^. .^ Soggy Wolfie ^. .^

Architectural modern painting

2011-09-13T17:38:00.000+01:00

This is a painting I made as a wedding gift for my brother and his wife. It's 45 x 45cm acrylics on canvas and will still need to be stretched.

A day in the life of....

2011-08-14T21:42:00.003+01:00

Well, me obviously. I have kind off abandoned this blog, but know that still quite a few people are following me and are most likely interested in a new little project I started today.
Also my friend Julie from Frayed at the Edges has asked for crafty people to make a blogpost about what they get up to on a specific day. This day would be today, the 14th of August 2011.
Now for starters, I usually work on a Sunday as I do work at an animal shelter. So from 8 till 5 I was busy taking care of dogs and other critters ^_^ However the fact that I have a fulltime job does not mean my craftiness has suffered. Today, after dinner and botteling some lovely homemade mead I decided to start crocheting a wee dragon. Inspired by the tv series A game of Thrones, which has 3 terribly cute baby dragons pop-up in the last episode of the season (Sorry for the spoiler......)
I just really had to make one, since it is a way of procrastination, I'm only making him small.
Here is a picture of the head in progress ^_^

He will be rather cute me thinks.......

I'm now drinking a nice class of wine while watching some tv, so no more craftiness for me tonight.

Sleep well everyone,

SW

Simplest crochet flower tutorial

2011-04-26T20:33:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

although I don't really use my blog anymore since I created my very own webpage (www.judyvanbutton.com) I thought it would still be nice to post a wee tutorial for all of you, and especially the friend who requested this tutorial.
Now I'm not really good at explaining things, I'm more of a visual person (hence all the pictures), so bear with me please. If you have any questions than do please ask them ^_^

Crochet a chain of 60 (I used double knit acrylic wool with a size 4 hook), crochet on till you've gone about 5 times from side to side. Just pretend you're starting to crochet a scarf ^_^

Now use a basting stitch and go from one side of the long chain to the other and pull, the crochet will now curl on itself and will basically form the flower for you. and you get this....

Now for some stamen, crochet 3 times a chain of 5. Now use the basting stich again to pull one thread to the other, don't pull to much or the stamen won't be straight.

Pull the stamen through the middle of the flower, et voila a flower ^_^ Now just to tidy it up at the back.

Make a chain of 10 and add about 4 rows, here comes the basting stitch again.....

Pull the thread and sew it closed, so you get a tiny cup/nest.

Sew this to the flower and hide the ends in it.

Pull the last thread to the middle and cut off, or just keep it there.

Now here you go, a very simple tutorial for a pretty wee flower.

I hope this was useful and that you enjoy making them ^_^

New website ^_^

2011-01-19T12:14:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

I'm so happy to see I've got so many followers ^_^ And also thanks for all the nice comments I keep on getting. Since my crochet sells rather well these days and I will have my very own exhibition soon (more on that later) I decided to move on from blogspot to my own website: www.JudyvanButton.com
It's totally dedicated to my crochet and you'll find many pictures of all my projects on it, as well as what I'm working on currently. This blog will therefore not really be used that much anymore.
Please do visit my website ^_^

Greetz,
SW

Sharpie art on a Ukulele

2010-11-26T16:05:00.000Z

A wee while ago I suggested to a friend that I would be willing to Sharpie her Ukulele. She agreed happily and the result is as follows ^_^ I first made a painting on an iPad and than transferred the idea onto the ukulele. Undortunately I could only use black, because of the bright red background. I'm very happy with the result, and so is my friend ^_^

Beofore, but after unstringing

After, but before stringing

After

Chicken the Crocheted Velociraptor

2010-10-04T11:06:00.001+01:00

Just on time I finished Chicken. I'll be on Honeymoon for the upcoming two weeks so I really wanted to finish this project.
Chicken is a Velociraptor (Jurassic park style) measuring 16 Inches tall and 32 Inches from nose to the tip of the tail. He's partially poseable and can stand on his own without support ^_^ He's got hand painted plastic eyes and his head was thread sculpted.
He was a bit of a challenge, but I loved making him. Chicken is not really looking for a new home, but if someone is willing to pay the wright amount for him I might consider rehoming him ^_^

Ikea bedsheets FTW

Chicken ^_^


	Chicken legs mmmmm

Chicken likes Carrot

Crochet AT-AT

2010-09-08T14:36:00.001+01:00

My weird habit of saying "I want to crochet that" to anything even remotely cute (in my mind), has lead me to crocheting an AT-AT. This one was inspired by the video AT-AT day afternoon by Patrick Boivin and James Hance's drawings of Star Wars in Winnie the Pooh style ^_^
He's about 8 Inches tall and likes cuddles.....

Greetz,
SW

Sloth, Crane chick and mouse

2010-09-06T10:43:00.003+01:00

Ok, I've been wanting to show this one off for a while. It has been a project for over 2 months, but yesterday I finally finished the life size sloth. I was very worried about the hind legs as they looked very awkward when attached, but than again sloths are weird anyway. Another worry was if the sloth was going to hang on its own, and luckily it did ^_^
So meet Taida the sloth. I crocheted her entirely and used a dog brush to give her the typical sloth scruffy look (PlanetJune has a great tutorial on this technique) . Her legs are jointed with aluminium wire and her nails also have wire in them. She's partially filled with lentils for added weight and for the rest she has polyfill in her. In size she would be a young adult at 19 Inches from nose to "tail".
I'll be making better pictures soon, but isn't she just adorable...

On a whim I did another project in about 2 days. I don't think I'll ever do anything as quick as this crane chick again. I had about a week to make it, but was plainly to excited about it. This chick was a gift to a friend at Rotterdam Zoo. About 6 years ago I did an internship at the zoo and Rob was my supervisor, I really enjoyed my time there and learned so much, so a little thank you was in order ^_^ This chick is about 13 Inches tall and has wire in his legs, he's free standing, but can also sit.

And another little project, also done with the brush technique is this little mouse. It was a gift to a friend ^_^

Greetz,
SW

New layout

2010-08-11T10:47:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone,

Finally I got round to giving this blog a nicer look. It's still simple though, as I like it that way ^_^
Ow and check back in two weeks, for I'm first going on vacation, but when I'm back I'll post my latest crocheted animal, a life like crane chick of which I'm rather proud. Also I've still got a sloth and a muscovy duck to finish.

Greetz,
SW

Tatanka ^_^

2010-08-11T10:37:00.001+01:00

For once something else than crochet and sewing projects.
It was about 5 and a half years ago at Wolf Park that I met a few very special dogs and wolves. One of them was Tantanka, a dog/wolf hybrid with an amazing sense of guarding food. He even managed to guard my own plate of food from me O_O which made it very interesting to try and eat. I was very sad when he passed away a few years ago, and drew him back than as well. This drawing was done on an iPad.

Various crafty explosions

2010-08-04T15:23:00.006+01:00

Despite being busy at work I still managed to do quite a few small projects.
First of all, two bird amigirumi, a puffin and a bald eagle. They were a custom order from a colleague ^_^ I adore these requests from other people, so here they are:

Also I made a small coin purse, inspired by Japanese fish coin purses.

Than there was a small project involving sushi. I love kawaii things and just simply had to make a sushi iPhone cozy. I even made two toppings for the nigiri, tamago (egg) and ama-ebi (shrimp).

