Photos!

Post your photos here!

Hey Bonnie!
I used to be ctzn_o_knrc over at zappa.com. First time posting here even though I have been registered for a while.



That's me on the right and our resident kiwi on the left.

Nice photo!

But just to remind you of my name and its spelling:

(clip from comic: Raymond Macherot's Sybeline)

[Edited on 23-8-07 by BBP]

[Edited on 23-8-07 by BBP]

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP Nice photo! But just to remind you of my name and its spelling: (clip from comic: Raymond Macherot's Sybeline) [Edited on 23-8-07 by BBP] [Edited on 23-8-07 by BBP]

If I had a FZ album every time my name had been misspelled, my collection could make a completist jealous. So no worries!


[Edited on 24-8-07 by BBP]

Dunno... made lots of pics from graffiti, like this:

thank you for posting the pictures of countryside and landscapes Bonny! It helps me in so many ways to get a sense of terrain (OH so important) when reading about the Burgund wars and before (1400's). I have a decent topo map of france and the lowlands and sometimes some decent pictures of the hills across france, but very few really of the areas around where you live. and 500 years ago, networks of trade were being set up there the likes of which would transform the region if not how people began to see the importance of commerce over war
I think I saw one too of a 360 degree view near a river maybe, fantastic!

[Edited on 9-9-07 by BBP]

This is Cy, a little cyclops kitten. Born in January 2006 and passed away a day later.

Kitty I knitted.

this is a view of where I work:


in fact, the table on the far wall is where I usually do most things, here you can see dough rolled into flat 'skins' that are stacked. I made those into what we call empanadas here
where that person stands is the main central axis of activity in the restaurant (so, right behind me all the time) and from the front to the back of the house. not much room at all. In the lower right of the pic is where breakfast is cooked. the metal basket close to the camera at the end of the 'hall' where the dishwasher works and this shot is taken from the clock-in, laundry room


[Edited on 14-9-2007 by punknaynowned]

Those pans could use some cleaning on the outside
What are empanadas?

DARK ATMOSPHERE WATER

A TINY LIGHT FROM A WINDOW HOLE A HUNDRED YARDS AWAY IS ALL HE EVER GETS TO KNOW ABOUT THE REGULAR LIFE IN THE DAY.....

[Edited on 14-9-07 by Batchain]

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a91/GOConnor/Ike_Willis_Sel_Works.jpg

And a unique guitarist/vocalist shows up unexpectedly!

Oh hey! Nice pics!

dough with filling, baked to a golden pastry color

hahahahahaa

[Edited on 18-9-2007 by punknaynowned]

How come those sheets of paper float there...

Is that you?

It may be a late reply... lately whenever I come here, I'm too focused on deleting spam accounts so I forget to look at new mail sometimes.

[Edited on 22-9-07 by BBP]

Insert your own caption here.

Are you going to Amsterdam? It was sold-out before I had made my mind up. But Tilburg yesterday was awesome! I even saw Moon!


Check the Review site!

[Edited on 27-9-07 by BBP]

Image of the gigantic book market that happens every year in EHV and lasts 4 days. I bought a French course for DED, a Romanian course for myself, a make-your-own-caleidoscope set, a roll of fabric, and a double book: Dracula and Frankenstein.

Not sure if it shows up in this pic, but at the Culture section they were selling Michael Gray's FZ biography at under 6E. I paid 20.

here's a photo from the latest production of EMU theater, the theater group I'm a part of

I am playing the man with the camera
I shot 20 hours of video for the halloween show for documentation purposes.
the show, rehearsals, auditions, production meetings, etc. a little bit of everything.We wanted to scare people, to give them something to think about o the way home, do a cinematic themed piece of live theater, that 'eats' itself . . .
consumed by its own mindlessness

all sorts. comedy, drama, short, long, shakespeare, modern, but mostly locally written

Ah that's fun, local plays! Sigh... reminds me of the only play I wrote that got performed, which was a disaster. With 6 weeks time for prepare, I had to spend 4 just getting the cast of 4 people together. And then you have a group larger than 3, so it becomes impossible to find a time when you all drop by at a rehearsal.

There's no pics of that (which involved one character jumping offstage). But there are pictures of me at the last play I was in, which was very funny. Maybe they're here somewhere. The only time you'll ever see a grown-up Bonny in a pink dress.

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP ............................But there are pictures of me at the last play I was in, which was very funny. Maybe they're here somewhere. The only time you'll ever see a grown-up Bonny in a pink dress.

