Sometimes you just have to go somewhere and take care of business. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a little bit of relaxation at the same time, right?
This time, I took limited gear with me; I knew there would be little time to stalk wildlife. Even more, I didn’t know what my mood toward relaxation would be.
When you have yet another funeral in the family, you never know what the rest of the time will bring. I was prepared for this, though and some of the dark feelings had been taken care of long before this was going to happen. So when the funeral was over, and some paperwork taken care of, the time was to try to lighten the mood and get some pictures.
St Martinus Church
Taking pictures always calms my nerves. It’s like therapy in a handheld box. The church in the picture above was not part of the ceremony, this was an open church where a concert was being held. There were not many people in attendance, so perhaps it was a free exercise by the organist, who knows. I only had my cellphone with me to record the music, perhaps I will put that on my audio blog one day.
At the edge of the city
The church, as well as the first few pictures, were from a city called Dokkum, in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. The city is, among other things, famous for the murder of St Boniface in 754 AD. Boniface came to convert the Frisians to Catholicism, but the Frisians would not have any of it. There is a statue of St Boniface at the moment of being killed, holding a bible above his head for protection.
Old fashioned clothing store “1622”
Dokkum itself is a very old city, it gained city rights in 1298. Many buildings are still standing from the early days of the city. Still standing and still functioning.
Windmill “Zeldenrust”
When one speaks of “Holland”, one always gets the inevitable question “Did you see windmills?”. Yes, I saw windmills, here is one of them. And no, the miller did not live inside the mill, although he lived nearby.
Inside the city of Dokkum
Inside the old city, many places also have traditional decorations, so as not to destroy the illusion of walking in a medieval place. For this picture, I have to admit, I had to use a little Photoshop magic to remove a very ugly sign that destroyed all feelings of being in an old town 
.
Relaxation pro
After business was taken care of in Dokkum, a different province was on the list. A province with equally a lot of historical places and a lot of nature as well. The above bacon impersonator (in deep sleep and very much alive!) was in the city of Groningen. She was too cute to pass up on a picture.
A toad out of place
A nearby nature reserve called the Onlanden delivered the goods on wildlife pictures. One little toad on the road, playing dead was trying to be unobtrusive. But that is difficult on an asphalt surface. We picked it up and placed it on the side of the road. It was on its merry way within seconds.
Flatlands
The Netherlands is flat and low, as the name already implies. The above picture confirms this. The innocent-looking cloud in this picture later gave “birth” to the lead picture of this post. That thunderstorm knocked out internet, cable, electricity, and blew a few fuses.
I did have a few more days in the schedule, so I will have more to report on soon.
Until next time…