Thursday Challenge; My Favourite photo

This Thursday Challenge is the last of this year and streches out over three weeks I guess. "MY FAVOURITE PHOTO" (3 week theme from Dec 11 to Jan 1)

That's a hard one or maybe not so. Browsing through my photo's I've noticed I haven't made so many this year. My Nikon and I aren't the best of friends not as my Panasonic and I were. It doesn't give me the pleasure of taking pictures as the other camera did and that's a real shame I think.

The times I go on a day out with my mum and sis are the best of times. We still have lots of those days to go but those times have the best of pictures as well and my favourite ones too.

So my photo is from early spring this year when we went to the Keukenhof for the first time to see all the beautiful flowers and had so much fun.

 Sis and mum

                         Beautiful Tulips                        

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Minimal

This Thursday Challenge is about; "MINIMAL" (Photography or things that are simple,...)

Rain drops on leaves


© KH

Thursday Challenge; Leaves

This Thursday Challenge is all about; "LEAVES" (Trees, plants and leaves of autumn colours just simply green,...)

 Blackberry leaves with frostbite

 Blackberry leaves

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Architecture

The Thursday Challenge of today is: "ARCHITECTURE" (Buildings inside and out of all kinds,...)

A detail of the outside of the 'Rijksmuseum' in Amsterdam.

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Money

I really have a weird feeling with this Thursday Challenge which is about; "MONEY" (Bills, Coins, Gold, Silver, Things that are valuable,...)
so I gave my own twist to it. On my other blog Kati's Scribbles I have a Quotes and Pics blog every Saturday so I thought of this while thinking of a theme. It's different but it makes me feel better. ;)

© KH

Efteling

Hub and I have a nice week off and the boys had a finally time to come with us to the Efteling; a lovely amusement park/fairy tale park where I'm coming since I was a little girl of 2 years old so that's now for 45 years! It was a lovely day with sunny weather and lots of fun (and pictures taken!)

 Sunny day

 Roller coaster called Bird Rock

 Autumn colours with Bremer Stadsmuzikanten as part of a fountain

 Python roller coaster

The emperors new clothes

 At night a true water/light spectacle Aquanura

AquaNura

Closes with a bang

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Home

The Thursday Challenge of today is; "HOME" (House, Apartment, Trailer Home,...)

Your home is your castle comes to mind; The one place where I feel truly at home besides my own house is Scotland of course (where else)

So these pictures are of my favorite castle;
Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland (Made in 2005)

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Happy

The Thursday Challenge of this week is: HAPPY (Smiles, Faces, Laughter, Humorous Things,...)

Well this happy face always makes me smile: She's almost 13 years old (next Thursday is her birthday) and although a bit stiff in her bones now and then still a happy dog. :)

© KH

Butterflies

Today I was lucky to see this rare butterfly. It must be an Atalanta but with totaly different colours than a normal one. I've read that it's possible sometimes but now I've seen it with my own eyes. And it was gorgeous! His friend was sitting right next to him with the 'normal' Atalanta colours.

Speckled Wood butterflies are all over the place here even in October;

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Shiny

It's Thursday again and the Thursday Challenge today is:
"SHINY" (Mirrors, Reflections, Glass, Jewellery, Metal,...)

© KH

October morning

I love autumn and I love poems so I used to combine those two but somehow I forgot it. Today I walked outside and it was a lovely autumn morning, my kind of weather; drizzle, dark and the leaves are starting to change colour and fall. I took this photo for a dear friend in India who doesn't know autumn and found this poem to go along with it and thought: I want to start that kind of blogging again. A picture and a poem that goes along with it. So here it is I hope you like it. I took it with my phone so the quality isn't that good but still a nice picture of autumn.

Have a lovely Sunday.

October

By Robert Frost
 

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

 © KH

Thursday Challenge; Together

This Thursday Challenge it's about:
"TOGETHER" (Bacon and Eggs, Things that go together,...)

Honey and bees go together I think:

© KH

Heather

A few weeks ago while walking in the forest I took these pics (among others the header which I edited)

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Blue

This Thursday's Challenge is about:
"BLUE" (Anything with the colour blue in it,...)

On this very important day for Scotland (the country I love and miss so much) it can only be one picture for me:

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Garden

This Thursday's Challenge is all about; GARDEN (Flowers, Vegetables, Rocks, Orchards,...)

And it so happens I made some new ones;

 Spider

 snail on a dead yellow flower (would snails eat flowers as well I wonder?)

Hydrangea

© KH

Highlands

After watching the new series Outlander (I also read the wonderful books by Diana Gabaldon) I am homesick for Scotland more than ever! So I thought it was time again for some photos even though it's been a while since I've been there. Just to lift my spirits up;

 Loch Rannoch

 Culloden Battlefield

 Clava Cairns

Loch Leven

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Sky

I'm a day late but better late than never;

Thursday Challenge: "SKY" (Birds, Winged insects, Kites, Frisbees, Balloons, Cloud,...)

Taken in the Black Forrest (Schwarzwald) in 2009

© KH

Thursday Challenge; Yellow

This Thursday the challenge is Yellow (Anything with the colour yellow in it,...)

My Yellow flowers are quite popular with the bee and bumble bee population. Not only for the nectar, but they also die in them:

© KH

Clouds

While we were cycling to a friend yesterday I've made some nice cloud pictures in the countryside. Of course we didn't make it all the way without getting wet. But I can't complain, I love this weather after all! :)

© KH

Fungus in August

It's been a rainy August and a rainy holiday for us. But I really don't mind. I long for Autumn! It's my favorite season and the heat of last July is not my favorite weather. But because of the many rain there are already a lot of fungi to be found.
These in my street alone:

© KH

Summer Holiday

Well my summer holiday is here at last. The weather is not to bad either, it's much cooler and a bit of rain now and again, which I don't mind at all! Not that I'm going away or anything, just the thought of not having to work for the next two weeks should be relaxing enough. I say should because I always need time to adjust the first few days.
And what do I do on my first day? I have already washed my windows (even though it was supposed to rain) and now I'm sitting at my laptop. I really need to think of what it was I wanted to do... Relax, read loads of books and go away on some daytrips by train. But for now... Just go with the flow...

Triberger wasserfälle Schwarzwald 2009

© KH

Visit to Grave

When mum turned 70 last March my sis and I gave her a card. On it were 10 daytrips to determine by herand for sis and me to pay of course. We already have gone on two because of the extreme hot summer weather we're having the third one is put off.

The last one we went to a town where we used to live as children. My dad was a military man so we moved a few times and in this old town we've lived for six years. It changed a bit but not too much.
Grave is a fortress town and the river Maas (Meuse) is streaming along side it. 

 Old canon

 Beautiful old fronts

 Doorknocker

 Meuse/Maas

 Old stuff shop with armour on top of the building

 

 canons

little angels on a house

© KH