And last but not least. Another plush rat for a DA trade.

I still have some bigger projects awaiting to be finished, so hopefully I'll be able to show them soon.

Greetz,

SW

Clive the Sea Slug

2010-07-18T09:36:00.005+01:00

For a few weeks now I had been thinking of crocheting a Nudibranch AKA Sea Slug. They're very pretty, and National Geographics Photo range gave me the needed inspiration to start. Since I instantly get addicted to a project once I start I finished this project in less than a day O_O
Clive is a Nembrotha kubaryana (variable neon slug, how awesome is that name ^_^) and he's about 13,5 inches long. I partially filled him with lentils so he would sit up.
The rhinophores have pipecleaners in them.
Clive was lots of fun to make and I'm sort of sad he's done, ah well, on to the next project, which will be finishing my poseable life size two toed sloth.

Woody the Newt

2010-07-10T22:34:00.003+01:00

A one day crochet project. A little Newt, about 15 Inches long, including tail. Fairly simple and staight forward.

Greetz,

SW

Paramecium Plush

2010-06-19T10:04:00.004+01:00

A quick little project I did this week was a Paramecium. I've always wanted to cuddle a protozoan, and now I can. He's made out of a white fleece from IKEA, and the Cilia are/is actually the frayed edge of the fleece. The vacuoles etc. are made out of scrap bits of fabric. Ow and it also has a Cytostome.
He's about 20 Inches long and filled with polyfill.

Actually the simplest project ever, especially if you leave out the Cytostome.

Potassium-kun for sale on Etsy

2010-06-12T10:46:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone,

Potassium-kun is looking for a loving home. He's in my Etsy shop (OokamiArt.Etsy.com).

Bosavi Woolly Rat

2010-04-18T09:14:00.006+01:00

Hi everyone,

Today it's time to introduce you to the Bosavi Woolly Rat. This big fluffy rodent was discovered last year on the island of Papua New Guinea (possibly my most favorite bit of the world). I simply just had to crochet this large critter.
I attempted to make it life size, but since this is very difficult in the first place, I ended up with a slightly larger rodent. Anyway, who says all of them are 82 cm, when you've only measured one. My creation is 95 cm long, including tail.
He's got poseable legs and lentils in his body for added weight.
He took me a full week to make, so not too bad actually. I especially had fun crocheting with the fluffy wool, I always hear people say it's difficult to crochet with, but I had no trouble at all. Ok I couldn't see my stitches, but since I don't count that's no problem.
This rat is a gift to my brother in return for a favor ^_^
Ow and the little poser on the top is one of my rats, Haru.

Piglet usb Stick cozy tutorial ^_^

2010-03-28T12:43:00.010+01:00

A tutorial to making a piglet usb Stick Cozy

Needed:
Wool of choice
crochet hook of choice
Wool needle
Googly eyes
Glue
and a usb stick of course

Start with a chain (something like 12 or so), make sure it fits exactly round the usb stick. Connect the chain with a slip stitch to make a circle.

Continue crocheting in a circle making sure you do not decrease or increase. Also fit your usb stick in it often to make sure it fits tightly. As you reach the end of the usb stick decrease to make the tail. Leave a small hole to fit the end of the tail through.

The end of the tail is just a simple chain of 13 or so, with another row of 12 to return to the start.

Feed this bit through the whole and sew it securely.
The legs are made the same way as the tip of the tail, but you go up another time (thus making 3 rows of about 8 stitches). The string of wool needs to be woven through the crochet so that both strings are always on one end, for easy sewing and so your work does not unravel. Slip the body over the usb stick, and make sure the right side is up. If necessary glue the body to the usb stick.
Now for the head, start a round again with the same amount of stitches as the body and increase a few times. Continue for a few rounds and then start decreasing to make the nose. Just decrease a few times if else the nose will become too small. Leave the hole as it is, and glue the head to the usb stick cap. Stuff the head with some left over thread through the nose hole.

For the nose start to make an actual circle by making a chain of 4 and connecting them like before. Increase in every stitch for the first round, and increase in every other stitch for the second round. Continue till this circle fits nicely on the end of the nose and sew it on.

For the ears make a chain of 4, put 2 rows of 3 on that, than a row of two, and than one. Glue on some googly eyes and embroider the nose holes.
With a tapestry loop some hairs can be added, and perhaps a ribbon round his neck ^_^

This piglet could be transformed into pretty much any animal with 4 legs, or maybe even sea creatures.
Ideas:
• Use a tapestry knot and attach some hair on the back to make a wild boar.
• Don’t make a flat nose, instead just keep on decreasing at the end of the head/nose, and change the tail into a small tassel or something, you could make a horse, deer or anything else.
• Wow, you could even make a dragon, if you attach some wings. Seriously anything is possible.

If you have any questions, please do let me know, and if you’ve made one I would love to see the result ^_^

Enjoy,

SW

8GB spice weasel

2010-03-19T20:32:00.004Z

Hi everyone,

As of late I'm not able to do much crochet, but the occasional small project is doable.
Last night I made a Spice Weasel usb stick holder. The original usb stick needed some serious spicing up.
I actually realised afterwords it looks a lot like the spice weasel lipbalm cosy someone else on the internet made. Anyway he costed me a few hours and a few scraps of wool.

^..^

Potassium-kun

2010-02-14T16:01:00.003Z

Last week's creation. Crocheted Potassium ^_^ Who ever thought Potassium could be cute, or more like angry and confused O_O

Crocheted Kakapo

2010-01-06T20:55:00.004Z

A crocheted Kakapo, modelled mostly after Sirocco.
He is life size and poseable in wings and legs.
I used 3 threads of differently coloured wool and a 4mm hook to crochet the body. The other parts are mostly 2 threads and the bill only one. The poseable parts are Aluminium wire, bamboo skewers and clear tape. For balance a bag of wood pellet cat litter was used in the posterior. The eyes are buttons with cotton over them and painted with acrylics. The wool was mostly 100% acrylics, one ball was actual wool.
He took me about 20 to 30 hours to complete.

Crochet hook case tutorial

2009-12-24T13:22:00.011Z

Sometimes you just wish things could be easy. Especially just before Christmas things can be hectic. This year handmade goods are the perfect gifts. Even though one might think this is the cheap option, it often actually isn't. First of all it costs time and don't forget the resources. I love making things, however I usually use things I have laying around. This time I was looking to make a simple crochet hook case that would fit a pair of scissors, my wool needles as well as my many crochet hooks. A quick search on the Internet gave some nice tutorials, but they seemed a bit to complicated. Surely this could be done out of one bit of fabric? Or even better, out of one fabric placemat.
This project is perfect for the beginner in sewing, and could possibly be the best little gift for crocheters and knitters. It only takes about 10 to 20 minutes.

Needed:
A fabric placemat (19 by 13,5 Inches in my case, other sizes can be used as well, and of course you need more for a knitting needle case) or a fat quarter (^_^)
Thread
Ribbon
Crayon

Ok here we go, I took pictures of both sides of the placemats.
The inside, or under side:

The outside, or top side:

Fold the long side 5.5 Inches up, this will fit most crochet hooks, adjust if necessary and for knitting needles. Divide this width in little pockets, by drawing lines. Also make a pocket for scissors and some needles.

