Issue with WP Google Maps

Issue with WP Google Maps

by Rob on

Sea Bass for dinner

Sea Bass for dinner

by Rob on

Astronomy: When on Lesvos…

Astronomy: When on Lesvos…

by Rob on

The small wonders of Lesvos

The small wonders of Lesvos

by Miranda on

The Weather we soon will see….

The Weather we soon will see….

by Marissa on

Acting on instinct

Acting on instinct

by Rob on

This is a damn good feeling!!!

This is a damn good feeling!!!

by Rob on

A Journey of Memories – Part I

A Journey of Memories – Part I

by Rob on

Okay there was still one rotten index

Okay there was still one rotten index

by Rob on

Weblog is back up again…

Weblog is back up again…

by Rob on

Some time ago I took down my photo-site. Marion always found it a pity that I have done this.
Now she asked me if I would be willing if would make photo-books of the best photo’s I made. And especially if I would update and expand the photo-book “Living as Gods and Goddesses on Lesvos” that I already made some time ago.
I promised Marion that I would do this.

Below the first photo of the Church of Panagia Glykofiloussa, which I made on 25 September 2015 (you can click on the photo to zoom in).

“It is in the village of Petra built on a rock, with114 steps curved on it and which have to be stepped by the pilgrim. The first church possibly hase been built in the year 1609 as the Catholic of a women’s Monastery. The architectural style of the church belongs to the Genuate period and this is proved by the existence of a blazon of Gateluses that was curved on a slab of the garden’s cobble paved floor. Inside the church there are wonderful and rare Byzantine icons and an artistic Metropolitan throne. The extremely fortificated site of the church give to the observer the impression that it was probably built during the pirates’ in cursions of the post-Byzantine period. The church has been reconstructed in 1840. A plethora of pilgrims visit the church especially during the first fortnight of August ( the Assumption of Virgin Mary ). We have to notice here that the view from the yard is fantastic as it combines the picturesque village of Petra, with the Aegean Sea and the isles of the area.”
(Source: Imerti)

Rob
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Greece, Photo's we love, Photography

Lesbos or is it Lesvos?

by Marissa on

The Church of Panayia Glykofilousa
Often when I talk about Lesvos, people correct me and tell me that the island is called Lesbos. When I tell them they are wrong, some people can get really stubborn about it. I was even once told that I had no idea what I am talking about.

Well, what is the idea? I have been to the island with others here and I have now a very good friend who lives and was raised there. That is the idea!

The thing is that the letter “b” in the name Lesbos is not a “b”. We lazy foreigners just made a “b” of it.
It really is a “β”, the Greek letter beta. And the letter beta is pronounced as a “v”. What you see that by Greek people the letter beta is replaced by the letter “v” to get the sound correct.

So Λέσβος will become Lesvos and not Lesbos.

This little piece of knowledge is brought to you by the Lesvos virus that with the upcoming holiday is awaking in me. Oh, and after a nice chat with Mel and Rob.

Marissa

 

 

Photo The Church of Panayia Glykofilousa: Rob (Thank you for allowing to use it)


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Lésvos / Lesbos

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Haaksbergen

by Sanne on

Haaksbergen is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel, in the Twente region. There are around 25.000 inhabitants. Haaksbergen covers 105.55 km² ground (of which water: 0.27 km²).
First signs of people living in the area of Haaksbergen were found at the Buursebeek and are from around 800 years before the year 0. This was of course before the town was founded. The first time Haaksbergen was mentioned is around the year 800.

Haaksbergen
So why this interest for Haaksbergen? It is the town where I was born, grew up and I am still living.
And although the town changed a lot over the years, I still love this town.
Most of the people who write here on this weblog have a close bound with Haaksbergen, but even Patricia (how lived and grew up in Noord Holland) and Mel (our friend from Greece) claims that the town has now a special spot in their heart now.

I can tell for a long time about how Haaksbergen is nowadays, but I would say come and have a look yourself. But I thought it would be nice to share some things from the past of Haaksbergen. And also on that matter there is so much to tell.
So I thought it would be even more nice to write something about (more or less) old places in Haaksbergen that has a special meaning to one of more of us

 

Hotel Assinkbos
Half way between Haaksbergen and Eibergen we find Hotel Assinkbos, at least that is what is used to be. Currently it is not in use any more and that is a pity.
But it has also been the home of Disco Silver Shadow. Marion, Jennifer, Miranda (although she was living in Eibergen at that time), Rob and I have been more than once to Silver Shadow. I knew Marion already at that time, but the others not. We may have been there at the same time. And now all of us are best friends.
Very good memories of Silver Shadow.

