Then and now, Bert and Adrie. Both pictures were made on the exact same spot, 35 years apart, but you cannot stop progress so everything has changed.
7 rabbits
7 young rabbits are playing in our garden. The left their nest about a week ago. All seven are as black as the night, which is strange because their mother is red-brown. Clearly they are having a lot of fun in the garden.
Emotion
Emotions are a very personal subject. Writing emotions down on a piece of paper is even more difficult. Still, it seems that it is possible to use mathematics to calculate the emotional values of written texts. In this context I was asked if would agree to allow two texts from my website to be used in an investigation.
The texts the researcher was interested in were the two texts read on our wedding. One text read by my brother Bert and one read by our friend Miguel. Ana and I were both very moved by the texts so clearly there is a good amount of emotion there. I am very curious as to the results but I will have to be patient because the results will probably take a few months.
Baby rabbits
At my parents place there are always a lot of animals walking around. Thanks to the rabbit the number of animals has just gone up a lot because the rabbit has a nest full of young ones.
Bulbflower Parade
Noordwijkerhout is a little town in the middle of the area where loads of flowers are grown. Normally it is a very quiet town and there is not a lot happening, but today there was something to be seen. The 66th annual Bulbflower Parade passes through town. A lot of cars all decorated with thousands and thousand of flowers.
It was very cold, but very nice to see.
iPhone 4
Big changes are usually followed by smaller changes. The same is true for my phone. I used to be very happy with the most basic phone I could find. Less is more in this area. A simple phone like my old Nokia is easier to use, has less parts that can break down, is cheaper, survives a tumbling and will never be stolen.
Thanks to my brother I have switched sides and I now walk around with a computer in a very fashionable design. An iPhone. Now I have access to wassap, facebook, google, shopping, banking, games, and everything a digital consumer might just want or need. I even typed this post on the iPhone. I was always a bit skeptic but I have changed my mind and plan to embrace the new digital era.
10 days
I have been in Holland since April and it has been quite a busy time. I needed to arrange a lot of things and I quickly started my new job. My first impression of Holland was that is was very very cold. Somehow I did not remember the low temperatures.
I underestimated the effect the distance between myself and Alex and Ana would have. The first few days it was very hard to be so far away. Still, in the end we worked out some kind of rhythm were we speak and see each other every day. This way we both stay up to date regarding our lives. Luckily I also have my family and friends close.
Bigger gun
Before Alex was born I already realized I would have a very big responsibility.
Alex has now passed a year and a half and I realize I underestimated my responsibilities. To compensate I got a bigger gun.
Fathersday
Today is fathersday in Spain. Alex (with a little help from his mother) got me this beautiful picture! Naturally I was very happy with this very nice gift. The photo was taken on the Canteras beach where Alex was just checking out the local scenery.
Color again
There is another 5 euro coin available and this time they minted another small batch of colored coins. The number of colored coins is 1000 and this is a little bit more then the previous set with the colored tulips, which counted 750 sets. Again the entire batch sold out within a day.
The colored set of the Utrecht five euro coin exists out of 6 silver coins where each has a little colored detail. For each country/area that signed the treaty of the Peace in Utrecht there is a colored coins present in the set. For each country the coloring that is used is based on the countries flag or arms from 1713. The countries that participated were France, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Savoy.
Even though these coins are not legal tender this remains a mystery when you review the website of the royal Dutch mint. Clearly they want to sell the colored coins quickly without any hassle. They announced (*) the coins on their website with the specifications stating “Nominal value: 6 x 5 euro”. In the news item announcing the new coins the colored set is mentioned right alongside the rest of the coins. A bit strange because the colored coins are legally viewed worthless and should not be considered legal currency.
The (official) colored coins sold by the royal Dutch mint until now:
Year | Coin | Quantity | Introduction price |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | Vrede van Utrecht color set | 1000 sets 6 silver coins per set Nominal value 5 euros per coin |
€ 275,00 |
2012 | Lucky 10 cents | 15.000 coins Nominal value 10 cents |
€ 4,95 |
2012 | Tulpen vijfje color set | 750 sets 4 silver coins per set Nominal value 5 euros per coin |
€ 200,00 |
(*) Sadly the royal Dutch mint does not preserve the content of their website. As soon as a product is no longer available in their shop all the details related to the product disappear.