Sky Watch, Weekend Reflections, The Netherlands

 
 
 

By clicking on the photos you can enlarge them.

On 24th September we went for an autumn walk in the polders. A polder is a piece of land surrounded by dikes and kept dry by an electric engine, which pumps the water into a canal, and then into the river. In former times, when we had no electricity, the windmills did this job. Don't forget that this country is for a large part lying below sea level.But it has a certain beauty especially when the weather is fine like it was then.

Sky Watch is hosted by Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia
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 other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.

Weekend Refections was started on 27 September 2009, 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, or click on the logo in the sidebar.This meme is created for any type of reflection.

ABC Wednesday, K for Kangaroo.

These photos are "borrowed" from Wikipedia.


The most remarkable animal existing in Australia, is the kangaroo, which is a marsupial. It belongs to the family of Macropodidae(macropods means "large foot").
Kangaroos are much bigger than wallabies, which are related to them. The Red Kangaroo is the largest member of the kangaroo family. I was not so fortunate to meet the Red Kangaroo, but I saw plenty of wallabies. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia.Therefore the kangaroo has become a national symbol of Australia. Coming to Australia I flew in a Qantas plane, recognizable by the red kangaroo painted on its tail.The kangaroo is important to the Australian culture.

The big male Red Kangaroo is big indeed! It measures 1.8m while standing up, and it can weigh 85 kg.

Kangaroos and wallabies can be found in many parts of the country, such as hot, dry deserts, grassy plains but also forests, where there is enough to eat. They have sharp front teeth and eat mainly grass and leaves. A friend of my daughter's told us that she once saw some wallabies eating her bananas. The tallest of them
picked them and then divided them among the others of the "mob"!



 

Photos from the book "Kangaroos"by Christine Butterworth

When a baby is born, it is still nothing more than a fetus. It is blind, pink and hairless. It crawls into its mother's pouch and starts sucking one of its mother's nipples. The joey( baby) stays in the pouch until it has grown fur and can keep itself warm.Then it leaves the pouch for a short time. It returns in the pouch when it gets hungry or in case of danger. When the joey gets bigger it can only put its head inside the pouch to drink.

Photos taken from the book"Kangaroos"by Christine Butterworth.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with K.

Monday Doorways, Our World Tuesday, Gouda, Entrances of St. Janskerk

 

The Sint Janskerk in Gouda, the Netherlands, is a large Gothic church, known especially for its stained glass windows, for which it has been placed on the UNESCO list of Dutch monuments.

See Post about the church


 

Inspired by a post by Eric Tenin of a Parisian doorway, «Louis» began posting on Mondays photos he had taken of doorways in Paris.To participate click on
Monday Doorways

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our new logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.

Sky Watch

 

Click to enlarge...
Remember my post about Greed and Gluttony of 30 August? Did you read about the widow and the greedy bookkeeper? Well today was the lawsuit and she won...

Sky Watch is hosted by Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia
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 other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.

Our World Today, ABC Wednesday, J for Justice

This building is called "Palace of Justice". It's situated in the Hague. It's also the place where the widow from three weeks ago will meet her opponent.

The judiciary is independent and the judges irremovable except for malfeasance or incapacity. Roman law still is basic, but the judicial system is largely patterned on that of France. There is no jury system, and the state, rather than the individual, acts as initiator of legal proceedings. Administrative justice is separate from civil and criminal justice and not uniform in dispensation.



In most western countries death penalty has been abolished. This has been a political issue for a long time in many other countries, which have been members of the United Nations. There is a possibility that the capital punishment will be abolished before long.The UN adopted a resolution to adjourn the carrying out of death sentences.
Amnesty International says this is a historical and important move in the right direction.

In the cartoon a person says:"It's a rather delicate question " and he carries a board, saying "Death to death penalty". There are also people sorry to say farewell to the electric chair and the gallows.

Personally, I have always opposed capital punishment. Lots of innocent people have been executed in the past. A criminal might have acted under the influence of drugs and so committed a crime which he repents long afterwards. There are sometimes mentally disturbed persons, who obey the "voices"in their head for instance and kill someone. Should these people be executed?