"Look, I (.....) and I realize we have just met and all that, but I thought I'd ask you anyway. Will you marry me?"

The fellow on the left laughed just like Louie the Turkey. When I picked up LG (a year after this), I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Can't get enough of the following screenie:

Scene from Shivers (Sierra, 1995). Love the hearth, the spirals are gorgeous!
What you can't see about these pictures, is that the creature in it is very swift, and you have to be pretty fast with the PrintScreen button in order to produce such an image.

Made 2 pics of myself using the self-timer, showing off myself and my latest purchase.
Of course, DED had to be an asshole. He was on pic 2 too, but as he was looking like Humpty Dumpty, he told me to cut him off.
Red eyes have been retouched. I used red light prevention flash, but it didn't work.

Yup... and we could've cleaned the room, too!

A nice quick screen capture by me:

And not uncommonly found in "Batchains" who fall asleep on fat floating sofas that are too narrow.

--Bat

[Edited on 8-12-07 by Batchain]

Ooh dear! Never fall asleep on the sofa if you can prevent it! Bad for health.

This is the underside of our sofa. After I bought the fotogenical PC game Shivers (the screen cap a few pics above comes from this game), I showed my new purchase to my father. In just a few seconds time he managed to drop it between seat and arm. It had slid between two wooden plates, and Dad cut open the bottom of the couch to get it out.

Oh on behalf of all the regular people here in the States
I'm sorry
hope no one was hurt

and probably, in nine months time a lot of newborn Dutchies

First snowfall of this season!

say cheese

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP First snowfall of this season!

I have seen snow once in my life. I was four or five years old. It was cold.

I would like to give it another shot though. Our cows would look funny with snow on them.

A cute little group of cows had spotted my sister and me when we walked to them, so they immediately walked at us (probably thinking "FOOD!").

Had the idea cows don't do much anyway, except for walking and eating (and pooping and humping).

There's something celestial about this pic of FZ conducting the Ensemble Moderne.

--Bat/Geo.

I think it's the blue light, George

<blue, purple, whatever, man>

speaking of blue, here's the little house I presently live in

Quote:

Originally posted by Batchain There's something celestial about this pic of FZ conducting the Ensemble Moderne. --Bat/Geo.

Saint Frank of Baltimore!

Nice house Punky!

Quote:

Originally posted by punknaynowned I think it's the blue light, George <blue, purple, whatever, man> speaking of blue, here's the little house I presently live in

not a good picture of that. it's a gravity furnace in the basement. The basement walls stick up 20-30 cm above ground level (moreso in the back) and that's where the exhaust pipe comes out. I have some better pictures.

It's a rental and is twice as much as I can afford and I have to pay all the utilities on top of that. With gas (heat) prices so high it'll be a wonder how I pay for it all. But the place has some charm. Wood floors, tiled shower, bathroom and kitchen and a cute really old gas stove that works like a breeze. I'm a cook, so can appreciate the fine controls on an old stove that works well.
I've been trying to load more pictures all morning to photo bucket but my connection is poor today so I only have 2-3 to share.
this is from the front door looking thru the place to the back door

The thing on the floor, center bottom of the above pict is the vent for the furnace. Don't step on it in bare feet when it's hot! They call this type of structure a 'shotgun shack' because the line of site runs straight from the front door to the back and the rest of the place doesn't branch out at all. Well, except for this comical but very functional closet that sticks out from the straightlines of the house, on the north side. The top picture is from the sidewalk, from the ESE looking NW.
and this is from the backdoor, looking thru to the front door. Notice the window design on the pre-fabricated door.

Same as the window in the top picture from the outside
I wonder what the landlord would sell it for.

[Edited on 3-1-2008 by punknaynowned]

[Edited on 3-1-2008 by punknaynowned]

after looking at these kinds of things in Venice for a week or more




I found an inverted version of this


and found it to be almost perfectly framed

here's one


but there are over 58000 of them on photobucket alone



hahahahahahahhaaha!!

I can't read my photo card! For some reason the PC is not showing what's on it, while the card still works in the camera.

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP

Thank You Mr Fixums!

Here's the picture I posted at the Zappa forum under the "worst cover" heading.

My latest photo additions to my web site:

Those pics won't work. I'm not logged in as you.

