Something very special, just for you

First of all, A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you. May only good things happen to you and may there be lots of sunshine in your life this year. Even if it rains. And I would like to mark this special occasion, the start of 2010, with a very special gift to you. You see, I'm a very shy person. You wouldn't know it if you'd met me, but I would love to spend my life somewhere under a rock. I'd be perfectly happy living in the middle of nature, with my beloved animals and hubs and an internet connection. I'd make do without the luxury of a washing machine (although it is quite convenient to have a working one, as I've discovered last year when I had to wait far too long for someone to repair my broken one), I wouldn't mind making coffee in the old-fashioned way: grinding beans, cooking water and gradually adding that to the filter with the ground beans in it. You see, I'm thát old that I still know how to make coffee without the all-singing-all-dancing-fancy-espresso-machine that graces our kitchen with its presence. And I have forgotten some basic English and am not sure if 'ground' is correct. Thát old! It's not that I don't like people. I do. I love my friends. And they love me. I'm reasonably anti-social, in that I don't like parties and if I can help it I won't go, I don't phone people (I do text and email however), and I don't often go to any of them. For some reason my friends accept my weirdnesses. I have some great friends. I'm shy and very unsure, although I'm a master in never (éver) showing that to anyone but hubs. And if I tell someone I am, they never believe me. Because "you are so self-assured". Uhuh. No. I'm not! I am so unsure about the way I look, that there are no photos of me from the age of about 15 up to now. Except for the hideous ones on my drivers licence and passport. I hate the way I look on photos. And if I see one of myself I genuinly have to cry. I know. It is shallow. But every time I convinced myself that I was not the ugliest person alive and someone took a photo of me, I had proof that I actually wás. I hope you understand how utterly traumatic seeing a picture of me has been. For me that is. Other people could look at a photo of me, before I grabbed it, tore it apart and threw it away, without obviously being disgusted. After I got rid of the photo, I would get rid of the photographer. We will never see them again...whahaha. (Oh, and just to warn you: don't say to someone as traumatised about his/her own photograph as me, that they "look just as they are in real-life" without wearing a helmet.) Anyhoo. I'm telling you all this, just to let you know how véry special this post is. Just for you! Because, actually, I have...yes...I really have...a photo of me that I can look at and be proud of. And I've taken it myself. And to make it even more special, it is REALLY close-up. And I feel that you, as my very kind and sweet blogpals, might appreciate seeing me. I took it on the same day as the one in my sidebar, my 'profile-picture'. But that is sort of a disguised/hidden photo. I was quite happy with that one too. Otherwise I would not have posted it. It is all the result of the photography-course I did last year. One of the assignments was to make a self-portrait. Gosh, you don't know how much courage it took to make these and actually look at them. So, either I have become better to look at, or I can better look at me. Or, I have finally got used to the way I look. Or, after almost 45 years of trauma, I don't care anymore. So, now there is a recent photograph of me. Always useful if I get misplaced or lost. I'm really not fishing for compliments, but feel free to give them. Here it is. Look away now if you are easily scared...

BOO!

(no honestly, it's okay isn't it?)

(gawd, see how insecure I am?)

(just ignore these last three lines)

Snowscenes, blogbug and other bugs and a Flashmob, not necessarily in that order...

Apparently the blogbug bit me and I'm infected again as I'm back already. This time to share with you something special that's currently going on in Groningen. The nearest city to the little village where we live. That something special is called 'Serious Request'. I haven't translated it into English, it really is called that. Serious Request is a project by Dutch radio station 3FM to collect as much money as possible for projects of the Red Cross. The radio station builds a square house, almost entirely made of glass, in which three DJs live for six days without anything to eat (apart from very healthy, but not always very tasty, fruit/vegetable drinks). Six years ago, the first house was located in Utrecht and since then the house has visited different cities in the Netherlands. This year.....drumrole......they are in Groningen! The DJs take shifts to play music 24 hrs a day. And if you want them to play the song of your choice, you have to donate some money. You can also donate by sending text messages that will be shown in the TV-broadcast of this radio show. You can of course also donate without asking for the song of your choice. Also lots of famous Dutch people visit the house, some even stay the night, and they give live concerts and donate stuff to be auctioned off. Our royal family have donated a day to be spend with them. Unfortunately you will not be spending it with them at their palace, but doing voluntary work that the Royals do for a day each year to bring volunteers and the good work they do to the attention of the rest of the country. So...you'll be donating money to do work, our Princess Royal said it herself: 'it is a bit stupid in fact', but still... I'm guessing it will bring a lot of money to the good cause. I will not be bidding by the way. Just so you know. As I mentioned, this radio show is also broadcasted on TV, every day for 24 hrs a day. Surprisingly it's great to watch. Real feel good TV. Crowds of people standing outside the House, in the snow, to donate money and to enjoy the atmosphere. Yesterday evening suddenly a flashmob (a group of people who seem to come out of nowhere and do the same thing at the same time - if you didn't know that) did a dance on 'Just say yes' by Snow Patrol and almost brought the DJs to tears. Very impressive for the relatively small town Groningen is. Or if you want to see it from the viewpoint of the square (the Grote Markt) itself, watch this one. If you have the time and the patience, watch it till they disappear into the crowd again. I'm proud of Groningen! This year all the money is going to 'Stop Malaria'. A great cause. And as my late brother suffered from malaria, he spent a lot of time in Africa, it is a cause near to my heart. Also I promised you some photos of the Winter Wonderland we are currently living in. Beginning with another one of the ice skating women (I have so many more, I'll have to do another post about that event).

Luctor et emergo

Not that I've been 'luctoring' too much, but I feel like I'm emerging from non-blogworld into blogworld yet again.

Update on the Lyme situation: there is no Lyme situation anymore. Hip hip...

Update on Willem's braces-situation: he is now bracesless, hehe. Again a hip hip hurray (hooray?) feels appropriate. His jaw has healed pretty good. The two teeth are sticking out just a tiny little bit, but as the vet said: "he doesn't have to win the Miss World competition". True! Not even the Mister World, which would be anatomically more correct, although he misses some vital parts for true Misterhood.

Sorry that I've been away for a couple of weeks again, but it is a serious case of time flying. Don't you feel that the days go by far too fast? I do. There are not enough hours in a day, not enough days in a week, etc. So blogging hasn't been at the top of my to-do list.

The photography course has finished. Due to the Lyme I've missed lots of lessons, but I do feel that I almost understand how my camera works now. Have to practice a lot to fully get to grips with all possible settings. So...this afternoon there were speed skating competitions, a marathon for women and one for men, in a neighbouring village and I took my camera.

As you can see, the Netherlands are covered in snow. We haven't had this much snow since 1979 I believe. We feel that we are living IN a Christmas card. I'll be posting some more photos some day soon.

The dogs and even the horses enjoy playing in the snow. Not so sure about the cats, but even they go outside a lot so they probably like it too. As do we.

In case I don't have time to post again this week:

wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a truly wonderful and happy New Year!

Be good!