Amsterdam Russ

Congratulations indeed, Steve!

Watch out for them there hedgehogs. They can be very mischievous!

Went to see the Heironymous Bosch exhibition at the Noordbrabants Museum in 's Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) yesterday. Our entry time to see the exhibition, which marks the artist's 500th anniversary in the city of his birth, wasn't until 8pm, so we had plenty of time to stroll around the streets, visit the cathedral, and a bit later, go and get some dinner. All wonderful to see, and a very enjoyable day, but can't say I like the scrummage associated with visiting a museum these days. It sort of makes it more like a freak show. Anyway, a few pics taken in the cathedral using my iPhone, including yet another panorama, which shows the interior from one end to the other.

Had to check to see if they were edible or not. Seems they are, although seeing one being prepared hardly adds to the potential delight of having one on your dinner plate!

Sea cucumber? Wouldn't want one in my Pimms!

Black winged stilts, pochards, flamingos & a heron if I'm not mistaken...

And another, more regular-shaped photo. This being of my 'better half'. And no, she wasn't trying to run me over. At least I don't think she was!

First swallow of the summer spotted yesterday afternoon when we were having lunch on a lakeside terrace just around the corner from us. Really pleased about that as it means summer's coming. Coincidentally, I thought I might have spotted an osprey from the comfort of our lakeside lunch spot yesterday. However, it was too far away to be sure. It's been a gloriously sunny day today with temperatures in the low 20s. Bring it on! We took a cycle ride into the Amsterdam woods and specifically went to see the cherry blossom. Lots of other people had the same idea, so it was really busy there. Not so in other parts of the woods, though, which is much preferred. A few pics from our afternoon out here and taken using the 'panorama' function on my iPhone, which has a high novelty factor for me at the moment as I've only just discovered it!

Lovely to see a bit of colour where we live. Spring is well and truly here.

^^^ Already mentioned The Franciscans in the 3rd post. Or like the waves, did that one wash over you? ??

Walk to the bottom of the sea - The Franciscans Lighthouse - Ocie Smith In fact, I'm sure both tracks use exactly the same sea/seagull sound effects!

Nice performance...

They say that our jobs will be replaced by robots. I'm going the other way and taking over theirs. They'll never know what hit 'em and they'll never know it's me!

Nope, but there's a hotel nearby and we're very close to Schiphol!

You wouldn't be wrong. Lots of big pike in the waterways around us. Have a look here. They're all local pics... http://www.schweglerbotenverhuur.nl/vangsten%20op%20locatie%202006.htm

Took a midweek afternoon trip to a nearby pancake house/cafe on what was a lovely, sunny spring day (bit of a nippy breeze though). It's a favourite haunt in the Amsterdam woods and we stopped long enough to catch the sun setting over Schiphol airport. The pancake house has a number of deer there with the males showing definite signs of spring fever!

Sorry to say there's not a night on during those dates. Not that I'm aware of anyway.

Thanks!

It seemed so obvious I was surprised no one had mentioned it already - and that made me doubt my eyes.

CD4 (Northern Soul Collector 2) - the guy in the middle is Bobby Freeman. https://www.discogs.com/artist/372977-Bobby-Freeman CD11 (Northern Soul) - the woman on the bottom (standing to the right of the group) looks remarkably like Eartha Kitt!

Nah, in my book rare groove is a scene, not a genre. That said, so much music defies being labelled – usually when it's infused with different styles and cultural flavours, which is exactly the case with Jon Lucien's stuff.

And now back to jazz… Fontella Bass and her husband's (Lester Bowie) jazz group, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, performing Theme de Yoyo.

This one always springs to mind, although there are a couple of very clean sounding copies on YouTube. This one, posted up by John Manship, has the hiss common to most copies, which I've always presumed was down to a pressing fault.

That's a good way of describing it.

^^^ IMHO, I wouldn't call that "jazz" in the slightest. It's a great fusion of styles that includes elements of jazz, but it's not jazz. Far from it in my book. And I say that as someone who likes Jon Lucien very much.