First sew the edges together, and than sew all the pockets. If the lines you drew were not straight than sew them straight (which I did).

Now fold the top half over the pockets, so they cover them completely. Draw a line a few inches from the top edge and sew carefully.

Now a little bit of ribbon is attached to the left side, and you are done.

Enjoy!!

SW

Threadknit contest entry

2009-11-29T12:58:00.002Z

Ok, here is my entry to Threadknits, the details and more pictures can be found here

Piglet and Steak

2009-10-10T17:34:00.005+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I found the Manga/Anime Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) and just had to make Steak.
Steak is part of the team, but is also Niche's dinner. She thinks steak will be delicious, and multiple times she has already tried to fry him. Frying steak luckily only leads to him having a perm for a short while. Steak also points out the weak points of Gaishuu and always sits on Niche's head. Steak is basically a one big mouth and white fur ball, so Kawaii!!
I made the pattern myself : D

I also made a wee piglet amigurumi : 3 also my own pattern, but the idea came from Elisabeth Doherty's book.

Rubber...uhm crocheted Woolly Duck

2009-09-22T14:01:00.010+01:00

It has been a long time again : 3 Most of my crafty explosions actually go straight on DeviantArt, but here is a short update of the crochet projects I have been worked on.
Some of these are for sale on OokamiArt.etsy.com

Cornelia the Giraffe *Sold*

An Axolotl : 3 *Sold*

An Evil Weevil with a cranberry smell *For Sale*

A giant Blue Bottle fly *For Sale*

My most recent project : 3 A gift for my twin brother

The world of crocheted birds

2009-06-11T11:15:00.006+01:00

Since a couple of days I have a wee shop on etsy.com. It is called OokamiArt and you can find it here. Currently I have two items for sale. The first one is a Water Dragon from an anime (Kemono no Souja Erin), this was basically a try out. The other item is a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Lately I have been finding it very enjoyable to crochet birds. I love birds, but I was always very frustrated at the fact that I somehow couldn't draw or paint them. However in crochet it is going perfectly. The first one was a little Robin for my mum, the second one a Crow for my fiancee (Yes, Chris and I are now engaged *JOY*). The latest addition to the family was the Cardinal that I am selling. In between I also worked on another winged critter, a dragon (an Epic Amigurumi). Next up I want to make some small White crested laughing thrushes :)

Here are some pictures of my creations, I hope you like them.

This item is FOR SALE

More crafty projects

2009-05-22T18:32:00.002+01:00

Hi there,

Lately I have been posting a lot of crafty stuff on DeviantArt, so please check out my Gallery at soggy-wolfie.deviantart.com
Hopefully soon there will be some of my crafty stuff for sale on Etsy. More to come later on that though.

SW

The official burupya plush ^O^

2009-04-26T09:16:00.006+01:00

Finally after a lot of digging on Japanese web pages I found some pictures of the official Burupya plush. I am probably Burupya's biggest fan ^_^
For those of you who do not have a clue what I am talking about, here is a short explenation. Burupya is a small pink dragon from the manga 07-Ghost. Since a couple of weeks there is also a anime out which follows the manga quite closely. Burupya is not the main character of the story but is on virtually every page as he is the reincarnation of a close friend (Mikage) of the main character (Teito). I absolutely adore this little guy and love the story. I am already thinking up how the make the outfit to be able to cosplay from this manga ^o^ which will mean I will have to cross dress. Luckily being a girl I can quite get away with cosplaying a man ^_^
My version of Burupya in chrochet can be found a few posts down.
Anyway, here are the pictures and the link to the page on which I found them.

It is a bit unfortunate that the ears are not as long as in the manga :S but than again long ears have a lot of weight and they won't sit up easily.

These pictures were not taken by me, they came from this page. If you are interested in what it says and you cannot read japanese, but do have Firefox, than try the ad-on Rikai-chan.

Ow btw I have actually finnished a cosplay costume from the movie Azumi. Just click on the link on the right side to go to my deviant-art Gallery ^_^ to see it.

Spidery laptop sleeve

2009-03-31T09:58:00.003+01:00

Ok, yet another crafty thing I did. It had been really long since i embroidered something and this wee project gave me the perfect opportunity to try it again. Since Chris bought a dell mini 9 a couple of weeks back I wanted to make a wee bag for it. I still had some slightly velour curtain fabric laying around in a nice bright olive/spring green. And because it is to protect a laptop I thought of putting some spiders on it, preferably venomous ones :) So a Brown Recluse and a Black Widow represent that group. The third one I let Chris choose himself, so that became a Orb Weaver. The flap closes by use of a big button and in between the two layers of fabric I sewed a plastic bag for water tightness. Although I don't think you can still call it watertight, probably more a water sifter after I finished all the embroidery on it :S

Burupya

2009-03-18T12:29:00.003Z

Onegai, meet Burupya :)
This little guy is a character from the manga (and soon to be anime) 07 Ghost.
He is about 30 cm high including the ears. I did not intend on using two colours of wool, but ran out of one, so had to continue with the other.
The ears and wings are held up by thin wire.

^-^ Pya Pya ^-^

Lulu the baby Touda

2009-02-19T15:46:00.004Z

And this will be my last post for the day, wow I think this is a record :)
So yeah first scroll down for the other two posts, please.

Since the beginning of January a new anime was brought out. It was of the same writer as Seirei no Moribito, which I absolutely loved, and even cosplayed. Kemono no souja Erin (The Beastmaster Erin) however is different in style and drawing, and at first glance it looks like a kids show. Still I am really starting to like this show, it has very cute dragon type lizards (Touda's) in it and the storyline is gentle, but also very intriguing. Already in the first episode a wee baby Touda is introduced, it is so Kawaii :) In the second episode it is named Lulu.
I didn't have the exact colours to make Lulu, but had some nice shades of purple and decided to go for it. Lulu is perhaps a wee bitty to big for a Amigurumi, but she is so adorable and cuddly :) I love her.

Greetz,
SW

Touch Wood Necklace

2009-02-19T15:40:00.003Z

OK, we go straight on to the next thing, which is creativity with beads :)
The design started out with a Touch Wood bead, made by Angel. The rest of the beads are a mix of chicken bones, wooden beads and stone beads. Ow and two cat beads.
I like the result a lot, Thank you Angel :)

Birthday cake

2009-02-19T15:34:00.005Z

A double layer sponge, with the top one being chocolate flavoured. In between the sponge lemon curd and on top Dutch whipped cream and mandarin parts. It unfortunately did not rise, but it tasted great non the less.
Ow and soon my posts will be in Japanese cause Chris got me the Berlitz learning programme :)

Some more crochet and Sushi

2009-02-09T10:26:00.006Z

Ok, I know I already posted yesterday, but I also finished another wee crochet project that I want to show you. I think everyone knows that I went to Wolf Park in the USA some 5 years ago. I absolutely loved it there and there I also met my love Chris. So as I am about to make a laptop sleeve for him, I needed to practice on the art of crocheting colored designs such as logo's. Conveniently I had Yellow and Black laying around and thought the Wolf Park logo would make a nice iPhone sock. So here is the result. It was incredibly difficult as the thickness of the wool only allowed for a chain of 21 stitches, which is equivalent to 21 pixels.

