Apr 8
Late March was unseasonably cold in the low countries – chilly temperatures, biting winds and cloudy days. The only redeeming thing about cold weather is lovely snow. We got a dusting overnight in Bruges which made the Medieval brick houses and empty cobbled streets really stand out. I gladly put on an extra sweater and enjoyed a peaceful morning stroll through town!
The end of March in Europe this year didn’t quite feel like Spring, even though all the flowers of the Netherlands were trying to bloom! On my way into the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam to see the condensed and temporarily relocated highlights of the Van Gogh Museum (I’ll take what I can get), it started snowing. As I rushed inside, I noticed that the courtyard was filled with lovely purple crocuses. For their sake, the snow was luckily not sticking.
So in honor of this week’s #FriFotos theme “Blooms”, here are those early flowers doing their best to kick-off Spring!
I live in an urban neighborhood but have noticed a few red-tailed hawks around, either gliding gracefully spying prey or perched watching pedestrians. These birds of prey can be found throughout North America. Audubon depicted this animal as strong and aggressive showing two fighting over a freshly killed rabbit.
Apparently these birds have always been aggressive. John James Audubon, “Red tailed Hawk” from Birds of American
Walking around this weekend to admire the snow, I saw one of the neighborhood hawks catch and eat a pigeon! It was an unexpected but beautiful example of nature in an otherwise urban area. I watched the hawk for some time and found that Audubon didn’t come close to capturing the subtle coloring or fluffy under-feathers of this gorgeous bird.
As the East Coast prepares for a very cool spell this weekend, I thought I’d dig up some bright and joyous winter pictures. “The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005” by Christo and Jeanne-Claude was erected in Central Park for two weeks in February 2005. Given my love of contemporary art and temporary installations, it was a given that I would make an art pilgrimage* to see The Gates in real life. And it was so worth it! The dramatic orange structures really popped against the frosty ground, bare trees and grey city. The heavy canvas flags whipped and snapped in the wind but from a distance appeared to floated and swung peacefully as they wound down the park trails. Read more
Daydream Tourist 