Postcard from the Netherlands & the Czech Republic

This is from Esther, who lives in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Esther has a new puppy!  She’s an Australian Labradoodle.

This multi-view postcard from the Czech Republic brings me the following:  “I wish to you good and strong health and good mood!”  She also includes an old Wallachian quote: After all things is nothing, only after bees is honey.”

A walk up the alleyway.

The Missouri/Michigan alleyway to be exact.  Let’s see what we find.

Some alleys are paved, but many are not.  However, unlike the ones in my neighborhood, this one is well traveled and not overgrown at all.

I love how illicit alleys feel, the ability to look right into people’s back yards.

Nice use of “urbanite” and old shovels in this wall. This yellow house is where the owner of the tiny houses (featured a few weeks ago) lives.

A rather ominous doll. Is it a message to alley interlopers such as myself?

I liked the bark pattern on this tree.

A very nice back fence.

I found it interesting how a new house was grafted onto the old house. From the street front, it’s probably not at all visible.  But in the alley we can see the secrets.

More good bark.

This is the back side of the house up for demolition that I featured a few weeks ago.

An abrupt ending to the alley and a good view of how the freeway, aside from cutting out Minnesota Ave., also took a bite now and then out of some other streets.

I was amused by the tulips being planted in the planter box with vegetable-like spacing.

Pretty house for sale.

It seems to have very nice looking original glasswork.

This is the Patton Home, which was originally a retirement home, but now is run by Ecumenical Ministries and offers SRO housing to drug-free low income population.

I wondered what this was and the internet told me.  It’s an Urban Farm and Guesthouse.

I spy in this window some starts.

Which will no doubt be planted on one of the many beds that surround the house.

I really like the look of this back/side yard.

Here’s the plaque for the Emmanuel Temple, organized in 1965.

And here is the building itself, which we can see is not taken up by the Emmanuel Temple any longer.

But fear not!  Across the street from the old church is the new Emmanuel Church.

The stickers on this car had me wondering just what “low mileage” on a 1974 car would look like.

I liked the look of these two houses.  They are unique.  Very skinny–kind of like the infill skinny houses.  Portland Maps tells me that this home is owned by William and Mary Gump and that the house was built in 1906, is 1,875 square feet and the real market value is $218,500.

The second of the two, and a better view of their shape.  This one is owned by Donna Gump and was also built in 1906.  Same square footage, but worth $2,000 more.  Probably because it’s not on a street corner.

Ever wanted to rent out your own bar for the evening? This is your place.