and night in Rock Springs, Utah, we drove on up to Jackson and then east to Yellowstone. B was no longer nauseous. He was drinking water and holding it in, and eating some jello at my insistence. He still didn’t feel all that great, but that was understandable after the day before. He got to lie on the couch while we drove, strapped in, of course. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Big Sandy Reservoir, photography, Rocky Mountains, travel, Utah
We backtracked slightly the next morning to squeeze in Dinosaur National Monument before going on the Yellowstone national Park, or at least Jackson, Wyoming. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Dinosaur National Monument, photography, travel, Utah
Okay, where were we? After State Forest State Park we drove clear across northern Colorado to Utah. Not so many spectacular mountains, more rolling landscapes of the high desert. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Colorado, photography, Rocky Mountains, travel, Utah
Hi folks. Just a short note to let you know I have not forgotten my blog. Nor have I vanished from the face of the earth. I have a legitimate reason for suspending my Rocky Mountain trip updates for a few more days. So don’t unfollow me just yet. More will come, I promise.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
After Rocky Mountain National Park, we drove to State Forest State Park, where we were practically guaranteed to see moose. That would be nice, especially a bull moose from a little closer up. But no such luck. Not a moose to be seen. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged beaver dams, Big Thompson River, Cache la Poudre River, Colorado, State Forest State Park
The next day we spent driving back east to Estes Park from our campground in the western part of RMNP. We had seen two bull moose the day before, but from such a distance to be uninteresting in photos. So imagine our surprise when we saw a mother moose and her baby calmly munching willow leaves not more than twenty feet from the road. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged meandering river, moose, Rocky Mountain National Park
We took the smaller scenic route to Rocky Mountain National Park from the Black Canyon (highway 50 east to just before Salida, and then north on 24 through Leadville to the last bit of Interstate 70, but honestly, I think going straight up to Interstate 70 from Montrose would have been more scenic. Except for Blue Mesa Reservoir, the biggest body of water in Colorado. It goes on and on as you drive east on 50 from the Black Canyon, and it’s worth seeing. Especially if you’re used to lakes always being surrounded by trees. Here the desert comes right down to the water’s edge. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado, double rainbow, elk, ground squirrels, marmots, photography, Rocky Mountain National Park, Rocky Mountains, travel
The next day T had to work, so he stayed in the RV while the kids and I went along the rim trail that ran from just outside the campground to the visitors center. The walk was about one mile along the rim of the canyon, but it took us an hour and a half, because there was so much beauty to take in, and so much breath to catch, since we weren’t used to the altitude. Here are some of the many, many pictures I took during that walk. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Colorado, photography, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, travel
We spent all of the second day driving from Durango to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We had driven the road from Durango to Silverton before, and we had taken the old train as well, but it’s spectacular every time. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Black Canyon of the Gunnison, photography, Rocky Mountains, Silverton, travel
For the next two weeks I’m having a photo blog of our trip to the Rocky Mountains.
The first day we left Austin in the evening and drove to Fort Stockton, in west Texas. I didn’t count that first day. But the next morning in Fort Stockton, I was the first one up, so I took a walk around the campsite. It was just an ugly campsite in the middle of nowhere, for people on their way from somewhere to somewhere else, but there was a very short trail into the desert. The sun wasn’t up yet, so I was hoping to see some critters. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged New Mexico, photography, West Texas, yuccas
In my previous post I asked what my readers would like me to write about. I realized later that I would be in big trouble if I got no reply. Would that mean that no one is interested in what I say? Or they don’t care? Or what if I have no readers that day? Would reposting the question be too desperate? This could very well spell the end of my blog. But fortunately someone did reply. Phew, thanks, Hanneke, for averting my existential crisis! Continue reading
Posted in Emigration / Immigration, Holland, Society, Travel
Tagged America, American knowledge of the Netherlands, culture, Dutch immigrants, emigration, immigration, travel
Just a picture I took around Monterey Bay, California, years ago.
