Confucius China Light Festival

Chinese Dragon

Panda

On Thursday last week I was at the Botanical Garden in Haren with my streetphotographyclub to watch the Confucius China Light Festival and make photo's.
Although it was a rainy evening the Festival was really magical! There was Chinese music playing and there were statues made of coloured fabric with light inside. At first I went in with a photographers mind but in the end I was feeling like a happy child. Everything was so beautiful and sweet! I took a lot of pictures, you can find more on http://www.fotoklup.blogspot.com/.

Snow

First Snow

The first snow of this winter has fallen last night! When I peeked out of my window just before midnight the world was white. The weatherforecast predicts a period of severe frost at night (minus 16 degrees!). Although I don't like the cold very much I'm always happy that I live in a country with four seasons in a year.

Today Online

Model Sonja

White World

Please visit my other site: www.modelsandfriendsgroningen.nl
I posted two new pages today!
Model Sonja shows her winter-style and photographer Christa shows a series of  photographs of a winterlandscape.
Enjoy!

Recipe for Wintercarrotsoup

Ingredients

Here's a recipe for a nice wintersoup. Put together a piece of red pepper, one small onion, a clove of garlic, four spring-onions, a stock-tablet (with garden herbs) and a couple of wintercarrots. Cut ingredients in small pieces. Fry all ingredients in a frying pan with olive oil. After frying for 5 minutes throw in the water with the stock-tablet and let it boil for about 25 minutes. What you get is a sweet and spicey wintercarrotsoup. Very nice for cold winterdays! Bon appetit!

As the World Turns....

Liberty and Gabriel

In less than a month 'As the World Turns' will stop on Dutch TV. I was not a fan in the first years but since I accidently started to watch some episodes I slowly got addicted to the series. I will surely miss the people that I watched on a daily basis. On February 21th the last episode will be shown on TV. 

New Stylepost!

Chanel Style

I posted a new look on my stylesite. I hope you like it! Please visit 
http://www.fiftysomethingstyle.blogspot.com/

Aurora Borealis

Lonely Star

I expected that I could see the 'Aurora Borealis' or Northern Light tonight, so I took my camera outside to see what I could see but there was only this lonely star in the nightsky. This is also beautiful, isn't it?

Dinner at my Place

Setting the Table in my Kitchen

On Saturday I invited my neighbour H to have dinner with me. I prepared an Indian meal with rice, chicken korma, sugarsnaps and onion bread. It was delicious! We already would have had this dinner on Christmas Eve but my neighbour fell ill in that period, so we had to postpone it till now.
Do you like the table setting?

Lovely Pastel Colors!

The Voice of Holland

And the Winner is.....

I'm a true follower of talentshows. Yesterday were the finals of the Voice of Holland. My two favourites reached the final: Iris with her beautiful voice and Chris with his (even more) beautiful voice. I captured the decisive moment on camera. Iris won with 51% of the votes.
Here are some more photographs....

Iris and Birdy singing Skinny Love

Chris singing Time after Time

Chris is my favourite singer

A Horrible Drama!

Scary Picture of Hemorrhage

Shocking image!! My colleague M was on her usual appointment donating blood at the Bloodbank. All went well untill the moment when the bloodbanklady removed the needle from M' s arm. The needle caused enormous pain and discomfort and colleague M started to panic. What really happened with the needle is still a mystery but the shock was big and the hemorrhage was even bigger! Have a look at the disturbing picture! (picture is unsuitable for younger children or sensitive adults).

Everyday a new Sunset

Northwest View

North View

My mother is recovering from her broken hip. She left the hospital on Monday and needs to rest for about six weeks. I visited my parents in Friesland. They live on the edge of the village and have a wonderful view from their window looking out over the Frisian countryside. Everyday they witness a completely different sunset. When I stay with them I always take a picture of the evening sky. 

Neighbour

My neighbour B moved out quite unexpectedly this week. He lived next to me for only five months. I am curious who is going to be my next neighbour! Till then I can play loud music! Haha..!

Sonja

Black and White

Lots of Colour!