But that's such a sweet story! Nearly as cute as that of the DuckSaver of Veldhoven. Some municipal people had decided that there were way too many ducks in a pond, and that half of them would have to be moved.
So the municipality vets went there and sedated the ducks, so they could be moved.
The vets waited for 45 minutes, but none of the ducks seemed to be getting drowsy. And so the vets left.

Nearby youngsters then witnessed the ducks getting woozy, falling out of the sky and tumbling over. This initially caused hilarity, but as they noticed the ducks were drowning, they called the vets. One of the youngsters jumped in the pond and managed to pull out over 20 drowsy ducks!
Unfortunately some little quackers lost their lives. But the boy's now a local hero and the ducks are at their new pond.

This is a picture of my daughter Rachel during a near-total solar eclipse. It was late afternoon, and the light was filtering through a large walnut tree in our backyard. This caused thousands of little crescents to dance around on the back of our house.

P.S.: Rachel had just turned nine. She's sixteen now.

Some of the pics I shot on Monday's cycling trip.

To honour the late king of pop, here's me, age 12, at the school musical. It was about a wax statue museum, and I was among others one of the statues.

12, you would have been too old for him, i think.

[Edited on 26-6-2009 by aquagoat]

Too female I presume...
Nah. I never believed a word from those stories.

My trip today to the municipality-appointed graffiti zone was a success! I made a lot of great photos and this is only a few from them:















[Edited on 24-7-09 by BBP]

Evidence in case my sister deletes it by accident again: I scored over 10 million on PinBot! Fortunately I had a witness as well; my father watched how my playing led to our dinner getting cold.



My home-made tarot cards. Decided to photograph them for my site.


My first sunflower!


Entrance for my second-favourite place in The Netherlands: De Efteling.


A flower in De Efteling. Funky, huh!


The haunted castle, shot through the gates prior to the park opening so that I could get a shot without buggys everywhere.


More Efteling: topiary dragon. Hmm.


A chandelier in the Middle-East themed dark-ride. It's a nice chandelier. I was about to make the picture I always wanted to have, so I switched on my camera...
And then the boats stalled. Probably some disabled people getting in.
So I made some random photos to prevent my camera from falling asleep: I didn't want to miss the djinn by switching off my camera and then failing to get it back on.


And here is the picture I always wanted: the Djinn. A very impressive evil spirit that guards the treasure. Not that you'll see the treasure 'cos you'll only watch the Djinn. He's HUGE, and he's right at the start of a room, so it's real hard to get a good shot.


Rainbow!


A very odd clock I found at the second-hand store. Also has a thermometer.


Slipover I knitted for my father. It's too small , but it looks good all the same. After a 1940's pattern.

Here are my GLOW-photos:

Disused building brought to life with eyes.




Monument for the incandescent bulb, at a monumental cemetery. First time I've been to a cemetery in the dark.


Town Hall. See video.



"Timing"


Chandelier in the GLOW-cafe


Light-drawings.

awesome pics, bonny.

Anyway, here's a peep through a window into the ground at the church steps:





And here, something more tasteful:

Some of my snow pictures:













And this is my clay statuette. It's modelled after those funny bouncing green heads that are servants of the witch.



[Edited on 8-1-10 by BBP]

This weekend there was a festival in Eindhoven. Actually, there were several, but the one I'm talking about is Step In The Arena.

Previously I have posted pictures of graffiti in the Berenkuil, which is a municipally appointed free-place to spray graffiti art. This gives beautiful results. There was an annual festival for artists, but that disappeared. Now it's back! And in full glory!

I couldn't limit myself to uploading 10 of the pictures I made.














A topical cartoon: the caption is "Meanwhile in New York
















Another topical one. Unfortunately this reference to sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is already defouled.

Why yes, it has crossed my mind! But wall is a tough canvas and paint is an expensive medium.

Anyway, here are my Madurodam pictures: lots of Dutch buildings in 1:25 scale.


[url=http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Janskathedraal_('s-Hertogenbosch)]St John cathedral in 's-Hertogenbosch[/url]
In real life, this gothic church (finished around 1530) has just had extensive renovation.
(Link won't work for unknown reason)



Overview of the park.


Building of the Domtoren in Utrecht was completed in 1382. The church that goes with it became unattached when a tornado destroyed the middle 50 metres of the church. That building hasn't been depicted, and unlike the tower it was made in gothic style. The tower is in Dutch style. It is the tallest church tower in The Netherlands at 112 m high.
I love this tower as it's so massive and imposing, and a very good orientation point. I have often tried to make pictures of it, but it's very hard.



