Today is my darling daughters birthday.  I hope everyone takes a minute out of their day to go and wish AllieMcNally <---link

a very happy day.

She is a true generous spirit filled with love and laughter and I am so proud to be her mom and so glad that I can call her my friend.

Happy Birthday Allison!

Isn't that how the old pick-up line goes?  Well Rembrandt certainly could have used that line.  He was not only a painter he did hundreds of copperplate etchings and even had an oak press in his house to print them on.  At that time if you couldn't afford one of his paintings you could always buy an original etching.  Of course if you were rich and wanted an original by him you could come to his house to choose the painting you wanted. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               This chair was for the more wealthy guests, everyone else had to take one of the chairs located around the perimeter of the room.  You were welcomed into this entry room and while you waited you could browse the painting on the walls or you could sit out of the drafts and watch people passing by on the street from your elevated position.

Not only were original Rembrandt's hung here but also work by his students and works by other artists he admired. 

When Rembrandt was ready to receive you, you were brought into his "office".  There were more works of art as well as this box bed.  I'm guessing that after ol' Remmy had his mid-day meal just like everyone else in the world he needed a nap.  Rather convenient to have one so close by.

The bed was beautifully carved wood and could be completely closed to keep in warmth.  The fireplace next to it looks like its all marble but the truth is some of it is painted wood to resemble marble.  (tricky)

This is in his living room/bedroom.   Paintings hung on the walls of this high-ceilinged room, among them biblical scenes by Rembrandt and works by artists who were close to his heart, including Pieter Lastman, Jan Lievens and Hercules Segers. Rembrandt slept in a box bed by the door. One of his more famous drawings, shows his wife Saskia lying in bed.  Or at least they think it's her.

If you were in the box bed this is the fireplace you would see. The details are amazing, from the male and female figures and the hand painted tile surround to the intricately carved mantle.  They sure don't make 'em like they used too. 

This is also the bedroom/living room. I took this from the stairs so you could see the artwork.  Prospective buyers could choose from this room as well.  Only the really rich could afford to commission a work, such as a portrait, most bought what was already painted.

Last but not least a couple of pictures from the "cabinet".  This room held examples of things that might need to be reproduced in a painting.  He also had all types of weapons and busts hanging on the  walls of his studio on the same floor.

The sheer amount of stuff in this room was overwhelming.  I can imagine Rembrandt in his studio telling one of his students to "fetch the butterfly case so I can finish this still life".  Or "bring that bust of  Nero from the cabinet".  His students made his paints and prepared canvases among other things.  The studio was the largest and by far the brightest room in the house, it's also one of 2 rooms that I didn't get pictures of, the other being the kitchen. (to dark, they all turned out blurry.) 

The Rembrandt House museum has a really terrific website and you can take a virtual tour of the house.  <---- link

If your wondering how they know what was in Rembrandt's house in such detail I can tell you.  In 1656 Rembrandt was forced into bankruptcy and an inventory of everything in the house was made.  From top to bottom including such minor things as cups and plate it was all described and set for sale to pay off his debts.  The house was sold as well as the contents and Rembrandt lived the remainder of his life in a small rented house until his death in 1669. 

Hope you all enjoy this small part of art history.

Happy Tuesday!

Look, I really am alive, I should probably change my name to lurkerlady. I've been around as those of you who emailed me know, I've even commented a couple of times....here and there.  For actual full blown participation in xanga, or anything else for that matter, I would say the score is everyone else infinity times a googleplex....indigolady 0, nada, nothing!  Even when we've done something that I would normally blog about I haven't.  For instance we bought a brand new bed and I adore it. The mattress is so comfy that I can sleep all night long without waking up and in the morning I don't spend hours trying to get the kinks out of my neck.  Or I could blog about my trip back home, the one that was supposed to be 3 weeks and ended up lasting 6 and yet I still couldn't manage to meet up with SouthernLass, which really makes me irritated with myself.  We did talk on the phone for a few minutes, before my incredibly needy dad called me back to his side.  You know how people say the elderly revert back to childhood? My dad is now about 3 years old.  The lass and I were supposed to meet up for mexican food and margaritas and I just couldn't seem to finish what I had to do so that I could do what I wanted to do.  The good news is that what I went for I accomplished.  In case your wondering it was so I could make decisions and purchases for our house which is being remodeled from the ground up.  As a bonus I went to 2 family get togethers and had a ball at both.  It has been 4 years since I've gotten to go to a family reunion and it did my soul real good to see everyone.  Now you know why I didn't blog from May 28 to July 10th.....but what about when you got back home, you all ask????  Well, I Feng Shui'd my entire house, bought the bed talked about earlier, helped a new neighbor get settled, spent days watching "Dead Like Me" on the net and generally acted like a slug.  Oh! I also read "The Court of Air" by Stephen Hunt, "The Children of Hurin" by Christopher Tolkien, and a couple of Feng Shui books to help with getting our chi all straightened out.   We haven't been going anywhere except places we absolutely need to, between gas prices and the ever weak dollar to euro exchange rate, just about everyone we know is staying close to home.  Here's a perfect example of the exchange rate.

