Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

Not nearly as 'pretty' a photo as the previous one of a neat snowed-under world of white rooftops and branches, however just as magical and possibly lots (and lots and lots) more interesting than 'just another snow photo'. If windows could talk of snow and nonsense... | Nimavenl Something tells me I'll definitely be doing some more exploring today...

It started snowing last night... And the world looks magical right now! Loving it! Winter Wonderland | Nimavenl If the snow holds for today, more photos to follow soon! Don't think I'll be able to resist this winter wonderland for long!

Een gewapende man drong even voor acht uur vanavond het gebouw van de Nederlandse publieke omroep binnen. Hij wilde zendtijd maar werd binnen een kwartier overmeesterd door de politie. Er zijn een paar minuten film opgenomen en naderhand uitgezonden waarop de man te zien en te horen is; ook de stem van een man die gegijzeld was, was te horen. De naam en profielfoto van de man staan al vermeld op social media, volgens de berichten gaat het om een verwarde jonge man. De komende dagen zullen vast meer duidelijkheid geven - ik ben benieuwd. Twitter Feed  #nosjournaal Ik heb vooral veel vragen over wat er gebeurd is en waarom. Werkt hij of spreekt hij voor anderen - voor een collectief van hackers, wellicht? Had de man hulp bij deze actie? Was hij ingehuurd door of verbonden met een of andere inlichtingendienst? Dat oortje dat hij had, was dat van hem zelf of had hij dat in het gebouw van de NOS opgepakt? Wat verwachtte hij precies te horen? Ik weet niet genoeg van wapens om te...

"Remind yourself that you don't have to do what everyone else is doing." pic.twitter.com/pZRMsitIBb — banksy (@thereaIbanksy) January 28, 2015

I've been playing around with Photoshop a little, working on making normal photos slightly more colourful and bizarre. Winter is beautiful but can often be bleak too which leaves me craving colours and light and cheerful scenes that make me laugh and smile. Backyard Borealis | Nimavenl This photo from three months ago (October 2014) feels perfect for today. I especially love the colourful glow of the water and the on-fire look of the plants in the front of the shot. This image feels a little like a scene from another planet where water glows and the sky is all kinds of strange colours. Let's grab a towel and boldly go... !

Another photo from last Monday when it was crazy misty / foggy and the world looked A-MA-ZING! More photos to follow when I've had time to work on getting the others ready to publish. Misty Monday Magic | Nimavenl

Very much enjoyed the foggy weather today. Couldn't resist a photo walk down to the river and had an absolute blast stomping through the mud. More photos to follow soon! Disappearing Bridge | Nimavenl

In case you read last night's post and are wondering how getting to sleep went... The imaginary little shoulder devil was right. I heard music almost as soon as I'd written the words. The music dulled the voices a little though, so it was more like a blessing in disguise, thankfully. After being unable to sleep last night because the noise from next-door was bugging me, I decided I would try to 'write away' my frustration while listening to some soothing music. It worked, which I'm quite happy about. I usually enjoy being awake in the evening or at night when it's quiet and there are no noises to remind me of how many people live in The Netherlands and how crowded it can feel here. I like city life, people and living in the middle of Europe, however after almost ten years in New Zealand I've grown to appreciate peace and quiet as well. I don't mind having neighbours as most of them are friendly and living in a building full of people makes me f...

Music is playing on my headphones yet the noise behind the music is still bugging me, just a tiny little bit. I can't quite relax, can't get to sleep. My brain keeps thinking "hey, something's up" because I can hear the voices next-door so well. Normally voices heard that clearly are nearby, as in right outside my house. Voices right outside my house means there are people outside my house, people in my garden, people by the door, people who shouldn't be there; strangers who are too close to the house. Hearing noises outside my house signals DANGER danger DANGER and means I need to call the police, need to be sure the doors are locked, need to be sure the windows are closed, need to be ready to scare intruders off, need to be ready to hide, need to... No. Stop. Wait. There is no danger.

"The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace."  ~ Mahatma Gandhi Post by Happinez Magazine .

