Kees' photos

Yesterday, we had a long drive to a small village near Darmstadt, leaving 10 past 6AM, and returning a quarter past 3PM. And we returned not alone: our companion was a Spanish member of the European Union called Chencho. I’m sorry to say he didn’t trust me, at first. He had been sitting beside my wife in the back of the car, and knew her better, when we arrived, than the driver. But when it comes to scratching an ear, previous reserves are overcome. This is the poor beginning of –hopefully– a long series of Chencho pictures. It hasn’t been long since Robbie died, and I do feel a bit guilty about having “replaced” him so soon. The fact is: Robbie cannot be replaced, and Chencho is no replacement, but a family member in his own right. Another fact: it appeared to be too hard for us to live without a dog.

Robbie isn’t with us anymore. This is one of the last pictures I took of him, on one of our last walks. He still had the same spirit as always, but sadly his heart didn’t play ball.

“So this is Christmas –and what have you done?” – John Lennon OK, this isn’t exactly the most spectacular snow picture I could have taken this year, but when, a week or so later, some 50 cm snow had fallen, we were too busy surviving (note to self: next car should have four-wheel-drive).

“And the light from a street lamp Paints a pattern on my wall” – Paul Simon (& Garfunkel) Yesterday, I had to interrupt dinner for taking this picture. Both bottle and glass (my wife’s, because my wine has a screw cap) are projections on the kitchen wall: the real items are invisible. Perhaps I should have cited Plato, who compared the things around us to projections on the wall of a cave (“reality” consisting in the world of ideas –in which case I’d have had to rephrase the last sentence), but I’d prefer Paul Simon anytime, even if the “street lamp” happens to be the sun. I’ve predicted that Picquoteaday won’t get a pic from me every day. I haven’t said I’d stop altogether...

This is our friend Jake from Boston. Next time, got to ask him who the young lady is.

Some people will do anything to get into the picture.

As photographers, we all own that such a thing as ideal proportions exist; after all, we do our best, either by learning or intuition, to apply the Golden Rule to our pictures, and recognize a good composition. The question I’m asking is: Can we go further? Are there also ideal dimensions? In perimeter, they say, the ideal woman should be 90-60-90 cm (or whatever your wife is). Now how about cars? It’s no secret that, in my view, the sexiest car alive is the Jaguar Mk 2. Also, I’ve confessed that the Lexus IS 250 we presently have the pleasure of driving was bought with nothing in mind but beauty. It’s not a practical car, it doesn’t offer the passengers much space, but we all like it a lot. What do these cars have in common? I just discovered the Jaguar is 459 cm long, and has a wheel base of 273; the Lexus is 458.5 cm long and has a wheel base of, again, 273 cm. That can’t be a coincidence, can it? [ The Jaguar, on the left, is a 1:18 scale model by Model-Icons, the Lexus is by Auto Art; both are VERY nice... ]

Most of the garden is as dead as a chicken (a dead chicken, I mean), but here and there messengers of the nearing Springtime rear their heads...

Though restraining our movements, it is nice to see the lane turned into a flower bed, especially after February had been so hard on these parts of Europe.

At last! Viewed from the other side, and below, the suggestion of flowers being everywhere is more compelling still.

People who take their alcoholism seriously have no alternative: the 1.75 l Megameister bottle is a must... Actually, to me it’s more some kind of a party gag. I had never seen Jägermeister bottles this size, and was pleasantly surprised to be presented with one, but one has to pump like crazy to fill even the smallest glass.

Ask any Lexus driver: one Lexus is not enough. So I bought me a spare one, to get me from one side of my desk to the other. It’s a large scale model (1:18) and very well made: four opening doors, opening hood and trunk lid, and a very nice interior. One question remains: Isn’t this a bit childish? It must be: my wife says so.

Very nice details, and true to life. When, after our test drive, I said to the Lexus salesman that the IS 250 offered all one could ever wish for, he wouldn’t confirm this. No wonder: most of the cars in his showroom were much more expensive...

This old clock isn’t very valuable, but it hung in the living room of my grandfather’s farm, and after my grandparents’ death in my parents’ house. And now it hangs in my room (a bit out of style: right above my guitars). It still works, and does so fairly accurately, ticks and chimes like new. More importantly, it gives me a feeling of continuity I find very gratifying.

It’s no secret: Robbie likes to take something from his walks –a twig, a fir cone –, but I have never before seen him this ambitious... The branch was about three meters long. Robbie tried really hard, but had to give up in the end.

Drama? All we see here is a dachshund smelling something. Something? Let’s call it a cat. A cat in a tree. The real drama is the dachshund not knowing where the smell comes from, and not being able to reach its source if he knew.

The cat’s fine –could easily jump from the tree onto the roof of the shed, and from there to the other side of the fence surrounding our garden. This must be a nice place to sit and watch the birds.

As we were (once again) driving along the dike on our way to my home town I suddenly recognized “our” yacht floating on the river Zaan. It was built for, and after the specifications of, my father-in-law but had to be sold after he died, many years ago. It looks well-serviced. We got out of the car, and exchanged some information with its present owner.