Posted in Nature, Neither Here Nor There, Photography, Vacations
Tagged photography, seals, wildlife america
Well, I’ll wait with the scathing post. I was cleaning up the slides I’d scanned a while ago. I used to have slides instead of photos. So I saw them even less than photos. That’s one of the things I love about a blog. I can see my favorite pictures and share them with whoever is interested.
Anyway, I didn’t clean my slides very well before scanning them, so I was doing that in Photoshop last night. Amazing!
Posted in Nature, Neither Here Nor There, Photography, Travel, Vacations
Tagged Mount Snowdon, nature, photography, Snowdonia, travel, Wales
Okay, for those of you who think I’m too negative about America, let me confuse you again.
Do I seem schizophrenic to you? Well, that’s because I am. Not clinically, but being Dutch in America, I can’t help being in a permanent schizophrenic state of mind. Depending on what I’m Continue reading
Photo: tageo.com
I visited a nice blog with photos of Enkhuizen a while ago. My parents lived there for a few years. in the Westerstaat. It has a link to Google Earth and it was great to stand in front of the house!
I told myself I should do that more often. There’s nothing like Google Earth if you’re a homesick emigrant. Or just getting older and wanting to go down memory lane. Well, now I can.
The first place I went was Collaroy, in the state of New South Wales, in Continue reading
Posted in Emigration / Immigration, Travel
Tagged Collaroy, Collaroy Street, emigration, Enkhuizen, Google Earth, immigration, technology, travel, virtual travel
I recently discovered Ted Talks, when a really good and amusing Ted Talk video about book cover design was going around on Facebook. It has since become my new magazine of choice.
I especially like to select the videos that have been labeled “jaw-dropping”. Continue reading
And now for something completely different. Click here for some beautiful photos from Rumania that put our recession into perspective.
Posted in Employment, Neither Here Nor There, Travel
Tagged photography Romania, poverty Romania, Romania
image: nationalebeeldbank.nl
I usually took the bus and the train from my home in Eemnes to my high school in Bilthoven. But in early summer of my senior year, if the weather was nice, I would cycle to school. It was a 45-minute bike ride.
On the way back from school I often battled a head wind so then it could take almost twice as long. Continue reading
photo: Autumn Arnold, Peanut Cheese
Not worrying about money, or getting fired, or getting sick, or not being able to retire, or how to pay for the kids’ colleges.
Isn’t it amazing how smells can evoke memories? The first time I remember experiencing this was when I lived in Australia.
Knowing that they are considered quintessentially–or stereotypically–Dutch, like windmills and dikes, I refused to like tulips for the longest time. I felt they were tourist flowers.
In the late 60s Richard Proenneke built his own cabin in the Alaskan wilderness with only a few simple tools. He spent most of the rest of his life there. Sam Keith fleshed out Proenneke's diary of his first 16 months, when he was making his home by a lake. I love these kinds of books!
An old Oji-Cree healer and her nephew canoe down a river in Canada, away from the world of white people. They both have to come to terms with their past. The woman has lost most of her tribe and the young man is traumatized from his recent experience in the Belgian trenches of World War One. My second book by Boyden. Can't say enough about him.
An incredibly comprehensive history of everything related to slavery in the Southern United States, from the beginning of the colonies to the end of the Civil War. Over 700 pages and I took over 30 pages of notes. I will be sharing over many posts to come!
Hamid's debut novel. I love this author. A young man in Lahore, Pakistan, is the victim of love, drugs, obsession, the class system and his complete lack of self-awareness.
A golem, created in Poland and brought to life on a ship to America, and a jinni who was trapped in a flask a thousand years ago and released in New York -- the most unusual immigrants you'll ever meet.
The only part of her life a Korean woman can control is her body, so she withdraws into it. Harrowing.
Autobiography lightly disguised as a novel about the son of Southern migrants growing up on the streets of Harlem, New York City, in the 1940s and 50s. Written like you're hearing the whole story in a bar. Quite a feat.
The story of a man struggling to make a living in Morocco. No plot, no clearly defined characters, but fascinating in its authenticity.
Pakistani man tells an American about his experience as a college student and employee of an assessment firm in America years ago. Smart, nuanced and pretty darn honest considering the unreliable narrator.