And I also found an older project of mine at making Amigurumi (Japanese crochet). It is a cat cupcake :) just in case you don't recognise it *G* The art of Amigurumi is so cool, for the fact that anything, literally anything can be crocheted and look soooo Kawaii !! I also made two mameshiba, but i forgot to make pictures of them before I gave them away for Christmas.

And here is Sushi again, hihi, she was begging for food :)

Greetz,
SW

Meet Monsuta chan.....

2009-02-08T15:42:00.007Z

Hi everyone,

As of late I have been crocheting a lot again. It is one of those things that once you start it becomes addictive, so I think I will need therapy soon *G*

This iPhone beastie turned out rather big, and is inspired by the phone frog that Ranka Lee has in the anime Macross Frontier. I partially filled it with beanies, for nice comfy holding. The iPhone is held in place by overlapping crochet and elastic woven through it.

Ow and another project from a few days ago, a hat made out of crocheted spirals. I got the recipe (pattern) from Woolly Wormhead. These are quick pictures taken with my phone. Hopefully I will be able to make some better pictures soon.

And last but not least two photies of an Iris.

Greetz,

SW

Bolt has arrived.......

2009-01-09T10:23:00.004Z

And here he is, I proundly present Bolt to you. He is a 38 cm high stuffed toy made by Disney. I have been waiting for it for months and yesterday I got lucky. I went to the Disney store in Glasgow in the hope it was there, but after a good look around I could not find it and eventually had to aske a staffmember. She said they had just gotten them in and gladly went to the back to get one for me, I was so happy :) It is super Kawaii, I love it.
So here are the pictures.

The new apartment

2008-11-27T10:18:00.014Z

Yesterday Chris and I went to see the new apartment we will be moving to by the end of January :)
It is absolutely beautiful as it has got lots of old features, including ancient stone stairs that lead to the front door on the 3rd floor. It is much bigger than the apartment we are in now, and we needed that.
Here are the pictures of it, Chris is in most of them *G*

Kitchen

Kitchen

Dining Area

Living Room

Living Room

Spare Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Hallway

Bathroom

The Rat Mobile

2008-11-27T10:07:00.006Z

Here are some pictures of our Rat Mobile of which I mentioned in the previous post.

rat mobile in progress

2008-11-18T13:09:00.005Z

Ok, so you buy a car, to be exact a Peugeot (don't ask me why) 406 1.9 TD in silver grey from 1998. Not a slow one, just decent and practical, but as for the outside, insanely boring. To remedy that, Chris and I got ourselves inspired by Banksy, got some black spray paint and made stencils *Grin*, see below the result:

It is not finished yet, so more pictures to come :)

Greetz,

SW

Hiking stick

2008-11-05T18:17:00.005Z

A project of mine from a couple of weeks back. While doing a mountain I found a very good long stick. After first drying it for a while I carved it and than painted it. Finally last week I varnished it. So yesterday was the day to try it out as we did Bidean nam Bian (Glencoe). It was a beautiful day to climb a mountain and my, did I enjoy that :)

So here are some pictures of my stick:

Final Mural

2008-11-03T18:50:00.003Z

Nope it wasn't finished, but now it is!!!!

Update on Mural

2008-11-02T16:18:00.003Z

The pefect view for the bedroom, a Loch. It took me a while to come up with this idea, because the limited space was not good for much.
As for the ivy, it is a lot of work, sigh.....

A mural on a wardrobe

2008-10-27T13:08:00.005Z

About a week ago I decided to do something creative with the wardrobe in the bedroom.
So the Mural project started, with the house being rented I had to be carefull with not damaging the wardrobe, so I decided to put plastic bags behind the (wall)paper.
The dimensions are quite insane, 52 cm by 204 cm per painting (2 pieces).
I took a few pictures during the process and currently I am still working on it.

Bolt/Spoon

2008-10-24T10:43:00.004+01:00

Yesterday Chris and I found out that Disney is going to screen a new movie in November
To be exact it is named BOLT and will be in the cinema on the 21st. As I saw the small thumbnail I immediately yelled "NOONAH". The main character is a white, shepherd dog aka a American White Shepherd. Amazingly Bolt also resembles our humble Northern Inuit. Not that Northern Inuits are supposed to be white, but none the less Nanook is.
We already saw the trailer and the 2 clips which can be found here and in the Itunes store.
It is very well made, as to be expected from Disney and the story seems good as well, with lots of humor.
And now to the point, I uploaded the official desktop for Bolt and Chris is amazing version for Nanook aka SPOON. I also added a picture of his Spoonness in real life ^__^

Freya and cats :3

2008-09-06T15:02:00.004+01:00

Ok here are some pictures of a freya and some cats

so enjoy

SW

Kushi Dango recipe

2008-08-28T09:42:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone,

For a long time already I have been wanting to make Kushi Dango. Dango is a common snack in Japan and used a lot in manga and anime. Dango is made out of rice flour and water and covered with a nice sauce of soy and sugar.
It takes about an hour to fully make the whole thing but it is worth it ^__^

Here is the recipe for about 4 servings:
1 1/2 cup of glutineous rice flour (maybe a bit more, but see for yourself)
3/4 cup of warm water (not boiling)

For the sauce:
1/2 cup of water (maybe a nit more, but see for yourself)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoons of soy (dark or any other)
3/4 tablespoon of patato/corn starch/flour
3/4 tablespoon water

This recipe was slightly adjusted from what this webpage said, but the rest is ok. The first time it is a bit of guessing, but it almost can not go wrong, or at least that is my opinion ^O ^

Well enjoy,

SW

Ben Lomond, Freya and my new bike

2008-08-15T15:43:00.010+01:00

Hi everyone,

Again I will be posting some pictures I took. First of all we climbed Ben Lomond last week and because it is not a very steep one we took Nanook out as well. Being a sleddog and all Nanook was so kind as to pull me up part of the way *G*
Secondly, a new pup joined the club, her name is Freya and she lives with friends of us. Freya is a cross terrier, lurcher and lots more and is so kawaii (Cute in japanese (^__^). So I decided to make a nice soft bed for her.
And finally I bought a new bike, not one with a motor but one with peddles *G* It is a 19" Giant Boulder with 24 gears. It is nice and sturdy which also means it is fairly heavy but all the weight is nice and low, so it rides like heaven (^__^)

Well that was it for today again,

greetz,

SW

Hello Kitty and sorts

2008-08-02T10:12:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone,

Wow it has already been a week since I arrived in Scotland. I already unpacked lots of stuff but am still not finished. Ah well, bit by bit it will come.
Chris had a bit of a welcoming present for me, it was like christmas eve :) and it was all Japanese stuff as well, Sugoi!!! Curisu Arigatou Gozaimasu ^__^

So I made a picture of some of the Japanese stuff, the Hello Kitty sushi set, a Hello Kitty bento box and a pig toy from san-x. Also we had to try out our new sushi stuff and made sushi the next evening, Kimochi ^o^. The result was a dish named Hello Kitty's rowing boat.
Also We went for a Forrest walk (Arachar) and since it was raining I wore my Hello Kitty rain coat. So you see Hello Kitty has the overhand these days ^__^
Also Chris took some lovely pictures of trees etc. But I liked this hover fly the most of all.

