ABC Wednesday, U is for Unwrapping

I find it fascinating to see how the flowers of Nectaroscordum siculum bulgaricum Unfold. Most of the pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them (please do and be stunned ;-)). Not sure why it doesn't work with all of them. Blogger works in mysterious ways.

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt. Visit her for more entries, or join in the fun and post your own.

ABC Wednesday - S is for........lotS of thingS

First things first. I would like to thank you all for your kind wishes and SYMPATHY concerning my colourful bruises. And most of all I would like to thank you for your SHOCKED reactions. For some weird reason your SHOCKEDNESS (that is probably not a real word) made me feel much better. Why is that? The legs are doing good! I'm walking in a reasonably normal way again. In the beginning of the week I couldn't even get in or out of the car without moaning and groaning. So....Elvis and the healing vibes some of you are sending me are doing a good job. I'm very grateful!!!!!!!!!!! And....have you met SIMON'S CAT? I know some of you can't get YouTube, So I'm Sorry that I'm posting another YouTube one, but the rest of you, especially if you like cats, will hopefully enjoy these little cartoons. We have our own SIMON'S CAT. She's called Bengeltje. She's SILLY and the reason why we don't keep a baseball bat under our bed. Bengeltje prefers tweezers to wake you up with anyway ;-)

SEE?

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt, over here. Please visit her for more ABC entries or to join in the fun.

ABC Wednesday, Q is for reQuest

Since I didn't participate for a couple of weeks, due to Other things Occupying my Mind, I'm sneaking in a couple of Missed letters, like the N for Nutini and the P for Paolo. And thére you have the Q for Quality,

Paolo Nutini. No Question about his Quality. I can listen to this song all day long.

It's called 'last reQuest'.

Enjoy. (for more ABC Wednesday posts, visit our lovely host Mrs. Nesbitt here)

ABC Wednesday, L is for.......

Lapje, who has clearly seen the Light....

......and it made her smiLe!

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Denise Nesbitt.

ABC Wednesday, K is for Keep off the grass

ABC Wednesday is hosted by the lovely Mrs. Nesbitt.

ABC Wednesday, J is for Jamie Lidell

J is for Jamie Lidell. This swinging song always makes me happy. EnJoy ABC Wednesday is hosted by Denise Nesbitt. Take a look over here for more J-posts. You never know what you'll find. Or Join in the fun and post your own.

ABC Wednesday, I is for........

This week's letter I was not an easy letter. I really had no INSPIRATION.

The only thing not very INTERESTING I could come up with is .........

...........an INCREDIBLY bendy dog called Biggles, who is part of our private 'zoo',

and is INCAPABLE of standing still......

...when he is holding this almost ILLUMINATED bright yellow dogtoy.....

....which makes him INSANELY happy!

For more ABC Wednesday's I's you could always pop over to our host, Mrs. Nesbitt.