The Candydrum is very recent, it was originally built in The Hague in 1998. It always makes me hungry.


The Muiderslot, possibly built around 1280, was the residence of count Floris V. He was captured by two noblemen and locked in his own castle. Five days later, in June 1296, he tried to escape and was killed in the process.


Binnenhof is the Dutch political centre.



The most eye-catching building of Eindhoven: Evoluon


Maeslantkering was finished in 1997, it was visited by yours truly in the same year. In real life, this building consists of two arms on either side, each measuring 300m (one Eiffel tower) in length, and is to be closed whenever a flood is coming.
Since the closing down of the Dutch main waterway takes an hour and is very costly, it's only done once a year to test it and only used in case of emergency. These, however, close every few minutes.


The Nijenrode castle is home to a university: the one where DED graduated.

Photos from this year's GLOW festival:

wouaaaaah!!!!!

BBp is still a sleep after the concert in Hengelo, the long train yourney and the fact that she was informed that there were no trains between Den Bosch and Eindhoven. Thats why I drove to Den Bosch in the middle of the night. Finding traine to eindhoven that was waiting for the train from Utrecht with BBP. It was lonely and cold or cold and lonely. But if she awakes she maybe can make a daytime picture of the enormous projectors.

That will be tommorow

[Edited on 10-11-2010 by DED]

Its about time for a Col.Momar Kadaffy Duck redition from BBP. He seems like a natural. Could be last chance before he departs for.....space....the final frontier. Anyone watch his last speach?

Quote: Originally posted by punknaynowned

that's beautiful I wish we did that here. I want to know how they do the cathedral of lights. It must be a complicated frame that they put everything on.

Quote: Originally posted by DED

Another story is the origin of the Dutch saying "being ladderdrunk" In the middle of the 15th century the Utrecht towerwatcher ,who lived with his family in the tower, made some extra money having a little bar in his house (aprox. 11 meters high). To reach this bar you had to go through the housing of the pastor who was not very amused when people walk trough his house. When he omitted the use of his house, the only option to reach the bar inside of the tower was with the help of a ladder. As you understand going up was normally not such of a problem, buth going down with a lot of alcohol in your blood is quite a different story. Since then, people who are very drunk are called "ladderzat" (ladderdrunk). Amazing is that it is still used nowadays and not only in Utrecht but troughout the country. BTW when visiting the tower you still go trough the housing of the towerwatcher. (without climbing a ladder) [Edited on 2-11-2010 by DED]

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

Here's one beautiful pic by André: http://www.flickr.com/photos/astro_andre/7111983081/in/photostream

If you can't stand gross things, look away now:

wow, great pics!!

Anyway here's my latest Efteling photo: gingerbread house.

Right! Hänsel and Gretel!

Photos (from Glow Eindhoven 2012):


Afterlight.
[youtube]E5ywLHD0TrM[/youtube]




Michael Rennie was ill, the day the earth stood still...


(Projection on the police station: making photos of it was tricky, so this is a screenshot from a video I made of it. The artist made a lot of stick figures representing a prisoner escaping. By representing them one by one in the right order, the artist made a cool movie out of it.
(The red light is the stop light at the crossroads.)


Projection on insta-fog. Was every bit as disorienting as you'd think it is.


Viewers can control the lights of this building.




Viewers can use huge cardboard hands to move the the boat on the screen, to catch the animals falling from the sky.


Hard to say which one is cuter: the glowing turtle animatronic or the "don't touch the turtle" sign.


St Catherine's church.

[youtube]Jp-_cU0NxTg[/youtube]
Music: Night on the Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky.

Stuff to do with your old CDs:

Not sure about you, but I'm 30.

What I meant was, if those are mobile phones throughout "the ages", then I was born before "the ages" and how old does that make me?

This smilie doesn't apply to me. Although my hair receded somewhat, it's still growing in the middle. In fact, since my big operation, it's even thickened up a little.

Thanks Punky, very lovely! I baked a Nostradamus cake and didn't get hurt!

Poly, I got that, don't worry. I was just hinting towards my birthday.
And now that he's read that, my father wants that big operation too.

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

You do realize I was only kidding, right?

Quote: Originally posted by polydigm

This may sound like an overreaction to your comment, but it's not intended that way. I have taken no offence. I feel like I'm amongst friends here and I didn't mind explaining what it meant for me.