Tippy and engraving art

2008-06-29T19:00:00.007+01:00

Oi Oi Oi, two posts in one week ^__^ That does not happen often, but I thought I would share some nice art with you this time. 2 weeks ago I bought this small Dremel engraving machine and ever since I have been practicing on a variety of surfaces. So far ceramics is my favorite, because it is nice and soft and you can easily ink it.

Oh and I had some nice pics of Tippy as well, so enjoy -__^

Greets,

SW

NEWS!!!!!!! and horses of course

2008-06-24T20:02:00.008+01:00

Hi everyone,

It has been a long time again..... sorry about that, but I have been kinda busy with packing my stuff since I am moving in with Chris. So I'll be off to Scotland next month !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And to jump to a completely different subject straight away, last week I went to the horse event CHIO in Rotterdam. So here are some pictures.

Enjoy,

SW

Shetland ponies

2008-03-20T20:13:00.007Z

Hi everyone,

Here are some pictures I took last weekend at a friend's place. She breeds shetland ponies and some of them needed to be shown for the studbook. So this was the perfect op to take some good pictures of them.

Enjoy,

SW

Scotland

2008-02-10T12:13:00.001Z

Hi Everyone,

Here are some pics I took while spending a wek in Scotland again. I can recommend Chris his photie page for pictures of our appartment :)

First is Max standing by the riverside

I took many arse pictures, of which this one was the best. Perhaps I'll make one of those statues out of him *G*

A better view upon the Noo (tm)

A view of the riverside without any dogs

A view of the riverside with all the dogs

and last but cetainly not least, the Great Cthulhu.

More to come soon,

SW

Kawai Bawi

2008-01-20T19:19:00.000Z

Here is a small drawing I made today, hope you all love it.

SW

Dora Yaki

2008-01-13T19:20:00.000Z

Today I made Dora Yaki which is a delicious pancake like treat, which can be eaten as a dessert but actually is to go along with tea. Two small pancakes are put on top of each other with in the middle usually a paste of red sweet beans. Custard is also a common filling. However I chose whipped cream :) and yummy, it is delicious.
The recipe I used is from a fellow blogspotter :) http://onabentofrenzy.blogspot.com/2007/09/dora-yaki-recipe.html.

I can really recommend this recipe,

SW

ps Linda: you can give me pointers at all times, you know that :) I always appreciate helpful critics, however, I do not fancy killing the tree just because of a creative explosion *G*

2008-01-12T13:11:00.000Z

Whoops, well so much for the good idea :S I completely forgot to even start my laptop yesterday.

SW

Pic of the day

2008-01-10T19:18:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

I am gonna try something new, since I have been really bad at updating this blog. Work and such has been consuming all my time. Not that I have found anything in my field yet, so I temporarily work at the local DIY store.

So from today on I will be posting a random picture that I took somewhere, sometime :)

So today as the first picture a lovely young cat name muis (Mouse in English)

greetz SW

Chinese fan dance

2007-12-07T20:15:00.000Z

Check out this youtube video, it is definitely a beautiful dance

Greets,

SW

PS thanks to everyone for the grats :)

Master degree and canon 400D

2007-12-02T18:52:00.000Z

Good news, I have graduated for my Master degree in Animal Biology and Welfare!!!!!!

I am so glad, this also means that my dissertation has been approved.

And as a present for getting my degree my parents gave me a new camera, a canon 400D to be precise. And to practice I of course took some pics of my dogs. Enjoy!!!

Tippy was posing nicely, which is rare :)

Huge tongue

And another tongue flick, so my camera was tongue flick approved *G*

In Loving Memory of Leica

2007-10-25T10:17:00.000+01:00

At the good age of exactly 33 years and 6 months, my horse and above all best friend for 10 years, was laid to rest.

The daughter of Amanlia and Nartan, can now finally join her foal Cartouche.

Can I say goodbye?
Well than it is with a heavy sigh

I will let you flow
And with the wind you may go

While leaves are falling
And winter is calling

Forever the memories will stay
And than there will come a day..

That we will gladly meet again

Leica
April 24 1974- October 24 2007

I will miss you dearly, my friend

Abunai 2007

2007-10-09T20:44:00.001+01:00

Hi Hi everyone,

Last weekend I went to the second japanese culture convention this year which was Abunai in Enschede. It was simply great, we had a lot of fun so yeah what more do you want. And of course my friend (Mathilda) and I cosplayed as well. If you are wondering what cosplaying is, well it is dressing up like one of your favorite anime or manga character :) this also includes lolitas and maids.

Mathilda as a classic lolita on Saturday, Kawaii!!!!

An even cuter picture :)

Me as Kureha Suzuka from Tokko*G*

Me as Shouryuujo from the anime Legend of the Condor Hero on Sunday

And Mathilda as a Gothic Lolita

I definitely love this picture

And a silly one of a huge Sardine Can, which people call art for some reason :/

Been a while

2007-09-25T16:07:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone,

It has been a while, but I finished my dissertation!!!!

It will still be a while till I know if they accept it as a pass though :/

For now some pictures I took last week with my brother's camera (Canon 400D)

Oban and Edinburgh, Scotland

2007-08-31T19:36:00.000+01:00

Hi hi,

A few weeks back I went to see Chris for a few days, it wasn't long enough by far but we sure did have a great time. Oban is situated to the north west of Scottish coast. It is a beautiful place.

The next day we went to Edinburgh and by coincidence the Fringe was on. Lots of cool dancing, acting and tricks in the middle of the street. Camera Obscura and World of Illusions was absolutely crazy and made my brain spin for a few more hours afterwards.

We also went to Edinburgh castle, as castles are generally cool, unfortunately this one was not really impressive. In comparison Sterling Castle was far better, ah well.

Enjoy the photies,

Most of Oban from above.

Almost looks like a painting, doesn't it?

A stairway to.........

Where salt water meets fresh water, or the other way around. Cool bridge btw.

My love Chris climbing a bit, as usual :)

A dog at the entrance of Edinburgh castle.

Edinburgh skyline.

Utrecht, the Netherlands

2007-08-25T14:44:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

It has been a while, but hey dissertation is almost at end. 17 September is hand in date and I still have to do a lot. By the way, if any one is interested in reading the literature review on "The biology and welfare of toucans" and my paper on "The welfare of toucans in two dutch institutions" than please do let me know. It might still take a while before everything is peered etc. but at least I will know.

And now for something less intellectual. Photies!!! A few weeks ago I went to do a city trip with my dad. This time we went to Utrecht. The thing is that we never intend to do something with architecture, however it does always happen. We climbed the Dom and had a huge walk through the centre and some other bits. I can recommend it to everyone, especially if you are bored with Amsterdam *G* Utrecht is a student city and therefore there are many comic stores and other wee funny shops with strange and cool stuff.

Greetz,

SW

The Church to which the Dom used to be attached. A twister took the middle part of the church *G*

The courtyard garden, I avoided the very ugly modern architecture part

The Dom itself, it is 112 meters high

The view from atop the Dom

Like Amsterdam, Utrecht also has canals. most of these canals have lovely bars and restaurants right at the water, where in this case ducks are taking a nap

And of course the typical canal houses should not be forgotten. Though I don't quite know if that is a wise place for stairs, but perhaps that is also why the fence is there *G*

Puffins in trouble

2007-08-07T08:15:00.000+01:00

This is a reply to an off topic comment from Math (thank you) on a news heading on puffins in trouble:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6933378.stm

It has been known for a few years that the fish puffins normally catch to feed their chicks and themselves have been in trouble as well. Due to overfishing and possible other factors the normally fat long sand-eels are small and thin and hard to find.