This week I am preparing the February stylepage for my website. I already did a modelshoot with Sonja in the weekend. The weather was wonderful. Here are two photo's that show you a little bit of the shoot that we did. 

Eurosonic Noorderslag

Stage on Grote Markt

Yesterday was the last of four days of the Eurosonic Noorderslag music festival  in Groningen. It's a yearly event that attracts thousands of music lovers from Europe. The festival showcases upcoming European bands and new Dutch bands and musicians. Thursdaynight I went watching the bands on stage on the Grote Markt and last night there was a live TV-special about the festival. I just loooove these kind of events!

New Look

Today I posted a new look on my style blog. Here's a sneak preview.

fiftysomethingstyle.blogspot.com

Red Jacket with Jeans Blouse and Wooden Necklace

Necklace with little Elephant

Get Well Soon!

My mother is in the hospital at the moment. She broke her hip yesterday morning! Get well soon, mum!

Partytime!

Yummy food and wine!

On this last day of my holiday I had a birthday party in my 

family! It was nice to meet everybody: my parents, my two 

brothers and sisters-in-law and my twelve year old niece!

 

Spring is Here!

Full of New Buds

Due to the mild winter temperatures Spring is already here! The plants and shrubs in my garden all already showing their new buds.

More Oldenburg

After having a good look around we wanted to relax. In the town center we found a Grand Cafe where we had something to eat and drink. 

Grand Cafe

Ordering Hot Chocolate

Later on we did some shopping in the very big and beautiful shopping mall Galeria and just before we left to go home we found these wonderful massage chairs! We couldn't resist trying them, it was amazing!

Shoppingcenter Galeria

Wonderful  massage chairs!

After the massage session we were completely relaxed and got in the car on our way home.

While I was sitting in the car I took some last pictures.

Tunnelvision

Windmills by night

Trip to Oldenburg

On Friday I traveled to Oldenburg Germany with A. It's about an hour and a half by car from where I live. We first looked at the old buildings, there's a lot of them. Big and boxy buildings, very often painted yellow. Here are some photo's.

Schloss - Oldenburg

Pulverturm

Sfynx

Street 'mandala'

Next we went walking through the newer streets where we found some funny artwork.

Lady with Branches

Fighting Goats

Tomorrow I will post more photographs!

Circus in Town!

I'm  still enjoying my New Year's Holiday which will last untill Thursday next week!
The weather was sometimes very stormy and there was even a danger of waterdamage in our province. But yesterday and today were good days. Yesterday my friend A en I went to Germany to the town of Oldenburg. We wandered around in the old town center and admired the older buildings. I'll show you some photo's in the weekend! Today I went grocery shopping and had a walk through the park where I found out that the circus was in town: Circus Carnivale showing magical circus acts!

Circus Carnivale in Town!

Vintage finds

Yesterday in the afternoon I went 'vintage' shopping with my neighbour H. We both love to go to vintageshops and see what we can find. I am a great believer of re-using clothes or other products. The clothes in these kind of shops can sometimes be old-fashioned but they are often quite interesting. Here's what I found yesterday.

Vintage Earclips

 

 

A Colourful Jacket

 

Models & Friends

On my website www.modelsandfriendsgroningen.nl you can find two new pages this month! Special guest is photographer Christa with her photoseries about Delfsail. Special model of the month January is Anneke with a fashionshoot.

Model Anneke

Photo by Christa - Delfsail

Shopping Results

Yesterday I have been shopping. It was a nice sunny day and not cold at all!
(Today is a very different day - there is a storm going on with lots of rain).
The shopping results of yesterday are a new collection of makeup products and a very nice blue blouse with white polkadots. The blouse looks very good on me!

Two slightly different lipsticks

New Makeup Products - Etos & Hema

Polkadot Blouse - H&M

Hootenanny!

New Year's Eve was fun. My friend A and I had a nice dinner and a walk through the park watching the local fireworks. 
We watched Jools' Annual Hootenanny with Dutch singer Caro Emerald.
And today was a very lazy day.
Wish you all a great year!