Quote:

Pictures I made at the Evoluon: Fire tornado. Hall overview. Disorientation tunnel Thanks to Evoluon's state-of-the-art cooling and heating system, it was nice and pleasant inside, but outside it was well over 30 degrees C. The pond has the same diameter as the Evoluon saucer, so it looks like the shade. The odd vertical tubes are the drainage system: when it starts to rain, they form a waterfall. Hall look-out Say what you want: this building may be near 50 years old, but it's still pure awesome! To prove that, Kraftwerk will be performing here in a few months. The triangles form the actual support of the saucer. The little triangles in it are sound insulation: if the ceiling would just be smooth, the echo would make you mad. In the middle is the glass hydraulic lift. To its right, is a tube that sucks air into the heating system. Most of the air in the heating is circulated, making it very cheap and easy to maintain a comfortable temperature.

wow, impressive!

GLOW Eindhoven 2013 was unfortunately a bit below standard, but I got some nice photos. And an ear-ache coz some drunk guy whistled into it.


3D Animated dragon projected on water.




This was a projection in an abandoned factory of the Apocalypse.




Want.


Gigantic helium balloon goldfishes

Check out the little sparrow... ^_^

some pretty good painters in here.

Oh, it did work! The pic showed! That was last Easter at my Niece's...she keeps a very fine house. Last week just before the hot weather set in and with some pressure from my sister I had "Jan", the lady next door chop my hair and she went shorter than where I'd specified (I said, "just about touching my shoulders.") and it looks almost '60s "Beatles-ish", but I'm happy and might keep it just a slight bit longer than this when it grows out. But with the 90°+F/32°+C heat and high humidity it's better for these hotter days.
--Bat

Yeah, I know a lot of his stuff.

World's Worst Slayer Tattoo

I like the one with the dolphin. haha.

Very strange! I forgot I'd posted a "selfie", but it was taken last Easter at my niece's on April 20, 2014 but the date of the post was April 7, 2014, 13 days before it was taken! Weird!

http://s9.photobucket.com/user/GOConnor/media/Bat_Boy.jpg.html

GLOW Eindhoven was crowded crowded crowded - not much space, but at least I have some photos...

These were at an exposition for light in art, to be specific an arts contest.

Rope cathedral with blacklight was very cool...


This one, on the spying of NSA and Google, got my vote for the audience award.


Astronomy tower.

One of my favourite works unfortunately doesn't look good on photos, but these did:

Fire tornado


Weeping Willows, trees with white light, was very effective and beautiful, although simple in approach.





Pendulum, four moving lights in a tiny chamber was very claustrophobic.


Giant tumble toys. Want. WANT! NOW!!


Luminarie De Cagna could return with their most ostentative work yet, and that is up to much competition. What you can't hear is the almost boasting sound effects with standard words on what Eindhoven means to people and a very gooey tune you wish you never knew. But at least it works with my 2007 camera.


Same artwork but up close, and with one of the many Eindhoven WW2 memorials on the foreground.


A strange tule shape creates beautiful lines


A couple of days ago part of this work came crashing down.

ok, some of the pics from Koh amui island where I stayed 2 weeks.

First, the hotel:




[URL=http://s46.photobucket.com/user/neun-arme/media/IMG_6383.jpg.html]
[/URL]

The bedroom:









The spa, where I got my back put back together by a very cute and funny girl named Suwannee:









One of the meals we ate at one of the restaurants of the hotel:





More pics of the hotel:

Visit of the island by 4x4 and by foot:





Different temples and places of cult:













Then we went to a coconut plantation:




Leandre, our guide:



me:



The monkey they use to pick up the coconuts:



The Baobab, a bar/restaurant run by a french guy named Greg and his Thai wife called Indie:









Going to the waterfall, unfortunately at that time of the year, it hadn't rained for almost two months, so not much water there:







Banana tree:



We also visited the Golf course, but didn't take any pics of it.

The second week we went to another island called Koh Phangan, located in the north of Koh Samui. We went there with a traditional thai junk bought and restored by a belgian guy who's lived there for a few years now:





















Jumping from the roof of the junk:






The bar/restaurant of Koh Phangan:










Back on the junk with a french couple we make the acquaintance of early in the trip:

Back at the Baobab, Greg, the boss, is french and the rest of the crew is thai, they're all really cool and nice, the food is good, the cocktails are good (with actual alcohol in them, not like in most of the bars of the island):
















The plane that took us back to France:



I regret not having taken pics of the little towns we went to, Chawneg, Nathon, etc. And also I should have taken pics of some of the hotel staff members, especially Suwannee, my massager, and Lach Mee who works at one of the restaurants and she's got such a cute smile and she's so sweet, I must admit I had a huge crush on her... anyway, as soon as I've got enough money, I'll go back, maybe one week in Bangkok or Phuket and one week in Koh Samui.