 

Markt 2

Markt 2, next to the town hall of Haaksbergen, have been the practice of a general practitioner and a dentist, who has been my dentist. More recently it was a very good restaurant known as “Eetcafe Markt 2”. Most of us have have very good memories of the Markt 2. But for Marion and Rob this was really a special place (you should ask themselves why :P).
It was a sad moment that the Markt 2 was closed. Now there is a new restaurant called “De Kornuiten”, which is not bad, but in no way to compare with the old Markt 2.

 

Zwembad Scholtehagen

Another place that doesn’t exist any more… “Openlucht Zwembad Scholtehagen”. I never understood why they closed it. I really miss the opportunity to swim outside. Especially now more and more at lakes and streams, it is not recommended (or even forbidden) to swim. Sure, we have now an indoor swim paradise, but it is just not the same.
Marion and I both learned (ourselves) to to swim in one of the brooks close to my parents farm. I would not be surprised if Jennifer and Rob learned to swim at Scholtehagen.

 

Oostendorper Watermolen

And here, all of us has been, including Mel and Patricia: The Oostendorper Watermolen.
The ones that grew up in Haaksbergen swum here, made walks through the surrounding forests.
I even can remember that Rob told me that when he was a young boy he once went fishing here, the first and the last time he did that.
The Oostendorper Watermolen with its 3 wheels, unique in The Netherlands. The watermill was build in 1548. After restoration in 1987 the watermill is fully functional again.

 

De Biester

And then there was restaurant De Biester. How many times have not been at De Biester, alone or as a group? I stopped already counting a long time ago. It was always good to be there.
Sadly begin 2017, De Biester had to close the doors. I think everyone of us felt that as a big loss. Another place we loved to go gone.
But end of last year, a new restaurant was opened in the building. I heard good things about “Bianca’s Eetcafé, but I haven’t been there yet. So my suggestion is to go there when we all are in Haaksbergen again. Would be nice.

Really have to say that I enjoy telling about our town. So I think I will do that again, maybe when I have found more photo’s or when I find something that worth to share. Keep an eye on it :-)

 

 

Photo view on Haaksbergen: Rob (Thank you :P).
Postcard Hotel Assinkbos: In possession of my parents.
Photo Markt 2: Legaat Mej. Wiedenbroek
Photo Scholtehagen: Openlucht Zwembad
Photo Restaurant De Biester: Bombardement rond Buurserstraat


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Food and Stuff, Haaksbergen, History, I was there!

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Around 50 kilometers North of Birmingham, in the county of Shropshire (West Midlands), lays a small idyllic English town called Beckbury.

Beckbury has a special meaning to me. It was the first town outside The Netherlands, where I travelled as 17 year girl (almost 18!!!) alone, without my parents or anyone else. It was also the first plane flight that I made alone (not knowing that so many would follow).
Maybe nowadays that is nothing special anymore, but more as 30 years ago it was.

Beckbury

So what had a young girl to do all alone in Beckbury?

Earlier that year I have been on a holiday to the Egypt with my parents (beautiful country, although with the current situation there not a choice of mine anymore). There I met an English girl from my age who was staying there with her parents as well, Kathy was her name. Kathy and I spent during that holiday a lot time together. And so Kathy and I became friends.

At the end of that holiday Kathy and her parents invited me to come and visit them in England. And of course, as you most likely already understood they lived in the town of Beckbury. Later that year I visited Kathy and had a wonderful two weeks at her place. She and her parents really made me feel welcome. They proudly showed me around in their hometown and the surrounding area.

Kathy and I sent for a long time each other letters (e-mail was not commonly around yet). But as it happens so often, the time between the letters slowly became longer and longer, until no letters were sent at all any more.

St. Milburga's Church, Badger Lane, Beckbury

And then suddenly a few weeks ago a mail arrived in my mailbox informing if I was the “Marion from Haaksbergen who spent a holiday in Egypt and visited Beckbury to meet the girl she met in Egypt”. Well, that was me! And of course this mail was sent by Kathy!.

By pure coincidence she ended up on our weblog and wondered if I were the Marion she knew from the past.