Yesterday, Bear walked to the food court to buy a bacon/egg biscuit for break, it cost $2.50. When he went to pay he realized all he had on him was a 5 euro bill so he paid with that instead of the usual dollars. They give you your change back in dollars even when you pay in euro, so he was handed a 5 dollar bill and his biscuit.  It seemed wrong but it's not, 5 euro is worth about $7.50 and that was a really good rate because it has been lower.  Needless to say we try not to spend much on the economy, which hurts not only all the Americans living abroad but the EU too because of lost business. Bad deal all around.  

 Bear has a dentist appointment today, he had to have a tooth pulled last week and this is a follow up.  He has bad teeth, gums and bone and it's not from lack of dental care. His uncle was a dentist so growing up they had free dental care and then when he left home he joined the Air Force, again free dental care. The man just has bad teeth. Thank God for bridges, partials etc.  I, on the other hand have teeth like iron.  Mostly ignored growing up it wasn't until I had kids of my own that I really started paying attention to them.  I didn't even have a cavity until high school, I imagine if my mom had taught me what I taught my kids I never would have had cavities.  Unfortunately she had to raise 4 kids while working, 1 sometimes 2 full time jobs and I think she was just to tired to argue with a kid about brushing.  Do you sometimes let your kids do things because your to tired to argue?

I think I've rambled on enough for one day. As soon as we get the other external drive hooked up I'll post pictures of......stuff. I don't know whether to post pictures of Holland or of my house back home or my new furniture. Which would you guys rather see first? 

Happy Thursday!

Angi1972 took a pictures of some Muscari that her and her kids planted in  the yard.  This picture is for her to use as inspiration.  I would love to have a river like this in my yard. Would you?

After we spent ALL day walking around the Keukenhof Garden on Saturday, Bear drove Kit Kat and I to Amsterdam. We got into town about 7, found our hotel and then went to the grocery store to pick up supper.  (If you ever want to save money, you can knock off hundreds of dollars on a trip by not eating at restaurants.)  Anyway, the market was right on museum plein so I made them go over in the grass and play nice while I got some pictures of the Van Gogh, Rijksmuseum and the concert hall.
I really wanted Bear to stay in Amsterdam and run around with us but the plan was for him to drive home bright and early Sunday morning so he could rest up for a bit. He gets up at 0400 every morning for work so an early bedtime is good.  Also, we knew he had weekend duty the following weekend which means that his next day off was going to be 12 days away.  So some rest Sunday night was important to his "old man" health.
We went back to our hotel and after eating went out again and walked clear to Liedseplein so Kat could visit a coffee shop.  Oh to be young again. ROFL.   We went to The Bulldog. <---link}  I didn't have to smoke a thing because I'm a cheap date, I just drank a beer and breathed normally.  I wouldn't say I actually got high, let's just say I was very relaxed.  How do I know the difference you might ask?  (1. I didn't get the munchies, and let's face it I'm a cow and (2. I didn't get the giggles.  Both sure signs for me, I did get a real bad case of "I want a cigarette", which surprised the heck out of me after 2 and a half years of being a nonsmoker. That kinda made me sad, that it snuck up on me and that I'm still addicted in some part of my brain. Those habits die extremely hard. (I didn't have one)

Bear took off bright and early the next morning (Sunday) and Kat and I started wandering and touring.  I had seen this balcony the night before so I made sure we went past it again in daylight so I could see the details. I'm glad I did, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it before. Have any of you?

Now a couple of doors.  You guys have no idea how happy doors make me, it's completely ridiculous!  I was beyond thrilled when it was suggested to angi1972 that this years theme in pictures be doors. I literally have hundreds of door pictures from all over, and now I finally have a group of friends that appreciate them as much as I do.

We were waiting for the tram when I took this and while this copy looks rather washed, it printed out beautifully. If I was more computer savvy I could fix the colors, but I'm not so we all have to suffer.

