Every morning before dropping off the kids at the schoolbus stop, a groundhog is playing in the backyard. Many times I went back inside to get my camera, but every time the woodchuck was gone, until this time on a sunday afternoon, and I was able to shoot a few pictures of this large rodent.
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The kids are just as much into photography as I am. Every time they see a bird, squirrel or other animal, they call out for me to bring the camera. I had seen quiet a few cardinals around, but every time I brought the camera out, they were gone. But this time I got lucky:
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I have some nice shots of Northern Cardinals waiting here, but something more important happened in my life, and I wanna share it with the world. On May 17th, 2006, at 5.25am a beautiful and healthy baby boy was born in Branson, Missouri. weight 9.147lbs length 20 1/2" My and my wife's third son, and we named him Lex More pictures of him and us you can find at his website: http://pijl.3000mb.com/lex/ I am normally not into publishing family pictures, but this occassion asked for it.

To please the birds in our neighbourhood we got ourselves a birdfeeder, but all they seem to to is watch the thing and just sometimes a bird is brave enough to actually go for it. It is Napoleon (see earlier story) who claims the feeder and  takes what he wants. With a little stretching , Napoleon can easily get what he wants.  And while he enjoys , I actually enjoyed it too.

When being at the lake because of a picknick of my wife's work, I wander off, away from all those people I don't know and take a walk along the lakeside.
From the shelter

Lakeside
 Beach?
 The lake
 Lost
 Rough edge
 Flora & Fauna
 Rooted on rocky soil
 Flowers
 Gutter
 Looking down
 Buns at the lake

So the church was a good subject? Well here it is then. ;) Oh, and I squeezed in another fussball.
Napoleon
Church
Same church
back side
 Front
In full glory

Another tornado watch, what's new here in SouthWest Missouri? Just felt like standing on my front porch for a while and look at the sky. Then decided to take a few shots, and this was the result:
Skyline
Skyline too
 Skyline tree
Rooftop
Powerlines
Trunk
Church

When I was living in The Hague (The Netherlands) there were certain images you would see on a regular base, like the casino, and het Kurhaus,  the lighthouse  in Scheveningen, and of course de Pier and just the beach and the many, many  seagulls. On the other side of the city is the soccer stadium in  het Zuiderpark. If you have seen it all, it's time to throw some darts and have a beer in a cosy bar But if you still want to see some more you can take a windmill tour.
Windmill
Bird on a wing
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Horseass

As a surprise present, we were given a night in a luxe appartment of a fairfield resort on "Pointe Royal", Branson, Missouri. The view over the golfcourse and hills was magnificent from the fourth floor balcony.
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Around here you see them everywhere, running up the oaktrees, rooftops and so on. But their best infrastructure are the power- and telephonecables high above the ground, with the telephonepoles as rest areas.High on a pole Looking for a nut Did he see me? I think he did.  Looking down

A day out with the family in "Silver Dollar City", Branson, Missouri, is an exhausting trip. I was going to take some pictures of the rest of the group, taking a ride on the wild river, while they were waiting in line I first had a smoke when all of a sudden a little bird landed on a branch next to me. After observing me for a while, it took off again, and I was back at taking pictures of the others on the wild river ride.

It was July 2004 when I was going back to Missouri from The Netherlands, and I was at Amsterdam airport,"Schiphol" , waiting for my flight to London Gatwick, from where I would fly to Dallas Ft Worth. It was quiet a long trip with most of the time nothing to see but clouds . When finally in Dallas a third plane, Beechcraft, would take me to Arkansas. For the first time I could really see things below me, like the crowded traffic of Dallas. Just a few hours later I landed on a small airstrip in , Harrison , Arkansas from where I would continue up north by car, to Missouri. After being traveling almost 24 hours, including waiting, I finally arrived at my destination.

In our front yard, against the steep part of the hill, we have wooden stairs leading to our mailbox. It is paradise for all kinds of insects but also for those who eat them. One of the most common here, in SouthWest Missouri, is "The Northern Fence Lizard" Whenever the sun shines this little creature sits on the warm wood gathering energy by sunbathing. The clear stripes on it's back indicates that we are dealing with a female specie here. Once a day I go down the stairs to check the mail, and from a safe spot the lizard watches every move I make while passing through it's domain.

We, me and my wife, were inside the house, making some preparations for the coming baby, when we heard a strange sound from outside. It almost sounded like a bird in distress, trying to fly, but unable to do so. I looked outside and indeed, something with wings was trying to get in the air, but it was no bird although ithad the size of a small bird. It was a butterfly.The rear side of the wings clearly show some damage. I took my camera out and took some shots of the struggling insect. After een struggle of at least fifteen minutes, finally we had a lift off. Finally, lift off.