Kathy is married now and mother of three fine children (two girls and a boy, which is already married himself).
Seems she made her dream come true and is now working as a biologist for a governmental organization. Already when I first met her, she had something with languages.

The Seven Stars

It was a big surprise when Kathy told me that The Seven Stars still existed. While I stayed in Beckbury The Seven Stars was the pub where we stayed almost every evening, played pool and teased the guys of our age. I am pretty sure we left some guys behind with *coughs* “hurt feelings”. Yes, we were young and mean! :-)

Recently I had to be for my work in Birmingham. Kathy and I met for dinner. It was very nice to meet again. We had good laughs about our evenings at The Seven Stars. The nice walks we had in the surroundings of Beckbury.

We remember well our visit to the city of Telford. Such a wonderful place for two girls to wander around. Well, under the secure eye of Kathy’s father that is :-).

Crooked House

And oh, The Crooked House in Dudley! Kathy’s parents took us there. It is the most amazing and weird pub I have ever seen (and I have seen some since then). The Crooked House was built in 1765 and was originally a farmhouse. During the 1800s, mining in the area caused one side of the building to begin gradually sinking. The building was condemned as unsafe in the 1940s and was scheduled for demolition. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries purchased the pub and rescued it by making the structure safe using buttresses and girders so as to retain its lopsided appearance.

Once inside your brain tries to correct everything you see to that what ought to be normal and it will show a different truth. Things you see standing straight, aren’t standing straight. A ball on the floor seems to cheat gravity and rolls upwards a floor, but it is your brain that is fooling you, the floor is really going down. Such an amazing place!

Iron Bridge

Of the places that Kathy and I visited back then, there is one place that should be mentioned: Iron Bridge. The Iron Bridge is a bridge that crosses the River Severn in Shropshire, England. Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron, and was greatly celebrated after construction owing to its use of the new material.
The photo of the bridge is a postcard that I sent to my parents during my stay at Kathy’s place.

It is stated that the Iron Bridge is the birthplace of the industrial revolution. The Iron Bridge Gorge Museums made already back then a big impression on me. The museums that tell the history of industry were awesome to vist and when I look at their website it has even become more awesome.

So why I am writing all this about Beckbury and the highlights of the surrounding area?

Well, on very short term Rob and I will fly to England. We will visit Kathy and her family. For sure we will go to The Seven Stars. But also The Crooked House and the Iron Bridge Gorge Museums we will be visiting.

We both are already looking very much forward to it!

Marion

 

 

 

Satelite Map: Google
Photo St. Milburga’s Church : P L Chadwick and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Photo The Seven Stars : Roger Kidd and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Photo Crooked House: Chris Baker


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History, I was there!

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My ethnic origin

by Rob on

The result of the DNA test came in and, as I already expected I am on this matter boring: I’m 100% North and West European. No exciting branches into Africa or South America (a pity, I would have liked that). No touch of Greece (now that would have been a real bonus, but alas). Just West and North Europe, meaning The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.

So the stories about Gipsy blood from South Europe in our family line? Not correct. Fully disproven now.

Heritage

This is what is said about the North and West European ethnicity:
“The population of Northern and Western Europe mainly includes German, French, and Dutch people. This region has been influenced by significant historical events including the formation of the Catholic Church, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Industrial Revolution. Imperial conquests and the age of colonization have spread Northern and Western European peoples across the globe, with significant populations across the Americas and in parts of Africa and Oceania. The area is the birthplace of Western culture, including innovations in art, literature, philosophy, and scientific methodology that have become standard around the world. In particular, Western Europeans take food very seriously. European culinary practices and dining etiquette are highly developed, with artisanal wine and cheese-making, pastry baking, and cooking having been elevated to an art.”

So as said, I am a boring European according my DNA.

But there was also something not so boring, based on my DNA a match to a 1st line niece, which is confirmed by the an ancestral surname (and one other that I know is in our family tree). I will disclose any names or anything alike here (yes, you know that I am a privacy freak :P). How cool is that?
And to make it even less boring, there were now 4167 DNA matches with other, more distant, relatives. Very interesting indeed.

I might dive deeper into this all. It is very interesting indeed.

Rob
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General

Far Cry 5

by Rob on

End of March the game “Far Cry 5” was released, a game that I was really looking forward to. But sadly at that time I was without computer (remember that my old computer died completely?). But when my new computer was in and after basic configuration was done, I bought that game through Steam.

