The Hauntings is a sculpture of a soldier, made from scrap metal. From 1/7/23 to 12/11/23 it was in the grounds of The Black Watch Museum in Perth but has since moved on. (The museum, housed in Balhousie Castle is a regular haunt of ours as it has a very good café.)

The sculpture was commissioned for the centenary of The Great War and made by metal sculpture specialists, Dorset Forge and Fabrication, “a combination of the talents of blacksmith Chris Hannam and artist Martin Galbavy.”

Sculpture with Balhousie Castle in background:-

Side view:-

Reverse view. The memorial in the background here I featured in 2019:-

I noted the jerry can on the soldier’s right hip. Jerry cans were a World War 2 phenomenon. Not that that matters.

On the way up from the ferry back from The Netherlands last year we stopped off to have a look at Huntingdon – a place we hadn’t visited before.

Town Hall in main square:-

Old building also on square:-

All Saints Church lies beside the main square:-

It has nice arched windows glass and statuary in niches.

View from other side:-

Huntingdon was where Oliver Cromwell was born and the constituency he represented in Parliament. A bench in the square (with All Saints church in background) and a rubbish bin seems an odd way to commemorate him though.

But they do have a Cromwell Museum:-

The bench with the yellow heart on it in the first photo of the Church above is a memorial to the victims of Covid:-

The museum is known as Airborne at the Bridge. We’d have liked to go into it but the door was locked. According to the website it is open from 10.00 to 17.00:-

A steel monument to the Resistance lay to the right of the scene pictured above. The inscription reads, “most people remain silent, but a few take action.”

Side view. River Rhine and John Frost Bridge in background:-

“With respect for the past and with an eye to the future, this reminder of the resistance in Arnhem, 1940-1945”:-

One of the oddest things we saw in the Rijksmuseum was this display of woollen hats:-

A unique harpsichord he only surviving one of its type which plays one-fifth above normal pitch. Made by the Ruckers family from Flanders:-

The top floor of the museum is reserved for more modern exhibits. This biplane was designed during the Great War by Dutchman Frits Koolhoven for the British Aeronautical Transport Company:-

There was a chess set whose pieces looked like Great War crested china memorabilia but was designed by German Georg Fuhg “to glorify Nazi Germany’s urge to conquer.” It was shown in the Rijksmuseum in 1941 exhibition Kunst der Front organised by the occupier. The text in the border refers to countrie soccupied by Germany in 1939 and 1940:-

A cloth book for children which, as I recall, was made during the German occupation:-

Plaster model for the sculpture The Destroyed City by Ossip Zadkine, made to commemorate the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940. Zadkine said of it “I have sculpted tears.”:-

One of the downstairs rooms in the Rijksmuseum held paintings that weren’t perhaps as famous as The Night Watch or Vermeer’s Milkmaid.

Two were by by Hendrick Avercamp, both reminiscent of the work of the Breughels.

Ice Entertainment Near a City :-

Winter Landscape with Skaters:-

Self portrait by Betsy Westendorp-Osieck:-

Self Portrait by Emile Bernard:-

van Gogh Self Portrait:-

Therese Schwartze Self Portrait:-

Portrait of Theresia Ansingh (Portret van Sorella) by Therese Schwartze. Also known as Woman Wearing a Hat. A better picture than mine is here:-

The Night School by Gerard Dou. An illustration of depiction of light. (Again better to see here):-

An unusual Mondrian. Painting of a Windmill:-

The centre piece of the Rijksmuseum’s Great Hall is Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch.

Imagine our disappointment when we entered the room in which it is displayed to see this:-

It was cordoned off and we therefore could not see it properly. Apparently minor air movements make the canvas flex, potentially damaging it, and they were measuring just how large the movements were so that they can prevent any future deterioration.

However there was a painting of a similar subject (well, lots of Dutch burghers) just to The Night Watch’s right as you look at it, which I had to take two photos of to get it all and then stitch:-

Vermeer’s milkmaid was also in the Great Hall but the lighting conditions weren’t good and my photo came out blurry.

Also nearby was this still life. Still Life with Cheese by Floris Claesz Van Dijck:-

One of the reasons for our trip to Amsterdam was to visit the Rijksmuseum. Entry isn’t cheap (now it’s €22.50) especially if you’re used to free British Museums but it’s a very good museum indeed.

Building:-

The Great Hall is on the first floor (second floor if you’re USian.)

It has a nicely painted ceiling:-

with illustrations on the areas above the side halls:-

and stained glass windows to the front:-

City Archive Building. Horizontals and verticals galore, plus banding:-

Detailing. Frieze and note lettering above door to left:-

Frontage:-

Entrance. The building now seems to be or at least house a museum on the History of Amsterdam:-

Last August we took a trip up north to have a look around Aberdeenshire.

In Alford at the Grampian Transport Museum we came across this Mini in the shape of an orange, an advertising gimmick for Outspan oranges:-

Orange Mini information board:-

Stepping into the main buidling at Kirbuster Farm Museum is indeed like stepping into the past. It was inhabited up to the 1960s and opened as a museum in 1986 – the last unrestored ‘firehoose’ in Northen Europe.

We had wondered whether to visit this museum but it turned out to be extremely interesting. The guide was a lovely, chatty woman. We were the only people visiting at the time so she may have been lonely.

Main bedroom:-

Sitting room:-

The harmonium in the sitting room reminded me of the one in my great uncle’s house (he was a piano/music teacher and church organist):-

Wall mounted alarm clock:-

Box-bed in kitchen:-

Cruisie lamp:-

There was another building which contained loads of old farm equipment. Some of their uses were a bit mysterious:-