ABC Wednesday, H is for Holle

Holle is our labrador retriever (one of three). Our first black lab was Cosy, the loveliest dog anyone could ever wish for. When Cosy was about two years old, another black labradorpup arrived in our family. We called her Phoebe. Cosy and Phoebe were inseparable from the start. Sadly Cosy died of cancer just before her 6th birthday. We (hubs, me and Phoebe) were inconsolable and hubs and I decided that we wanted to fill the very big gap that Cosy left with a new labradorpup. So Holle arrived. Holle was a very different dog in her behaviour. I used to do hunting training with Cosy (we were quite good at that actually) and hubs trained with Phoebe. We started training both dogs from when they were about 14 weeks old. So we knew a little bit about bringing up a pup. You would think. But Holle! Holle was a totally different matter. A very uncontrollable little black monster. Even our trainer (who is one of those people that can take a dog's lead and the dog immediately surrenders to 'the power of the great packleader', a natural doghandler) could NOT handle our Holle. She just ignored him. He was stunned. It was a slight comfort for us. We didn't do everything wrong then, Holle just had a mind of her own. The training was held in a field surrounded by woods, next to a small fishing lake and most exercises were done off lead. Well.....as soon as we took the lead off Holle she would disappear. Usually to take a swim in the lake. We were always left until last to do an exercise. So that everybody else could go and drink some tea or coffee while I was out looking for Holle. What a dog! She built quite a reputation for us. Cosy and I used to have a reputation too. But a good one. If we were competing in a hunting competition somewhere in the Netherlands, sometimes total strangers would come up to me and say: "Ah, so thát's Cosy! What a wonderful dog." I mean, thát is special isn't it? But Holle had a different reputation. Not that she wasn't a kind and happy dog, just sort of a loose canon. Until I had a bright idea. What if we would use a collar (in hunting 'we' don't use a collar, because if the dog has to search in the woods, a collar can get caught in some branches and a dog can choke itself), take the lead off, but attach a very long line. So that if Holle would run off, I could stand on the line and she wouldn't get very far. And that turned everything around. She began to understand that partytime was over and that it was actually quite fun to do something good and get a reward. Yippee! She is a very well behaved dog now. Most of the time. Sometimes she gets into Holle-mode again, but I can see in her eyes that she's making plans of her own and I can warn her by saying: "Holle! Watch it!" And then she goes back to her well-behaved-mode. She and I are best friends now. I never thought that would happen. It's hard to take a good picture of her when I'm alone with her, because she doesn't leave my side and always looks up to me like this. And if I go down on my knees, she often tries to eat the camera. And if I tell her to stay somewhere so that I can get some distance between us, her ears drop and she gets a very sad look on her face. That's our Holle! ABC Wednesday is a fun meme, hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt. Take a look here to see the other H-posts of this week. Or post your own!

G is for antique Graffiti

New College, Oxford University

Somewhere here, I found some antique Graffiti. How did one leave one's mark when the spray paint can was not yet invented?

ABC Wednesday is a fun meme, hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt. To check out the other G-posts (be careful not to juggle the letters) you can visit her blog here.

F is For Frost

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt over here.

It's a great meme. Visit her place for more entries or join in the fun and post your own.

E....... is for KWPN (huh? that can't be right?!)

ABC Wednesday round 4: E (for more ABC Wednesday entries click the link or just join in the fun and post your own) I would like to set you, fellow blogger, a challenge. Let me explain: Many of you know that my horse Naloma is expecting a foal that will be born in April (I can hardly sleep now, fingers crossed that everything will be allright). Naloma comes from....uhm, we call it a 'stam', perhaps it translates into 'stem'?, meaning part of a family tree, that is called the Loma-stem (if you click the link, it will take you to a list of famous horses from this stem). All mares born in that family have a name that ends with 'loma'. Naloma's mother is called Aloma, her grandmother is called Eloma and so on. She's also a KWPN-horse (KWPN = Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands) so she is listed in the KWPN-studbook. A KWPN-horse has to have a name that begins with a letter that is attached to the year in which it was born. This year is (and there it is, finally, the ABC Wednesday-letter of this week) the E-year. So the name of Naloma's foal must begin with E. If it is a mare, we would like the name to end with 'loma' or preferably with 'naloma'. Eloma is too simple and besides, her grandmother is called Eloma too. So that is not an option. If it is a stallion, we can call it any name we like, as long as it is 'clean' (you know what I mean) and starts with E. Since you are all very intelligent and creative and lovely people I would like to set you a challenge. CAN YOU COME UP WITH A NAME FOR OUR FOAL? Maybe you can leave your suggestion in the comment section? We even will think of a nice thank-you-gift if we actually use the name you suggested. If you need more inspiring information (or maybe this just makes it more difficult): The foal's daddy is called Whitesnake. - Whitesnake's father: Cavalier - Whitesnake's mother: Moglichkeit and hér father is called Corofino. - Naloma's father: Laurin Holstein, he lives in the USA under the name Sandstones Laurin (click the link and read his wonderful story, he is a very special horse!) - Naloma's mother: Aloma, hér father is a very famous thoroughbred called Lucky Boy. Good luck! I am really curious to see what names you come up with (hopefully).

