Amsterdam Russ

Milt Grayson - Wayfarin' Stranger. At 1:38 the French horn (or whatever instrument it is) player hits one hell of a bum note!

We might be on lockdown, but life goes on. Sowed some carrot seeds 10 days ago, and they've burst into life. We've only a small balcony, but will pot these outside when they've grown. Lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions, french beans, sunflowers, wild flowers and cucumbers next!

Keb Darge in the 80s, although I'm sure I read somewhere years back that he was playing it on a carver (I could be completely mistaken about that last part).

Fantastic night sky shots here - all taken in lockdown conditions and from people's homes and gardens. Well worth a look, and quite inspiring to think what can be achieved with a camera, tripod and a clear sky! Story & images here: https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52120114

Really enjoyed looking at all those soul food restaurant signs - great stuff, and I’m hungry now!

Link here... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/C-O-D-S-CODS-SHES-FIRE-ON-KELLMAC-NORTHERN-45-HEAR/362957648350

My pleasure entirely.

Another photography competition - this one the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2020. Some excellent shots to be seen here, and while also very good, I can't say I'm a huge lover of drone photography. To me that's just a case of launching and flying your craft and taking some aerial pics hoping they'll come out nice. But each to their own. Photo credit: TTL/Florian Ladoux. Link to story: https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52007548

Looks interesting. I use GoSkyWatch on my iPhone and iPad, and on my iMac I use Stellarium, which you can access free online and via a download. The great thing about Stellarium is that you can view the stars from anywhere on Earth, and travel backwards and forwards in time to see how the night sky looked/looks. https://stellarium-web.org

A couple of shots taken on the balcony this evening with my aged iPhone... Our balcony rosemary in full bloom, which it has been for about five months solid now thanks to the mild winter. Marvellous! Evening sky. A very unusual shot, and a most welcome sight. We live very close to Schiphol airport and normally the sky would be dotted with aircraft and criss-crossed their vapour trails. But the current restrictions on flights has given us a rare opportunity to see the sky without them (although there is just one visible in the top right corner). More skies like this, please!

Passing through - that's what I said. 😉 I've had a look online to see if I can find a Dutch site that records the dates when summer visitors have first been spotted, but can't find anything for this year. Will continue to look to the skies...

We have water around us (a small channel of water runs along side us and there's a canal out the front), but these don't offer the banks that sand martins need for building their nests. Rather, being man-made channels, they're sided by metal sheets or brick walls. And as said, I've never yet seen a sand martin from the vista offered by front or rear balcony (or indeed the side windows. According to the information offered by a main birdwatching site here in NL, house martins can be found here from late March. However, as I wasn't able to identify whatever it was that I saw earlier, I can't say what it was beyond being one of the summer migrants. We're got fine weather ahead for the next week or so, which will - I hope - mean balcony time. If so, I might get a clear sighting.

Perhaps a sand martin passing through, although I’ve never seen one in the skies of Aalsmeer - well, our part of it, anyway. Doing OK here, thanks, although bars, restaurants, etc, have been shut for a week. The same with events. And on taking a short walk to one of our local supermarkets, earlier today, we saw that a good number of shops were shut. There are five cases of the virus in our small borough of about 31,000 people, 3,631 infected nationally, and 136 deaths so far with more certain to come. ☹️

Just this minute seen a solitary summer visitor - a house martin or a swallow. Unfortunately it was a bit too far away to identify and was flying off into the distance. Will keep my eye out for more.

I've used wood glue many a time to clean records - and with great results. I've also flatten out a badly warped 45 using an iron and that worked too.

It was indeed yet another superb show, and extra special with Taco’s great selections!

Just so you're aware, there is no demo of "Mean it baby". It's issue only and the demo of Loma 2086 has the flip "You don't know nothing about love" on both sides.

Northern Soul Connections #21- Latest Issue from Ken B Northern Connections #21 Alphonso Hamilton, Captain Soul, Teri Thornton, The Black Masons ... Northern Soul Connections #21- Latest Issue from Ken B View full article

Top-end photography requires top-end equipment, I guess, and if I had the money to buy such stuff – as well as the means to be in some of these locations (for more that the usual two-week summer vacation) – I'd jump at it. I also guess that most if not all of the winning photographers are professionals. Investing in the tools of the trade clearly pays off, which is why, with my bottom-of-the-market Nikon D3200, an entry level GoPro, and an iPhone 5, I've no chance of giving up my day job! 🤣

Another photo competition to check out, and this one's definitely well worth looking at. It's the Underwater Photographer of the Year and all of the winning entries are stunning. Can't say I ever get shots like these with my underwater GoPro! Photo courtesy of BBC News website. Link to story & winning pics here: https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-51633570

If the story is correct, and the records and equipment were taken from the house of someone who's recently passed away, then it's not Dave.

In the news a couple of days ago - although the story is somewhat short on actual details - a burglary in Skegness in which a record collection and DJ equipment were stolen from someone's house. https://lincolnshirereporter.co.uk/2020/02/burglars-steal-vinyl-collection-and-dj-set-in-skegness/ One of the few facts available from the sketchy story is that four or five people were involved and shifted the records and equipment over multiple trips. Clearly a targeted and planned crime, and no doubt timed to happen when the DJ/collector wasn't home, perhaps suggesting the possibility of it being organised by a person or persons who know the victim and their movements. <Added> I've just been reading a post on Facebook about this - on the page of the Lincolnshire Police. According to one person who commented, the stolen goods were "Technics decks loads of Northern soul and dance music..." But it gets worse as apparently the stuff was stolen from the house of someone who had died just a few days prior! The Facebook story is here:

Another Friday afternoon trip to the pancake house in the Amsterdam woods... As well as the usual great and blue tits as photographed last week, this time we were treated to a female great spotted woodpecker feeding at one of the bird tables. I tried to sneak up to get a better pic, but the bird was extremely skittish. And even though I cautiously approach with the trunk of a tree directly between me and the bird, thus obscuring me from the woodpecker, it sensed I was there and flew away before I'd taken more than a couple of steps. Colt's foot flowering by the water's edge. While a very common wild flower, I took the pic because it sat so brightly and proudly against the background of the dark and murky water. Weather conditions were also somewhat 'murky', which meant using the widest aperture possible (f5.6) in lieu of a tripod and a preferred setting of perhaps f11 - hence the lack of a decent depth of field and better sharpness. Still, it's all good practice and a bit of fun into the bargain.

A few shots taken at one of our favourite places to go - even in February - the Boerderij Meerzicht (aka Lakeview Farm, or as we call it, the pancake house).A