Overfishing would not only seem the problem, as good old global warming is also blamed for the up rise of a non native plant called mallow tree. The nest sites are overgrown with this plant which leaves the chicks and puffins vulnerable to predators and weather elements.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2323405.ece

And apparently those are not the only threats, according to this article (from 2002):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2406179.stm
Rats have been and most likely still are a threat to puffins.

However there are still many things done for these birds. Have a look at this:
http://www.projectpuffin.org/
You can adopt a puffin and watch the live puffin cam, and there is lots of other info on puffins on as well.

Ow and perhaps we should stop buying sand eels of course!!!!!
More info on these tiny eel like fish can be found here:
http://www.marlab.ac.uk/Delivery/standalone.aspx?contentid=657

Thank you and kind regards,

SW

2007-07-18T17:42:00.000+01:00

This should be Eurocommerce Berlin according to the number it had, but unfortunately Berlin is grey and not bay, so it is a wild guess which horse this is, most probably also an Eurocommerce under Schroder.

The same horse as above, it had a bright red ribbon in its tail, probably for good luck.

This is Broere Phoenix, a dutch bred dressage horse under Kirsten Beckers. This horse did not contest at Chio, but most likely was there for experience and training.

CHIO Rotterdam 21 June, the Netherlands

2007-07-08T12:02:00.000+01:00

Just before I went to Spain with Chris, I spend a few hours at CHIO Rotterdan taking photies of the many horses there. I took my brother's Canon 400D with me and had fun working with it. I took many photies and selected about 27 good ones, so I just posted the first lot. Hopefully all the names are correct.

Enjoy,

A statue at the main ring

Number 213 Constance Menard with Lianca, a former circus horse

Number 244 Imke Schellekens-Bartels with Sunrise

Again number 244

Some more photies of spain

2007-07-03T08:13:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the photies, and to possibly enjoy you even more, here are some more photies. The last ones though, but for more beautiful photies, have a look on Chris his site.

Next up will be some photies from 21 June CHIO Rotterdam, a horse event for showjumping and dressage at high levels. My brother was so kind to lend me his Canon 400D *G*

A lemon tree with many lemons, it amazed me that many plants in southern DRY Spain hold so much water.

The rest of the lemon grove on which we had a view from the garden

Holiday photies

2007-07-01T11:03:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

Chris and I survived southern Spain *G* it was between 30 and 40 degrees during the day and about 20 at night. We had only a few drops of rain and that was during the night. A nice breeze made it durable enough to do things during the morning, afternoon and evening. Especially the evenings were beautiful with a nice sunset and a bright moon.

Below some photies of the holiday, so enjoy

A goat of stone guarding the entrance of a house

Spanish snails in matching colours

A huge working ant next to a more normal sized ant

Our rental car, a fiat punto which was a surprisingly good car. Good handling, spacious and fast, but the brakes were a bit weird

a closeup of a palm tree

Chris climbing, I think he climbed about everything he could climb :S

And the house :) where we spend the week, thanks to chris's parents

(More photies will follow shortly)

Holiday!!!

2007-06-22T08:54:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

Just a quick one, I'll be on holiday in Spain, Alicante, for the upcoming week.
So I wish everyone who is still working and won't have holiday for the upcoming weeks a good week. STERKTE!!!! (as we say it in Dutch)

Hopefully I will make some good photies, so keep checking after next week.

SW

Blue birds

2007-06-17T11:52:00.000+01:00

As many of you might know there are birds in many different and exotic colours. One of the colours that is seen in many birds is blue. I find it a very appropriate colour for birds as of course the sky in which they fly is blue as well.
So here are some photies I made at Avifauna (Alphen aan de Rijn, the Netherlands) of blue birds.

Enjoy,

SW

Red billed blue magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha) I already posted a photie of this bird earlier, but was a bit confused to what it was called, cause in dutch they apparently use the name Kitta for magpie while we also use the word ekster.

Greater blue eared starling (Lamprotornis chalybaeus)

Edwards pheasant (Lophura edwardsi), this one has red facial skin and blue shiny plumage, its cousin the crested fireback pheasant (Lophura ignita rufa) has bright blue facial skin.

White throated magpie jay (Calocitta formosa)

Animecon 2007

2007-06-12T20:26:00.000+01:00

This year I went to Animecon in Almelo, the Netherlands for the first time and IT WAS GREAT!!!!!

http://www.animecon.nl/Default.aspx/1

This picture is of a statue of a horse in the theater hotel.

Unfortunately no pics of the cosplayers as I actually was a bit amazed by all these people. So next year hopefully it will be better :) and with a bit of luck I will be cosplaying next year as well *G*

And this is Shiawase from Chobits :) isn't she cute

Avifauna and NOP

2007-05-29T14:28:00.000+01:00

Last week I went to visit the toucans at Avifauna in Alphen aan de Rijn and the NOP (Dutch shelter for Parrots) in Veldhoven to get information on management and to see if I could include their Toucans in my study to get a bigger sample size.

The Avifauna was very excited about the study and are glad to help and allowed me to observe and collect feaces from the 2 couples of Red Billed Toucans they have.

The NOP gave me lots of useful information about the management and especially nutrition, which is always a tricky thing with toucans. Although they have many toucans from all species it is unfortunately impossible to include them in my sample. Because it is breeding season the shelter does not appreciate me collecting feaces, by non invasive methods. And since this is a very delicate time I respect their choice.

As I was at both bird parks I had a look at the exhibits as well and managed some photies of various birds.

Enjoy,

A male Red Billed Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus) at Avifauna

A couple of Toco Toucans (Ramphastos toco) at the NOP

Where ever I go a Crowned Pigeon (Goura scheepmakeri) crosses my path. This picture was taken at the NOP

Even wooden ones *G* This one is found at Avifauna

A portrait of a White-crowned Hornbill (Berenicornis comatus) at the NOP

Another photie of a White-crowned Hornbill holding a piece of food, taken at Avifauna

A wrinkled Hornbill (Aceros corrugatus) at the NOP

A common female duck at Avifauna

A unknown bird with a impressive tail at Avifauna

And a artistic croc next to the noisy Lorrie exhibit, what would it be quiet if that croc was real.....sigh.......

JRs

2007-05-18T13:37:00.000+01:00

On many occasions I have posted photies of my 3 JRs, and today I ad another bunch of photies to that list. By now the oldest one Tippy is 10 and is still doing great dispite her Rheumatoid Arthritus. Jessie is the 8 year old and still has some trouble with her allergies, though she luckely grew over her food allergy. Cody is the youngest of the bunch with 3 years and has a clean bill of health, he is also the one that keeps the girls young.

Ow and I am glad everyone likes my new banner and of course thanks to all leaving posts, really I do read them *G*

SW

Tippy upon me calling her name

Mid yawn

Yo!!!!!

Jessie upon seeing my camera "Ow yeah a camera, sit still and look cute" *G*

I've got no words for that face :)

Hihi, Cody pretending he is Rudy, the banana nose

Cody on the real sheep fur, which he gladly marked when it was brand new, I am just glad he does not use it as a rawhide chew!!

