About Me

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Antwerp, Belgium
Welcome to the new, and improved version of Heaven in Belgium. I am Jientje. "Jientje", like the boys name Gene, followed by "chu"? "Gene-chu", that's how you pronounce my name. Yes!!!!That's it!! So now you know huh? I am an addicted blogger. I was born and raised and am still living in Belgium. Yeah, the "this-is- Tuesday-so-this-must-be-Brussels" kind of Belgium .. There, you see? Maybe you couldn't find it on the map, but at least I'm trying to change that a little by sharing lots of pictures. I really love to cook and create new things, like this blog for instance. I am a mother,a grandmothe and a wife too! They say I'm a traveler, and a photographer. Well that's just what they say, I love to make pictures, but I am far from professional ... If my English is not perfect, that would be because it's my second language. I do hope you'll forgive me any possible misspellings or strange vocabulary ... Now, as a result of all of the above, I get way too little sleep and my days are always much too short!

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Heaven is in Belgium

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The Castle by the Pond, Part Two

 

Every step I took, every time the light changed,
… everywhere I looked was a different picture.

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The beautiful light of the “golden hour” made it look like Fall instead of Winter. 

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There was nobody around but us. 
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The whole place breathed peacefulness. 
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Look at that light …
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I mean LOOK at that? Beautiful isn’t it? 

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Now turn around one more time…

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I hope you enjoyed the walk with me. There will be a couple more tomorrow, can you believe this? I don’t think I’ve ever made so many photos from one and the same place ever!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Castle by the Pond … Part One

 

This is the castle of Horst, the one the one that is in my header. We were there about ten days ago between two and three in the afternoon. The sky was pretty gray but the frozen pond gave it a photogenic different look. We decided to walk all around the pond with our cameras and shoot from different angles.

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The first two pictures were made with the D40. After that, I put it away. The Big Guy is still very heavy for me. I continued the walk with the SX-1IS.

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Here we are in front of the closed gate, now turn around and walk to the right.

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Do you see my husband in this picture? That’s where we’re heading for.

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There. Still very gloomy and gray, isn’t it?

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But all of a sudden - while I was shooting pictures of the stake I posted yesterday - something started to happen. 
 

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It was as if someone was switching the lights on. 
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It was magical.

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The warm sunlight made me look for signs of Spring.

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It was just beautiful the way the light kept changing.

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The warmth of the sun made the ice thaw. As we walked around the pond saw the castle from different angles. The changing light made it a photographer’s paradise, and I made many more pictures as we walked on. I am going to do a part two tomorrow because this post is already getting very long and I don’t want you to grow bored with me. Please come back for part two of this taste of Belgium tomorrow.


Oh and while you’re here anyway, have a peak at Heavenin365, my new blog with a picture a day taken with the “Big Guy”, the Canon D40.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Macro Monday, Hanging in There

 

 

I loved the textures on the top of this wooden stake. A thin layer of ice covered it and there was moss and plants growing over it.

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Chipped yellow paint

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An oak leaf stuck in one of the cracks of the wood …

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Just barely hanging in there, waiting for Spring.

 

More Macro Monday pictures at Lisa’s Chaos.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Weekly Winners, Snow and Ice

 

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It’s been very cold here in Belgium, we’re even getting our share of snow.

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Snow is not all that often on our weather menu …

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I love it because it creates extra special photo opportunities.

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Icicles make a change from the usual raindrops, don’t they?

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Hanging in there, waiting for Spring.

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A walk along the canal.

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Crisp air and blue skies, I enjoyed it.

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Almost sunset.

  IMG_4720Heavenin365 means playing with the Big Guy, which involves photographing
… anything I can point my camera at!

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From peeling potatoes …

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To boxes of chocolates

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Winter decorations

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Even teddy bears!

I had a great week. And you?
More Weekly Winners at Sarcastic Mom’s. 


Heavenin365 my 365 project and new blog are Heavenin365

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Weekend Reflections, the Pond by the castle

 

The pond by the castle had just started to thaw a little around the edges. A perfect opportunity to make some Winter reflection photos. I hope you enjoy.

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The kids from the village used to meet in this corner of the pond to go swimming. My husband was one of them. There even was a diving board and cabins to change clothes way back then. You did have to be careful not to jump too deep or you’d end up with your head sticking in the mud!

More Weekend Reflections photos at James’ Newton Area Photo

Friday, January 8, 2010

Friday’s Fave Five, First Week of 2010

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It’s Friday again, the first week of 2010 is almost over. Friday’s Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is a great meme making us look back at the week that has passed and count our blessings.

It’s been a wonderful week. Most important item this week is …
1.The new challenge I got myself into. My husband’s Canon D40 has hardly been used since he got it, so I’m going to be the one using it. I’ve challenged myself to work with this big guy at least an hour a day trying to get to know him and understand how he works. At the end of the day, I pick one photo a day and post it on my new blog. That way I’m hoping to grow into it a little and to be able to see the progress I’m likely (or should I say hopefully) going to make. I photograph everything and anything now, even while peeling potatoes! ROFL!

Fiday's fave five 1Creativity and photography are the main key words this week I guess.
2. Last Saturday my husband and I went on a photo walk around the castle of Horst. It’s a place he knows well since he spent a lot of his school holidays there with his aunt who lived nearby. We took a long walk around the castle, and something magical happened. The sun came out, making the clouds part which changed the light all the time. It was as if somebody “up there” was playing with the light switches, illuminating the castle and the frozen pond. The castle was bathing in warm sunlight and all the colors started to pop. It was photography heaven. More pictures are to come within the next few days.

Friday's Fave Five  33. Snow and cold weather. I never thought I would ever hear myself say this, but I’m actually enjoying the snow and the cold Winter weather we’re getting here the last couple of days. It makes me want to go out for a walk in the cold crisp air. Coming home to real old fashioned cold weather comfort food after that is just wonderful.
4. Isn’t it great when you can find a great bargain, especially when you were not even looking for it? I went to the supermarket to buy bread baking flour when I stumbled upon this book. It’s a real baking “bible”, with old fashioned recipes and newer ones, a book I always wanted to have but somehow never bought. It was on sale yesterday! I paid 5€ instead of 25€ normal price. It was the next to last one, the last one still wrapped in plastic! I’m so happy with it!

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5. I packed all the Christmas stuff and redecorated the living room yesterday, and I’m VERY happy how it looks. I made little arrangements with a snowy theme .
I’ll tell you how I did it: I used dried leaves and Hydrangea flowers - leftovers from my fall decoration - and silk roses. I sprayed them with snow spray. I sprinkled some artificial snow on while the paint was still wet and left them to dry. I used these ingredients to create flower arrangements and decorations throughout the living room. A little more snow here and there, an art book, Boyds Bears all dressed up for Winter … ( They even have skies and a sprinkle of snow on their noses! ) I had fun!

It’s been a great week, how was yours?

More Fave Five posts at Susanne’s Living to Tell the Story.
More pictures of me on my new blog Heavenin365.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Winter Sepia Scenes at Bokrijk Park

 

 

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Bokrijk Museum park is always a beautiful place to shoot pictures, but when Mother Nature cooperates and decorates the park with a thin layer of snow, it becomes a decor for Anton Pieck prints. Perfect for sepia pictures.


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Click the link to find more Sepia Scenes  participants.
Click here to discover Heavenin365.
A picture a day, my latest photo challenge.

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