The story of the game is simple, a religious heavy armed sect controls Hope County, a fictional county in the state of Montana, United States, and is the main setting of Far Cry 5. Your task as deputy is to free Hope County from this sect.

Sounds simple, but it you will find quite some difficulties on your travels around. If it are not the sect members that are causing trouble, then it are the bears and the other animals that are after you.

Far Cry 5

While playing the game you will do all kinds of quests (and side quests) that should lead to the downfall of the Seed family, who lead this sect. The quests vary in many different tasks, from freeing outposts and helping captured citizen to stealing back trucks.
The difficulty of the quests also varies from easy to some that will include several deaths. You can hire NPC’s (None Player Characters, so characters controlled by the game) or play together with someone who also owns the game. The later is what Marissa and I will be doing a lot after we mastered the basics of the game.

Far Cry 5

Weapons come many different kinds. From shotguns and assault rifles to crossbows. And side of that, many kinds of grenades and Molotov cocktails. For now my favourite combo is the sniper rifle and an automatic handgun. And oh, let’s not forget the metal baseball bat :-).
If understood correctly Marissa goes more for the shotgun!

Far Cry 5

There are many ways to travel in Far Cry 5. Of course, there is always the option to go by foot.
But by car, squad, boat, helicopter or plane may be more effective and certainly more fun.
When driving you are able to use your handgun. It is so much fun to kill sect members when you are racing over the streets. Just driving over them is always on option :-).

But it is good to remember that what you can do, the enemy can do that as well. So an attack from a helicopter or air plane is very possible…

Far Cry 5

And then there are these moments that you think: “Did I really see that?”. You look again and yes, you really saw that… (Remember the game is for 18 years and older, this is not without a reason).

Car Cry 5

And oh, I didn’t shoot the bull or the cow :-).

The graphics of the game are really awesome. Of course the new graphic card in my computer helps with this, but without good graphics in the game the graphic card won’t do anything.

I will place some pictures of some in-game landscapes that I really like.

Car Cry 5 Car Cry 5 Car Cry 5 Car Cry 5 Rob
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Computers and I, Games

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There are things that you never hope will happen, but last week one of these things happened. Someone of our group was targeted and photo’s of her Facebook Timeline were copied into a fake account. For what reason? I don’t know and basically I don’t care. The account is not active no more and that is the only thing that counts.

To who of the ladies in our group this happened is not important. She is already shocked enough about this. Basically, we all are. Emotions within our group go from unbelief to anger.

How could this happen as all the photo’s were “friends only”?
First, what could be that one the “friends” was not as trustworthy as was assumed.
Or one of the friends doesn’t have the security on Facebook as tight as it should be and specially for Facebook goes the “as strong as the weakest link”-principle.

On request I checked, together with the people in our group, all the Facebook configurations and changed it where needed. Specially the privacy settings got a close look.
The result was that friend lists got cleaned up to people who one can trust. Photo’s got cleaned up, many photo’s were removed from Facebook.
As last all the profile pictures of the ladies in the group were changed into a photo or picture of something else.

Miranda was the only exception in this as her profile picture is the only photo of herself on Facebook. She has only her Facebook account to see what the others of our group post and to react on that.

For the same reason I have placed our weblog in “maintenance mode”.
For the members of the group who had there a photo of themselves as avatar-picture, I replaced those with a picture of their zodiac sign (not that anyone of us believes in astrology or anything alike, but it is a bit of fun this way).
With the help of the others, we scanned through the content of the weblog (thank you for that). Although at times there is written about private subjects, there were only a few articles that we declared “private” (so only certain registered members can read them).
With knowing this I will set our weblog to “public” again.

Within the group we will discus if we can do anything more to prevent things like this.


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Weblogs & Blogs

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A few days ago I was working at my computer at home when it suddenly with a strange sound died. Restarting didn’t help as it got stuck somewhere in the booting process. At that time, it was late in the evening, I couldn’t not find out quickly what was wrong.

The next day I discovered that it was the graphic card that was causing the problem. Somebody was so kind to borrow me another graphic card. After installing that card the system did load, but it was clear that other things were not functioning as they should. At first I suspected that the Windows installation was corrupt, but more and more it became clear there were more hardware problems. I think what happened was that on the moment the graphic card fried, it also damaged the mother board.

