Sunday Selections #70: The incredibly creepy edition

Sunday Selections is hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock and is thé place to post those photos that have been hanging around on your computer for far too long and need to be seen by other bloggers. Or something like that. Hop over to Kim’s rocking frog ponds and join in if you like.

I’m not always really following the rules to the letter, but Kim doesn’t mind. To make it up to her I’ll post some photos of Lovebirds or Ladybirds or whatever you call them in your country. We call them Lieveheersbeestjes. They are not incredibly creepy of course. BUT… I just thought I’d warn you. There’s also a photo of a spider. Just so you know. I’ll start with the cute ones:

This is a 14-dotted one. Not to be confused of course with the 14-spotted one, which is a much rarer kind of ‘lieveheersbeestje’. I’m not kidding.

Back end. The entire creature, not only its back end, is tinier than the ‘normal’ red/black ones. About two millimetres head-to-tail at the most.

 

Don’t worry, he made it.

 

And he’s saying ‘Hi Kim!’. Or ‘look mama, no hands!’.

 

I’m glad I’m not the mother of this daredevil.

And now a really scary, but also rather beautiful photo, if I may say so myself, of a spider. So don’t look if you’re suffering from even a mild case of arachnophobia. Do not be curious. Just look away. 

 

 

 

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

 

 

It caught a fly, beheaded the poor victim and is probably saving that best part for last. When I checked this photo on my computer and saw that eye looking back at me it did send shivers down my spine. And I’m not even scared of spiders.

Anyway… wishing you all a nice week and I promise that when something blogworthy happens, I’ll tell you all about it. Life has been incredibly boring, but also quite relaxed. As far as working my ass off in the garden can be considered to be ‘relaxed’.

Sunday Selections #69: The bench edition

Sunday Selections, hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock, is the place to post those photos that have been hanging around on your computer for far too long and that need to be seen and enjoyed by fellow bloggers.

So, here’s my selection for this Sunday: I’m trying to make a series of photos of people who use the bench opposite our house to give their bums a much needed rest from cycling through the countryside. I’ve managed to take four shots on a sunny Sunday in April and it is far more interesting to look at them than I first thought it would be. I mean… they are just people sitting on a bench. How interesting can it be? And yet… they speak to me:

He’s soooo relaxed, but she wants to know and see everything that’s going on.

 

 

They are prepared for everything! And she leads.

 

 

Now, you have to understand that I don’t want them to see me taking their photo, so I sneak out of the garden gate, take a shot and quickly disappear again. But this woman, she just didn’t park her posterior on that bench. She just stood there, looking at our house. And there I was, hiding behind the ivy that surrounds our garden gate, waiting until she finally would turn around and just sit! After ages, I just gave up and went inside. Of course at that point she turned around an sat down. So I quickly took this shot through the window next to our front door. Which is why it is a rather poor quality shot.

He clearly needed this rest, his posture says ‘phew’. She can’t wait to stand up again. And look at his glasses. What’s with those?

 

Now, they are cute. Notice the non-existing space between them and compare that to the other photos. Sweet. And they clearly love blue. Aww…

 

And just for fun I though I’d add some macro shots. Have I mentioned I love my macro lens (I know I have. Lots of times. But hey… I do.)

Sunday Selections #68: The miscellaneous edition

Sunday Selections is hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock and is the place to post those photos that have been hanging around on your computer for far too long. Why not join in?

This is my Selection for this Sunday:

Willem just simply can’t bear the sight of hubs’ behind.

 

This bee definitely needs a napkin.

 

This is the fringe of the leaf of a tulip (did I mention I’m so happy with my macro lens?).

 

Petje is trying to stare fish out of the pond.

Sunday Selections #63: the bee’s knees edition

It’s Sunday again. Time for the Sunday Selections, hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock. They do, you know.
Anyway, if you have tons of photos hanging around in your computer somewhere, waiting for a reason to be shown to the blogging world, hop over to the rocking frog ponds and follow the almost non-existent rules for joining in.

This Sunday Selections being my bee’s knees edition; Kim is Queen of the Bee’s Knees! She participated in ‘the worlds greatest shave’ to raise money for a leukaemia foundation. Not only Kim’s frog ponds rock, she does too! Follow the above links to her blog and see the evidence for yourself.

And Kim… you look really good with short hair!

 

So, back to the Sunday Selections; I did take some photographs of buzzing bees this week that I thought you might like:

Sunday Selections #62: the ‘if this doesn’t bring a smile to your face’ edition

It’s Sunday again. Time for the Sunday Selections, hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock. They do, you know.
Anyway, if you have tons of photos hanging around in your computer somewhere, waiting for a reason to be shown to the blogging world, hop over to the rocking frog ponds and follow the almost non-existent rules for joining in.

Sorry for not being here last week, but I’ve been busy with all sorts of other things and also the Lyme is playing up, making me extremely tired. So tired, that I have difficulty even talking, let alone translating my words into English *sigh*. It’s an on-and-off thing, the Lyme. Sometimes it’s here, most of the time it isn’t.