Toucans and other birds

2007-05-15T17:48:00.000+01:00

Hi,

As some of you already know I am currently doing the MSc Course in Animal Biology and Welfare. The course has three parts of which one term in England at Writtle College near Chelmsford, Essex, one term in the Netherlands at the HAS in Den Bosch and 5 months of dissertation.
It was a bit of a hassle to find a proper dissertation but I was just in time with finding one. Well actually I was bold enough to go to Rotterdam Zoo (where I did a previous traineeship on Crowned Pigeons) and ask if I could do my own thought up dissertation there. At first I wanted to do research on the welfare of exotic pheasants, such as the Crested Fireback (Lophura genus). But the curator of the birds kept on talking about the many toucans they had and since I found it a better (in all perspectives) subject, I said yes and Rotterdam Zoo said yes as well.
So now I am working on a welfare assessment of 17 toucans at Rotterdam Zoo, and I am specifically focusing on stress. As a result I get to spend lots of time with birds and learn a lot from the keepers as well. This is of course perfect for not only knowledge and fun (like being bombarded with shit by Turacos and Oropendolas) but also photies.

SW

A Keel Billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus)

Another Keel Bill

A colourful beak of a Keel Bill (That was a close one by the way)

A female Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata)

A male Mandarin duck

The Bush-Stone Curlew (Burhinus grallarius)

Don't have to say it twice, but this female was on eggs and therefore sat very still. It did take me a while to find her as she was right in front of my camera :S Strange? Well very common for people like me to not see the obvious.

And lastly, a very rare sight, me on a photie !!! together with Tom Tom, the male Muscovy duck. Chris was so kind to take this one and many other pictures of the muscovys, check out his Photie Page (The link is on the right side).

Japanese cutlery

2007-05-10T19:50:00.000+01:00

Here are some pics I made of my new japanese style cutlery. I love these kind of cutlery and have a huge collection of it by now, mostly thank to my mom :).

Enjoy,

SW

Training of a dressage horse

2007-05-08T12:10:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

At the moment I have a whole waiting list for things to put on my blog, but my course often gets in the way. I'll tell more about that in the next post.

About two weeks ago my horse riding instructor called me with the question if I would like to accompany her to her own horse riding class. Of course!!!!! was my response :)

I made good use of having the chance to make some photies while both Lieneke and Kupfer (the horse) were working very hard.

Enjoy,

SW

More Amsterdam zoo pics

2007-04-27T18:20:00.000+01:00

I think I will need to change this blog into a photie blog, because it is all photies these days *G*
Maybe even more specific "an Animal Photie Blog".

Enjoy,

SW

Sea Urchin underside

Seahorse front view head

Scarlet Ibis

Huge pink butterfly

Leopard butterfly

A lizard

Ground Hornbill

A giraf

Artis yet again

2007-04-26T20:15:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

Here are some new pics of Amsterdam Zoo. I went there last friday with my boyfriend Chris :)

This is the first batch

Enjoy,

SW

A frilled Lizard

A dwarf mongoose

A crowned Pigeon

A Discus fish (Thanks to Linda!!)

A blue purper butterfly

Anemonies and a hiding clown fish

A happy african wild dog

Manga time !!!!

2007-04-03T18:59:00.000+01:00

Here is a manga drawing I just made. For the first time I am actaully satisfied with it.

The bamboo background and the cherry blossom design are not mine, so no credits for that, but the rest is mine.

SW

For Linda and others interested in the programmes I used :)
I didn't do this in Coral draw as I do not even have the program :S, but Photoshop and Illustrator are the ones I work with. I first drew the basis by hand, scanned it and traced it by using Illustrator, than I exported it to Photoshop and cleaned up as well as coloured it in. It was a bit of a hassle with the layers but it worked :)

Some more photies from Artis zoo

2007-03-16T08:13:00.000Z

First of all thanks for all the nice coments from Wolf Park *G*

Friday is originally Fish day in the Netherlands, thus fish and other under water critters it will be.

Enjoy,

A lionfish

I think I found Nemo, twice *G*

Nice coloury anemones

And some more anemones

In loving memory.... Seneca

2007-03-09T15:49:00.000Z

What is Marion going to do without her mate?

Seneca you will be missed

Amsterdam Zoo

2007-03-05T18:46:00.000Z

And now for something different. About two weeks ago I went to Artis Zoo with my brother and his girlfriend. We had a wonderful time, with actual nice weather.
Ow and I met one of my favourite animals again, a pheasant, I love them. If you imitate the male sound the bird will start as well and will actually come so close that all your pictures will be out of focus :/ *G*

SW

Here's a Llama

There's a Llama

Duck (Muscovy Duck)

Hmmm what does that make me think of? *G*
For the ones unfamiliar with it:
*warning* it will drive you crazy *G* but for me it does bring up some really good memories
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php

SW a quilt and two dogs

2007-03-04T14:36:00.000Z

Uh, well before I start with the Artis Zoo photies, here are some last photies of Scotland.

The Noo tm

The normally evil but this time not so evil Jess

Et la piece de resistance, me and my boyfriend Chris

Glasgow, Kelvingrove art gallery and Stirling castle

2007-03-02T18:20:00.000Z

Sometimes there is nothing interesting to photograph and sometimes I have so much I can post many pictures on my blog for days.

At the moment still pictures of my trip to Scotland 1 to 2 weeks ago.

After this bit I will be posting pictures of Artis Zoo in Amsterdam.

Enjoy,

Glasgow Uni taken in front of the Kelvingrove art gallery

"Wha are ya looking at?" A member of the grouse family (stuffed)

A tree at Stirling castle

Trossachs forest, Scotland

2007-02-27T18:50:00.000Z

The most beautiful forest ever, even in winter.

Enjoy,

SW

some more photies

2007-02-26T18:22:00.000Z

Another view from Ben Narnain on a mountain I forgot the name of :/

A close up of a strange, possibly exotic tree on the mountain.

A paraglider with suicidal issues. When landing he had to exactly pick a spot where the electricity cables ran through a field. His paraglide caught fire, but we think he made a run for it, as later we saw some electricity guys wondering around the spot staring at the broken cables in sheer confusion *G*

Some more Scotland

2007-02-25T15:07:00.000Z

For the upcoming week or longer I will be posting a few pictures a day. Blogger always takes a long time to upload pictures and since I've got loads of photies I want to share with you all, I am going to do it in bits.

Enjoy

This is not Scotland yet, but Rotterdam where I saw a nice row of smeaguls on a boat.

A view from Ben Narnain on Loch Long. It took 3 hours to go up and 3 hours to go down and we did not even make it to the summit because I found just a bit to steep. But in the end it is not about making it to the summit it is about enjoying the beauty of the mountain and the surrounding landscape.

Another view from Ben Narnain on Loch Long with a nice solar flair.

My boyfriend Chris on Ben Narnain.

A bit of snow can be so nice

2007-02-10T15:52:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

Here are some photies from last Thursday, but first of all a nice impression of what happens when the complete MSc class needs to go to the health service for a tbc check. This is because we are going to visit a primate research centre upcoming week.

Enjoy,

A snowy feature of Den Bosch

This is at the small forest near where I live, I never knew it could be this beautiful

Very artistic, not?