Breathtaking photos Aqua! And great to see what you look like too!

I remember I couldn't find any when I drew that get well card for you after you broke your elbow...

Right!

Aaanyway, had a busy Pentecost. On Sunday, the Evoluon was open, which I visit on any occasion I can (my 5th visit so far in 33 years of trying). Since it's not just plain awesome on the outside, but also on the inside, I made 180 photos, uploaded them to dA to use their software to make a motion book, but that's harder than it looks.

And today was Open Castle day. We have a lot of castles nearby but there's one I had my sight on: in Asten, about 20 km away. Dad and I cycled there - an exhausting journey, but well worth to see the castle ruins. They're allegedly haunted by the ghosts of the women who were tortured in the witch hunt in the late 1500s.


Entry porch of the castle's farm buildings


Ruins of the main building. As you can see, this open day was rather crowded, with questionable music performances and a lot of kids.


Remains of the castle's tower. The old drawbridge was originally to the left of the bridge I was standing on while taking this photo. This tower had a basement that originally held the counterweights of the drawbridge. After the bridge was moved, the counterweights were no longer needed and removed. But the cellars underneath is where the lord of the castle, Bernard van Merode, imprisoned and tortured the women suspected of witchcraft - some didn't make it, one was rescued but was paralyzed - one escaped and related of torture and rape to the clergy, and the church stepped in to halt the persecutions.


The medieval kitchen: the passage to the left was to drain water if the floor had been scrubbed, the smaller niches were for lanterns and candles and alike, and the large niches on the right were ovens.


Looking in from the outside, through the overgrown tower and the front hall


Looking out a window in the overgrown tower


Overgrown tower


Overgrown tower


One dark cellar. These were very very dark. The wooden pillars were part of a bridge.





Garden bridges

I uploaded a lot of my photos to DeviantArt today, they're doing well...










And of Asten:

Glow Eindhoven 2016:

This is a sculpture made of old car bumpers and donated coffee machines:

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

This is a sculpture made of old car bumpers and donated coffee machines:

Oh look, it's Cocoa the Circus Corgi.....



The folks I work for have four dogs which spend quite a bit of
time in on and around the office and all of it's flat surfaces.....

Great for morale.....

M45, Pleiades Cluster.....

I love little puppies.....



oops!.....

Wilds Triplet from Hubble

purrrrr.....



or burrrrr.....



or bear.....

The World's Greatest Sinner
Restoration World Premiere. Post-screening conversation with Romeo Carey.
Ted Mann Theater Saturday December 10, 2022 10pm PT

While character actor Timothy Carey is best remembered for portraying tough guys in East of Eden (1955) and Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), he was interested in exploring the edgy possibilities of non-commercial filmmaking on his own. In 1962, Carey wrote, directed, produced, and starred in this notorious oddity in Los Angeles for his own independent company. Featuring a score by a 22-year-old Frank Zappa written prior to the formation of The Mothers of Invention, this film about an insurance salesman with designs on becoming a literal rock-and-roll deity showcases one of the few independent spirits of 1960s American filmmaking. 

^^^^^ Excellent..... ^^^^^



Utility Combat Purse by Benjamin Greco.....of course.....

Ever wonder what happened to Little Toot the Tugboat?



Changed his name and moved to Minnesota.....

^^^^^ That's taking it to a whole different level…..^^^^^

Frank Zappa Paris 1980…..

That was me during the pandemic...LOL...I wasn't horsing around...

Good stuff Bonny I love those images...

Those astronomy photos are great Bonny .
Kind of makes us look very insignificant .

So here are my Brabantsedag photos:

Life's been on the hectic side - so hectic that, when I crossed one item off my bucket list and had great photo material (not to mention the videos to show for it) I had no time to report anywhere about it - and then I got to cross some more items off my bucket list and add another item to my bucket list.

Soooo, here's the second one I crossed off my list this year. Brabantsedag has been around for 50+ years. I became a fan when I caught it on TV in 2011, but just never got around to go. Until 2024.

