Category: Cats

Back From Belgium. Gone To The Dogs!

Timothy Price40 Comments

It was raining in Geel this morning

You can’t have my cake or eat it either, Niki!

You can’t eat the Eurasian Magpie, either…

Or the Eurasian Collared-Dove…

Or the Eurasian Jackdaw..

Or the cute Common Chaffinch!

“What? Are you just going to let me starve?”

Herman took me to aother old church this morning.

There were several of these locked, grated grottoes around the outside of the church with lighted votive candles inside them.

A man driving a small utility truck filled with lighted votive candles in the back stopped and said hi to us and explained to Hermin in Flemish that his job was to keep the candles lit. He had done it for ten years and loved the job.

Nike was watching for us to return from his bed in the garage.

I got back in the late after noon, and returned the rental car. Then we went straight from Enterprise car rental to Trivia at the Irish Pub. There were a couple of Golden Retrievers that came to Trivia Night. The white one really like me, and I had to pet it most of the time. It would put it’s head in my lap when I stopped petting it.

Tristan snuck a picture of me petting the dog. We are not supposed to use phones while a trivia round is in play.

Germany To Belgium In A Spanish Car

Timothy Price48 Comments

Hi all! I’m Niki.

I drove from Germany to Belgium this morning to meet Herman and Niki. Herman and I have been following each other since 2013. You can find Herman’s blog at https://hopedog.wordpress.com. Laurie and I were planning on meeting Herman and Bowie in 2020 when we were scheduled to go to Antwerp to give papers at an international linguistics conference, but the conference was cancelled because of COVID. Six years, two cats later (Jimi was in between Mr. Bowie and Niki), I finally met Herman and lovely Niki. Herman is a wonderful and gracious host. We spent the afternoon visiting two abbies, both built in the early 12th centuries, and then we happened upon the War Cemetery (WWII) on the way home. Herman said he’d lived in Geel all his life and had never been to the War Cemetery. Most of the soldiers buried there were in their teens and 20s when they were killed in battle.

Dawn in Germany

Niki is very friendly and inquisitive

Espresso and the best cake in Belgium by popular vote. It was wonderful.

Niki liked il paparazzo’s hair.

Gate the the first abby we visited

The church has a painting of The Last Supper started by Leonardo da Vinci and finished by his students.

A Eurasian Moorhen in the moat around the abbey

The Last Supper

While we were in this building that has a reproduction of The Last Supper at eye level, a couple of women were counting the hands of all the people in the painting and couldn’t get a match. There are 13 people (Christ and 12 disciples) in The Last Supper, but the women were only coming up with 22 hands instead of 26. We all got involved in counting hands, and we were all coming up with different numbers. Then I asked about the feet, but the women were heading to the church.

Display that names Christ and the disciples, and the button turns lights on to illuminate the painting.

White pigeon

The new bridge over the canal that Herman’s great-grandfather helped dig around 1901.

Buildings that are part of the second abby we visited.

The old pipe organ

The new pipe organ with a rearview mirror. Hmmm. What might the organist need a rearview mirror for?

A modern monk

Herman treated me to a tradritional Blegium Fries lunch. It was great.

After we returned from visiting abbies and the war cemetery, Niki was more curious about camera.

I checked into the Corbie Hotel in Geel. I will have this lovely lady watching over me tonight.

Anime

Timothy Price25 Comments

Dawn

Koi in the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern

Not coy

Amine in the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern

“I’m being coy. Can I have a Koi?”

Common Shelduck

Bar-Headed Geese

Eurasian Moorhen

Last night

The Archer

The underside of a Eurasian Green Woodpecker

“The Woodpecker is way out of my reach!”

Eurasian Blackbird

Portraits of famous dogs in an Italian restaurant in Landstuhl

“Famous dawgs in Landstuhl? Not cool! Fool!”

Moon made an appearance between rain showers this evening.

Böser Osterhase Osterfest

Timothy Price23 Comments

We went to Sankt Wendel for the Bad Easter Bunny Easter Fesival this morning. The streets were full of people acting like bumper cars in a demolition derby. I’ve been in much denser crowds in Mardrid, Paris and Rome, and people did not bump into each other like they were at the Böser Osterhase Osterfest today. You would think Früling would bring out the best in people.

Atlas: “Oh nein! Nicht ein böser Osterhase!”

