Shrouded in Mist

 

Let's go back to Europe. When I last wrote about our fall trip we were on the beaches of Normandy. A day later we arrived in Dunkerque where we visited the Musée Dunkerque 1940 Opération Dynamo. It was heart wrenching. I didn't take any pictures here except of the numbers of allied troops evacuated and a model of the evacuation.

After that we left France and went to Brugge where we arrived in the late afternoon, when it was already starting to get dark. The entire day had been overcast and gloomy.

Brugge (West Flemish) or Bruges (French) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The two other regions are the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. And there are also two main lingusitic communities found in Belgium, the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community and the French-speaking French Community. There is also a small German-speaking Community. This alone shows the diversity of this relatively small country that is quite important within Europe - it is one of the founding members of the European Union with Brussles as its de facto capital.

We hadn't eaten anything all day (except for snacks in the car) and were now looking for a place to eat. Belgium is famous for its French fries, called frites. Kaefer was the one who had found a supposedly good place on the internet and we were now looking for it - it was across the building in the picture above.

The place was packed, but two young guys invited us to sit at their table. This was our first encounter with the friendliness of the Flemish people, and it wasn't the last. They are a very friendly people! I had my fries with seafood (fish, calamari, shrimp) accompanied by a Belgian beer. Both were delicious. 

This is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday

After this very satisfying dinner we explored the city. The historic city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is criss-crossed with canals and therefore sometimes referred to as the "Venice of the North". It is definitely a very beautiful place. The foggy evening added to its magic.

There were gates and mysterious corners lit by street lights.

While we were walking along the canals and across bridges and courtyards we could hear the bells ringing - it sounded a bit like a Glockenspiel, but also was dissonant at times. I recorded it, if you like, you can listen to it.

This old bridge I found particularly beautiful. 

There were many more bridges because there was water everywhere.

The light was so magical! So were the reflections in the water.

The following four photos show my favorite part of the city. Look at the warm light and those fantastic reflections!

Where there is water, there are swans - we saw quite a bit of them! I was very happy to also find some crooked trees, an enigmatic silhouette against the illuminated sky.

If you wish you can do some great shopping in Brugge. There were many small shops and little restaurants and bars. We didn't see any chain stores, at least not in this part of the city.

Belgians are known for their excellent food, and especially for their sweet stuff. Macaroons...

... marzipan, nougat and chocolate...

... and, of course, beer. There's more to Belgian beer than just Stella Artois.

There were also a lot of places to eat. We could have eaten our way through to our hearts content.

The Provinciaal Hof (Provincial Palace) and Belfort at the Grote Markt (market square), beautifully illuminated.

Narrow alleys right out of some dark mystery novel (or movie) - let your imagination run wild with all the mist hanging over it.

On our way back to where we had parked the car we repeatedly saw more little corners and beautiful courtyards with a lone street light illuminating a dark corner with reflections in an artificial pond.

It was a bit of a challenge to get out through all these narrow streets - we had a moving truck blocking our way, but people were super nice directing us around it (it was just centimeters between our car and the truck) - did I mention that people here were super friendly? Then a draw bridge over one of the canals was drawn up and we had to wait until the boat was through and traffic could move again. Everybody was patient and quite stoic.

I would return in a heartbeat!

Finding Peace

After the post about my skydiving daughter I finally wanted to take you back to Europe. But then I decided this afternoon to re-organize our two grab-and-go boxes. This has been on my list for a while and since we're in wildfire season I felt it necessary to tend to this task now. Over the past two years we have put everything that we deemed important and that we didn't want to lose into these boxes without any order. Today was the day to finally get some order in there and also throw out things that didn't belong in there anymore. I discarded dozens of copies of birth and marriage certificates that weren't notarised as well as looked through piles of photos and organized them again, throwing away those that I'm no longer interested in or that turned up twice or even three times. Now the two boxes are neatly organized again with one being the "must take" and the other the "want take". 

But what I didn't get done was writing that blogpost. So today there's only a short post about something that I wanted to show you a while back.

Sometime in the spring I showed you this art journal spread. This was the moment when I got stuck and had no real idea how to go on. I put it to the side and let it sit, knowing that at a certain point I would come back with an idea.

Instead I continued practicing drawing faces. In one video - I can't remember by whom - I saw someone starting drawing a face with the features of the face and not the shape. I was intrigued and tried that, never explicitly adding the shape of the face.

Well, I really need to work on eyes, she looks creepy. But the important thing is that this gave me the inspiration how to proceed with my art journal page.

I started out with drawing the facial features using an aquarellable graphite pencil. Afterwards I added the outline of the face and neck. Then I stencilled the grasses and wildflowers as well as rather sloppy birds. Finally, I added the words "Ruhe finden" which translates to finding peace.

