Gasten Welkom (Guests are Welcomed)

Well, this past weekend was an interesting and enjoyable one that was filled with family, fun and photos, and also included a Silver Alert.

Relatives of mine are currently in the States, visiting from Amsterdam (Holland; Netherlands), and were on their way here, this past Friday, when they noticed a billboard proclaiming a Silver Alert. They weren’t quite sure what it was and figured they would ask me when they arrived.

When they arrived, the woman in this photo was with them, and this is when they asked me about the Silver Alert.

Have you seen this woman?



For those of you who don’t know what a Silver Alert is, a Silver Alert is much like an Amber Alert. Ok, so some of you may not know what an Amber Alert is. An Amber Alert is a nationally broadcast alert system that informs people of when a child has been abducted; this alert system has been adopted internationally as well. The information about the child (basic description, what they were wearing, where they were last seen, who they might be with…) is broadcast over many mediums, including electronic highway billboards.

A Silver Alert is the same type of reporting system; however, it is to notify the public of when a Senior (65 or older), with some form of Alzheimer's Disease, dementia or other mental disability wanders off and cannot be located. Some law enforcement may choose to use this for children with similar mental disabilities, but it is primarily for the older folks.

The woman presented as being relatively harmless, was good for a few laughs, and brought bagels, cream cheese and Lox, all the way from Long Island, so we decided to allow her to join us for the weekend. We even included her in a family photo.

Me; Evert; Jordan; Alida; Austin; Paula

The guests from Holland are Evert (the first “E” should be said with a hard “A” sound) and Paula. The last time they were here was eleven years ago and this weekend was their twelfth wedding anniversary. One of the things Evert had requested, prior to arriving, was that when they were here he would like me to take his photo. But since I have artistic licensure, I got to choose the poses; he wasn’t aware what he was getting himself into.

I told him I would take photos of the two of them, for their anniversary, but also told him that I wanted to take individual shots of them. The purpose of the individual shots was to create a complete contrast in styles/personalities, which resulted in the images of Beauty and The Beast.

Paula
Beauty

Evert
The Beast

I must say that Evert is far from a beast, so I decided to cut him some slack and take a solid dramatic “guy photo” of him as well.

All three guests were a pleasure to have at the house and I wish I could spend more time with all of them, especially the Silver Alert (I love you Mom).



Happy 12th Anniversary, Evert and Paula!