Category: Flashes

Everyday images

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Finally got around to having the three prints of Dutch common birds by Roy Scholten nicely framed.

LTR: the Common Linnet, Starling, and Kingfisher.

E chose the Common Linnet, the Starling was my choice, and then the last bird in the series of 50 birds that Roy Scholten made turned out to be the Kingfisher, which lives in our neighbourhood so we had to add that one too obviously.

Shoutout to Baspartout for their always beautiful framing work.

Originally I wanted the starling in my home office, but now we see them framed we think we should display them together.

UPDATE: which is what we did. Group them together on a living room wall.

The Starling once more. I love how starlings look black at first glance, but have myriads of color as soon a ray of sunlight shines on them. I think Roy Scholten captured that effect well with the coloring in this print.

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Traveling by car through the EU Schengen area is easy enough w.r.t. borders, you just drive through. But over the years new elements to take into account have emerged. Various countries introduced road tolls, to be paid by buying a window badge, and others have introduced badges for emissions (which allows you into city centers or not). Some badges you buy for the car and remain valid, others are time limited.

This summer we had a ‘4 badge journey’, visiting first France, then Switzerland, Austria and finally Germany. As we drive a different car since May we had to get all badges again.
The four badges are two for emission limits in cities, one for France (purple), one for Germany (green), and two for road tolls, one for Switzerland (orange) and one for Austria (green).

Two window badges for environmental zones, French and German
The French and German environmental zone badges.

Two window badges for road tolls, Swiss and Austrian.
Road toll badges for Switzerland and Austria.

E and I wondered how many badges you’d end up with if you drove your car to all Schengen states? Would you still be able to look through the windshield? When will Member States get around to aligning emission badges, so we have one for, in our case, both France and Germany?

At least the Austrian one can be removed as it’s no longer valid. The Swiss one will be replaced in the new year.

Y turned nine this week. Part of celebrating that is visiting Legoland and Lego House in Billund.

Especially Lego House was a lot of fun, spending a full day building stuff in a relaxed and not overly crowded environment. You can leave the venue for lunch or a walk outside and re-enter again.


Y climbing a huge Lego brick in front of Lego House


Lego mosaic image of us three at Lego House

The weekend after my birthday I flew to Zurich, and spent the weekend with dear friends H and P, who both live in Switzerland. We visited the mountains and enjoyed being outside. Good to catch up, and good to be in the mountains. Seeing mountains has a calming effect on me.


At Oeschinensee near Kandersteg


Eiger north face at Kleine Scheidegg

Monday morning I had some time to myself in Zürich (as I did Friday afternoon arriving). I browsed a book store and enjoyed coffee looking out over the lake.


Coffee on Lake Zurich