I considered repairs for a moment… But the graphic card, the mother board and most likely the memory? We are talking about the more expensive components of a computer. So replacing the complete computer was an option that came already quickly to mind.

After talking it over with Marion, I ordered this morning an complete new set. And a nice set it is :-).

Dell

Let me give you the details…

  • 8th generation Intel® i7-8700 6-Core processor (12 MB cache, tot 4,6 GHz)
  • Windows 10 Home 64bit English, Dutch, French,German, Italian.
  • 16 GB memory, DDR4, 2.666 MHz (max 64 GB)
  • 256 GB M.2 PCIe x4 SSD + 4 TB hard disk (7.200 rpm)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5 memory)
  • Killer 1535 802.11ac 2×2 WIFI and Bluetooth 4.1
  • SD Card Reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
  • … and the standard stuff as Gigabit Ethernet, Audio ports etc. etx
  • 27 Inch Monitor – SE2717H Black (Max 1920 x 1080)

Yes, I am also replacing my monitor. My Philips 24 Inch monitor was a good choice, but now it is kinda outdated.
And there was here a request from Marion. Often when I am already out of bed (or not yet in bed :P), Marion likes to watch some TV. The Philips monitor can be play HD content, but not very good. The new monitor will be much better at this.
The Phillips monitor will be used as second monitor (which means that the old 17 Inch will be removed).

This also gives me the opportunity to clean up the mess of cables and wires behind my desk. I am pretty sure that there are cables that are not used anymore!

Oh, fun fact: Marissa is following me up and just ordered the same set :-)

I cannot wait until the new computer arrives.

Rob
Source picture: Dell


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Computers and I

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“SOS Snowbell”

by Sanne on

14 March this year, a new Suske & Wiske album was released. The title of the album is “SOS Snowbell” and is album 343 in the series.

SOS Snowbell

According the official Suske & Wiske-site the story line of the new album:
“John, the nephew of Sidonia, flies on a beautiful day at the kitchen window. He turns out to be changed in a goose! He begs his friends to go with him to his village in Alaska. The magic book of his lovely wife Snowbell has become after many years active again and has Snowbell in its power. The book forces her to turn the people in the village into animals. This way, they give it their souls and let the power of the book grow. It is its intention to change itself into a man, what would give it unlimited power.
Suske, Wiske and their friends leave right away to Alaska to save Snowbell from the clutches of the magic book and its magic spells. But then they are obliged to destroy it and that shows to be an impossible task”

Again, a very good “Suske & Wiske” book. The story line is pleasant to follow and the plot of the story more or less unexpected. Of course there is a lot of humour in story. Personally I think this is one of the better albums since the move to the new style. The new style is something I really had to get used to, but now it is finding its place.

Rob, don’t buy this album. I have read it by now and will give it to Marissa. She would like to read as well and she told me that she and Richard will be visiting you soon. She will bring the album along for you, so you can add it to your collection.

It was a nice read :-)

Publisher: Standaard Uitgeverij
Source citaat: Suske en Wiske op het WWW


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Suske & Wiske

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About DNA

by Rob on

Some time I ago I saw the video below and it made a deep impression on me. The video is about what our DNA can tell us about our heritage and where our roots in the world are. The people in this video faced some big surprises about their biological heritage. Watch the video…

After seeing this video I was curious, but I figured that such a DNA test would be quite expensive. I didn’t think about it anymore and I forgot more or less about it.

Then last year we were at the BBQ of Mel’s family on Lesvos, where I got my nickname “Μουστάκι”. Mel’s lovely grandmother who was convinced that Marion and I both must have Greek blood in our veins, this because of our love for Greece,
Personally, I don’t think we have Greek ancestors, but one can never know. A DNA test would show this and make this very clear.
But the price of such a DNA test….

A few weeks ago I saw an advertisement about a DNA test and I realized that a DNA test was not that expensive at all (anymore?) and that it was very affordable for us.
So after a small talk with Marion we ordered two of these DNA tests.

DNA test

So this weekend I will do the test and will send it away for analysing.
As Marion is using medicines at the moment, she has to wait with doing the test. I offered to wait as well, but she told me to do it this weekend. She is very curious as well.

Am I nervous about the result of the test?
No, anything will be fine. Dutch, Greek, Finnish, German, Moroccan, Arab… I really don’t care. The more places in my heritage, the richer I am!

And after the test is done, we just have to wait…..

Rob
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Greece, History

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