Sunrise

Common Chiffchaff

I saw Squirrel Nutkin on our walk this morning.

Eurasian Blue Tit

Carion! My wayward Crow. Where hast you been, and where dost you go?

Red kite

The sign claims the St. Wendeler Easter Festival is the most beautiful spring festival. It brings out a bumber crop of people.

A Red Kite was looking to make a meal of the Böser Osterhase.

Carion the wayward Crow fallowed us to Sankt Wendel.

Carion Crow clocking in.

Plank roasted salmon seems to be a staple at festivals

The Basilica of St. Wendelin

I missed the mice in at the alter of the church, but, fortunately, Tristan got them.

She also noticed a fishy doorknob.

WWI memorial

Stations of the Cross

The City Council building seems appropriately named.

It’s safe to look now, Atlas!

Fungus Amongus!

Timothy Price42 Comments

Freyja and I went on a long walk in the forest this morning.

There was lots of fungus among us. I believe these are called polypores.

There are so many trails, it can drive you nuts!

I could hear birds chirping, woodpeckers pecking, and what sounded like an owl, but I couldn’t find a single bird in the forest full of trees.

Our walk

Freyja was worn out

Atlas was putting on the cute, again

We went to an Irish pub own by a fellow from Romania for St. Patrick’s Day dinner.

Speaking of fungus amongus, the band played “Proud Mary” and “La Bamba” as part of their moldy oldies repertoire.

Paddy on bass. Herr Elton John on drums. Herr Traditionell spielen, singen und auf der Gretsch richtig Gas geben.

What was funny about the band is that it brought back memories of when I played in garage bands in the mid to late 70s. Way back then, we had to know three songs to play in clubs, for weddings, and special events: “Proud Mary”, “Brown-Eyed Girl”, and “La Bamba”. We didn’t stick around long enough to see if they played “Brown-Eyed Girl”.

The menu included Irish stew

Roast in wine sauce and mashed potatoes or

Shepherd’s Pie or Lamb Shank

and Apple Pie

Bis morgen! Tschüss!

Cathedral @ Trier & More

Timothy Price39 Comments

The snowpack on the Rocky Mountains is sparse.

If it weren’t for the clouds, I might have seen Dundee, Scotland. The map on the plane said Dundee was below us at that point.

The mainland. I believe we were starting to fly over the Netherlands.

Restaurant at the castle in Landstuhl

The neighbor’s chickens

Atlas

A tat of a cat named Atlas

The Cutest Chapel

Timothy Price38 Comments

Tristan Pointed out this really cute chapel…

…looking over Landstuhl from the Schlossruine Nanstein Castle

Landstuhl

Atlas thinks the chapel is cool, also!

Knight in the pavers

Fountain with a Camino de Santiago symbol

The oldest houses in Landstuhl are from around the 16th century.

Atlas wants to hire the maid on the van.

On to Ehemalige Festung Homburg

Homburg

With castle ruins comes more tunnels and stairs

A scratching of the 250-million-year-old ichthyosaur remains they found in the limestone in 1968.

The sign says it’s dangerous. I had to check it out. When I stepped on the floor and started to sink in the much, I decide the sign was not kidding.

Another danger sign

Where I would have come out if I have ventured past the muck

Atlas eared me that I was a wimp for not going through the dangerous tunnel.

I came across a wheelbarrow on a landing looking for the restroom at an Asian restaurant. I got confused. It could have been from jet lag, the Dragon Fruit drink, or the pole dancing. It’s hard to say.

Atlas giving me an ear up for getting lost trying to find the restroom at an Asian restaurant.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Timothy Price46 Comments

Clouds relfecting in the twilight

Geese @ twilight

Dawn

I’m flying to Germany tomorrow. Spunk helped me pack.

Spunk posing for Laurie

“What do you mean I can’t go?”

Sunset

Beaver

A beaver swam in the shallows, while cranes were taking a break on their way north.

Beaver stopped in front of us to get a snack. He paid no attention to us.

Dusk

The New Dawn

Timothy Price30 Comments

6:00 am is twilight again

The new dawn

Spunk lost his tail for a few days. I finally found it. It had fallen under the steps into the library. He took it to bed for a nap not long after I put it back into his toy box.

A cat 7 was on the bed when Jake and I got back from our morning walk

Spunk protecting my phone