Photo Diary-February 2011
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Titia's Photography diary - February 2011
You wonder what this introduction photo is doing here? Well, I thought, after participating so many years in the national lottery, it was about time I won something, but alas, my number didn't came up again. So I thought to make myself a make-believe trophy to keep up the good spirit.
Didn't I strike a bit of gold when I found Squidoo??? That counts too, doesn't it. Haven't seen any cash yet, but they will come: my first dimes, it will be like hitting the Jackpot.
Copyright all text and photos in this lens: Titia Geertman
Your Host: Titia Geertman
Updated: 2012-02-15
February 1, 2011
Just fed the cats of my daughter. Long story short: her hubby works in Dubai, she did too, but her work was sh..t and when her old boss asked her to come back, she did, so she's working in Amsterdam now and they have two little holiday cottages close to where we live and the cats live there too. She works Monday till Thursday in Amsterdam (rent a little appartment closeby) and she comes home Thursday evening and leaves Sunday evening again. It's a 2,5 hour drive by car. Once in a while she hops over to Dubai or Dubai hops over to here. Not perfect, but the best option right now. So when she is working, we feed the cats. One of them is my late Aunt's Siamese cat of 17 years old.
Tote Bags on Amazon
February 2, 2011
Stumbled upon this aquarelle of my hubby
Grandma
Is she the grandma of our secret dreams,
grey hair and lots of humor in her heart.
Is she the one, who's making us believe,
that we are very special and real smart?
The one you will remember all your life,
to whom you go, when spilling lost, love tears.
The one who's proud on all you have achieved
and who will comfort you in all your fears.
Is she the one, who's treating you on sweets
and then tells you 'Do't tell your Mom my child'.
With whom you share your visions about life
and who will teach you, to judge others mild.
The grandma every child is wishing for,
a soulmate in our dreams of sweet adore.
Poll about Grandma
February 3, 2011
We worked all day chopping the branches of the willow trees in the meadow. It was a beautiful day, sunny and almost no wind and a neighbour volontarily helped us the whole afternoon. Nice neighbour. Four done, eight to go, but the nice weather isn't holding, they say we get a storm tonight with lots of rain that will stay on till at least Sunday. You can't chop willows in harsh wind, too dangerous. So we promised ourselves to do some housework, it's getting a bit messy here. Burning coal stoves and wood stoves equals a lot of dust.Tipper is holding on to her bandage reasonable well these last couple of days (see my lens Photography January 2011
I moved my ewes to another meadow. Temp is rising and then the ground gets too muddy and then I get stuck with my little van. The loading area of my van is covered with polyether and all I have to do is parking it along the entrance of the meadow, make sure they can't get past it and open my van side door. Then the dog will get them where ever they are and will herd them towards the car and then they hop in by themselves, but some are very stubborn and then I have to put on a bit of pressure by the dog. I can load about 8 each time, so I had to do that two times. They always love a new meadow. At this meadow I can't get stuck with the car, I can leave it on the road so it's easier to feed them.
I'm expecting the lambs in about 6 to 8 weeks. Looking forward to it already.
Earthwise teliscopic pole saw
Earthwise PS40008 8-Inch 6 amp Electric Telescopic Pole Saw with 3-Position Head and 10-Foot Reach
Amazon Price: $89.99 (as of 06/02/2012)
We're using this saw most of the time to chop off the willow branches, because you don't have to climb ladders, you can do it from the ground. It's an ideal saw for trimming trees if the branches are not too thick.
Black & Decker Alligator
Black & Decker LP1000 Alligator Lopper 4.5 amp Electric Chain Saw
Amazon Price: $70.88 (as of 06/02/2012)
This is my favorite saw to make the branches ready for the woodstove. You can do it by yourself, don't need anyone else to hold the branches up. Ideal too for trimming bushes and not too thick branches. I just love this saw. Once you've worked with it, you don't want anything else anymore.
