July 4, 2012

Happy July 4th


HAPPY JULY 4th!


remembering past vacations and thinking 

of the next one about to begin 

 in your beautiful

country...

Regina

June 28, 2012

Goodbye Curacao (2)


In this post I told about my recent walk through Punda.
At the ferry I saw this man and I couldn't resist taking his picture, I'm sure you know why
Like places of public transport throughout the world, there was so much to see. But crossing the Annabaai does not take that long and I went ashore at Otrabanda, 'the other side' in Papiamentu.

I decides to visit one of the island's galleries that took a five minute walk, but once there it appeared that the gallery was not there anymore. All beauty I saw during my walk made up for this, however...
for I discovered some walls outside a restaurant that had 'poststamps' on it: all my favorites were present: Amsterdam, New York, India and also Spain! These pictures are a wealth for me, as I can and will use them in future digital collages. An unexpected treat!

One of the streets, needless to say I was thrilled...

and then this one!

and this guy, for me this looks like a 'he', but I know almost nothing about them, not even if they have a 'gender'... but I am always impressed by their preshistoric looks

by the time I got back, the bridge had been closed again
and I joined the many pedestrians that went to the Punda side.

Next time Westpunt,

thanks for visiting,
Regina

June 26, 2012

Goodbye Curacao!

It was time to say goodbye to collagues and family at Curacao, so we visited the island where we  have lived as a family some 30 years ago

 
and while DH was handing over business to his colleagues
I had a morning, a whole morning, to take a last stroll through Punda and Otrabanda...

 
... started at the central market, where this fisherman was cleaning his catch. Strange that I did not
feel any blockade to ask his permission for a picture. Maybe the fact that I was not afraid to speak Papiamentu was a bit of a help... anyhow, I was happy with his YES, of course!


shopping was a delight, so was walking through the small alleys
where you have to look up sometimes to discover real jewels...


In the distance is the bridge that crosses the Annabaai, thus connecting big parts of the island
This morning however, I decided to go by ferry, since the pontoon bridge had been opened to allow a ship to get into the harbour

 Close to the ferry station is this building, which houses the ambassy of Venezuela. This South American country is situated 'in front of' Curacao, though probably it is more correct to put it the other way around, but you get the idea!

the ferry just is used for passengers when the pontoon bridge is open, it is free and convenient.

And by leaving Punda by ferry, I conclude part I of my Willemstad, Curacao trip.
Will be back with more soon!

Enjoy your day and as always: thanks for visiting my blog!

June 18, 2012

Never Boring

  to me, never boring is a visit to the French village of Grand Case
On one side there is main street, Grand Case Promenade, with its quaint boutiques and many, many restaurants...

from where you can see this amazing view, the Caribbean Sea this is, oh yes!


nearly all houses in Grand Case were once built  along the beach, but most of these have been turned into restaurants over time


life seems easy here, what more could someone need but a hammock?


and a little terrace for a morning coffee and to watch the sunset at night...

'Don't worry, bout a thing
Cause everything s gonna be alright...'

For now I leave you with these words of the famous Bob Marley song in my mind
Thanks for visiting!


June 15, 2012

Will meet again...


 Today I'm packing stuff again,
like these beads...


collected over decennia, beads from rosary's,
old necklaces given to me by friends, bought
at yardsales...


made into new necklaces and other adornments


one of my passions, so lovely written
in this book: to take up again once we've settled in
Spain...
will meet again!


June 10, 2012

Landing poles

This post is on, what I have come to call, landing poles.

I was looking for inspiration in my digitale archive and saw this picture (the first) again. It is a photograph of the remainder of what once was a lift to take a yacht out of the water.

Our favorite breakfast spot on the island is a French bakery, that has its terrace at the lagoon-waterside. Both sailors from their yachts as well as people living here frequent the place for they sell delicious ' baguettes' and 'croissants' and make a very good cappucino. But I digress... back to the poles!
This one sits in the water and every time I am there, I admire it because of its (to me) artistic beauty. The colour, the rust, the water and reflection... 


And then I remembered the similar pictures I seem to make, wherever I am traveling. Tried to figure out what it is that is speaking to me in these pictures, I really gave it a good thought, for it intrigues me...


old landing poles on the island of St. Eustatius

 
along the Surinam River in Paramaribo


and finally somewhere in Maine last summer.

What inspired me most in these pictures is

contrast

the water

 rhythm

and last not but least the memories I have of all these places!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Regina



June 5, 2012

A few weeks to go



Hi!

It has been a while, too long in fact...

Last night I could not sleep, nothing serious, just too much going on with an upcoming move to Spain, preparations for our last trip to the US, trying to sell the house and more of this. And when I can't sleep, I tend to go phylosophical, which as such is not too bad, in fact I am being phylosophical quite often, but until now have kept that away from blogging; it's about time to open up a bit, I feel!
Anyhow, these quiet hours, when even the crickets are finally silent, the birds are not yet awake and our neighbour dogs also don't see any reason to bark, these quiet hours spark a lot of good ideas!

I was thinking about this blog, about it's future. Already having decided to continue it, also after we have arrived in Spain, I was thinking how I could slightly change it, without losing it's main character. You see, I also want to start a new blog in Dutch, since this is my native language I expect to be able to communicate more freely; my English might be correct, or so people sometimes tell me, but to myself it sounds too formal, I simply lack the everyday common words that I would like to use, that I suppose would express my feelings and ideas better. So, a new blog in Dutch. Have been pondering about a name for it (in former sleepless nights :-) ),  about the difference in contents, what would make this new blog different from Mostly Turquoise. And it seems like I have come to an agreement with myself.

Mostly Turquoise as it is will be continued. I will post all things art/culture related here. As I have written before, there is not much activity in artmaking at present, but I hope to resume that soon.
My new blog will have the name 'Meestal Turquoise', which actually has the same meaning but is Dutch. When I started my present blog four years ago, I was quite overwhelmed how easy it was to launch a blog and I was not prepared for this speed at all, so kind of out of the blue I had to come up with a name: Mostly Turquoise it was.
Now with the newly to launch blog, of course I have the opportunity to go for a completely different name. But I prefer to the present one, cause for me it is a perfect one, it suites me well: it refers to my mood, which is mostly optimistic, not feeling blue. I get a happy feeling from looking at anything turquoise! It has yellow sunshine in it, moreover the Caribbean sea is as turquoise as can be and I can enjoy that everyday here on the island... I expect and remember the Mediterranean to be about the same, mostly, not always. Hence the name!

On my  new blog, Meestal Turquoise, I want to write a little bit more about mundane, everyday subjects, for the time being Caribbean and in the near future about traveling in our motorhome and our move to Spain of course and the settling thereafter. For anyone not speaking Dutch I intend to include a Google translator gadget, maybe not perfect, but I understand it will be good enough to get the idea of what I will have written.

So this is the plan, the new blog will be on air soon.

Back to the picture: it has nothing to do with all the stuff above. However, it is art related, since it depicts a statue I adored when we visited the Nedra Mateucci gallery in Santa Fe in 2009. It was our first 2 month trip to the USA that started in New Mexico. You can read more about it here and here .

As always, thanks for visiting!

Regina
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