Leaderboard

This art work is my fathers. He has not been doing well so I offered to get his artwork out to the masses. I hope you like it and please give any comments you may have. More here: Gallery -> Members own albums -> Cover

Well, I did say that it would be a while before I managed to get around to uploading the photos from my brief little break in Denmark at the end of July/first week in August this year. September is nearly over now, but I have been busy with work - (which, for me, working on ships, generally means very poor to non-existent internet...) And, aside from that, I had to earn some money first, in order to be able to renew my subscription for the software that artfreaks.com runs on, so that I could get it upgraded to the latest version. Now that's done, I have found uploading photos to be a breeze - on my laptop, at least! (Hopefully, the have done something to improve photo handling on mobile devices too? I will let you know, next time I give it a go.) After leaving my previous ship in the port of Kalundborg on the island of Sjaelland - (the same one where, København - or Copenhagen, is located) - I needed a few days to finish-off some reports and decide just exactly where I was to head next. I found this very inexpensive, comfortable and quiet little B&B just a few miles outside town: Holmehuset Bed & Breakfast Kåstrup Holmevej 23, Illerup, Kalundborg, Denmark, 4400 I nice four mile walk through the glorious late summer rural Denmark countryside to the King's Pub in the centre of town. (Well, why walk two mile to the nearest supermarket when you can walk four miles to the nearest pub?!!) Needless to say, I enjoyed those walks. The photos tell a better story. Beautiful countryside and not much traffic on the roads - on average, about four or five between Kåstrup Holmevej and Kalundborg! I must go back there some day...

The completion of my latest painting represents two 'firsts' for me! Firstly, having been struggling with issues of lack of inspiration, finding the time and actually being able to complete my previous painting, (started last year sometime) - this is my first complete painting of the year 2012 Secondly, this is my first ever painting that was not based on a photograph - and no photographic reference material was used - not even for the large (lily-like?) flower... The koi pond, right in the middle of that lovely, rough and very green cottage garden lawn was just my idea of a perfect view from my ideal kitchen window! Let me know what you think! Window With a View

I love the Philippines. Filipinos are, without a doubt, some of the friendliest, most fun-loving, outgoing and easygoing people in the world. And that is quite an awesome combination! I call Manila 'home' - and PAL (Philippine Airlines) also happens to be my favourite airline. I also quite like Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)... It's nothing special in terms of modernity or facilities but checking in, Security, Immigration, Customs and all of the usual rigmarole generally work pretty smoothly. You can even get a smile out of an Immigration Officer - sometimes! Now that is saying something!! And you always get a nice welcoming chorus somewhere in the arrivals area at Christmas time. But... (Moaning Poms!!) How long will it be before Watsons realise that they do need to stock up on antacid tablets before Christmas and the New Year? (Not in the middle of January.) IE, When the demand is bound to be higher and supply chains are always severely disrupted? Or, how long before suppliers in general start to realise that essential supply chains do need to be maintained over the Christmas and New Year period? ...Or that it is actually quite a good idea to have more than two or three taxis working NAIA, the main international airport, on New Year's Day? (Not just let them all take the day off because they have hangovers from celebrating on New Year's Eve?) Funny as hell, that! When I cleared Customs at NAIA (MNL) the other day and saw the state of the queue for the official airport taxis, I managed to bluff my way past the guard who was insisting on preventing people from going upstairs to the Departures area - (where you can generally hop into an incoming, non-airport taxi that has just dropped off a departing passenger) - even though the queue for taxis at Arrivals was probably about five or six hours long... Basically, I used the momentum of my heavy suitcase to get myself onto the escalator up to the Departures level. Then, once I was safely on the escalator and moving steadily upwards, I made a big show of looking for my onward domestic ticket... By the time the guard realised what I was up to, I was already halfway up and it was too late! There was no angry exchange and there were no hard feelings. I just lamely explained to the Guard that the queue for regular taxis was ever so slightly on the unbearably long side - and we both smiled as we said goodbye!! The Philippines! I just love this place! ❤️

Well... Another failed software upgrade, resulting in the site "hanging" yet again, was the final straw! Cut a long story short - but I actually asked Liquid Web to just cancel my server contract and delete my two remaining websites. It was only when I remembered that I still need a couple of the artfreaks.com email addresses, that I decided to keep artfreaks.com going, in some form, at least. The other site is now well and truly history. I personally deleted all the files for it, on my old server - and I didn't bother to make any sort of back-up copy. And now I am down to one site only, I might even have a bit of time to try and get artfreaks.com back into some sort working sense?!!