More saws on Amazon
February 4, 2011
And it's storming today. Not as hard as they predicted, but hard enough to stay inside. I did the dishes this morning, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the fireplace. Enough housework for this morning, so I went upstairs and worked on my lenses. A woman got to do what she got to do and that doesn't always mean housework. January 5, 2011
Smashed Potatoes
Had a bad day today. Had great plans, but accomplished nothing and got a vry big bill from the vet on top of that. Spend a lot of time searching good adwords for new lenses, only to find out they had all be taken already and were sitting in somebody's wips (work in process lenses). Very frustrating. Life isn't alway fair, is it.The status of most of my lenses dropped after the daily update and darn, whish I would know why. Well, I know I don't have many backlinks, don't know where to get them either as I don't have outside websites yet to link them from. I have the possibility of making at least 5 websites and I get stuck at all the info one needs to know about choosing the right adwords for urls and such. Websites/internet and I always have a love/hate relationship. I know a little, but not enough to make it work. Like I bought an existing domain name which was very suitable to build an affiliate website for my Zazzle store, bought a hosting package to go with it, only to find out after many frustrating failures that I bought a hosting package that didn't allow php files. You see....I'm just not smart enough and my brain isn't big enough to pump in all that internet stuff.
So I read and read and read, till my eyes get watery and my brain feels like smashed potatoes.
January 6, 2011
Classical Music Videos
Classical Music Gifts
January 7, 8 and 9, 2011
I'll do three days in one treat, because they were all chopping willow days and I was just too tired to do something else. Well, did some shopping that needed to be done. Aren't pollard willows the most beautiful trees? I always love it when they got their hair done and then this summer they will grow all new hair. They has be chopped every 3 to 4 years, or the branches will get too thick and break off in harsh wind.
These willows are not mine, they're standing nearby at a little creek. They may be well over a 100 years old.
January 10, 2011
Had to do some shopping for my 99 year old mom. When I was paying some of her bills, I noticed a letter from the city hall and it says they invited her to participate in a book about people of 100+ years old in the Province Zeeland. Mom will be 100 in August. So I phoned the guy and told him she would be delighted to get interviewd and tell her stories again. It seems there are more 100+ people in this Province than in any other of the Provinces in the Netherlands. Must be the healthy air we're breathing in here. In the West part we're living in, there's no industry at all, but lots of little villages, farm land and nature preserve areas and the dunes and the sea. January 11, 2011
Promised my daughter to do some painting in one of their two cosy little houses, they bought couple of years ago and as I love painting it wasn't hard to say yes. We had done the primer last year and now it needed some soft warm color. I just love searching for the right color. I have something in my mind and will search as long as it takes to find it. Lots to be done before it's finished, but it has great promise. 
The one on the right is the first one they bought and the one in the far back was for sale for a couple of years, but nobody wanted it due to the very small garden. They bought it relatively cheap and got rid of the man's high hedge and made it one garden.
Poll about Painting
"Paint" on Amazon
February 12, 2011
Saturday - lots to do day. Worked a bit on my lenses, then had to go feed my sheep, do some shopping. Most important thing I had to do was finding hay bales to buy for my sheep. I only have three left. I called the man I bought them from last year, but he was all out of hay. It has been a terrible summer for harvesting hay, because after the first cut in June/July, it started raining in August and it rained on and off till the snow came, so the farmers didn't get a chance to get the second cut of hay. Darn. I called another supplier closer by, but I knew he would sell his hay for a too high price and I was right. Six euros for one bale of hay is ridiculus. So I searched on the computer for hay in Belgium and found a few sellers. One had still hay from 2009 and that's ok for my sheep and he asked one euro for bale. Those bales are somewhat lighter then the bales overhere, but calculating the price per kilo and calculating the costs of driving overthere (90 kilometers = one hour) it still would be a lot cheaper than the six euros the local supplier is asking.So on Monday I'm off to Belgium to get a van full of hay, I think I can get about 35 bales in my van. Taking my camera with me in case I see something nice to photograph. You never know in Belgium. It's between Ghent and Bruxelles and I know the area South of Ghent is beautiful. Hope it won't rain too much on Monday.
February 13, 2011
It's not a Friday, so I don't have to watch my step too carefully today.
Bit of a lazy day today, not much going on. Tipper, the dog with the broken toe is walking without her splint today.