Personally my favorite one

An early (or late) Christmas card

In loving memory....

2007-01-31T14:47:00.000Z

To the worlds sweetest fridge/kitchen/food guarding hybrid ever known

SW

Bird-of-paradise Strelitzia reginae

2007-01-30T13:10:00.000Z

Some photies of probably the most extraordinary flower that exists.

Bounded for life, doggystyle

2007-01-22T18:27:00.000Z

Brains no longer work, the only thing than works is the endocrine system. "reproduce" it yells, cause that is what we live for, to give our genes to the next generation. Dogs in that way are very straightforward, bounding is bounding and that means being tied to each other for sometimes up to an hour. It certainly doesn't look pleasant, though I have seen wolves almost melt because they liked it that much. Once a day would be acceptable you would think, but no of course my two dogs had to exaggerate, let's do it three times on one day, starting with breakfast at 6:30 am, do it once more at lunch a few hours later and as dessert just before dinner. Why not, I don't care, Cody is neutered so he can't produce any sperm. It is just a great opportunity for pics, I felt a pit sorry though, because Cody was not standing very comfortable, but he here are the pics. I also added a few I made during the Christmas holidays.

Regards,

SW

Macaques, Mandrills and more

2007-01-14T09:56:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

It has been a while again, last week the term at HAS Den Bosch in the Netherlands started, and it was a complete chaos. As usual things went wrong, which seems to be a habit for both the public transport as well as the HAS (Higher Agricultural School).
None the less I've got a very nice project to work on with 3 fellow classmates on Macaques and Mandrills. Actually you could replace the monkey species with WOLVES *G* as the subject is important for more species. I can't be more specific than I am now, because it is kind of a delicate subject, but it is very interesting and a great opportunity.

But the week was not over yet, last week C. AKA Grumpy Wolfie, dropped by for a visit to the Netherlands *G*
And though the weather was wet, which of course suits me, after all I am called Soggy for a reason, we had lots of fun. We went to Rotterdam, R'dam Zoo, Breda, Antwerp (Belgium) and Amsterdam.

Next to that I have some bad news as well, Leica ("my" horse) has bumped into something with her eye. This caused water to be absorbed by the Cornea (top layer of the eye) and therefore she is on medication to try and make the eye better. But for now her sight is almost gone. She has no pain and is very relaxed during treatment. Today we have decided to stop the treatment as no improvement was visible. She is still the same old Leica and for as long as she is happy and not bothered by it, she may enjoy her old days as she has done for many years already.

I have added a picture GW took of Leica's eye, it is called Corneal edema.

Christmas markets in Cologne, Germany

2006-12-21T14:05:00.000Z

I went with some friends and had a wonderful day, in total we visited 4 out of the 6 markets, they are all in walking distance but a small "train" rides between them as well.
I can recommend these markets to everyone. They are beautiful and fun. There is lots of fantastic food and drinks as well as decorations and gifts one can buy.

To give everyone an impression I made some photies :)
Enjoy

SW

The Dom of Cologne

A window from as seen from the inside of the Dom

The Christmas market in at the square of the Dom

A very artistic king that visits Jesus

The Dom seen trough a tree with one single leaf

A posing Border Collie at the medieval market

Some dead animals at the medieval market, I hope the skunk protested *G*

And this happens when I'm in the train and get bored

I'm back...

2006-12-17T14:55:00.000Z

Uh well actually I'm already back for a week, but I took some time to resettle and cuddle my dogs and guinea pigs.

The last 3 months were great at Writtle, I learned a lot, made lots of new friends from all over the world and I had lots of fun.

I managed some nice pictures of the Muscovy ducks and one of Tippy as well as one of a fairy ring of mushrooms.

Enjoy :)

SW

This one is not so sharp but Peking duck looks very nice on it

This is Tom Tom a young male Muscovy duck

Some young Muscovy ducks

A fairy ring with mushrooms around a tree

And last but not least, one of my Jack Russells' looking cute

Cambridge trip

2006-12-03T08:47:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

finally some pictures again, Blogspot was not cooperating, so sorry for the delay. None the less, on Saturday we went to Cambridge. It was very good weather and there was lots to see and do. A friend and I also discovered the best bookshop (Heffers) in the world, where we lost each other for 15 minutes *G*
Being Cambridge they have lots of colleges in beautiful old buildings, Writtle college is noting compared to those student accommodations.

Well enjoy the pictures,

SW

King's College

Don't step on this grass without permission or else............

A Cathedral next to/ at King's college

A nice clock at some other college, and also a beautiful sky

This reminded me of Lord of the Rings, but perhaps I've just got to much imagination

A christmassy street

Busy, busy, busy.....

2006-11-27T08:39:00.000Z

It is just two more weeks and than my term in England is over. In the mean while I do not really have much time to post much. Although I do have some nice pictures I made a week ago. I will post those in a week or so. Cause this week I have to hand in two more assignments and do two presentations on them.

So just be patient and more posts will come,

Thanks

SW

Doggies

2006-11-04T12:59:00.000Z

The last few weeks have been very abundant in posts, especially in pictures. Here are some more pics of some lovely dogs I met last week in Scotland.

SW

Nanook aka The Noo, the Muzzle is not because he is dangerous, he is to silly for that, but it is because he wants Max's Alpha position.

Jess, she always looks like a devil, but she is really a sweetheart.

Max, a dog that loves to devour wood.

Colchester Zoo

2006-11-03T09:03:00.000Z

Two days ago we went to Colchester Zoo, because of our Behaviour (Ethology) class.
We had a very good guide that told us a lot about the animals and the enrichment of their enclosures. Because of all the talking I didn't really have time to take a lot of pictures, but when we got to the Canadian Timber Wolves, I kind of went crazy. I always do when I see wolves, so I grabbed my camera and shot as many pictures as I could. Unfortunately the windows of the enclosure where old and dirty, so I had to enhance all the decent pics in photoshop.
There was one alpha pair and 3 pups of this year, they had just been fed so they were all excited.

SW

Scotland

2006-10-31T18:38:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

This weekend I went to a very good friend who lives up in Scotland. The perfect holliday for in between assignments for the master course I'm currently doing.

The weekend was full of fun and amazing views, so I've got some nice pics.

SW

This picture was taken from the place where we parked the car, the top of the Buachaille Etive Beag is the one furthest away and in the middle of the picture.

Just to make sure you all believe I really climbed that mountain *G*

Cloud forming

A view of the other summet from atop the Buachaille Etive Beag

Another beautiful view

A nice view of the valley below

A waterfall at the foot of the Buachaille Etive Beak

A beautiful view of Loch Lomond

London Trip

2006-10-22T11:52:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I went to London, and the result are some nice pics for you to enjoy.

SW

A beautiful view from the balcony at Tate Museum of modern art

A warship on the Themes, which is a museum

A beautiful vase, note the price, it is 145,00 Pounds

One of the fountains on Trafalgar Square

The Tower Bridge

A dragon statue at the Tower Bridge

London trip continued

2006-10-22T11:38:00.000+01:00

St Paul's Cathedral

A swan

A squirrel in St James park, they are really tame, and very busy looking for food.

A Red-Breasted goose at St James park, mind the squirrel at the back

A grey goose at St James park