A tribute to the wonderful animals killed in the fire at Krefeld Zoo

Hi Everybody!

The new year did not get off to a good start for all. In The Near East people are suffering under a war, causing yet more destruction, death and people fleeing for their lives. In Australia the bush fires are out of hand, and many people and animals are in great danger. My thoughts go out to all, especially blog friends - keep safe. Thanks to all the heroes who fight the fires, and those who feed and help them.

Here in Krefeld, a little town on the other side of the Rhine here, there was also a fire tragedy in the new year's night. Three ladies, a woman and her 2 adult daughters bought Chinese lanterns from the Internet, and after writing their wishes for the new year on them, lit the lamps and let them fly. They apparently didn't know they are forbidden because of the fire-danger they present. They landed in the Zoo in Krefeld, one of them on the roof of the house where the gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and apes live, and the house burnt down, together with more than 30 beautiful animals that lived there. Only 2 chimpanzees were saved.

When the women heard on the news what had happened they showed courage and went to the police and owned up to causing the fire, and they are as devastated as we all are here. Today I am showing some pictures taken there in the last couple of years when I visited the Zoo with Nathalie, a little tribute to these intelligent and sociable animals who had such an awful end:

Sorry about the poor quality of some of the pics caused by the reflections on the glass:

The oldest silver-back gorilla in Europe also died:

This artist worked with them:

It was wonderful to see how loving and social they were:

This has made everyone here very sad.

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Rain's Thursday Art Date & Second on the 2nd

Hi Everybody!

Hope you have all well and truly arrived in the new year!

The first day of the year here dawned bright, sunny and very frosty, and I was able to have three wonderful walks before the sun went down and the darkness crept in,  with a decorative crescent moon to make it even more beautiful.

These are some of the wonderful transformations which we can witness  every day, wherever we are, and transformations is also the theme of Rain's Thursday Art Date this week. It's also time for Elizabeth's 2nd on the 2nd, so I have dug up lots of past pieces which fit both themes. I am also linking to
Paint Party Friday

Light, dark, shadows and colours transform our world day for day:

Education transforms us and helps us develop into knowledgeable and responsible adults:

Gardens transforms themselves from season to season and reward the work we put into them with colour and beauty:

Dragonflies and butterflies are for me remarkable examples of transformation:

Music, frost and beauty transform the world and our souls:

Peace would transform our world to a much better place:

Inventors transformed the world with revolutionary inventions and ideas. One of the greatest was perhaps Leonardo da Vinci:

The wheel transformed lives:

We can transform ourselves with bright accessories:

And my daily coffee transforms me from a bad tempered old goat to a (mostly) rational and thinking being:

And my photos from today's transformations:

My long shadow on the frosty path - with a peep at my boots:

Visiting the llamas at Schloss Kalkum:

In the evening a hazy mist started to rise:

And then the crescent moon came out:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Welcome 2020

Hi Everybody!

Here's wishing us all a happy and healthy 2020.

We are starting a new year and a new decade, which will hopefully be a good one.

This past year has gone by quickly.

I am not doing a review of it just now, or making any resolutions for the new one. I just want to live in the present.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, but today is a present, which we need to use wisely.

I am sharing my wish for us all with a tag made for Pinky's challenge, celebrations, at Tag Tuesday

The sun goes down on one year....

And rises on the next:

The words of Ecclesiastes, written so long ago, are still meaningful:

 'For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.'

(Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8)

I hope that this year will be more of a time for love, peace and understanding that this last one was.

Have a good start in the new year, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!