Here's an idea!!
I'll go back and take another picture.

(plot, plot, plan, plan)

We saw this on one of our wanders.  The rest of the store was empty and there were no signs in English or Dutch to explain what it was or why it was there.
I love this bear, he looks very happy and I love a happy Bear
I asked my husband one day whether he considered himself more of a Grizzly type bear or a Brown bear. He said he was a Brown bear, then he paused and said except when I'm with you, then I'm more of a Teddy.  Can I get an ah.....

It's comments like that that let him get away with nothing for Valentines day for 26 years.  Who needs flowers and candy when you live with a guy that thinks like that?

When we saw this one we realized how much the canals look like roads.

We took a canal tour Monday morning and it came back to Westerkerk but I think it's prettier at night.  Anne Frank Huis is on the left just a few doors down from the church.  This is the tower she could see from the attic and the chiming of the clock she could hear.
This is the tallest church tower in Amsterdam. It's where Queen Beatrice was married in 1969 and is also where Rembrandt is buried.  They don't know for sure where his grave is but they think its on the northern wall. 

Speaking of Rembrandt..............

That's me knocking on Rembrandt's front door....

....he didn't answer.

We toured here and I took pictures in every room just like everyone else on the tour and then in the last room a docent scolded me for taking pictures.  I thought then that she was a little late telling people no pics. Every other museum had signs as well as docents very clearly stating no pictures. This was the only place that didn't. I should have known better. I did get a bunch of really good pictures though!

And now one last picture.

Me and the I amsterdam sign, with my Bulldog bag and my Ireland jacket!  Hey, I was cold, the wind never quits, so give me a break, lol!

Yay, for Amsterdam. I promise to put up more pics and tell more, but this is plenty of my ramblings for now. hope everyone enjoyed it all.

All links are in RED

My husband, who knows my insatiable need for reading material, brings me the paper every day.  The only paper readily available on the Army post is the Stars and Stripes, so that's what he brings to me and I read it cover to cover everyday.  He brings me Sunday's paper on Monday or Tuesday and it is Sundays "Scene" magazine insert that I have a problem with and that I would like everyone's to give me their opinion.  Every week, "Scene" has a small section called feedback and they ask 6 soldiers or dependants a random question and print their answers. For example one week they asked what type of music they liked best, another time they asked what they missed most about home, and another time they asked what they liked best about living overseas, anyway you get the basic idea.  This week the question was "What's the best bargain you've ever found? 

What is your opinion of these answers?

The dictionary defines a bargain this way
n. 1: agreement 2: an advantageous purchase 3: a transaction, situation or event regarded in the light of its results.

and it defines steal this way
vb. 1: to take and carry away without right or permission...

So my question is did soldiers #2 and #4 steal the car and dog kennel?
I feel they did. They took something without right or permission, without paying for it fully after they had agreed to a price.  They however feel they got a bargain, they look at it as a purchase that went to their advantage.

I guess what really bothers me is that the military paper, that is printed for soldiers, thinks this is okay.  I thought our soldiers were supposed to have ethics and morals, heck I thought THEY held themselves to an honor code. Where is the honor in not even paying for what you have agreed to purchase?  Am I over-reacting? Again!

Most of the time I hit the delete button but this one was pretty funny. My sister is the one that forwarded it to me.

       Local Bar Sues Local Church
   
    In a small Texas town, a new bar/tavern started a building to
open up their business. The local Baptist church started a
campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and
prayers.
   
    Work progressed, however right up till the week before
opening, when a lightning strike hit the bar and it burned to the
ground.
   
    The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after
that, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the
church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building,
either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church
vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the
buildings demise in its reply to the court.
   
    As the case made its way in to court, the judge looked over
the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, 'I don't know how I'm
going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we
have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an
entire church congregation that doesn't.'

I was thinking about the doors pictures I took on my latest trip and then I thought there are doors and there are doors.  What a particular door can evoke in a person, sadness and introspection or happiness and a sense of well being are two polar opposites emotions you can feel.  If you don't think a door can do that to you then you haven't seen a door and thought to yourself I wonder what's on the other side.  Or seen a picture of a door and gotten a "feeling" from it.  There are plenty of doors that are nothing more than portals to another room or place, then there are some that when you stand in front of them you know that this door has history, not necessarily good history.  There it is, just a door, an inanimate object that is a witness to other lives and times.

