De aardappelmannetjes

I found a fun piece of art the other day. Next to the train station in Zoetermeer (in the Netherlands) is a stone statue that is called 'De Aardappelmannetjes', which can be translated as 'the potato guys':

This statue is made by Joost van den Toorn, a Dutch artist and was installed in 2008. It is made with 3 huge boulders from Denmark, is more than 8 meters in height (about 26 feet) and the eyes, nose and mouths are made of gold leaf.

BBQ

Scavenger Hunt, Edition July 29, 2012

This week I was on the lookout for 5 different items to photograph, because I had decided to join Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt again. The prompts for this week are:

• Paint
• Green
• Eyelashes
• Shapes
• Clouds

Here are my interpretations:

Paint

Green
Earlier this week my family and I enjoyed a nice lunch, with some delicious sandwiches

Eyelashes
My sister was kind enough to be my model for this prompt.

Shapes

Clouds
I visited the M.C. Escher museum in The Hague. Every room is decorated with chandeliers.
The chandeliers are made by Hans van Bentem from Rotterdam, Holland.
This particular chandelier is an enormous rain cloud and can be seen in the box office.

Sculptures in The Hague

I wondered what was so interesting to get the attention of these men. When walking by I saw a lady with a book, showing them pictures or something like that. Apparently it was worth it. 
This photo was made in The Hague, along 'Lange Voorhout' (a beautiful street, surrounded by trees and interesting old buildings) which is decorated with sculptures during summer. This year the sculptures are all from South Africa. Fellow-blogger Biebkriebels has made photos of the sculptures earlier this month, head over if you are interested to see some of the works.

The sculpture in the background (yes, that is a man with a gun in each hand) is made by David Brown and is part of 11 sculptures with the name 'Eleven Deadly Sinners', a series of bronze statues that represent political wrongs.

Fence Friday

As you might know I am in Holland at the moment. The main reason to be in Holland is because my sister gave birth to a son about a month ago. I was very eager to see him in real life. Monday I finally saw him, of course he is the prettiest little boy I have ever seen :-).
Today I'm linking with {Friday Fences} and this time I chose the fence in my sisters garden with the teeny-tiny clothes hanging out to dry in the sun.

{Friday Fences}

Flower Art Friday

Today I'm joining Leanne for {Flower Art Friday}
I spotted these pretty roses today, outside a small bakery in my hometown Zoetermeer, in the Netherlands.

pretty in pink

SunCircle

Yesterday evening I photographed this hot air balloon. I am in the Netherlands at the moment and my parents' neighbors called us and said to look up, there it was, a hot air balloon. Have you even been in one? I haven't, but the view from above must be great!
I love how the sun is shining on the balloon on the left side. And that flame sure is impressive!

Cool

I went through my archives, in search of a 'cool' photo, to celebrate the cool-ish weather we are having at the moment. 
This photo was made February 14, this year. I remember it was cold, especially near the river, the wind made it feel even more chilly.

Statue of Liberty, seen from Battery Park

Have a wonderful weekend!

Skywatch Friday

I made both photos yesterday, with my phone, as it was too hot again to drag my camera around. 

I think they are a good fit for {Skywatch Friday}

Birds on a wire at Amsterdam Avenue

Empire State Building, seen from Broadway
Judging from the clouds I was sure it was going to rain,
but that didn't happen until after midnight...

Sizzling hot

It is sizzling hot here in New York. I can't stand it. This morning I went to the gym, did some grocery shopping and now I am back inside and I will stay there for the rest of the day. I have a lot of work to do, so I will enjoy myself.


This weekend I came across this fire hydrant. I always wanted to photograph a fire hydrant with the water coming out. Unfortunately there were no kids playing there yet, that would even be more fun for the photo. Ah well....
I don't know how this works in other cities in the US or in other countries. But here in NYC you can go to any firehouse in the summer and ask for a spray cap. You can install this spray cap on any fire hydrant and have a water party in the street. This way water pressure will stay at the right level and not too much water will be wasted. (and according to this website the spray caps also prevents children from being propelled into traffic by the force of the water... I wonder if that ever really happened?)

Mural by Kobra

This mural can be seen at the corner of 25th Street and 10th Avenue in New York  City. I photographed it while standing on the High Line. 

I really like this one, it's so bright and colorful. The Brazilian artist, Eduardo Kobra, painted a mural rendition of Alfred Eisenstaedt's picture of a sailor kissing a surprised woman while celebrating the end of WWII in Times Square.

I'm linking with {Monday Mural}

Mural by Eduardo Kobra

Skyline

Yesterday I went to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A great neighborhood in NYC I love to visit every once in a while. We went there by ferry (East River Ferry). We got on the ferry at East 34th Street, paid $4 and departed on the other side of the river at South Williamsburg. The nice thing about the ferry is that you get to see the beautiful bridges and the NYC skyline.


On the right side of the skyline you see One World Trade Center, recently reached it highest point, and will be the tallest skyscraper in the city. (even higher than the Empire State Building)
The bridge in front of all the buildings is the Brooklyn Bridge. And on the left you see the ferry.

