Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

Source : Doctor Who Christmas Cards at the BBC website  Awesome picture !!!!! I love the works of Vincent van Gogh and being both a Doctor Who fan and  a Vincent fan, I absolutely loved the Vincent and the Doctor episode (season 5) where Amy and the Doctor paid a visit to Provence to help Vincent fight an alien creature. Simply had to share this picture... Will have to remember where exactly I found it and link to it!

Source: Google

Having already posted a few shots on my blog, I guess saying I take photos of nature and animals is obvious. The only photos I've made so far this month are all at a friend's place - mostly kids playing and pets, which means these are personal photos and not ones I wish to share online. Some photo I would like to share are these: The photo was taken at Vogelpark Avifauna , a bird park in Alphen aan den Rijn here in The Netherlands in August last year. This amazing animal walked right onto the terrace we were sitting at, and while I have to admit I was a bit freaked out - really, how often does the wildlife walk to the table! - it was also amazing to see so many birds up close. Another photo I'd like to share is one I took in my home town. I love being near the water, and have lived near the sea for most of my life. My home town is sadly not near the sea, however it does have lots of water, which means lots of opportunities for photos! This photo was taken in July ...

Unbelievable. As most Dutch people today were enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather, a gunman went on a rampage in a crowded shopping mall and killed several people before shooting himself. At work today, I got a text message about what had happened from a friend who wanted to know if I was okay. We headed straight to one of the computers in our break room to find out what was going on. And were totally shocked. Violence is definitely not unknown in The Netherlands. We're an outspoken bunch and tend to speak before we think our words through. We argue, we fight, we scuffle, however we aren't very prone to simply killing in cold blood. There is also a lot of tension between Dutch people and immigrants, however mostly that's contained to gossip, nasty comments and people simply refusing to take the time to learn to understand each other. Violence like this - a gunman on a rampage - is something I hear about happening in the US, Iraq or Afghanistan; not this close ...

Reading "River Marked", the sixth book in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, I came across ley lines. There were several scenes set at the Stonhenge replica by Maryhill in Washington State, which got me thinking about the original Stonehenge, and books I'd read set in the British Isles by authors like Marion Zimmer Bradley, Diana Gabaldon and Manda Scott. Living in Europe now, I could actually take a mini-break and go visit some of the places described in the books I've read. Places like Tintagel, Stonehenge, and for instance locations from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I'm trying to come up with a list of places that I'd really really really like to go to. So far, the list is still a *very* long one and mostly still in the "what if" stage, but still...! Just knowing I can hop on a train or an airplane and see these places, or other amazing places like Berlin and Rome and Paris... It's a pretty wonderful feeling! I've g...

One really cool and unexpected "side effect" of reading Patricia Briggs ' Mercy Thompson books is learning lots of new and interesting things. One of the things I'm learning about is Washington State. I'm currently reading the sixth book in the series, River Marked, and wanted to get a better idea of the area Mercy and Adam went to. Now sure I could take the "short-cut" way of learning more and get my information from the Forum on the website , however doing a Google search tends to come up with lots of interesting info as well. I knew the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer were set somewhere in the US. I'd looked Forks up on a map once, just to get a general idea of what it looked like. What I didn't know was where it was in relation to other places. Such as Canada, state lines, and such. Reading Mercy Thompson meant doing more research into Washington State, and this book, being set mostly away from the Tri-Cities, meant checking out more ma...

I've been reading the first few books in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs these past few days. Some of the things talked about like vampires, werewolves and fae I have a pretty good understanding of through folk tales, fiction books, movies and TV series. Other things, I'm learning lots about! Some of the things I'm learning about are now also things I've Googled. What does a coyote look like exactly, or a VW Rabbit, and oh yeah - how about a map of the area the stories are set in?! As I'm looking these things up, I figured why not store the links / photos / descriptions in one easy place. And where better to store something than here, my very own blog! Coyote  First, of course there's Mercy. She's a walker. Something I've never heard of before. Patricia Briggs' website links to a forum (which I just discovered about 10 minutes ago... Oh Bliss !!!) that has a page with lots of info on walkers . Basically - she can shapeshift/...

I´ve just finished reading Twilight´s Dawn , the latest book in Anne Bishop´s Black Jewels series. I was hesitant about reading the book, and especially hesitant about the last story in it, as I knew what it would hold before going into it. However I did not expect to be so captivated and so moved by it. By the whole book, actually. I´ve been a fan of these books for over a decade now (my, how time flies!), and have looked forward to each and every new book that comes out. I read the books as hard copy at least twice a year and listen to the books on my iPod. They make me smile and laugh and grin and cry and think about life and the wonderful world we live in - both the real word around us and the various fantasy worlds created in stories. And this book, while I hoped I would love it, I wasn't completely sure about before starting it.

