Nov 24, 2009 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
We’re taking it off the beaten South African/Scottish path this Travelling Tuesday with a few shots from an adventure to Amsterdam and a few other parts of Holland I had a couple years ago. I had the privilege of travelling to Holland for an academic conference that was held on the grounds of a very special community, similar in style to L’Arche communities.
I was profoundly challenged to reconsider my understanding of what it means to be ‘abled’ or ‘disabled’ and what responsibilities the Church has with regard to welcoming and living in community with people who we might initially consider ‘different’ or ‘other’ than what we are. A lot of these are thoughts for another post! But here are a few shots from the adventure in and around Amsterdam:
The architecture was so lovely and impressive. The number of bicycles was even more impressive.
Can you believe this is a parking deck for bicycles?
If only one of those bad larry’s would’ve fit in my hand luggage! That’s a lot of cheese.
There were absolutely B-E-A-U-tiful flowers everywhere. And lots of tulips. If only one of those bad larry’s would’ve fit in my hand luggage!
I just thought the grassy carpet in this wine shop was fantastic. How cool is that?
So that’s a slice of beautiful Amsterdam! I highly recommend a visit. But pay attention to where you’re going, and if you find yourself in an area where it seems the shops are getting a bit … raunchy … and there are women standing in the windows, it’s probably a good idea to pull out your map and head in the opposite direction. Other than that, it’s a nice trail on which to find yourself!
Happy Tuesday! I hope the trails you’re on bring you to pleasant places!
Nov 17, 2009 | South Africa, Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Top of the Tuesday to ya! I hope your week is off to a great start! It is Travelling Tuesday again! (Forgive me for bailing last week when I was a grumpymuggins and not feeling well.) A few weeks ago Mark captured what I considered quite a stunning shot of some clouds coming over the Hottentots Holland Mountains. Here’s the backstory.
The Collie Clan went for a stroll at a nearby wine farm a few weeks ago, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and, as she often does, adventure caught up with us there. We encountered a big beautiful peacock on his way to the cheesery. Delightful!
I would’ve thought he’d have gone for the chocolate shop but, to each his own.
After a while, the Bear got tired of being held and did some of his delightful and mischievous crawling around, here there and everywhere. At one point, he was just a short distance away from us, and we both simultaneously turned to look at him, because the wind picked up, and the outdoor umbrellas, which were closed, looked like they might still be blown over. Not two seconds later, down one comes and — surely it’s not going to hit him on the head — yes, the huge umbrella bops him on top of the head.
It was like it happened in slow motion — the umbrella s-l-o-w-e-d down just before bopping him — as if an angel happened along just in time to hold it back. He got the fright of his life (maybe besides his circumcision) and kind of crumpled over. We ran over to pick him up and I cuddled him for ages, but after forty-five seconds it seemed like he’d totally recovered! He is very brave. He didn’t have a bump anywhere on his head — just a couple of tiny wee scratches on his face from his landing. And ya know, I think mother’s intuition warned me about those umbrellas but I thought — surely not, you’re being overly protective! I will listen next time!
The staff who saw it happen felt absolutely terrible, and gave him a HUGE chocolate lollypop, which he proceeded to devour in two, yes two bites. He still only had one tooth at the time (a few more are on their way in right now!) … how did he do that? In the end, I think he decided the mishap was totally worth the treatment afterwards. Here he is, struggling to keep his mouth closed with a huge bite of chocolate inside:
And afterwards, in a chocolatey stupor. (He refused to share, mind you.)
Finally, just before our departure, Mark captured some shots as the clouds began to pour over the Hottentots Holland Mountains. It is so beautiful to watch the clouds move like this… cascading and pouring over so gently and so quickly. It seems like it happens a lot in this part of the world, but I’d never seen it before I came here.
So that’s this Travelling Tuesday! Happy Trails, wherever the journey may take you!
