Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

For this week's Photo Challenge I will be focusing on Trees. I like taking photos of nature and the natural world, flowers and trees , however (with regards to trees,) I tend to focus on branches as I still struggle a little when it comes to taking photos of entire trees that I actually like and want to share. After taking two (very similar!) photos of a tree that I actually liked (gasp!) and wanted to share with others, I decided that Trees would make a good Photo Challenge topic! When I started thinking about doing weekly Photo Challenges, one of the reasons was that I wanted to become a better photographer by challenging myself. As 'trees' is certainly a topic I want to work on, Trees it is! Here are the first two photos (of the same tree) - the ones I actually liked enough to want to share! More to follow soon! Trees #1a Trees #1b Update: I have no idea how, but I managed to hurt my ankle this weekend which made walking all over town to take photos...

I've been spending a lot of time writing, lately. For my blog, not so much. For my story - a ridiculous amount. It's not a story I want to publish, however it is a story I want to write. Because I like the story and because I want to get to know this world I'm developing in my imagination. For years, different story-related ideas have been going through my head - the look of a dress or garment, the view from a certain location, the interior of a room, the way words sound in a to-be-discovered language. They're all snapshots from a world I'm trying to create and 'seeing' them (in my imagination) can sometimes feel as if Real Life is a dream and Storyworld is reality, leaking through into Dream Country. What I want is to create an entire world with its own countries, continents, weather patterns, customs, habits, religions, languages, building styles... I want to create a detailed world where everything is different from our world yet still familiar and hu...

I posted a new photo to my Facebook Page. Love autumn and autumn colours - The colours make me happy! :-) Post by Nimavenl .

Ladybug on a Leaf by Nimavenl Photography The world is changing once more as it does every year. Green leaves are slowly starting to turn yellow, orange, red and brown. The flowers, sunshine and blue skies of summer give way to the grey skies and golden colours of autumn. Not long now before we turn the heating back on and get our winter coats out from storage. Yellow Sprig by Nimavenl Photography I love the cold purity of winter snow, the new beginnings of spring and the warm weather of summer. However what I love even more are the amazing colours of autumn and the way the world seems to farewell summer and the warm weather in slow stages of colourful changes. If only winter didn't follow autumn, it would be my favourite season! ;-)

Ice on a Table | Nimavenl Today is the second day of November which makes yesterday the first day of November. Yesterday was also the first time this autumn that it hailed. When it starts hailing it means it's cold enough outside to get my coat, gloves, beanie and scarf out. It means summer is gone, autumn is ON and winter really is on its way. Do I make a bad Game of Thrones joke now and add that yesterday's hail definitely shows that Winter is Coming ? Maybe not... Winter in The Netherlands is nowhere near as cold as in other parts of the world, however we do often get snow and ice. Not enough of it that we're snowed in or forced to stay home -- or able to hold the Elfstedentocht , most years -- however definitely enough to turn roads into slippery slides. Hail | Nimavenl Biking isn't always smart in winter, which means I get to look forward to the warmth of public transport and crunching through the snow on foot, enjoying the winter weather with my came...

Autumn is here! As the seasons change, the natural world changes with them. Leaves change colours and start falling off trees. The wind busily blows everything around. It rains almost daily and there's a definite chill in the air. Autumn is here and it is amazingly beautiful once again! Autumn is by far my favourite time of year as far as photography goes. The wind, the rain and the changing colours provide an amazing array of interesting subjects to photograph, each tree or dark cloud more beautiful than the next. As fond as I am of the amazing variety of photography subjects autumn provides, I really don't like having to go places in autumn. While the half hour daily bike ride to work is relaxing and fun in summer, it has become a real struggle these past few weeks. I've stopped brushing my hair in the morning simply because it's a messy disaster by the time I get to work. No matter how tight the knot I tie it in, the wind always seems to catch some strands ...