Last Of The Sights, With A Rest In Sight…

My last post from the 2016 Garderen Sand Sculpture festival ends with a large rotating gate that takes me out of the sand sculpture area and back into the outer exhibition area. The last of the garden ornaments and decorative pieces catch my eye. Some are large like the wood burner, others tiny like the little gnomes in hammocks, on ladders and the like. After getting my last shots I wait outside the gates for Himself to come and pick me up. Back on the main road I get a few fleeting photographs of a beautiful statue as we make our way back to our hotel.
The use of a wheelchair has made this day possible, now I have earned a serious rest.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

Garderen Apples: Slices Of Wit And Wisdom…

After a zillion photographs of sand sculptures we are now back to the beautiful fiberglass apples that are on display in the outside exhibition area. I’m almost at the end of the tour here and this is the last of the fiberglass apples posts. The theme is year is  “Dutch sayings” and the gnomes painted in Rien Poortvliet’s style are portrayed with just the right mixture of detail and humour. The first saying is:

“Luiheid verarmt, arbeid verwarmt.” which translates as: “Laziness makes you poor and labour makes you warm“.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

“Het is van een oude man dat men wijsheid leren kan.”  is “it is from and old man that people learn wisdom.”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

“Een sneeuwbal en een lasterwoord groeien onder ‘t rollen voort.” this one translates as: “A snowball and a word of gossip grow while they roll on.”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

“Vliegt de zwaluw laag, verwacht een regenvlaag.” the saying is easy and literal: “If you see a swallow flying low, expect rain.”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

“Als man en vrouw tezamen kijven moet men op een afstand blijven.” this one says:  “If and a woman argue, stay away (keep out of it).”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

What Floats The Boat Of One Person, Rocks The Boat Of Another.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

After visiting the “Competition” section, housed in the second indoor section of the 2016 Garderen Sand Sculpture festival, I found myself in a large room filled with paintings and sketches.

At large enclosed sand sculpture dominated the end wall: the man stands holding the head of a horse in harness.

The details of the tug (the strap on the large collar that can tightened through a buckle like a belt) and the rope attached to the collar is amazing.

The horses mane, the mans face, the horses head, everything is beautifully structured, well thought out and beautifully rendered.

The large sign on the wall says: ” The world of Rien Poortviet”,  the paintings and sketches on the walls,  his studies of horses, wild animals and rural life.

In true Poortviet style, a few gnomes have crept into this section too. I can appreciate the work that has gone into the paintings but apart from the one that shows a snowy winter scene with a deer, none of these are the sort of thing I would ever want on my walls. The winter scene mainly scrapes passing grade because I’m attempting to draw leaves and trees at the moment so am sizing up almost every tree I see as a possible model. Art is of course an extremely subjective thing, what floats the boat of one person, rocks the boat of another.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Wikipedia / Dutch Artist / Rien Poortvliet
Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

By The End We Had The Last Laugh…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

In my last post from the competition section of the 2016 Garderen Sand Sculpture festival, I learned a thing or two about Dutch sayings.

Ever since I saw the images in No. 40, I was perplexed about what on earth it might mean.

Then Himself explained it, the lightbulb moment occurred, and was so obvious I was amazed I couldn’t see it earlier.

I think that call that “Hiding in plain sight”, or since the image is of lips, maybe even more appropriately the answer was literally: “Right under my nose!”

I have enjoyed the challenge that finding the answers has entailed, of course all credit has to go to Himself since I did very little work on the identification front.

We may have been slow in the beginning but in the end we had the last laugh.

(38) ” bij de buren is het gras altijd groener” By the neighbour the grass is  always greener. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(39) “de baby weggooien met het badwater” to throw the baby out with the bath water.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(40) “aan iemands lippen hangen” to hang on someones lips (to listen attentively to everything someone says.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(41) “wie het laatst lacht, lacht het best” who laughs last laughs best “to have the last laugh”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

A Historical Treasure Hunt In The Literary World?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I’m not sure if Himself and I are getting better at this as we go along, or if the easy answers were left until last.

Certainly there were many of the pieces in the 2016 Garderen Sand Sculpture competition section that translated more or less in to an easy English language equivalent.

Wither or not we got the translations of the phrases right is another thing, but I think we got close. No. 34 stumped us… if anyone has ideas I’d appreciate your comments.

Regarding  yesterday’s glitch, I appear to be going though a phase where I lose concentration and make stupid mistakes, luckily I write all my texts in a separate document and I still of course have the photographs so I could reload almost everything again.

The only thing I forgot to save was the title,  and since I made this post several weeks ago. I no longer remember what that was so apologies if you thought it was a different post because the title changed. The Dutch sayings make me curious: How did it come about that one culture has a bull in a china shop (see yesterday’s post) and another replaces the bull with an elephant? How did an apple come to replace the bone, when you have to sort out an issue with someone? It would be interesting to try and find out how these differences came to be. It would be a fun hobby for someone interested in this kind of historical treasure hunt in the literary world.

