Have Spent a Wonderful Weekend Spotting Deer!

One of the precious things for a small country is its surviving wilderness! One of ours in the Wetlands is called 'De Hoge Veluwe', and it is situated roughly in the middle of my country.

Last weekend my friends and I trekked to Otterlo, where we had rented a woodland cottage. Our aim was to spot red deer, 'edelherten', our largest kind in the Wetlands.
Did we spot them? We most certainly did!

Photograph by Martin van Es

The weather was wonderful, and we had left early, so by 11 am we were making coffee and getting acquainted with the resident squirrels at our cottage.

Rina took this by balancing her camera onto the dustbin...it worked!

We knew that the red deer were supposed to be in a particular area of de Hoge Veluwe by the end of the afternoon, so we entered the national park and took the free bikes that are included in the entrance fee. Theo and I had brought our own; one of the advantages of having a Volkswagen van.

It took only half an hour cycling to reach the area where the red deer were almost certain to make their appearance, but we had hours to spend, so we cycled all around the lower part of the national park.

Okay....so where are those red deer? I can hear you mumble. Well: here they are!

Photographs by Martin van Es

Aren't they magnificent?!

The males were putting up a show of strength. 

Unfortunately the wind was the other way, so they kept 

their distance and we couldn't hear their 'burling' very clearly, 

but luckily all those present had brought their little lenses...

Seriously, folks, just look at that!

I didn't dare take out my Samsung...

Mind you, some of the photos shown here 

were taken by me with this little Samsung mobile, so yay Korea!

We, and approx. 200 others, watched the deer

 until they got bored and ambled off. 

Then we took our bikes back to the compound and had

 a great meal in Otterlo.

All that tracking makes a person very thirsty!

The next morning we again entered the national park and 

this time cycled the other way. This part of the Hoge Veluwe 

is more wet, with little waterways and drinking ponds.

The park commission has put up boardwalks, to help people keep their feet dry. The vegetation showed that there was water; there were plenty of little ferns, and a lot of toadstools and other fungi.

Now, I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who needs a regular wee. Obviously there are no toilets in the middle of this wilderness, so the accepted thing to do is find yourself a quiet spot and do your thing. As long as you do not leave anything behind (like toilet paper!), it is tolerated.

So, after one of my sanitary stops I had just walked back out of this copse of firs, and had put my left foot onto the sandy track, when I almost jumped out of my skin. Underneath my right foot, which I had almost but not quite put down, there coiled an adder. The only poisonous snake we have in the Wetlands.

Theo and Rina immediately started filming it, whilst I kept warning them not to agitate it. It showed its fangs once, but decided to flee instead of attacking.

We saw some red deer prints, but no more red deer. Although we did hear them roar in the distance. 

All too soon it was time to pack up and drive back to the congested West...

It was a wonderful weekend, and I cannot wait to go back there!

Okay, one more then!

Yup, I've Thought Up a Gift for my 5,000th Reader!

Hi there, Dreamers, Readers and Other Assorted Visitors of this Blog!

I've come to a decision. 
The first person who will send me an email at my blog-email address (rkoopman58@gmail.com) after the little counting device has passed the 5,000 mark, will get an autographed photo by Wibe Koopman.

Wibe's photos are different, and have a quality which is almost painter-like.

If you would like to qualify, send me an email with your name and address (don't forget the zipcode and country).

Good luck!

Gers! Magazine: the best that Rotterdam has to offer.

Okay, I admit it, I cheated. I only heard of this magazine because my son knows one of the photographers.
And it took 5 editions before I caught on. But then. WOW!!!

(Btw, I don't know who the artist is that created this comical bicyclist, but it's a great picture! Imagine me stopping dead for Gers!)

Full stop! This is a wonderful magazine!

Not only does the magazine have a proper, recognizable "Rotterdam- touch", but it is chock-a-block of amazing photographs.

Sure, I like text. I write text. Text is what makes the world go round, as far as I'm concerned. And Gers! has a lot of well-written text.

But I'm an "image-thinker", and so images are ever so important to me. And my son is an aspiring photographer, so I'm always on the look-out for good, inspiring photography. And am very often disappointed. As soon as I think: "Hm, I could do that...better?", I am disappointed.

And believe me, I did not think that once when leafing through Gers! #5.

Take, just for example, the article about transgenders. Very 'hot': think Conchita Wurst.

In a text header it says: "The Netherlands are, supposedly, free and tolerant. We are mostly indifferent though".

Here you are. This is why this is a good, no, a great, magazine. No beating about the bush. The truth. Raw, Rotterdam honesty.

It has an article about the Rotterdam hookers. Whores, yes. Rotterdam, harbour and whores go together like ships and sailors. But the sailors dock far, far out, in Europoort, and need to be transported with minivans to the sex clubs of  the harbour district. Again, the raw truth about an old port which lost its red light district to building projects and managers.

And there's much, much more. About football (Rotterdam and football are a given), about jazz (Rotterdam and jazz are a match made in heaven; this windy city is created for jazz, like that other windy city Chicago), about multiculti projects, about immigrants.

