Sphinx & Munich's Waldfriedhof

At Munich's Waldfriedhof, which according to Wikipedia is considered to be the first woodland cemetery, two sphinx statues are guarding the main entrance. The collage above is a combination of two photos -- one of them was a happy accident, as Bob Ross might have said ("We don't have mistakes here, we just have happy accidents.") I wanted to take a photo of these tree blossoms, ...

... but first forgot to shut off the flash, ending up with the image below, my "happy accident."

In combination with the sphinx photo I created the collage at the top of the post -- and I really like the result. Conclusion: Never delete a "bad" photo right away -- you never know if it might prove to be a happy accident.

Here's another photo of the sphinx statue...

... and a close-up of her head.

Naturally, there are many trees in a woodland cemetery. I especially like this one with the eye.

The cemetery has an enchanted atmosphere with its many old tombstones and monuments.

You even find whimsical statues which make you curious about the lives of those resting in the grave. I googled Clarita Bernhard -- she was part of Munich's town council, mainly devoting her work to school issues and problems of the handicapped as well as single parents. I took the photos below last year in August.

I like how St. Mary infolds the people with her cape which is hold by angels.

The Waldfriedhof (forest cemetery) is really a woodland cemetery resembling a park. The light falling through the trees is magical and gives a sense of peace and serenity.

The Eye of Providence on a tombstone.

This statue of St. Mary and baby Jesus is very detailled and hauntingly beautiful.

An eagle.

One of the most interesting graves at Munich's Waldfriedhof is the one of author Michael Ende. His probably best-known book is The Neverending Story ("Die unendliche Geschichte"). Another great book is Momo -- and a character from Momo is the turtoise Cassiopeia on whose shell words appear to communicate with the girl Momo. Habe keine Angst -- have no fear.

If you know the book (or movie) The Neverending Story, you also know how the book's fictional world somehow becomes reality -- and this unicorn tombstone perfectly translates that.

Another view of Cassiopeia walking over the book with Michael Ende's birth and death dates.

The memorial candle holder is special, too -- stone books form a shelter to hold the candle. The book cover shows AURYN, the mystical talisman from The Neverending Story.

Here's a view of the grave as a whole. It so well represents this man who brought so much joy into the life of readers worldwide.

Q is for Qualle

Qualle? What kind of word is that? Well, it's German for jellyfish -- and my Q in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. Two years ago I visited Munich's Sea Life aquarium. There are lots of fish including jellyfish or Quallen (plural form).

So elegant.

Seeing the jellyfish float around was like watching a ballet dance.

So graceful.

If you want to see more photos of the aquarium, please click here to see my original post.

Pink Ornament

It's Saturday again and that means Beverly invites us to another Pink Saturday! Last week I showed you the pink dress on my bedroom wall -- and I honestly thought that it would be easy to see that it's a doll dress. I haven't made it myself -- I saw it in a store some time ago and knew it would look lovely on the wall. Anyway, here's another photo of the dress with my Beanie Baby "Howl," so that you can see the size correctly this time.

Now on to something new --

a lovely pink ornament with bead fringes, ...

... silver elements, ...

... and silver lace.

Here's the pink pillow ornament in all its glory -- it also hangs on my bedroom's wall.

Happy Pink Saturday!

P is for Ponderosa Ranch

Welcome to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday! Since you enjoyed the outing into the Old West last week, I am heading out west this week again -- to Nevada to be precise.

Do you know the Ponderosa Ranch? The name sounds familiar, doesn't it? What about this map? Maybe you remember it burning -- and now a melody comes into your mind.

Yes -- right! Bonanza. The Cartwrights. Adam (Pernell Roberts). Little Joe (Michael Landon). Ben (Lorne Green). Hoss (Dan Blocker).

Living on the Ponderosa Ranch in this ranch house.

Do you know that the filming location was a theme park between 1967 and 2004? In 1997, I visited the Ponderosa Ranch. The mountains and forest around are amazing. Here you see a photo towards the entrance from within the park.

The hotel and saloon.

Here you could buy a Hoss burger -- which I did. It tasted delicious! According to Wikipedia approximately 3,000,000 burgers were sold during the park's existence.

The film sets looked as if a film crew had just stopped working.

A cabin in the forest.

There was a pathway on a hill which allowed great overviews over the whole filming set.

A look into town.

The scenery is amazing -- you can even make out Lake Tahoe in the background.


Another gorgeous overview -- the weather was sunny but cold. It was in early October.

Here's the Cartwright Ranch.

Hop Sing's (Victor Sen Yung) kitchen.

Here's Hop Sing setting the table for the Cartwrights.

The dining room.

The lady on the right side was the guide on the ranch tour. The big fireplace was really impressive.

Hoss's hat and vest and Little Joe's hat and jacket hanging next to the door.

Here's the patriarch, Ben Cartwright, sitting behind his desk. Do you see the map of the Ponderosa Ranch hanging on the wall?

Back in town.

Oh, some action -- a hold-up in the bank!

The last two photos were taken nearby -- I almost expected the Cartwrights riding into view any minute.

The scenery around Lake Tahoe is so very beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed your visit at the Ponderosa Ranch.

She had the courage to shine

Mind Wide Open's challenge for May has the word prompt "courage." I used the provided image of a woman and combined it with two of my own photos of ravens and a daffodil along with a couple of brushes to add texture to the image. Here's the digital collage (click on the image to see a bigger version):

She had the COURAGE to shine.

Below you see the original photo of ravens sitting on the neighbors' birch tree:


Moreover, here's an altered photo of the daffodil in the garden:


Finally, I liked the digital collage so much that I ended up creating two ATCs with the same motif.

Pink Dress

A big thanks to Beverly for organizing this event!

On the wall in my bedroom there's this beautiful pink and red doll dress.

Gorgeous lace.

Pink fringes.

Cute silk flowers in two shades of pink.

Here's the dress as a whole.

The style reminds me of saloon dresses in the Old West --

think Marilyn Monroe in River of No Return.

PS: You might want to check out my pink tulips and the blooming trees in my neighborhood -- lots of pink there, too.

Happy Pink Saturday!