Very hard to keep a lively dog quiet.
February 14, 2011
So today I went to get that hay, bit longer than a hour drive and when I hit the highway just after Ghent, the other side was in a huge traffic jam, so I definitely will not be taken the same way back. When I got there it appeared to be one of the two still traditional operating brickyards in Belgium. I thought this big heap of bricks was their brick supply, but it appeared to be the brick kiln. I'm going to write a lens about it, but I have to wait till April, because then this big heap of an oven, will be prepared to get burning, so then I can take pictures to complete the story. Drove the small country roads back home and that took me over two hours, but it was worth it.
February 15, 2011
Had to unload the hay and have to make another trip, because I couldn't take it all with me and hay bales as cheap as 1 euro a bale, it's worth another trip. Then I'll take my hubby with me to do the heavy work of loading the van. They were pollarding the willows today, still a few to go. I must take some pictures to show you what work is laying there in that little meadow, waiting for me and my chain saw. That's my work and it wil take me at least a few weeks before it's finished and all wood is stacked up. But the sheep wouldn't mind, they just love willow bark, because it contains a natural antibiotic and painkiller. They will strip them branches to the bone.
February 16, 2011
I'm fed up with Tipper, she keeps demolishing her bandage, despite the fact that it's surrounded with iron gaze. So I called the vet and he said we could try to let it off, but still keep her as quiet as possible. The dogs just don't understand why they're not taken at the bycicle trips anymore, but that could just hurt Tipper's toe again and I do need her to herd the sheep again.
Darn, I almost choked in a grape just now, I'm sitting here with teared eyes from coughing my lungs out, trying to breath again.
Anyway, I thought I make a little composition of what Tipper has been doing these last few weeks with his bandages and protective iron cages. Makes a nice piece of art, doesn't it, I think I'll frame it and hang it on the wall with the vet's bill attached to it.
"Bad dog, bad dog", I tell her, but she says:
"You can call me any name you want, but I won't budge,
I DON'T WANT THAT THING ON MY LEG"
Border Collie Buttons
February 17, 2011
Nothing much happened today. Fed the sheep, which is a daily business now and did some homework, nothing interesting to write about.
February 18, 19, 20 and 21, 2011
This afternoon the fever was gone and so was the headache, only the coughing isn't gone yet, so I still have to be a bit careful. Once in a while it pops up and when it's really bad I can be down for weeks, but I haven't had that for a long time and I'm hoping it won't happen again, because that's no fun at all.
This afternoon I finished my Kitty Kitty Kyra lens, finally. I was working on that lens for some time now and I 'm glad it's finished.
Kitty Kitty Kyra Binders
February 22, 23, 24, 2011
Still under the weather, not feeling 100%. Fever is gone, but I'm getting tired too quickly and still coughing. Got a bit depressed when I saw half of my lenses drop out of tier 3. Great people on Squidoo, gave me the little push to go on. Glad I wasn't born stupid. Will take it one step at the time, had taken too much hay on my fork as we say.Still lots to be done outside. Have to get the meadow in order to put the pregnant ewes in, in a couple of weeks. Have to watch them from the 5th of March on, because then it's 5 month + 5 days ago I have put the ram in, so theoretically they can start, but the practice shows that it hardly ever occur that a ewe gets knocked up the first day. It's been raining again and the meadow they're in now is getting muddy.
Foto is showing the lambs of last year.
Sheep on eBay
February 25, 2011
Time flies, only a few days and February is history again.The weather is nice and temps are too high for the time of the year and that is resulting in plants thinking spring is there and they start sprouting. It's still a bit too early to trim the roses, because we still can get frost.
Got challenged for the Jenga 2 Game to make a lens about my country. So I started right away, but then we had to go over a moment to our daughter and on the way back we found a little Malthezer dog wandering about the road, all dirty and wet. We picked him up and took him to the vet to see if he was chipped and he was, but it took a long time to find the owner, but eventually she called in. The dog had run away the night before and they had been searching all evening and night and were very relieved we had found him. Poor thing. Now you see how important it is to chip and register your dog, otherwise we would have never found out where he came from.
