Zeveneiken Busreis en Boottocht de Vecht

Vrijdag, 5-september-2025 Veghel/ Maarssen - Om 08.45 uur ging de bus met 60 reizigers richting Schimmel 1885 in Woudenberg. Daar was de koffie. Daarna, volgde een rondleiding van de Utrechtse Heuvelrug en de Gelderse Vallei. Er was veel te zien, en onze gids kon het allemaal vertellen. Dan terug naar Schimmel 1885 voor lunch. Meteen pech voor een vrouw aan onze tafel. Ze was gevallen op haar gezicht met uitstappen van de bus. Ze werd met en vriendin door de hotelmanager naar een huisarts in de buurt gebracht. Daar kreeg ze een paar hechtingen. Helaas kon de bus niet wachten in verband met de brugtijden op de Vecht. Dan was het richting Maarssen. Daar stond onze boot de River Cloud op ons te wachten. Er was ook heel veel te zien vanaf het water. Onze kapitein was ook onze gids met feiten en achtergronden. Na een prachtige boottocht van twee uur, reden we weer richting Schimmel 1885 om de twee achterblijvers op te halen. Van daar reden we richting Nistelrode. We kwamen aan bij Eeterij Nisseroi. Na lekker friet en stoofvlees, gingen we met een volle buik terug naar Veghel. Daar zette Roel onze chauffeur ons netjes af.

foto's (284)

huwelijks harmonie (42 sec)

oeverbescherming (37 sec)

onder de Evert Stokbrug (2 min 39 sec)

aanmeren (2 min 05 sec)

Amelith Euchre Tournament

Saturday, 2- August- 2025 - Veghel - In 1963, when I was 14 and my brother Virg was 11, we entered the Amelith Euchre Tournament. It was a weekly competition that was held during the winter months. The organizers were surprised when we showed up. We were the first children to ever take part, but after a short talk among themselves, they allow us to sign up. There was no age limit specified in the bylaws. We could see the looks on the other players faces. Like what are they doing here? They’re just kids. They don’t know how to play. But Virg and I knew that we could play well. We said to ourselves, “Let’s just play like we always do.” Our first partners saw that we were serious about euchre, and that we could play well. The word got out; and after a couple of weeks, we were treated as equals. Halfway through the evening sessions, there was a coffee break with cookies. When we asked for milk instead of coffee, the ladies serving weren’t sure they had any, “We never had any children here before.” But it was the school auditorium and kitchen. There was always milk in the fridge. Well I’m not sure if we won that year, but we were both definitely in the top five.

My First Roll of Kodak Film

31-July-2025 - Veghel - For the past week, I've been busy with recycling my analog camera gear. This led me to watching the 2017 Netflix film Kodachrome (TV-MA) a couple of evenings ago. Yesterday, I watched the 30-min documentary National Geographic: The Last Roll of Kodachrome, chronicling how Steve McCurry shot the last ever roll of Kodachrome. These movies brought back memories of my first roll of Kodak film.

In 1972, I was stationed in Turkey, serving with the US Air Force. It was a time when Turkey was under martial law. After emptying  out my checking account to buy a Minolta SR-T 101 with a 58 mm f1.4 lens, I somehow still had enough money to buy a roll of film. I started off with Kodak color negative film. These are the first pictures I shot with my new camera. This photo shows a woman with a heavy load--I felt that time had stood still for 80 years.

PA005_first_roll_of_kodak_film_ankara_1972-03 (12)

1.     Rushing Into the Future. The sign reads, “Ne mutlu Türküm diyene – Atatürk”. Happy is the one who says, “I am a Turk”.

2.      Heavy Load

3.      On Duty

4.      Water Tower Warning

5.      Patrolling the Streets

6.      Early Takeoff from Esenboğa

7.      Anatolian Sunrise

8.      Dormitory Art

9.      Lunchtime Football Match

10.   Old Reliable

11.   Waiting for the Bar to Open

12.   Essentials Only

My Setup for Digitizing 35mm Film

Monday, 28-July-2025 - Veghel - I needed a way  to digitize our family images shot on negative and transparency film. I found may ways to do this on this internet. This is my homemade setup for digitizing 35mm film inspired by photographers Peter Forsgård and Alexander Matragos and Peter Krogh.  It's  custom made for using my Olympus TG-4. This is my alternative to using a scanner. The components and materials are listed below.

Here is my DIY copy stand for digitizing photos also inspired  by photographers Peter Krogh and Alexander Matragos. 

photos (34) 

components and materials

bilora super biloret tripod

JJC LED Film Scan Adapter

Topiky Rail Glider Base Plate

UTEBIT50mm Quick Insert Clamps (2)

homemade plywood spacer

1/4-20bolt custom made to fit

In 1971 This Song Came on the Radio

Monday, 28-July-2025 – Veghel - It was July 1971, and I was on my way from Bay City, MI to Loring AFB, ME, my next assignment for the US Air Force. I had just bought a “brand new” 1970 Chevy Nova with my Grandpa Ulbricht’s inheritance money (I left my worn out 1961 Chevy Impala behind on the lot). It was dark green and had a six-cylinder engine and a three-in-the-tree stick-shift manual transmission. I planned for three days to get there so I could enjoy the scenery along the way. I was so excited while driving on the ON-401 highway to my next adventure. I had beautiful sunny weather all the way. I was somewhere between Kingston and Montreal when this song came on the radio--in August, it would be the number 1 hit in Canada for four weeks. (I never knew who sang it, until today). I thought, Life doesn’t get any better than this.

Roblox

Monday, 21-April-2025 Veghel - It's almost Jakob's birthday, and he likes coding. so I tried coding a simple game in Roblox. I first asked ChatGPT for help.

 

ps. Don't tell Jakob. It's a surprise.

request

code

roblox game (requires free roblox account and free player to run)