Construction work

There is some construction work going on close to campus. I went over there to have a look, earlier this week, and I was completely fascinated by the lines, reflections and symmetry.

See below for yourself.

Poppy

It's poppy time! I see them everywhere in all sorts of colours, even very pale. These lovely poppies I found around campus.

Fish and chips

Last night I went out for dinner with a girlfriend. I went over to her house and then we biked to a square not far from there. We were early, so there were not a lot of people yet, but after a while the sidewalk chairs started to fill up.  We were looking around and it felt like we were in Paris, probably because of the tall trees and the relaxed atmosphere. In fact, it felt like a mini vacation in our own town!

From where I sat there was lots to see, for example the shadow of the iron table and chairs,

the shadow and reflection of the glass of water,

and then of the glass of water (right) and the glass of dry white wine (left). If it wasn't for my friend I would have happily clicked away.

We both ordered the fish and chips for that holiday feeling. Haven't eaten that in years and it tasted excellent. They wrapped it in a real paper, so British!

Shades of red

I am so hooked on sidewalks now! Walks to the Zuidas area yesterday showed me some more fine examples amongst other perceptions. Shades of red were dominant in most pictures with a bit of blue.

Campus sidewalks

As I walked around campus yesterday and last Friday, I got totally hooked on the sidewalks. There was so much so see: different kinds of tiles and asphalt, shadows of signs or lamps, the whites lines and shapes, it made it all very graphic.

The colour Blue

Last weekend my sister stayed over with the 4 kids. That was hectic as I'm not used to having the kids around me for two whole days and an evening.

We tried to do some fun things with them in Amsterdam.

Sorting the pictures out, I found out that I had a lot of perceptions with the colour blue in it.

We walked to the local thrift store where I bought some vintage china for my vintage high tea next week. As we walked I was struck by the awesome colours of the outfits of my sister and one of my nieces. Photographing people you know is so much easier for me than shooting strangers.

Emily likes the little water fountains where citizens can quench their thirst.

During a Friday evening walk through the park we saw the young storks on their nest. The moon was already coming up.

In a cute vintage shop (All the luck in the world) I saw these lovely medicine cabinets.

The girls wanted to see famous people and expensive shops, so on Saturday afternoon we went to the P.C. Hooftstraat. They were excited about the cool clothes, but found it all very expensive and the people snubbish.
Obviously this picture is not about Miksang as we posed for it, but I did have a flash of perception of the reflections and the blue lettering. It was quite disorienting.

The sight of this old Volkswagen brought back old memories. We used to have a white one, long time ago, when I was a kid.

Sunday some more family came over and we all went to the Vondelpark to stay in the shade. There was a smal pool for the little ones and they loved it!

Zuidas

The Zuidas is an new and upcoming business area in South Amsterdam. My university has been situated there since the late 60's and in the past 10 years or so many new skyrises have been built and many corporations have moved to this area.

I was over there during lunch break yesterday to look for a restaurant and I simply fell in love with all the lines, reflections, bits of nature and the people moving in and around the buildings. It was like level 2: making contact, the sky risesness of sky rises.

Examples of June and July 2012

Yoga week

Last week I went to a yoga week at my yoga school in the centre of Amsterdam. Although there was construction work done within the vicinity of the yoga school, it was a very relaxing week with various asanas, pranayamas, meditations and mantras. It made me super relaxed and ready to go to work again today.

Start of Ardha Matsyendrasana

Correction on Parivrrta Janu Sirsana

Aid with headstand on stool

Double headstand with palms up

Half a lotus

Relaxing in fish pose