So I lost a lot of time on my lens making and as I had only 48 hours, I published it anyway and finished it later. Holland-in camera view
February 26, 2011
Their udders are growing so I expect lambs within maybe 14 days. Still have a lot to do in cleaning up the meadow before I can move them to there.
Did you know that time flies,
when you're having fun?
Februray 27, 2011
Two days left and February is gone. It only seemed only yesterday when we wished each other a Happy New Year. I've been so busy this year that I didn't even made time to make my New Year cards. Shame on me. I appologize to all my friends and family.I don't know why, but suddenly my old neighbour Fons popped in my mind. He died long time ago at the age of almost 85. He was my garden, flower and plants buddy. I always had to think carefully that I didn't tell him I liked a particular plant or flower in the mid summer heat, or he would grab his spade and take it out right there and then for me, saying "just give it a chance and if it dies, there's more where it came from".
I wrote a poem after he had passed away, when I saw one of his son's burning all the stuff Fons had cared for.
I had a friend
My precious neighbour Fons, I met him when we moved here.
He used to be a farmer and he loved nature and his beer.
When he was addressing you, you had to listen very good,
he spoke in local dialect and fast when he was in the mood.
I loved to listen to his stories, when I went over there,
he told about the horses of whom he had to take care.
He didn't want to go back in time, though it was beautiful he said,
but compared to the comfort of today, the past for him was dead.
He had so many cactus plants and used to call me in to see,
when they were blooming colorful pink, the pleasure was on me.
He never showed a sign of grief, although his wife had died,
maybe being on his own, he might have sighed, he might have sighed.
At his old age he fell in love again and the lady really was a hit,
his eyes were twinkling naughty naughty, when hand in hand they'd sit.
Him, waiting at the kitchen window, was such a lovely sight to see,
waving with his clean white hanky, he was as happy as he could be.
Out of the blue, he got this cancer, he wasn't feeling all that well,
in his eighties and so in love, it was so sad, that I can tell.
His sons refused his lady girlfriend the opportunity to say goodbye,
how dreadful rude they've been to her, I always wondered why.
One son called me one morning "if you want his plants, come right away,
my brother is burning all his stuff", so I took every cactus home that day.
Every year I think of him, when in winter they are blooming pink
and then in my imagination, I'm seeing my old neighbour wink.
February 28, 2011
In two days we have Provincial elections and this year they are very, very important. Because the Provincies will choose the members of the First Chamber and God forbid if the present government gets the majority of the First Chamber on their side. I'm not good at politics, I only know that this government stinks big time. This is a government for the rich people over the backs of the poor and old people and they're destroying nature.
Just unbelieveble that the mass won't see that they're digging their own graves. They probably will see it when it's too late.
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Leave a message if you liked it
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pawpaw911
Mar 26, 2012 @ 10:31 am | delete
- Very neat lens. Nice use of your photos. Nice shots.
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alyssa87
Apr 12, 2011 @ 6:30 am | delete
- cool idea lady Titia :) excellent and informative lens
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GetSillyProductions Apr 1, 2011 @ 6:32 pm | delete
- great idea to do a photo diary on a lens! The tree stumps photo is haunting
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deyani
Mar 13, 2011 @ 8:54 pm | delete
- I'm a big fan of your monthly photography lenses, here's an angel blessing for you =) --- Blessed ---
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vallain Feb 22, 2011 @ 8:11 am | delete
- I must be a voyeur, as I love peeking into other lensmaster's lives. Thanks for your diary so I can see what life is like for you in the Netherlands. I've always been fascinated by the country.
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libysquid
Feb 6, 2011 @ 5:38 am | delete
- love the idea myself....excellent
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sorana
Feb 5, 2011 @ 7:33 am | delete
- Titia this is such agreat idea. I love the aquarelle.
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raphaelo
Feb 5, 2011 @ 5:40 am | delete
- Always love your great works .. dear, lovely lady Titia. 5 photography lovers stars for you :)
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I'm an amateur photographer and poet. I like to combine the two and call them Rhyming Images. You will find them in many of my squidoo lenses. I like to... more »
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