D is for Dressage

D could have also been for Dogs, as our home and yard is full of animals, but our Dogs and cats get enough attention in the Camera Critters meme. So no D for Dogs. D is for Dressage, since we also have horses. And Dressage is 'my thing'. Now, I can tell you the history of Dressage, the various Dressage exercises, the Dressage training, the difficulty and the importance of Dressage, but if you are interested in that I would like to refer you to Wikipedia. For me Dressage is a way to exercise and improve myself and my horse. It is very difficult to explain to people who don't ride what a great feeling it is to be at one with your horse and to notice that his/her movement and musculature, not to mention your own riding abilities and musculature, improve. And, even more important, that your horse is actually happy in doing all these exercises. See, don't get me started on the subject of horses. I'm quite passionate about that. Ah well, I will no longer bore you. If you like, watch the video of the Dutch Dressage Queen Anky van Grunsven. She makes it all seem very easy. I can assure you: IT IS NOT This is me, doing some Dressage exercises with hubs' horse Willem Lafleur (my own horse is expecting a foal this April, she's far too pregnant to be riding her).

And this is my precious Naloma.

Visit ABC Wednesday for more D's or join in the fun and post your own.

C is for ComiCal Car aCCident

Actually my intentions were to only post photos or what-have-you's especially made or written by me for this ABC Wednesday meme. Many C's entered my mind (chocolate, candy, crisps, chips, cake........do you see a pattern?) and left again through a backdoor with a sign above it: NOT GOOD/FUNNY/ORIGINAL ENOUGH. And then I thought of this. I've known it for years and still hearing it makes me laugh and laugh and laugh. So now I'm breaking my own rules and we are only at C *sigh*. Turn up the volume a little, it is a voicemail recording of someone who witnesses a minor Car aCCident, no one was hurt....although, .......well...you have to hear it, it is hilarious!

Voice mail message www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/voicemail-p1.php?emf=1

Check out the ABC Wednesday meme for more entries or just join in the fun and post a C yourself!

B is for Boots

These are my favourite boots. I love boots. So let me introduce you to:

From left to right:

• My green Le Chameau rubber boots. Bought them about 6 years ago. Still in good order although I wear them almost every day, mucking out the stables, working in the garden, training and walking with the dogs. Found them in a shop with huntingsportsstuff, where they sell everything a hunter could want, in every colour! As long as it is green.
• My riding boots. Had them made to measure about 20 (yes, 20!) years ago. Also still in good nick. But that's because I stopped riding about a year later and then took it up again about 5 years ago, so I've been wearing them 6 years now. I love them! Dread the day I have to buy new ones for apparently I have unusually long shinbones, so they will have to be made to measure too. Aaaarghh.
• My new brown boots. They are so beautiful and look really nice with the skirt that I have and wear about twice a year. So they will probably last me for years to come too. Big smile!
• My absolute favorites, the real thing: actual Dubarry's. I finally gave in and bought them a couple of weeks before last Christmas. So now I really belong to the club of people with labradors, fourwheeldrives, a house in the country, a waxcoat and Dubarry's. My cool image went out the door as soon as the Dubarry's entered. But they are so comfortable and nice and warm. And so pricey that they will have to last me for at least 10 years. Let them be warned!

Visit ABC Wednesday for more interesting B-entries or just join.

A is for African bowl

We brought this bowl from a visit to The Gambia about 12 years ago. A friend of ours was doing voluntary work over there and we went to see her.

This is my first ever entry for ABC Wednesday. The pressure of thinking of something interesting enough for a photo and beginning with an A was almost too much to cope with.

But this is exactly the reason why I wanted to participate in this project. So I have to work my brain and try to do something with my poor (and this is NOT a case of fishing for compliments or false modesty) photography skills. And my really not very sophisticated camera (Samsung Digimax 15) isn't helping. But....until I have a really good reason to buy a better one, I have to make do with this one. There are worse things. Looking forward to seeing all the other entries en to next wednesday. Visit ABC wednesday!