This week I’m posting some photos that will hopefully bring a smile to your face. I took them at the first birthday party of three young friends of mine. Cute guys they are. Even though one of them was still recovering from a really bad case of chicken-pox, he still had his happy face on.

These two boys (yes, you’re right, they are twins) are a hilarious double-act.  

In full admiration for their sister who is doing the ‘farting-dance’ that comes with lots of butt-wiggling and raspberry blowing sound effects. She’s almost a double-act all by herself.

Ah… young love… (they are not brother and sister, before you think that weird things are normal in the Netherlands)

The cake tasted good!

Sunday Selections #60: The ‘longing for spring’ edition

It’s Sunday again. Time for the Sunday Selections, hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock. They do, you know.
Anyway, if you have tons of photos hanging around in your computer somewhere, waiting for a reason to be shown to the blogging world, hop over to the rocking frog ponds and follow the almost non-existent rules for joining in.

This Sunday I thought I’d get into spring-mood again and just randomly pick some photos from a folder dated May 2009. Our first foal was born in April 2009 and she, her mom and our other horse stayed for about 6 weeks with the horses and foals of friends in luscious green meadows nearby. The first two photos I shot there. The last three are of our garden and are mainly there to remind me that it will look like that again soon, for it is now in a sorry, muddy state.
Each winter I lose faith and cannot believe that it will ever look pretty, green and flowery again. And each spring I’m proved wrong.
So, this year I’m keeping the faith! And my fingers crossed.

Sunday Selections #59 : The tulips and cat edition

It’s Sunday again. Time for the Sunday Selections, hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock. They do, you know.
Anyway, if you have tons of photos hanging around in your computer somewhere, waiting for a reason to be shown to the blogging world, hop over to the rocking frog ponds and follow the almost non-existent rules for joining in.

This Sunday I thought I’d get into Spring-mood and show you some colourful tulips. One of our cats, Snoesje is hiding behind the tulips, while guarding the newspaper.

Nothing special, just nice and cheerful.

When I buy tulips, I buy lots of bunches in different colours and mix them up. And if the colours clash, so be it. I like it that way. Makes me smile.

Sunday Selections #57: The random selection

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Selections is hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock and is the place to post those photos that have been hanging around for far too long in folders on your computer. If you have poor, unseen photos lurking somewhere in the depths of your computer, join in and hop over to the rocking frog ponds to follow the almost non-existent rules.

This week I thought I’d give you an impression of last week’s weather. Blue skies, sun, snow and freezing. Quite nice actually.
Yesterday I went shopping with a friend in Groningen and people were ice skating on the canals. It looked so picturesque. But of course I didn’t have a camera with me. Perhaps I’ll go back to Groningen today to take some photos. Apparently today is the last day people can skate, because thaw will set in later this afternoon. We’ll see what the day will bring.

Sunday Selections: The doorknocker edition

First I wanted to call this post ‘Big Knockers’, but then I thought it would probably attract the wrong crowd and I hate to disappoint people.

These doorknockers were on different doors in the same street in a small village called Garnwerd, in the province Groningen, here in the Netherlands. I took these shots in July 2010, when I went on a ‘photohunt’ with two of my friends. We had all just finished a photography course for idiots absolute beginners and wanted to practice what we had learned. Of course I practiced all kinds of different settings on my camera and we compared shots during our walk through the village. Their shots often were much better than mine: nicer colours, better contrast, good lighting. At the end of our ‘hunt’, while enjoying a coffee with apple pie on the terrace of the local cafe, it turned out that they had only taken photographs with their cameras in the idiot-proof automatic setting. Which slightly pissed me off, because that wasn’t the point of our little trip, but it explained why their photos were better than mine. I had hoped that we could have interesting discussions about photography and learn from each other, but they gave up right after we’d finished that first course.

Anyway, I do like these doorknocker-shots.

Sunday Selections is hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock and is the place to post those photos that have been hanging around for far too long in folders on your computer. If you have poor, unseen photos lurking somewhere in the depths of your computer, join in and hop over to the rocking frog ponds to follow the almost non-existent rules.

Sunday Selections: #55, The woodpecker edition #2

Sunday Selections, THE time and place to post those photos that have been aimlessly hanging around on your computer. The lovely Kim from Frogpondsrock hosts this meme. If you want to join in, just hop over to the rocking frog ponds and follow the almost non-existent rules.

So, here’s the second lot of the photos I took of the woodpecker family. Daddy Woodpecker was quite a busy boy, feeding his hungry child(ren) (I think there was only one baby, but I could be wrong). I know that Mommy Woodpecker was nearby, but she didn’t trust me enough to take her turn in feeding the little one.

I have so many shots of the woodpeckers (most of them not very good, but that is why they were still hanging around in a folder) that I’m going to spread them out over a couple of Sunday Selections. So I know you’ll be back here next Sunday. It’s a cunning plan! Next week I’ll post the rest of the shots and then I will have to go through my folders again for shots of different subjects, that haven’t been posted yet. Oh, there are lots and lots and lots of them.