(33) Here we see  clump of grass and closer inspection reveals a snake. In Dutch: “een addertje onder het gras “, Literally means: “an adder under the grass”  which is of course to call someone “a snake in the grass.”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(34) Punch and Judy, toys with musical notes… ??? (This one stumped Himself, I was no help at all).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(35) A giant hand peels an apple: “een appeltje te schillen hebben met iemand “, Literally: “an apple to peel with someone.” This one changes from apples in Dutch to bones in English: “to pick a bone with someone.” meaning  that you need to sort out a problem you have with someone.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(36) In this sculpture we see a goat eating the lowest leaves on a tree. Himself thinks this is the saying: ‘Een oude bok lust nog wel een groen blaadje’, Literally: “an old goat wants the greenest leaves.” I thought it talks about  “someone who only picks the lowest hanging fruit”  i.e. takes only the quickest and easiest tasks, but there is no fruit shown on the tree at all. Himself says that in fact it means: ‘old men still like young women’, so it’s about old goats (old men!) chasing women young enough to be their daughters!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(37) Here we see an archer firing many arrows at once. This is the expression:  “veel pijen op je boog hebben“, Literally: “to have many arrows on your bow.” I first thought that the English expression might have also referenced “arrows”, but might this actually be: “to have many strings to your bow” instead?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

Crisp Edges, Unwavering Edges…

The Garderen Sand Sculpture festival always runs a competition section where the public can try and guess the answers provided by the sand sculpture clues. In 2016 the theme was “Dutch sayings” so I enlisted Himself as a Dutch native speaker to see if we could solve as many of them as possible.

A couple of them were instantly recognisable, others, like the monkey in the sleeve, had me laughing  (and scratching my head) as I wondered how on earth someone came up with this one because it seems to make no sense. I must say that many of these have intricate sculptural work and I often have to pinch myself to remember that these have been sculpted in sand. For instance, how they achieved the crisp edges and smooth unwavering curves within the “Dubbeltje” (ten cent piece) of sculpture Number twenty-nine is beyond me. The two men in No. 30 are beautiful examples of sculpture, sand or otherwise.

(26) This shows an elephant surrounded by plates: “een olifant in een porceleinkast” Literally: an elephant in a china shop which of course translates into the English language saying ” a bull in a china shop”.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(27) A man shoveling dirt into a well over a dead calf: “als het kalf verdronken is, dempt men de put“, Literally means ” once the calf has drowned,  it is too late to fill up the well,  which talks about taking measures after it is too late. I think the closest English language equivalent would maybe be = ” it’s too late closing the stable door after the horse has bolted”.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(28) The sight of a monkey looking out from inside a shirt sleeve had me giggling even when I had no clue what the saying was. Apparently it’s “de aap komt uit de mouw” which literally translates  “as the monkey comes out of the sleeve” and the meaning behind it is that ” the truth is revealed”.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

 

 

 

 

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(29) A ten cent piece from the era of the guilden = “als je voor een dubbeltje geboren bent, wordt je nooit een kwartje” Literally: if you were born a doubeltje (10 cent piece) then you will never be a kwartje (25 cent piece / quarter). Himself tells me that this very much a historical saying = ” if you are born poor you will always stay poor / remain in your class / that you can not rise above your station.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(30) Here we see two very impressive figures in naval uniforms :  “de beste stuurlui staan aan wal” the best mate  ( meaning the person who steers a ship) are ashore and the meaning is that spectators know best how to do a job / it’s about back-seat drivers ones who are quick to critise but never actually do the job themselves.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(31) This one of course has exactly the same saying in English , so “krokodillentranen huilen“, which literally means “crocodile tears crying” means to cry crocodile tears.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(32) man swatting a fly, suddenly I realise there are two flies so this must be: “twee vliegen in een klap“, Literally “two flies in one hit” which I think may be the equivalent saying in English ” to kill two birds with one stone”.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

 

Sand Sculpture Competition Continues…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Apologies for the glitches that are going on right now.

I set items in the schedule, first I think maybe I posted the same set of text and pictures for two different dates.

Then when I next looked it looked like the entire content for Sunday 11th June was gone.

I’m having some issues with concentration lately, but even that surprised me.

Here one moment, gone the next? I don’t seem to know which way is up at the moment. Now I’m going to repost as much as possible so that there is no longer a blank page there.

The next set in the competition section Garderen Sand Sculpture festival is one that Himself also had a fifty, fifty success rate when it came to identification.

We checked the dictionary meaning of the first one (Number 20) and learned it’s origin: “A horses teeth grow throughout it’s life and so you can judge the age of a horse by looking at it’s teeth.

However, if you get given a horse don’t look in it’s mouth and judge it by it’s teeth, just take/ be grateful for the present as it is.” As is becoming usual for us in this competition, we didn’t get them all, so any hints from readers would be appreciated.