In case you can't read this or don't want to take the time to click it and look at it full size, this is the door to 263 Prinsengracht. This is the door that led to the warehouse and offices of Otto Frank's company and the place that he and his family and friends lived for 25 months in hiding from the Nazis. They hid in the back part of the building in a "Secret Annex".  The most famous resident of that secret annex is Anne Frank. 

The Diary of Anne Frank is almost universally known but standing in front of that door and then touring what is now a museum was something else entirely.

I haven't read Anne's diary for years but even after all this time there are parts that I still remember. Her longing to be free to walk in the sun. Her curiosity about growing into a woman and the "crush" she had for Peter Van Pels, her fellow "prisoner" in the annex.  Climbing into the attic and watching the Chestnut tree and the clouds going by.  What always struck me was the maturity her diary showed, she had a way of expressing herself that even today is unique and timely. 

There were some parts of the secret annex that were very hard to see and brought tears to my eyes.  There was a place on the wall in her parents room that they used to measure Anne and Margots' growth.  It was so hard seeing that, how many of us parents have that same spot in our house where we measure how much our children have grown in the last year?  How heartbreaking to see that and know that of them all, their father would be the only one to survive the war. Worst of all knowing that all that growth was done in horrifying circumstances far from the normal lives our children lead.  Then there was Anne's room, covered in movie stars and celebrities of the day torn from magazines and pasted onto the walls in an effort to brighten the room.   And the chestnut tree, still there, so old and now diseased. They are discussing whether it needs to be cut down and that in itself makes me so sad, though I know for a Chestnut tree it is at the end of a natural life.  It's almost as if, if it still stands something of her does too, something living that she cherished.  Seeing her diary, the real thing out there on display, such a tiny book and yet it changed lives all over the world.

Some of the best part was reading and seeing how faithful their helpers were, the 4 employees of Otto Frank. They took enormous risk and never flinched from what they were doing, even knowing it could cost the lives of them and their families if they were caught.  Two of them did get sent to prison.  It was Bep Voskuijl and Miep Gies who ultimately saved Annes' diary and Miep who gave it back to her father after the war.

This door led to a different world.  This door offered a safe haven for family and friends.  At least it was safe for awhile, it was safe until betrayal cost the lives of 7 innocent people who's only crime was being Jewish.  This door has been silent witness to some of the best and worst humanity has to offer and it still stands.  I hope it stand for many years to come so that people today can learn what happened in that not so distant past.

We had a great trip to The Netherlands and Katrina went home today. I am exhausted by all the traveling and walking we did but we really had a great time.  I still haven't gone through all of my pictures, I'm a bum I know.  I did upload some of my pictures from Ireland so that has to count in my favor.  I feel like I should write about that first trip first.  Allison put up a bunch of wedding pictures so I'm leaving that to her and thought I would put up some pics of our trip to Connemara.

My lovely daughters stayed in Galway and Bear and I took Emily's boyfriend Trey, Allison's new hubby Brian and Katrina and we loaded into the Nissan Micra I rented.  We drove from Galway around to Clifden then on to Coral Strand Beach. We spent at least an hour or so there before we went on to Roundstone to have dinner and buy postcards.  Then we went on to see the 12 Bens or Pins, which are mountains.  All along the way was some of the most gorgeous countryside and it was SO VERY worth the drive. 

I am home and the wedding and everything all weekend was perfect, my pictures aren't but the celebration was.  I promise to blog and put up pictures but right now I don't have time. You see  Bear and I talked my late best friends daughter into coming home with us, we promised to take her to Amsterdam. So tomorrow Bear is driving the two of us to the Keukenhof Garden and then we are going to Amsterdam until late Monday night. w00t, I am finally going to see the Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum and more.  I'm so excited! 

I accidently put this on allison's photo blog first. rofl, oh well it was her wedding!

All of our pictures at the actual wedding site were either blurry or shadowed or someone had red eye......not one came out worth a damn.

Brian's uncle is going to share his pictures and he has a much better camera so I'm hoping that his came out better than mine. I guess i'll know in a few weeks. 

 This was taken a day or so after the wedding.

left to right...

my Emily

the bride, Allison is in the middle

 On the right Cassie's daughter Katrina. The only one of our friends able to come over for the wedding.  We were waiting at Dublin airport for Emily, Trey and Katrina to arrive and it was so funny because me and Em didn't cry but when Katrina saw me she cried, so of course I did.  I think I'm the closest thing to a mom she has left.

I'm really glad that we are getting to take her to Amsterdam.

Edit update for Angi.

My new hat. I got this instead of an Aran Island sweater.