A French Bench of a Dutch Family! We don't leave our shoes outside the house, only clogs, but we don't wear them any more.The clogs under the bench are only symbolic and not used.
RuneE of Visual Norway began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. PERBS has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench.
When I went to France on Saturday 17th October, we saw this magnificent rainbow over the castle of Chambord(see my entry of 16th July 2009). The problem with rainbows is: you see a perfect round bow but you can only shoot half of it with a point and shoot camera. Believe me the other half was exactly the same.
Sky Watch is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Fishing Guy & Louise Thank you so much for this great meme, it's always a pleasure to participate, and see all the other skies around the world. If you want to see some real skies please click on the logo in the side bar.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty together again
The imagery of Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty was a colloquial term used in fifteenth century England describing someone who was obese. This has given rise to various, but inaccurate, theories surrounding the identity of Humpty Dumpty. The image of Humpty Dumpty was made famous by the illustrations included in the 'Alice through the looking glass' novel by Lewis Carroll. However, Humpty Dumpty was not a person pilloried in the famous rhyme!
The History and Origins of the Rhyme Humpty Dumpty was in fact believed to be a large cannon! It was used during the English Civil War ( 1642 - 1649) in the Siege of Colchester (13 Jun 1648 - 27 Aug 1648).
"Little Miss Muffet" Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet Eating her curds and whey, Along came a spider, Who sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away
The rhyme first appeared in print in 1805, in a book titled Songs for the Nursery. Like many such rhymes, its origins are unclear. Some claim it was written by Dr. Thomas Muffet (d.1604), a sixteenth-century English entomologist, for his stepdaughters; others claim it refers to Mary, Queen of Scots (1543-87), who was said to have been frightened by religious reformer John Knox (1510-72). The former explanation is speculative and the latter is doubted by most literary scholars, who note that stories linking folk tales or songs to political events are often urban legends.
"Pussy Cat" Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I've been to London to visit the Queen. Pussycat, pussycat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair.
The ORIGINS of the "Pussycat pussycat" rhyme dates back to the history of 16th century Tudor England. One of the waiting ladies of Queen Elizabeth Ist had an old cat which roamed throughout Windsor castle. On one particular occasion the cat ran beneath the throne where its tail brushed against the Queen's foot, startling her. Luckily 'Good Queen Bess' had a sense of humour and decreed that the cat could wander about the throne room, on condition it kept it free of mice!
"The cat and the fiddle..." Hey diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon, The little dog laughed to see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon.
This old nonsense rhyme is probably just that - nonsense, however some people have suggested that the cat is Elizabeth Ist and the dog is Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester who she once referred to as her ‘lap dog.’
"London Bridge" London Bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down, London Bridge is falling down, My fair Lady.
The 'London Bridge is falling down' Nursery Rhyme is based on the one of the most famous landmarks in London. It's history can be traced to the Roman occupation of England in the first century. The first London Bridge was made of wood and clay and was fortified or re-built with the various materials mentioned in the children's nursery rhyme. Many disasters struck the bridges - Viking invaders destroyed the bridge in the 1000's which led to a fortified design, complete with a drawbridge. Building materials changed due to the many fires that broke out on the bridge.
ABC is created by Denise Nesbitt and a team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for their work.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with O.
NURSERY rhymes are often used to teach children(and adults) the English language! At least I did! And they are so delightful, that we always remember them! Try to find out which NURSERY rhymes are represented by these collages. BTW the girl baking the cake is my granddaughter!
ABC is created by Denise Nesbitt and a team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for their work.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with N.
My Australian daughter had hired a car and drove us around the South Island of New Zealand( see previous posts). Here we had a coffee stop in the Abel Tasman National Park in the north of the South Island
Click to enlarge photos if you want to see more details.
The children, on another bench, were enjoying their ice creams! I had an iced coffee, which was delicious!
RuneE of Visual Norway began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. PERBS has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench.
BTW From the 17th October I will be in France for a week, so I shall only post a scheduled entry for ABC. Probably I won't be able to answer any comment or visit your blogs, but as soon as I have the opportunaty to start blogging again, I'll do so.
During our holiday in New Zealand we visited the Milford Sound, and this Mirror Lake. The upside down sign should reflect the name MIRROR LAKES! But it doesn't show the reflection very well, does it?! Therefore I show you another part of the Milford Sound which gives a better result.
This is a new meme which gives us the opportunity to show our best photos of reflections. It is a meme that is started by James. You can join this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go to James to tell him that you are on.
ABC was created by Denise Nesbitt and a team of experienced bloggers. Thank you all.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with M.