With a very definite large multiculti immigrant population Rotterdam is a hotbed of dissent and creativity at the same time.

Gers! is a typical Rotterdam slang word, with its root in Jiddisch.  My mother saw her Jewish schoolfriend dragged from her home and deported in 1942. It was a defining moment in her life.

I grew up with a love-hate relationship with Rotterdam because of her stories (not the thing you want to hear over and over when you are a naïve romantic girl in the sex, drugs and rock&roll Seventies), but also with an over-developed feel for honesty, justice and tolerance.

Gers! seems to have this same feel.

Now all we need is an English version!!!

(By the way, for € 15,00 you can become a 'fan', and they will send the newest edition to your home.)

For All Photography Fans - New Website Launched for Wibe Koopman

If you have kids, or nieces and nephews you  are very fond of, you probably know the immense and intense feeling of pride that washes over you when they do something worthwhile.

Well, then you know how I feel right now!
 My son Wibe, studying and working hard to become a photographer, has launched his new website.
It is still under revision, and he needs to translate his biography etcetera, but it already gives an impression of the great things still to come.
Do take a look! The link is underneath this photo he took of me for a portrait assignment. It's one of the few existing formal photographs, since I am always (and always have been) the officious family photographer...

Wibe's new photography website

Into Running? Tomorrow is the Rotterdam Marathon.

Hi, all you joggers:-)
I'll let you into a secret, but don't tell anyone. Ssssshhhhht. I do not jog.

I used to, but that's 40 years ago, and jogging was not even invented then. We used to call it running, and I had to do it in school. And actually...I was pretty good at it! Long legs, long muscles, and stamina from all that cycling to and fro school I had to do every day.
Nowadays I sometimes think back to those days, when I weighed 52 kilos...sigh.

But that's not at all what I want to tell you about.
Tomorrow is the annual Rotterdam Marathon, and it draws thousands of runners and thousands of spectators and it is a festive, fun event.

And this year, 2014, it is even more fun (and rather special) for me, because my son has participated in making a promotion film about running in Rotterdam and I am bloody proud of it. The film is by wonderful Rotterdam photographer Chris Bonis. But Wibe is in the credits, hurray! I'll leave you with the link, right here.
A film about running in Rotterdam by Chris Bonis

Bye!

Photographs Tell it All - or do they?

Sky with gulls

Autumn

 +Wibe Koopman
Today the book is published which features my son's first steps onto the slippery slope of professional photography. (There's a post about this book too)
To commemorate this fact, I'll post some of my favourite photos by Wibe.

Wibe's new photography site!

Swan over the Haringvliet.

Self portrait

Beach in Norfolk

His little sister

Photography Buffs take note!

Once in a while I'll use this space to let you get acquainted with the first steps of my children into the exciting but treacherous world of art and design.

Shrimpers

Not so far from my hometown there is a fishing community called Stellendam. It is on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee, and its inhabitants have made a living from the seas around their island for generations. They lived on, by, and in awe of the sea.

In this day and age, fishing has largely lost its appeal and economic value. But there are still some hardy types hanging on in Stellendam, and its shrimp industry is famous throughout the Netherlands and beyond. Due to the sandy sea bottom, the shrimp are tiny but delicious. Restaurants value them.

Shrimping
Shrimping is extremely hard work, 24/7 for days on end. I'll publish three photographs by Wibe Koopman which show how tough it is to live and work on a Goeree shrimper. And I'll let those images speak for themselves. After all, one picture tells a thousand words.  

Wibe Koopman Photography and Wibe at Wordpress

Book by Gerard Korver almost in the shops...Guess who took the photographs?

Hi, extremely proud Mum here!

Wibe, by Wibe Koopman- 2013.

Gerard Korver

 In a short while there's a book coming to the shops. So what? you think. Well, this isn't just any book.

It's a book by psychologist/coach Gerard Korver, about how to keep your relationship/marriage successful. (Right! No need to seek further help, you've found the solution!) 

It will initially be published in Dutch, but an English translation is being produced as I'm writing this, so you'll be able to read it as well. Now isn't this COOL?

No?

Ready? Wibe has done the photography.

This is the cover photo-in-progress.

He has also taken the portrait of Gerard Korver. You'll have to visit my FB sister page of Rays of Light  for the promo. When you do visit, you can see the cover photo and portrait and read the blurb on Gerard.

Proud!!!!!

Rays of Light - the Facebook Page

Voor die paar Nederlanders die geen Engelse posts volgen...Ik schrijf deze voor jou! Nieuwsgierig?

Ja okay, ik post voornamelijk in het Engels. Dat komt omdat mijn schrijfsels door voornamelijk Engelstalige kennissen/vrienden gelezen worden. Maar het Engels van de meeste Nederlanders die geïnteresseerd zijn in 'mijn' dingetjes (nl. kunst, design, fotografie, muziek) is best wel goed, of in elk geval goed genoeg.

Dit was in 1976.... (fotobewerking Wibe Koopman)

Ik hoop dat je vaker langskomt. 