Happened to visit The Voyager Blog today as I wanted to read a post by Anne Bishop about the world of the Black Jewels post-Twilight's Dawn . I love all of Anne Bishop's books and characters, however have to admit to a real fondness for Surreal and Marian. Jaenelle too is an amazing character, and Lucivar's ways of shoving life into submission are second to none. Well, perhaps Daemonar's when he grows up... Having read the post by Anne Bishop, I had a look around the blog and came across a few stories about books by Traci Harding . Traci is one of my all-time favourite story-tellers and Tory, the heroine from her The Ancient Future series is someone who has really helped shape who I am today. I used to re-read Traci's books every few months (now it's more like every year or so), and would be inspired by Tory time and time again. She's courageous and bold, smart and sassy, knows her way around ancient languages as well as a fighting arena, looks goo...

Just logged on to Twitter, saw Jerusalem was (is) a trending topic. Decided to head straight to Ha'aretz to find the headline story to be: Bomb explodes in central Jerusalem. As tears flooded my eyes reading the article, I just wondered one thing. WHY??? Why do humans feel the need to kill and maim each other to get their point across? Why does violence seem to be the answer and the solution instead of the problem ? Why??? Bomb explodes in central Jerusalem Bomaanslag bij busstation Jeruzalem

Browsing Facebook for anything fun, new and interesting, a post from the Doctor Who Facebook page popped out at me. Following the link, I came to a Radio Times article on Matt Smith doing a movie. Cool for sure and kudos to him, but gimme more Doctor Who news already!!!!! I'm always happy to find a new website with interesting articles and pictures, and The Radio Times did not disappoint. First article that grabbed my attention --> Doctor Who's Karen Gillan on being 'too sexy' Apparently Amy Pond's short skirts are too short, according to some. Seriously???!!! As the actress says herself in the article, "It's what any girl on the street is wearing." And that's exactly right. Take a look around at the local mall or any place teens hang out and short skirts are pretty much everywhere. Stop moaning about Amy's clothes already and start worrying about those cracks in the universe, I say! Personally I find Amy Pond herself a lot more in...

I haven't spent much time in front of my computer since Friday. Instead, I've been spending time in front of my TV watching the news and the updates on the situation in Japan. It's unbelievable. Just completely unbelievable. Not only do the people of Japan have to deal with the aftermath of an extremely strong earthquake, there's also a tsunami, and to top it off fears for a possible nuclear disaster. I'm no stranger to earthquakes, however I'm used to 3, 4, and 5-point quakes on the Richter scale. A quake as huge, as enormous as the one in Japan, with as many aftershocks as there have been, that quite frankly scares the crap out of me. The feeling you get when the ground you stand on starts rumbling and shaking, that feeling of utter insignificance and smallness, that feeling is incredibly humbling. It is also incredibly scary. My first big earthquake was a life-changing experience. It really made me realise (even more than before) how small and insi...

Saw a falling star last night around 9pm. At first wondered if maybe it was an airplane crashing or something, coz it was so bright. Checked the local stations and no reports of crashes, so I'm glad I made a wish! Checked Twitter and am not the only one who saw it... Now just wonder how/where it 'landed'. Gisteravond rond negenen een vallende ster gezien. Dacht eerst dat het een neerstortend vliegtuig was ofzo, omdat het zo fel was en zo dichtbij leek. Heb vaker vallende sterren gezien, maar nooit zo dicht bij! Ziehier nieuws berichtje van RTV Noordoost-Friesland: zondag 20 februari 2011 DOKKUM - Verschillende mensen hebben zondag omstreeks 21.00 uur een vallende ster in de buurt van Dokkum gezien. De nieuwsredactie van RTV NOF kreeg diverse meldingen binnen van het gebeuren. Er werd melding gemaakt van een heldere meteoor, die boven Nederland te zien zou zijn. De vallende ster verscheen om ongeveer 21.05 uur en duurde een seconde of vijf. Er was een nalichtend s...

What's the deal with people who follow you on Twitter and then unfollow you almost straight away? I'll get an email that such and such has subscribed to my Twitter feed, that they are interested in what I've got to say, in what I'm doing or thinking about, in the photos I share... Yet I click on the link to their profile in the email and where it should say "Follows You", it doesn't say that. Which means people followed my account only to unfollow me again almost straight away. Leaves me to wonder: Why do that? I'm not a celebrity or a famous author or a politician or a well-known journalist or anything of the sort. I'm opinionated and straightforward and not afraid to speak up, however that's not unique to me. I speak two languages, call two countries home, enjoy being a citizen of the world, enjoy knowing what it's like to have lived elsewhere, to have experienced life in different countries. Also not unique. I am interested in the wo...