Some days I wonder if humanity is doomed to fail at being human and humane. Some days I wonder if Europe is gearing up for a do-over of the nineteen-thirties and nineteen-forties. Some days I wonder if our entire world will end in flames and fumes, dust and rubble. Some days I wonder if some trigger-happy madman will nuke the entire world to Kingdom Come. What are we doing to each other? Will we ever stop trying to kill and hurt other human beings? Will we ever learn that true world peace will only happen when we all learn to live together, when we learn to respect our fellow human beings and understand that our way may not be their way?

I've had a list of links to websites of favourite authors up on my blog for some time now. A list of favourite television series as well. Yet what I realised today is that I don't have any links up to websites / pages of artists and photographers whose work I enjoy. Read an article today about monuments in former Yugoslavia and was amazed by the photos - absolutely loved some of the works! Photography is about more than the subject of course, however when the composition of the photo blows one away just as much as (or perhaps just as far as?) the stunning image itself does, you know you've found a winner. I wanted to share my enthusiasm, wanted to tell others how much I enjoyed the photos. Yet writing a simple blog post didn't quite feel like enough. I wanted to link to this photographer's website, to have that link up on my blog for all to see. Not just when reading a particular post, but always, all the time. So, I'm adding a new list to the sidebar on th...

There was a terrorist attack on the office of satirical paper Charlie Hebdo last Wednesday which killed twelve people, the murder of an unarmed policewoman last Thursday and the hostage-taking at a kosher deli resulting in four deaths on Friday. It's been a week of being glued to the television and laptop, a week of checking websites and social media feeds for information, answers and others' opinions about what is going on in our world. Predictably, there are those who loudly scream that Islam is evil or that all Muslims are evil. Please, give me a break. Extremism is what's dangerous, and thinking that your way being superior to another's way allows you to kill them when you disagree about something as insignificant as a satirical drawing. I had never heard of Charlie Hebdo before Wednesday, had never seen a single one of their cartoons. Even though I live in western Europe, even though I started learning French in primary school, even though I've been to Fran...

Two days ago, there was the horrible attack on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Yesterday there were reports of another attack in France and a policewoman killed. Today I'm watching live images of a small village north of Paris on television, I understand I'm watching a possible hostage situation. New reports are now coming in that there's been a shooting, at least one injured, possibly as much as five or six people held hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, likely linked to the other attacks. Two hostage situations going on relatively close to each other in France. The latest reports indicate two hostages at the kosher supermarket may have died already. How many more will be killed today? Will there be another terrorist attack tomorrow and if so, where will it be? How many more lives will be disrupted and torn apart by terror?  "The goal of the attack on the office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was not to frighten newspap...

I don't have the words to condemn attacks against people who express themselves peacefully. Whether one agrees or disagrees with another, to murder them for their opinion means murdering them for who they are. How many more need to die before we realise that violence and terror will not make the world a better place?  "Terrorism Turns My World Upside Down" "Because if you don't stand up for the stuff you don't like,  when they come for the stuff you do like, you've already lost.”  ~ Neil Gaiman

Vanmorgen is er in Parijs door meerdere daders een aanslag gepleegd op de redactie van satirisch weekblad Charlie Hebdo . De daders zijn nog steeds spoorloos. Er zijn meerdere gewonden en minstens twaalf doden. De aanslag is volgens ooggetuigen opgeëist door Al Qaida Jemen; de daders riepen 'Allah Akbar' en gaven aan de aanslag te plegen om de profeet Mohammed te wreken. Het satirisch weekblad publiceert spotprenten, onder andere over de islam. Charlie Hebdo is al vaker door moslimextremisten bedreigd, bijvoorbeeld in 2006, 2011 en 2012. De Volkskrant meldt: "De gedode journalisten zijn tekenaars Cabu, Charb, Tignous en Wolinski en econoom Bernard Maris, zei [openbaar aanklager van Parijs] Molins. Van de drie andere vermoorde journalisten zijn de namen nog niet bekend. De twee agenten zijn Franck D. en Ahmed Merabet. De laatste werd buiten het gebouw gedood. De gedode receptionist is Michel Renaud, de identiteit van de genodigde is niet bekend."   ~ Twaalf doden...

I do love being a geek! :-) Post by Fantasy and Sci-Fi Rock My World .

I'm getting old! My favourite Star Trek show :-) Worth celebrating! MT @DavidLoConto : Twenty-two years ago today, DS9 premiered. Best of the bunch. @reneauberjonois #StarTrek — Marguerite Krause (@markrause) January 3, 2015