ZENZA

In Rotterdam, op de Karel Doormanstraat, zit een prachtige winkel waar ik helemaal enthousiast over ben. Eerst dacht ik dat het een indy was, maar het blijkt toch een keten te zijn. Maar gelukkig wel een bescheiden keten, met maar een paar vestigingen.

Zenza verkoopt werkelijk sprookjesachtig mooie lampen, meubels, glaswerk, sieraden, en nog veel meer. 

 Dit is een van de lampen die ik dolgraag zou neerzetten in mijn slaapkamer. Hun website is www.zenza.nl

ZELF MAKEN?!

Vandaag kwam ik onderstaande foto tegen op één van de internetsites die ik met enige regelmaat bezoek. Ik moest er eerst om lachen, maar meteen daarna dacht ik aan Zenza en die dure prachtige lampen. Als je heel weinig geld hebt, en je wilt tóch zo'n gaatjeslamp, dan is dit natuurlijk een super oplossing, en nog met een knipoog ook. Leuk voor in de keuken!

Laat me weten wat je ervan vindt?

Pride

What do you do when your son tells you that he wants to become a photographer?

Do you enthusiastically embrace this concept, knowing that it is exceptionally hard for professional photographers to make a living in this digital age?

Give an orang utan a Nikon and it will take photos...Right?

Wrong!

Sure, everyone can take a photo; sharp, HD, instant imagery to upload on FB and Instagram. But only a truly gifted photographer can take a photo which captures the imagination for longer than a few seconds.

I believe creativity is a gift to be nurtured, cosseted, but above all to be used. If you are creative but unproductive, no-one will see your photos. It's as simple as that.

(It's like writing. A blog, for example. The fact that hardly anyone will read it, isn't all that important. You feel the need to write, and thus you do.)

Sky with gulls, by Wibe Koopman

So, to return to my original question: what do you do?

You stimulate, you facilitate, you pay up. But above all, you are so damn proud.

Beach, by Wibe Koopman.

Still trying to find my feet here....

I've posted a profile...sort of, because I don't think it's that important to tell the entire world population when I turn 56, or where I love and live exactly.
Still, what I do think important is that I can link to other sites, and that I haven't been able to do (yet).

So, what else have I tried to do today? Get tickets for Maison-Objet in Paris. And this I haven't been able to do either, as the machine was very obsessive about my company. I don't have a company. I just want 4 tickets, thanks!

Still. I have managed to find the blogspot account for my photographer son, so that's something. His name is Wibe Koopman. Do look him up, it's worth it!

To keep you occupied (grasping at straws here), I'll post a photo of a corner in my home.

A fresh start? Hmpff! Fresh Start.58-and-counting!

August 31st, 2017.

Song Smith - Maasvlakte II

Welcome!
You have reached my tiny corner of this blogger's world, where I rule and tell you about my life, passions and pet hates (sometimes). I am fast approaching the 100,000 readers mark - gosh!

You have also reached Viggo's Blog. This is a spin-off from Rays of Light, and - I, Viggo, am proud and not at all surprised to announce - much more popular. Hence I have persuaded my woman to add my photograph in place of honour: gorgeous, am I not? I have my very own Collections Collection on Google+ named Viggo's Life as a Macho Cat.And there you'll find lots of cute photos of our latest addition to the family, Bowie a.k.a. The Brat.

Song Smith - Viggo

Bowie, a.k.a. The Brat

You can also witness my occasional attempt at writing a local whodunit; you'll find this at the right hand side, under the header "The Menopausal Detective on a Slippery Slope".

Who am I? 
I've decided I'm not going to tell you. You'll simply have to read the blog, and by all means read Viggo's, as he is painfully honest.

Yup. You still have time to move on...
If you do not, then you are onto and into a wild and gentle ride (depending on my mood).

Ever since I started this blog on Nov. 24th, 2013, I have seen people from all over the globe read my posts. And this pleases me!

I am a gentle soul, and gentle souls have it tough in these troubled times. There is so much misery and unfairness in this world of ours. But what strengthens me is that I am convinced that there are many, many more people like me, who try their best to live their lives with integrity, and without hurting others.
Writing regularly is a bit of a problem at the moment, as I am a care-giver to my 89 year old very ill Mum next to my full-time job at school. But I'm trying to update and post with some regularity.

Lovely to see you, until next time! 
And meanwhile, walk with me on my

If you are a music junkie, like myself, it might amuse you to look me up on Youtube. Simply type in Song Smith and then dig down deep. I have the grand total of 5 songs floating around - but more will follow no doubt when the mood takes me.
I have started a new series titled The Hike in 2016. Although honesty demands I should change the header to The Ramble.  Look for it under the heading The Hike using the search button. There is also a Google+ "Collection" by that name (The Hike), so do take a look if you're interested.
My other Google+ collections are: 
"Flowers", about...flowers (duh)
"Song's Best Books Club", about...books (double duh)
"Wetlands Style", about everything that tickles my fancy
"SongsQuickRecipiesforRushedCooks" 
and the aforementioned "Viggo's Life as a Macho Cat", about Viggo and Bowie.


PPSS: I am a regular contributor to TheEntertainmentWhacko.com and have an Instagram page: songsmith2962. You cannot accuse me of acting my age!