Op 10 minuten fietsen van mijn huis bevindt zich een prachtige kolonie ooievaars. Ze zijn alweer druk aan het broeden.
Ik vermoed dat het exemplaar met de bruine veren een eerstejaars is. De snavel is al fel rood in plaats van zwart, maar het verendek is nou niet echt stralend wit te noemen, en hij heeft duidelijk één van de slechtste plekken van de kolonie gekregen: het dichtst de weg, het laagst op de stam. Het arme dier wordt voortdurend bekeken door fotografen zoals ik, en auto’s die even stoppen. Gelukkig lijkt hij gewend aan drukte, want hij bleef onverstoorbaar soezelen (het resultaat: vele, vele foto’s met gesloten ogen).
Afgelopen 15 november was de Nationale Boomfeestdag 2023. Alweer de 66e editie van dit jaarlijkse feest. In Amstelveen gaf demissionair minister voor Natuur en Stikstof Christianne van der Wal-Zeggelink samen met burgmeester Tjapko Poppens en directeur Sylvo Thijsen het startschot in Amstelveen met het planten van een es. Directeur Nationale Boomfeestdag Marleen van der Ham en kinderburgemeester Milanka gaven hen een helpende hand. Deze es was de eerste van 200.000 bomen die door kinderen in heel Nederland zijn geplant en het komende half jaar nog worden geplant
Something completely different. Bread. The very first I ever baked, and it means so much to me! You have no idea. I took a huge risk given the visitor I expected. Simple recipe: whole grain flour, yeast, water and the simplest oven you can imagine. And it worked! It’s like magic.
Lovely to see the first ones of the year. In the backyard here in Hollandsche Rading, the winter jasmine is abundantly flowering.
Seeing this I realised I desperately need more yellow and summer colours. So this one is of a summer that feels so long ago.
Last one is of a visit to the Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar. There are a few items on permanent display that bring out the inner child in everyone – at least, they definitely did in me. Like Leandro Erlich’s swimming pool, Ron Mueck’s Couple under an Umbrella, the Open Ended maze of Richard Serra and the tiny elevators of Maurizio Cattelan.
At the moment there is an exhibition of the Italian artist Guiseppe Penone, who works with natural materials like trees and marble and leather, using the objects as a kind of memory or footprint of what has been. If you allow your mind to wander in his world, thoughts of interconnectedness of all visible and physical objects come up, of memories in the physical world and how we give meaning to what we experience with our senses.
This picture below is of Tiger, tiger, tiger; the hidden tigers at the bottom of porcelain of the Ming Dynasty of Ai Weiwei.
A little more nature here, but now from Netherlands. These pictures are taken during a work-visit to a nature reserve in the dunes. First the the tree frog – boomkikker above. Genetic research proved that this population originated somewhere in the Mediterranean. Probably deliberately released, which could lead to a loss of genetic diversity.
Azure bluet – azuurwaterjuffer. Common in this part of Europe.
Lots of marsh helleborine – moeraswespenorchis here. Quite rare in the Netherlands, but if the water quality is okay it can pop up with a lot of enthusiasm.
Grasshopper – but what species? I’m afraid I don’t know, so feel free to leave your guess.
Another grasshopper, the great green bush-cricket – grote groene sabelsprinkhaan.
Parnassia, one of my favorites. Used to be quite rare, but thanks to the efforts of nature conservation organizations they have returned. Every day, one stamen rises until all five of them are standing up.
Last one: the common midwife toad. Also alien to this area, so probably also deliberately released. This was a young one. It still has it’s tadpole tail.
De Portrettenmaker 