Our Love Tree...

Veronica and Brett took on the task of putting together our tree on December 9...

…but only put on the lights...

...as we were waiting until Ashlynn arrived on the 21st so we could decorate it as a family. 

Our family decoration for 2021 was very apropos, complete with toilet paper, masks, the coronavirus and Brett. 

This was the first time since 2018 that we were all together to reminisce about the wonderful trips that led us to buy the decorations. 

 

Thirty Years of Hashing...

Although officially the 30th anniversary of my first hash was on December 27, I celebrated this milestone by haring the December FILTH on the 18th. Opee helped me pre-lay the trail from Voorschoten Station. While he threw a tennis ball to make his flour dollops, I used a squeeze bottle so I didn’t have to chase a ball. In my other hand was a water bottle.  

Comes Too Soon ran ahead of me during the hash, so could help Opee man the beer break with special craft beers bought at the local gourmet grocery store.

We had a nice group willing to brave the cold temps to join in the celebration. 

We did another stop at the bar in the village...

….and a gluhwijn stop in the woods at the park downtown. 

Then we hosted everyone back at our house for a chili dinner. It was our biggest crowd in the house since before the pandemic started. Glad we managed to pull it off.
 

Random City Lights...

There were lots of other lights to be seen around Amsterdam, including the giant Christmas tree at Dam Square...

…and lots of interesting buildings.

We passed by the Dutch Holocuast Memorial of Names, that opened in September 2021, bearing the names of the 102,000 victims from the Netherlands who weren’t properly buried. 
 

More Light Installations...

The inflatable Bunch of Tulips was a kitschy way to depict a historical and touristy symbol of the Netherlands.

Van Gogh’s Starry Night came to life through 1,400 acrylic tubes lit by small LED bulbs. In a previous edition, it was hung up high, so it was nice to be able to see the tubes up close.

Passing boats caused movement in the water which in turn made the butterflies in Butterfly Effect rise and fall.   

Drawn in Light was a metal mobile depicting a typical Amsterdam canal house and elements surrounding it.

This bed in Not Yet My Story looked very inviting despite being in the middle of a canal. 

While reading about Bridge Over the Rainbow, it was fascinating to learn that Descartes was the first person to scientifically explain the rainbow while living in Amsterdam in 1636. 

The imposing pillars of this bridge made the street artist Frankey think of Star Wars. Instead of giving Darth Vader a light saber, Darth Fisher had a fishing pole

Laundry, an everyday item, took center stage above a houseboat in Neighborhood.
 

More Favorite Lights...

Moonburn was quite lovely, especially considering it was just a giant balloon painted with fluorescent paint. 

It was extra special that we were allowed to walk out onto one of the locks, which is usually closed to the public. Unfortunately, Veronica and Brett had split off from us so missed this unexpected feature. 

It was nice to see Night Drawing again with its erratic rearrangement of lights from the Skinny Bridge 

Closer to Amsterdam Centraal was this interesting reimagining of the bridge to NEMO, the science museum.

I’m glad we didn’t turn back before we reached Run Beyond, the furthest point on the route, as I thought it was very cool. 

If you look carefully, you can see that the bottom two figures weren’t lit yet here...

…but were in this shot. The lights cycling on and off gave the illusion of motion. 

 

Faves from the Light Festival...

Jimmy and I walked around the Light Festival in Amsterdam in December with Veronica and Brett and again in January with Bob, Lisa, Maria and Micah, so I’ve included a mix of photos, The route was longer than usual in an effort to keep folks socially distanced. Here is our group enjoying some homemade gluhwijn across from SPIDER. 

Consisting of 80 small spiders (each 6.5 feet/2 meters wide) that lit up in intervals, this enormous spider looked like it was crawling down the former university science building.  

After being closed down for the previous two winters, this tenth version of the festival consisted of installations from previous years. Several years back, we went on a boat through Whole Hole, which gave an illusion of travelling at warp speed. It was cool to see it from above. 

It basically was a giant wire frame covered in hundreds of LED strips otherwise known as Christmas lights. 

It was also very cool to see it from the opposite side of the canal, complete with a nice reflection.

The most amazing of all of the installations was Ghost Ship. Oddly enough, it was initially the most disappointing as when we tried to view it from the opposite side, which was the official starting point of the walking route, all we saw was water spraying upwards. When we circled back towards the station, we spotted the ship, which might look like some kind of structure but was merely an illusion created by “water curtains and old-fashioned stage lights.”