(20) Horse traders with horse, ” Je moet een gegeven paard niet in de bek kijken” Lit: You must not look in the mouth of a gift horse” = Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(21) Man sized baby floating in sea with skipper of boat nearby. (??? We don’t know this one.)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(22) Someone in bed with clock and words “Tik tik“, ”  Zoals het klokje thuis tikt, tikt het nergens” Lit: there is no clock like the one that ticks at home” = There is no place like home.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(23) Cat in paper bag with coins, ” De kat in de zak vinden” Lit: to find the cat in the bag = You are too late, someone else already ran off with the bounty.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(24) Peacock, “Zo trots als een paauw”  = As proud as a peacock.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(25) Houses with “x” in windows,  (??? We don’t know this one either.)

http://zandsculpturen.nl/

http://zandsculpturen.nl/

http://zandsculpturen.nl/

http://zandsculpturen.nl/

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

Donkey’s, Ties, Shoes And Cutting Rope With Axes…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Himself has been frowning a lot when it comes to trying to solve the 2016 Garderen Sand Sculpture festival competition section.

His face has been doing contortions as he thinks hard about finding answers, words that might be clues are muttered long with exclamations of things like  “Hmm, ah, maybe!.. um, no“.

Then all of a sudden the answer would come to him.

He’s still stumped on a few of them though.

The theme that year was “Dutch sayings“, and since I grew up in New Zealand with naturally English language sayings, this an area of the Dutch language I am particularly weak on.

With me proving little help, Himself was left to wrestle with these, more or less alone.  Numbers 18 and 19 have stumped him so any help from readers would be appreciated.

(15) man cutting rope with an axe: “de knoop doorhakken”  Lit: to cut the knot = to take a final decision.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(16) Man pointing to ladies shoe: “Wie de schoen past, trekke hem aan” Lit: whoever fits the shoe wears it = If the shoe fits.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(17) Donkey with band-aids on his legs, “Alleen een ezel stoot zichzelf tweemaal aan dezelfde steen” Lit” Only a donkey  bumps into the same stone twice” = Only a fool makes the same mistake twice.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(18) Man with his tie caught in a wall. (We don’t know this one)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(19) Himself thinks this is a cat but I think it’s a rabbit with it’s ears folder back and cats don’t have teeth like this,  whatever animal this is, it’s in a veggie patch with a scared looking worm. (We don’t know this one means either.)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

Windows, Dice, Chicken, Moles And Pots…

The next set of Dutch sayings in the competition section of the 2016 Garderen Sand Sculpture festival are also ones we need to crack. Anyone who knows any well known Dutch sayings is welcome to come to our aid if they are able.

(10) Shows a broken wall and part of a window, Himself couldn’t guess what this one meant.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(11) shows a giant hand rolling dice, a closer look reveals that parts of the dice have eyes. Himself thinks that this one is: “Hoge ogen gooien“, which translates literally as “who throws eye dice” and the saying means= (to have a good chance to be lucky / to be very lucky).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(12) Here we see a man trying to stuff a chicken into a sack = Himself was stumped on this one too.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(13) This next one is of a blind mole, which might be: “Zo blind als een mol” (Lit” as blind as a mole) Translated, this one means in English: As blind as a bat!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(14) Lots of pots of all sorts of shapes and sizes could be: “Op ieder potje past een deksel” (Lit ” for every pot there is a lid) meaning in English =There is someone for everyone / in life there is a partner out there for everyone.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival

Normal Transmission Being Resumed I Hope?

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

I have no clue what springs to mind when you see the image of pigs falling out of a washing machine, but when I did I was completely and utterly stumped.

Luckily the pigs in question were images in sand and not real ones.

At the 2016 Garderen Sand Sculpture festival, the competition to guess well known Dutch sayings I needed Himself’s help to try and unravel thee images, but he too found many of them difficult.

As many of you will have realised, my blog has been experiencing technical problems during the last week or ten days, our computer expert did some updating at that time and somehow my computer decided it didn’t appreciate the deep clean it received.

We think (and hope) it’s fixed now, the posts have always been in the schedule, just not visible from outside.

Fingers crossed that all is now well and you can now read though the recent posts that you have missed. Himself and I also hope that any Dutch readers who might have insight into sayings he had missed, or better ideas for translations for ones we think we know, will chime in and let me know via the comments section. Your input would be greatly appreciated.

(8) The image of a washing machine bursting open, suds and pigs spilling out everywhere is , we think, the saying: “Ik zal dat varkentje wel eens wassen” (Literally: I’ll wash that pig) meaning = I’ll take care of it, let me do it.

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(9) TV screen and weather report: (the weatherman is the face of a famous former weather presenter= Erwin Kroll)”Naar regen koemt zonneschien” (Literally and meaning= After rain comes sunshine)

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(10) Waiter trying to feed an unwilling gentleman customer a snail ??? Sorry, We have no idea.

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

(photograph © Kiwidutch )

Garderen Sand Sculpture Festival