A short thought...

Isn't it odd that where ever we go, we see ourselves in others? Maybe we are just all looking for a connection to the rest of the human race. On vacation, where ever we went, someone in our group would pick out the family that had hats or jerseys for our home teams. We would strike up a conversation with them, and find out that they lived a few cities over from us. Here we were, three states away, and finding neighbors. I look for redheads. I think that I've already expressed my thoughts on that, so I won't go into them here, but it's funny how we all look for something. Maybe it's a clothing style, or a type of glasses or a way of walking, but sometimes even without knowing it, we look for people with whom we can identify. Maybe we are looking for a piece of home.

timber-framed beauties

There are many many beautiful timber-framed houses in the area and I actually live in one myself. Reason enough to blog about it.

From the 12th century until the late 19th century timber-framing was the most common way of building in Central Europe. The main support of the building is a (most times) visible frame of timber. The spaces between the timber frames are filled with wooden stakes, straw and clay, in later times also with bricks. Nowadays homeowners of timber framed houses paint the timber in beautiful colors (mainly red, black and brown, but also blue) and put white stucco on the spaces in between the frames.
The different shapes of the timber are references to the epoch the house was build, profession of the former owners and many other things like denomination, etc.

Against harassments like fire, termites and mold, timber-framed homes have many advantages even in our times (e.g. insulation, energy effinciency, newer timber-framed constructions are very resistant to earthquakes,...).

The slideshow shows houses close to my home.

Better Late than Never, Introduction to 4th of July

I'm sure that many of you have heard of Independence Day (otherwise known as "The Fourth of July" or "The Fourth"), but it's not likely that you are familiar with the holiday if you aren't from the states. So this is my little introduction to The Fourth.

Many believe that the fourth of July (1776) was the day that the US began its struggle for freedom from British rule, however the fighting for independence actually began earlier that year. It is also commonly assumed that the Declaration was signed by all of the Continental Congress on that day, but again this is incorrect, as the first published copy had only the signature of John Hancock (President of the Second Continental Congress). The Declaration was signed by all members on August 2nd. Thomas Jefferson thought that July 2nd would be the national holiday because that was the day that he wrote the Declaration of Independence, but it was rafitied on July 4th and for some reason that's the day that stuck with us.

Today the Independence Day is celebrated with picnics, parades and fireworks. Most cities have community events, but some people prefer to mark the occasion with a family gathering, which can result in a trip the the hospital with burns from amature firework displays.

l'atomium

Situated on the northern outskirts of Brussels the beautiful atomium is probably one of the worlds most astonishing buildings.
The building was designed by André Waterkeyn for the EXPO 58. It symbolises a crystallised molecule of iron by the scale of its atoms, magnified 150 thousand million times. The nine large spheres have a diameter of 18 metres and can be visited or even rented for private events. You can move from one sphere to another through tubes on escalators or lifts. The atomium is made entirely of steel clad with aluminium, the structure has a hight of 102 metres. The atomium was not intended to stay in Brussels longer than the EXPO but its popularity and success ensured its place as a major landmark on the Brussels skyline.

Books – African Cultures

Whoever is interested in genuine black African cultures and photographing, I would recommend the following books of Leni Riefenstahl, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. These ladies ventured into the mysterious continent in the last decades and documented the startling cultures. Respect!