The problem is that schizophrenic people like two of my close relatives, hear voices or see things we cannot hear or see. If they take medication they are very sensitive and kind people, because they need this medication just as much as any other patient suffering from a metabolic disease, because that's what it is.So they don't need to be executed but put on medication.
Sometimes relatives warn the doctor that their son, daughter, husband or other relative is acting dangerously. If doctors are wise enough to listen they help immediately and force the patient to take medicines. Sometimes however they are too late. These patients are always frightened and very lonely. I have seen this in my family and my heart breaks when I think how awful life must be or had been for them.

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our new logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or

Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with J.

Monday Doorways, Gouda, Museumcafé

 

What's behind that door and those windows?
Well behind these windows and door you will find the museumcafé. The museum was a hospital in the middle ages. When the weather is warm we take our coffee in the museum garden( see post of some weeks ago).

 
 
 

Inspired by a post by Eric Tenin of a Parisian doorway, «Louis» began posting on Mondays photos he had taken of doorways in Paris.To participate click on
Monday Doorways

 

This is the museum garden where we sit in beautiful weather!

Our World Tuesday, ABC Wednesday, I for Independence

The Dutch flag
Most countries in the world gained independence after long and violent wars. My country became independent after a war which lasted 80 years from 1568 till 1648, under the leadership of the Prince of Orange. We were at that time more or less one country with Belgium, which gained independence from the Netherlands in 1830. Now we do a lot together and share TV programs among other things.

The Belgian flag

Indonesia, which was a Dutch colony, gained independence in 1949, after a bloody war, which has left its scars in both Indonesia and the Netherlands. We learnt from these wars and gave Suriname its independence in 1975 without any struggle.

What is your national holiday and do you have an Independence Day?


Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.See our new logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started round 9 of the fascinating meme of ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with I.

Let's Remember....

 

Speaking: The Hero
I did not want to go.
They inducted me.

I did not want to die.
They called me yellow.

I tried to run away.
They courtmartialed me.

I did not shoot.
They said I had no guts.

I cried in pain.
They carried me to safety.

In safety I died.
They blew taps over me.

They crossed out my name
And buried me under a cross.

They made a speech in my home town.
I was unable to call them liars.

They said I gave my life.
I had struggled to keep it.

They said I set an example
I had tried to run.

They said they were proud of me.
I had been ashamed of them.

They said my mother should be proud.
My mother cried.

I wanted to live.
They called me a coward.

I died a coward.
They called me a hero.

by Felix Pollak

ABC Wednesday, H for Honesty.

The tulip is the most honest flower. It does not promise empty promises and it is simple and exactly what it looks like.

I often asked myself:"What is honesty?" Is it saying what you think. May be! Is it saying what you think without being asked to give your opinion? Only when it's a positively kind remark. If I don't like something, I don't say what I think unless it's a political or religious statement and then only if I don't hurt someone's feeling., but never about somebody's house or clothes or blogs. Lots of people think that you must be honest in the sense of criticizing all the time without being asked.Well, no! There is no need to do that. Ignore the things you don't like, and there is always something that you like in one's house or on one's blog.
A friend of mine used to say when he didn't like something in my house:" It's interesting!", because he knew that I like my house and he didn't want to hurt my feelings. He was a kind man, a good friend. So what do you think about honesty?

Here are some quotes of famous people!

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. ~Mark Twain

Who lies for you will lie against you. ~Bosnian Proverb

No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar. ~Abraham Lincoln
Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world. ~Thomas Carlyle

A half truth is a whole lie. ~Yiddish Proverb

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or

Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with H.

Monday Doorways, Our World Tuesday, Gouda, Lazarus Gate II

 
 
 

Last week we saw the Lazarusgate (1609) from the outside. This week we see the same gate from the inside, sitting in the museum garden, having a nice cup of coffee.

Inspired by a post by Eric Tenin of a Parisian doorway, «Louis» began posting on Mondays photos he had taken of doorways in Paris.To participate click on
Monday Doorways

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our new logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.