Wow! The answer to the inane platitudes about how all parents love their children and how children should always respect their parents. The protagonist must come to terms with his deeply flawed immigrant parents in order to change himself.
Seven short stories about life during the Kim Il-sung regime, by a writer who still lives and works in North Korea, were smuggled out of the country and translated. Mind-boggling stuff.
A 15-year-old autistic narrator wants to know who killed a neighbor's dog, and ends up much further out of his comfort zone than he planned. Wonderful read!
In politics, education, religion, agriculture, business--it turns out that dumbing down has been here from the start.
Fifty years of Istanbul seen through the eyes of a street vendor who migrates to the city as a young boy. It's also a window into the complicated dance between men and women in Turkey.
Hey, don't laugh, at least I'm trying.
A Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with six other people on a tiny island off the coast of Maine all winter in 1873. A woman in the present researching the Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with three other people on a tiny sailboat. What could possibly go wrong?
A man stuck between two worlds in more ways than one. Fascinating!
Historical novel about early contacts between first nations and the French in Canada. Beautifully written story that doesn't pull any punches. I bought his other two novels right away.
Beautifully written. By my children's favorite English and Creative Writing teacher! It's got rave reviews and we're all very proud of her.
Suki Kim is a Korean-American journalist. She poses as an evangelical Christian posing as an English teacher at a school for the sons of North Korea's elite. Her experience and the information she manages to get via writing assignments are incredible. Definitely a lot more eye-opening that any CNN special.
This. Explains. Everything!!!
Why has Islam not undergone a reformation like Christianity? Why is it so easy for Islamic extremist groups like IS to recruit young muslims? What would it take for Islam in fundamentalist Islamic countries to enter modernity? Does the West have a role to play?
Amazing! A man wanders endlessly through a dreamscape, becoming other people, himself in the past, everything is fluid. Kafkaesque disconnect between people and their different needs.
A multi-layered novel about the history of Libya. A fast read, but one you can repeat and find something new each time.
Twelve Americans go missing in Burma/Myanmar during a tour. Touching and hilarious, but mostly hilarious.
The most unusual murder mystery I've ever read. Incredible writing. It haunted me for days.
The quote on the front mentions that these stories are exhilerating. I couldn't disagree more. They are almost unbearably painful to read, and yet I couldn't put them down. Very well done, apart from the third story, which is written in the second tense. Please let me know if you know of ONE story that works in second tense.
Rants, essays, and diatribes.
Fascism, Nationalism and Authoritarianism in U.S. History
He was in India. I was in Ireland. Now we're in Paris. New posts every week.
Making Sense of a Vexing and Perplexing World
Cogito Ergo Sum
daily gadfly
Understanding the psychology that drives our politics
A daily selection of the best content published on WordPress, collected for you by humans who love to read.
Longreads : The best longform stories on the web
making sense of the news one week at a time
The Art and Craft of Blogging
Words by RRN
The journey of a Graphic Design graduate
Explore Scotland through my stories, photos and videos. She's a beauty!
Wanderers on two wheels!
Quintin Lake's photographic Journey walking around Britain's Coast
Adventures in the world of history
Amsterdam days and nights
196 countries, countless stories...
Postcards from afar: Immersion Travel, Cultural Travel. Currently in... Singapore!
Adventures in absurdity
navigating a world of noise as a quiet soul
Art + Photo + Words
art design & oddities
Historian, Folklorist, Writer, Re-enactor, Museum Professional. Follow me on Twitter: @stuartorme
“I have tried my best to keep my country alive by writing about it.” - Nuruddin Farah
Trimming the bush of life...
een amerikaanse schrijft over liefde, ouderschap & volwassen worden in nederland
I write books--cuz I love words. Sometimes they love me back.
the past in pop culture
a place to showcase
When will we ever learn?: Common sense and nonsense about today's public schools in America.
Rising from the ashes of domestic violence
a chronicle of recollections
There are 5 sisters. She's the middlest.
Visual Arts from Canada & Around the World
Resident Alien -- Being Dutch in America 