So what is the Brabantsedag? It's an annual theatre festival in the 10K inhabitant village Heeze, about 10km south of Eindhoven. Highlight of the festival is the parade, that happens every last Sunday of August. The parade is the largest theatre parade there is. 16 groups of friends create floats about the Grand Duchy of Brabant: specifically its culture, history and art. The Grand Duchy of Brabant spreads to Belgium and even the north of France up to the Dutch rivers.

Along with floats there are tons of extras walking along and acting out their story. Every year there is a theme: this year it was Brabant poetry. All groups picked 1 poem by a Brabant author and created a depiction of it.

As it is a local thing, all floats may be beautiful but some are more "local" than others and therefore not as suitable for widely sharing.


The first float consisted of a large group walking in construction clothes chanting, the poem being read, and this machine - depicting the mining of Brabant.


The second, and my favourite over one of these others (I think you can guess which one that was) ended in second place. A powerful production displayed the great North Sea Flood of 1953, the destruction (1800+ lives were lost) and reconstruction of Brabant. The group started with extras depicting characters who are fleeing the water. The blue thing on the front of the car is of course the water - every minute a lot of water was poured onto the actors you can see at the bottom right of the photo. (the parade lasts 2 hours, so hats off to their dedication) . Also in the photo are the people in the float acting out the horrors of the allconsuming flood - rushing upstairs trying to save prized possessions...



Third float won first prie, depicting a huge theatrical barrel organ.


Depicted the hospitality towards Belgian WW1 refugees in Bergen op Zoom


Depicts a 1500s Antwerp poetry festival


A float about a peasant family forced to emigrate due to circumstances beyond their control, from disaster to politics


The liberation festivity of Belgium after WW1

If these pictures got you in the mood to watch the parade, it's here:
in full
Highlights which are still 1 hour 30 minutes.

Two weeks ago I crossed off 2 items off my list on the same day. I got to hold a tarantula, which for this soothed arachnophobe was quite the experience (I honestly thought he was cute, so warm and soft). It was a gentle and well-behaved Grammostola. I do have a picture but it's a wee bit too blurry to share.

And earlier before that, I got to squeal uncontrollably at Seal Center Pieterburen (ピーテルブーレンアザラシセンター).

Pieterburen has been known as a seal care center for many years, but it being too far away meant I never really got to visit it. I love all animals great and small, but seals are very high in my favourites list. I discovered that back in the day when my father would regularly watch German zoo shows - the show about the seal center in Friedrichshafen would send me down a whirlwind of squeals.

Flash forward to 2024 - somehow, after a tweet by someone in Japan, Pieterburen's livestream has gone viral in July. I caught on with the trend and, although the seals are cute, at least as cute are the hoards of Japanese people in the chat being enamoured by them.

Anyway, I caught the seal bug and got to visit Pieterburen. Finally, as they will move to a different town next year. There's a few exhibitions and a cinema, but here I'll stick with the seal pups in all their adorable glory.

In brief: Seal Center Pieterburen rescues orphaned, sick and injured seals. The seal pups are first observed when they're found, by a specially trained seal spotter. If they're alone they will be watched for 24 hours to see if mom gets back. If she doesn't, the seal is taken in.

The seal is then taken in, weighed and measured. It gets a tag, it has nose and mouth swabs taken, blood sample taken and has its teeth measured. Then it's fed a salmon porridge.

When the seal is injured / weakened it is taken into Phase 1, intensive care. Here a vet will have a look at them several times per day. The quarantine is frequently cleaned and the seals are nursed until they can go to phase 2. In that phase they may swim outside but can still shelter, and they may still get some medication or hand feeding.

By the time they are stronger they can move to phase 3, work on their swimming muscles, before they're released back to the wild.

Here's their Youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/@zeehondencentrumpieterbure9268



This is Blueberry in Phase 1, a little pup who had a lot of infections. She's doing better but the vet is worried about her fish eating skills.

The largest bath, Golfbad, phase 3, has some windows at the bottom where you can see the seals swim by. Trigger mode!









Phase 2 seals lounging.


This seal was brought in while we were there - this is Lychee. You can see a video of her intake in the Youtube channel.


Chabashira with fig in the background. Chabashira had this heart-breaking puppy dog look about her. She was pretty badly injured, but is recovering now.

And then back to phase 3:

They sure are cute...

Totally cool Bonny I would want one...