During our stay on the South Island in January and February 2005, my daughter, her children and I stayed at various Holiday Parks.The one in Te Anau was very close to the MILFORD Sound. So we booked for a trip to this beautiful Sound. What a fjord is in Norway is called a sound in New Zealand. MILFORD Sound is called by the MAORIS : "Piopiotahi", which means "Place of the singing thrush", a bird which is now extict. Pretty early in the mornig we were picked up by Dave, the driver of the van and our guide for the day. He was a terrific guide, who told us about wildlife on the island and showed a lot of interesting spots on a walk before we took the boat to the MILFORD Sound. He drew a picture of his van and us sitting there. The woman next to the driver was supposed to be me! LOL! The only other passengers apart from the five of us, were a very nice Australian couple! During our boat trip we saw Bottlenose Dolphins and Southern Fur Seals. In the distance we saw the MITRE Peak, which rises directly from sealevel and is 1,692 metres(5,560 feet) high.
I saw this Dutch cabaret performer, Alex Klaassen, on TV and enjoyed his performance so much, that I thought you might also like it, even if you don't understand it. Anyway the translation shows that it's about two lonely children wanting to play together. Instead of children singing, "two" opera singers sing it in their operatic way.
Male opera singer singing a duet with a female opera singer in a Dutch children's song.
Kom je strakjes bij me spelen
Want ik heb een nieuwe trein
En wel vijfentwintig auto's
En een grammofoon
Kom je strakjes bij me spelen
'k Heb ook een geheime steen
En ik ben alleen (la, la...)
Woman
Kom je strakjes bij me spelen
'k Heb ook poppen en een koek
En een boek met vliegtuigplaatjes
Een pistool met schijf
Kom je strakjes bij me spelen
'k Heb ook nog een step te leen
En ik ben alleen
Both singers together.
Kom je strakjes bij me spelen
Of misschien dan morgen wel
'k Heb een nieuwe fluit gekregen
En een schimmenspel
Kom je ooit nog bij me spelen
Behalve jou ken ik geen
Want ik ben alleen
English:
Would you come and play with me
For I have a nice new train
And as many as twenty-five cars
And a record player
Would you come and play with me
I 've also a secret stone
And I am alone( la, la..)
Would you come and play with me
I've got dolls and a cake
And a book with plane pictures
A pistol and a disk
Would you come and play with me
I've got a scooter too on loan
And I am alone...
Would you come and play with me
Or perhaps tomorrow then
I have got a new flute
And a shadow show
Will you ever play with me
For except you I know none
And I am alone...
That's my World is hosted by Klaus,Sandy,Ivar,Wren,Fishing Guy & Louise - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World
Swans form lifelong relationships. If I see a lonely swan I always ask myself: "Is this swan lonely because its partner died or did it not yet find one?".
It happened not so long ago in Germany. It was spring and the weather was fine, but the lonely swan swam from one end of the lake to the other, looking for his wife, a beautiful young pen, but in vain. He didn’t realise that she was dead and that he would never see her again. He felt sad and hopelessly alone. Day in day out he had been looking for her. Swans are very faithful to their partners, you know. One beautiful morning in May our swan suddenly saw something that drew his attention. It was very quiet in the park and the lake lay blue and promising in front of him, but he also saw to his great joy a beautiful female swan. He was delighted and swam towards her as fast as he could. He swam around her and did his best to draw her attention. She, however, remained very calm and although she didn’t reject him, she didn’t answer his approach either. All summer he felt happy, but in spite of all advances he made, she didn’t show him that she was also interested in him. She remained beautiful, cool, aloof and very, very silent. September came and October. Autumn had arrived and on a cold day in December something terrible happened Two men came to the park and took his beautiful girlfriend away. He swam to the men threatening them by spreading his wings and hissing as loud as possible, but the men laughed and talked loud. “Look at that silly swan! What does he think he’s doing!” They took the beautiful lady with them and our swan was so terribly sad and so lonely again. He swam here and there and had lost his appetite. He didn’t want to live anymore. People, who often came to the park noticed the poor fellow and pitied him. Some of them knew he was the lovesick swan, who tried to win the heart of the lady who had now being taken away. They talked to the park-keepers. They understood what was to be done and returned to the lake to find the poor fellow. They took him to the zoo and united him with his loved one, whom he had almost lost and who was a beautiful, big polyester boat in the shape of a white swan. He was happy again and got his appetite back.
This is a new meme which gives us the opportunity to show our best photos of reflections. It is a meme that is started by James. You can join this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go to James to tell him that you are on.
Camera Critters is hosted by Misty Dawn. Thank you so much Misty Dawn.We all enjoy seeing and talking about animals. All creatures great and small give us much pleasure.If you want to see more Camera Critters click on the logo in the side bar, or on Misty Dawn.
What do you think when you see a bench like that? Does it invite you to sit down and relax? It has no back and the view is not particularly exciting. Maybe somebody can tell me the purpose of this lonely bench.
RuneE of Visual Norway began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. PERBS has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench..
