Happy Halloween to ye all!

Arona

Playing with black and white

Varano Borghi

Fog again in the morning

Arona

A life-long promise

Brussels, Belgium

Hurrying to church

Schipluiden, Holland,

where, they say, famous 17th century Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer, got married.

"Chocolat"

When you have the chance to go to Brussels in Belgium, take a walk through the characteristic little streets around the majestic Grand Place with its architectural wonders, but do not forget to visit the Queen's Gallery (Galerie de la Reine) with its elegant shops but, most of all, with its magnificent chocolate parlours, where the scent of a variety of dark, white, bitter-sweet, gianduja and candy-covering chocolate in all shapes and compositions inserts itself into your nostrils like a bull's nose ring, which makes you obediently walk along tables and shelves full of handmade treasures. Convincing shop assistants know exactly where and how to hit the weakest point in your soul and you cannot resist buying more than necessary, hoping that the ones you love will appreciate these precious gifts rapped up like tiny origami sculptures. Before the treasures are carefully folded away, take one out and let your palate hull you to heaven and then down again: the chords of your senses will suddenly play that symphony you have always been waiting to hear! This, to celebrate my 300th photo with you!

Galerie de la Reine, Brussels

The climate change...

...when all bloggers come together as one, to put on pressure on all leaders of the world to make them more aware of the fact that the advancing scarcity of sweet water wells is compromising the world's growing need of water and food; that the increasing temperatures are melting the ice of the poles and of the glaciers, and thus increase the level of the seas, which with their salt water will invade and destroy our lands and our need for sweet water; that scarcity of this blue gold and consequently advancing desertification of many an agricultural part of our planet will generate hunger and thirst on an enormous scale, and cause migrations to parts of the world which would not have sufficient structures and infrastructures to host those in need. Our leaders must immediately take serious decisions for the sake of our children, grandchildren and the generations to come.

Val Roseg in Switzerland,

where ice and eternal snow were once abundant

Still life...

...in my family home in Holland

The Hague

Tiny houses for the tallest people in the world

Statistically, the tallest people in the world, as measured by country, are the Dutch. The average height for all adults in the Netherlands is 1.85m. There are taller people belonging to certain populations like the Maasai, who live in parts of Kenya and Tanzania. But as a whole, the citizens living in Holland are on average the tallest people on the planet. The Dutch are followed by the Danes (1.83m). The Americans who used to be the tallest, have fallen on stature to an average height of 1.78m. Researches have attampted to account for what makes a certain country have the tallest people and conclude that factors for height include a combination of genetics and nutrition. Those who study these statistics suggest that the Dutch emphasis on early childhood care, a diet rich in dairy products and thus high in protein, and a fairly even distribution of wealth have contributed to making the Dutch the world's tallest people.

Main square in Gouda

Holland

In the silence of a sunday morning

" Westland" near The Hague

Holland

Playing with the power of Nature

Scheveningen

Holland, the land where the horizon...

...is kissed by the clouds.

the Northsea
Scheveningen