Nov 3, 2009 | Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Hello hello! I am sorry the blog has been moving a bit slow lately and you’re seeing duplicate pictures on the home page, which might be getting on your nerves! Can you forgive me? We are still recovering from our ‘bug’ and moving a bit slow…construction will continue for a wee while, but hopefully finish soon! This week’s Travelling Tuesday is from the Isle of Skye, which is a beautiful island off the west coast of Scotland.
On one of our last weekends in the UK, we took a trip to Skye to enjoy the scenery and say our goodbyes to Bonnie Scotland. I took this shot, looking south on the Isle of Skye, with mainland Scotland to the east. The Cuillins (also called the Black Cuillins) are the mountain range in the distance, and (yay!) those are bonnie Scottish thistles in the foreground. Could nae be much more Sco’ish a shot, save adding a pint and a kilt!
The lovely weekend made it even more difficult to say goodbye to Bonnie Scotland. When the sun shines, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. If only the sun shone a little more — methinks everyone would move there! Our friend Hope joined us, and we enjoyed wonderful weather (by Isle of Skye standards — it was still quite cold to us) and driving around and walking a little and just taking in the beauty of the unique creation of this wee isle! It was a great weekend, other than the occasional traffic jam here and there…
So, if you ever find yourself in the UK, I highly recommend you make the trip! Happy trails!
Oct 27, 2009 | South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
On my first visit to South Africa with Mark (the adventure when I met his parents for the first time and he asked me to marry him) we took a drive through a national reserve called Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve in our rental car, and saw some really beautiful sights at our own leisurely pace. This is one of the reserves I spoke about in a previous post, where you can do a self-led game drive.
For some reason one of my favourite sightings is always of the mommy baboons with a baby baboon hanging on to them from their bellies. So schweet! Anyway, Mark took this shot of these rhinos sleeping during our drive around the reserve and it just captured the moment so well!
Yet another reason for you to start planning your trip to SA! There is so much to see!
Oct 20, 2009 | South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
This week’s Travelling Tuesday is another shot from Mark’s library. “Hole in the Wall” is a place on the old Transkei (pronounced Tran-SKY) Coast. It’s now generally referred to as the East Coast, but most South Africans will know it as the Old Transkei.
This shot was taken during a 4 x 4 trip up the Transkei Coast years ago. Mark took this shot as the sun was rising with his grandfather’s old old camera, a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex — it was one of the first mass-produced cameras available in South Africa where you could manually advance the film. So this is a film – turned – digital vintage! The camera just loved to capture colour, but Mark also slightly overexposed it to capture a bit more of the glory of the hill at sunrise.
To give you an idea of the amazing geographical feature which is “Hole in the Wall” and so that you’ll understand why it’s called “Hole in the Wall” here is another shot of the island that you’re seeing in the picture above, also taken by Mark a little later in the morning. Pretty cool!
Hope you enjoyed this Travelling Tuesday! May the road rise to meet you wherever your travels take you next! (I hope you’ll come for a visit to South Africa soon!)
Oct 6, 2009 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
Okay, so this is just a hilariously silly Travelling Tuesday. You will probably never never guess where this has come from, so I will have to tell you. Some of you, being the brilliant readers that you are, might recognise a Heilan Coo (Translation, a Highland Cow) when you see one. These bonnie creatures rove the bonnie hills of rural Scotland. They are famous for their shaggy hair, their sassy fringe, their big and majestic horns…and sometimes…their awfully long tongues. Â But don’t be quick to judge! This is no heilan heilan coo! We were visiting my friend Amiee in North Carolina…Mooresville to be exact…and went to this amazing, and amazingly random safari park, complete with giraffes, rhinos, zebras, horses, pigs, deer…I mean you name it…and wow oh wow…highland coos! Mark and I were still living in Scotland at the time, so it was delightful to see these “familiar faces” up close and personal…
Would you like, perhaps to see a highland coo from a different angle? Don’t worry my friend, I have also arranged that for you, below! (It’s the one on the left.)
May your travels bring you such bonnie sights, wherever the roads may take you… 😉
xCC
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