In the end I like the right side page better than the left one. It could stand on its own I think.

These are my faces for this week's Friday Face Off. Thank you, Nicole, for letting us join in the fun!

Falling from the Sky

 

When my daughter bungee-jumped in 2018 during her internship in Cape Town, South Africa, she didn't tell me before. I knew that she had the opportunity, but she had mentioned that it was pretty expensive and she probably wouldn't do it. Well, her intention was to put me at ease and not worry about her, so she simply sent me a casual text after the deed, "just bungee-jumped off a bridge".

This time it wasn't quite as simple - and I did worry, but not as much as I thought I would.

She wanted to check off another item on her "to do"-list - jump out of a plane. The Geek had done that while he still went to university in Aachen. He just hopped on his bicycle, rode over to Belgium (Aachen borders both the Netherlands and Belgium) to a skydiving company and did his tandem jump. He was eager to do it again. Me - not so much. I prefered to watch from solid ground.

We drove down to the tiny airport in Novato where they had a booking with Skydive Golden Gate. After an introductory video and the signing of forms, their highly professional instructors got them ready.

I did read the warning on the back...

Here are the two people who mean the world to me, ready to get on a plane in order to jump out of it. I was very glad that they couldn't do it alone!

And then they were off!

It took about 15 minutes of the plane to get to the required height. They flew over the entire San Francisco Bay and had a great view of the city and the Golden Gate. The Geek was the first to jump and then it was Kaefer's turn to get ready.

She had opted for the photos and video package, and I'm very glad that she did.

Falling from the sky...

She really enjoyed it and thought it was very soon that the parachute opened and the fall was slowed.

You can see that she really enjoyed this. She was allowed to steer the parachute, so she took full advantage and did spirals just to lengthen the flight.

If you want to see her thrilling freefall, here's the short video of it:

Here she is back on stable ground, happy as a clam.

I was happy for both of them, and especially to have them back.

Looking at the little daredevil she had been, I really shouldn't be surprised about her "adventures"!

Great faces to share with Nicole's Friday Face Off, don't you think?

At the Lake Again

 

We're having a bit of a weird summer this year. Our average highs are 8 degrees lower than last summer, thanks to a persistent low pressure in the upper atmosphere which has strengthened the marine layer, a blanket of cool, moist air. It results in morning fog that finally burns off by afternoon. This pattern has kept onshore flow steady and temperatures down. 

And I love it.

Last week I went to the lake early, hoping for some wildlife sightings that are usually more frequent in this kind of gloomy weather. I had just gotten out of my car in the parking lot when I was greeted by the call of a Red shouldered hawk. I scanned the trees and finally found him/her, well hidden near the top of the tree.

A lone fisherman took advantage of the overcast day as well.

I decided to take the Fisherman's Trail which skirts the western shore of the lake. There was a breeze rustling in the leaves of the Cottonwood - a lovely whispering sound.

The lake was very still, but I could always hear the loud calling of the Canada Geese who were congregating on the more open part of the lake.

While I was trying to identify a bush by its fruit, there suddenly was a whoosh and the hawk was landing on a branch in the trees behind the bush. Look at that beautiful guy!

Some of the Armenian Blackberries were flowering while others had already developed fruit. They were lining the path, ready to be picked.

There were willows and California wild grape (Vitis californica).

The reflections in the lake were truly amazing.

Further on I saw these dried grasses - I have no idea what they are, but I think they simply look lovely.

Then I left the Fisherman's Trail and walked along one of my very favorite little paths. Not many people walk here, maybe because in some places the path is very narrow and dry grasses grwo into it. Unfortunately I had forgotten my tick repellent, so I crammed the legs of my pants in my hiking socks. I'm really not keen on ticks (apart from those who feasted on a Western fence lizard before).

Poison Oak is found here as well, just as "popular" as ticks. Beautiful to look at, but stay away from it if you don't want a terribly itching and burning rash.

Dead trees overgrown with lichen and moss, probably offering a splendid habitat for all kinds of insects and tiny critters.

The trail then flattened out...

... and I had reached the top of the slope, a very favorite spot of mine. And look who was already waiting for me, sitting on a bare branch.

I had been following his/her call all the way up.

S/he wasn't alone. Not too far from the picnic area (and a world away) I saw a family of Black-tailed deer.

Here's a short video of the two fawns, and if you listen carefully you should be able to hear the call of the Red shouldered hawk.

Toward the end of my walk I saw these two California ground squirrels near the picnic site, having their second breakfast.

It was such a pleasant day that I sat next to the lake with my journal. The sun finally came out when I packed up and left for home.

It was such a wonderful morning.