I'm linking with {Weekend in Black and White}

Pretty in purple

I'm linking today with Flower Art Friday & Weekend Flowers

Food cart

There are many options for food here in NYC. Not only are there thousands of restaurants, but then there also are numerous food carts. I wouldn't go to all of them, but there are a few in my neighborhood that serve great food! Some people even say that New York street food is the best. 


But oh boy, it must be so hot in these carts during these summer months. And freezing cold in the winter. I hope they make good money!

What would you like to have?

Ten on Ten

Ten photos over ten hours on the 10th of the month.
Here we go:

7 am. I always start with coffee

8 am. Yoghurt, banana & cereal

8.30 am. On my way to the gym
I love the look on that boys face, he wants to have all those balloons!

9 am. Lockers at the gym

10.30 am. This is my "from where I stand"  shot for the day.
 I try to make another one everyday and post it on Instagram & Flickr

11.30 am. Drinking lots of water

1 pm. Have to buy something for lunch, today it's sushi

2 pm. Listening to Kate Bush, I love her music

3 pm. Ssshhtt, don't tell that I did an afternoon nap

4 pm. Writing a postcard to an address in Russia that I requested from Postcrossing.com
If you like postcards as much as I do? Check out my Postcards blog if you want to swap postcards with me

at the High Line

It's Monday again and that means: {Monday Mural}

Mural by JR at the High Line

This mural can be seen from the High Line in New York City at West 29th Street. As  you can see, it's huge. This mural is not painted on the wall, but it made out of printed panels that are pasted against the wall. It took the artist JR and his team two days to put it all up. The mural is part of a project called the Inside Out Project; a collaboration between the artist and people from around the globe. The name of the boy you see is Brandon Many Ribs and he is one of the many faces for the Inside Out Project that are on display here in NYC.
More info on the project and photos of the installation can be found here.

I'm linking to {Monday Murals}

West Village

This is a house on Grove Street in the West Village.

It's so beautiful to me, I could definitely live there!

{Grove Street}

Stifling hot

When I read the weather forecast from our local newschannel this morning it said: 
"Today, stifling hot and humid". It made me laugh because I have never heard such an description. But I guess it's one way to describe this heat we are experiencing in New York City.
Yesterday afternoon we went to Central Park and we did what this couple below also did: bring some food and a blanket and relax a little bit. The guys you see in the background didn't mind the heat, at all, they were playing some sort of ball game. (in my mind they are crazy, I don't understand how they can stand the heat)

{Relax, take it easy}

Waiting for a table

Three weeks ago already I made reservations for a table at the Red Rooster in Harlem for tonight. The Red Rooster was recently voted 'best new neighborhood joint 2012' so I thought "let's eat there sometime". It's the 2nd time here in New York that I had to made reservations for dinner, usually you just go wherever you like and you are seated almost right away. Anyways, that is not the case at the Red Rooster, but since they had great reviews it was worth a shot. Dinner was de-li-cious, they have mostly southern comfort food. (chicken, mashed potatoes, corn bread, that kind of stuff) And they have a great selection of cocktails, of which I had two.

I made the picture below while we were waiting for our table. My attention was drawn to the nice, sturdy bar stools, but when I was framing the photo I added those cute behinds to the photo as well :-)

Working

Unfortunately I don't have airconditioning at home. Most of the time I don't mind, but when temperatures start rising to the high 90's (somewhere around 30ºC and above) it get's too warm inside the apartment. That is kind of ok when you can just hang around and do nothing, but when you have some work to do not so.
Today we (my husband and I) moved ourselves to the 'Atrium at Lincoln Center'. I am not sure if I told about it before, but this is a COOL public space. Everyone is welcome in the Atrium, they have tables and chairs, free internet, restrooms, airconditioning and a little restaurant for a drink and a sandwich. A perfect place for anyone who wants to escape the heat and perfect for us to have a cool space to work.

our workspace for today

Below on the left an overview of the Atrium, it has gotten quite busy today, no empty tables anymore. 
On the right is where you order something to eat or to drink. But it is allowed to sit here without ordering something, I like that.

Miniatures

This weekend I was at the High Line (a park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets of Manhattan's west side). And there I found this little guy. (only 22 inches tall / 55 centimeters) He is part of an exhibition that is called 'Lilliput'. "The exhibition features miniature sculptures installed in unusual and unexpected places at the High Line - amongst the vegetation and along the pathway- to create an art treasure hunt for visitors". 

This is Carson, made by Japanese artist Tomoaki Suzuki.
The sculpture is carved out of wood

Heat wave

For a heat wave to be official in New York City it has to be at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Central Park (at the weather station) for three consecutive days, well we reached that point today! 


One of the things we like to do when it's so hot is to go sailing on the Hudson RIver. The Classic Harbor Line has two amazingly beautiful sailing ships. Every day from April-October they sail the NYC area. We joined their sunset sail on Saturday evening. It was a bliss, a little escape from the heat. They serve a few rounds of wine, champagne, beer and soda's and make sure you have a great evening.
It was too hot and I didn't feel like dragging my camera around, instead I made photos with my phone. I have a new 'app' on my phone that gives the photos a somewhat old look, can't stop using it (as you will see below)....