Dear friends,

It is with great gratitude that I look back on these past weeks. First there has been a steady improvement in my condition. I even could go out on my bike again to get some beautiful autumnal shots, before all the splendour is taken away by the November storms. Of course I still have to be careful, limiting my trips in range and exertion. But the delightful fact remains that things are going well up to now. And hopefully they will improve further in the time to come.

Even if I did not thank all of you personally who reacted so kindly to my former reports, I am certainly most grateful for all your kind remarks and suggestions. It is a wonderful feeling that there are so many of you all around the world who care about what happens to me here in Hilversum in the Netherlands. I find this very stimulating. Also whenever I suffer from my depressive periods – and they certainly shall come back again, even when the heart condition will no longer be the primary worry -, I always feel strengthened by the idea that out there in the world someone will enjoy my pictures or my comments. Many, many thanks once again.

Another good thing that has happened in these weeks is the satisfactory settling of the art-theft matter by my German lawyer in Berlin. If ever someone of you needs a good lawyer in this area, I can certainly recommend him.

And now back to enjoying nature’s beauty again. To turn our minds to it and to remind us how much of this beauty can still be found in the forests even in these late autumn weeks, here are some older shots of mine taken in late November or in December of past years. They did not reach the top score of faves of this gallery, but certainly were valued highly by quite a few of you. This too is a permanent reason for gratitude. May it give you pleasure to see them again.











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Dear friends,

The expected heart treatment happened on Wednesday. This was earlier than had been announced before. The slow lane was not quite as slow after all. Fortunately everthing went well at the Amsterdam Medical Centre. With two stents placed, I could return home the next day. As I did not feel altogether in my normal inspired mood, I still kept silent here on my galleries for some time, however, just as I had done the days before.

While I had been just too nervous to write about the forthcoming treatment on those days beforehand, now I had to overcome the post-treatment tiredness. It actually was stronger than I had expected. Still, here I am again three days later!

So let us look forward now. I may not yet be able to go out to take new shots, as cycling is forbidden for a few more days and strictly limited afterwards and even car-driving is out of order (there is an interesting difference: the Amsterdam heart guide wants you not to drive for just 5 days after my sort of treatment, the Hilversum guide, however, speaks of as much as four weeks!) Well, I shall refrain from adventures even though the foliage of the trees outside starts to look ever so tempting! At least for a week …

More digging in the archive shall be the answer once again. It will be good to be able to share beauty with you again, if only with some of my older shots for a certain time.

PS on Sunday morning: yesterday I hoped to be able to place this message on Redbubble too, but somehow or other I could not get through. Nor can I today alas.

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Dear friends,

Please allow me to give this same message again to all my friends on deviantArt and Redbubble.

Indeed I can tell you today that the decision has been taken for the so-called angioplasty. So the much more heavy by-pass surgery will not have to happen. The Hilversum cardiologist had indeed been doubtful whether the opening-up of the arteries and the placing of stents would be possible and sufficient, but the Amsterdam heart team wants to do just this.

The other decision is that the operation will happen within a month´s time. Thus fortunately not considered to be in the speed-lane of high-risk patients, I have been put on a much slower lane. When I hear, however, that not-risk patients have to wait for their bypass-operation at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre for up to three months due to the long waiting lists, I am glad that I will be treated much more quickly.

As I feel quite well at the moment, I consider this not much of a problem. I realize only too well that I shall have to be careful. When I take the bike for a very short trip and change from grandpa´s to a somewhat higher gear, there are clear limits. But being a grandfather, I shall be patient now and keep to the lower speed and also very clear limits as far as distance is concerned.

So no forest trips in these weeks on my bike. But this is not the end of the nature photographer´s world as to my great enjoyment I could experience yesterday morning when I just took the car and did my first October forest shooting in a wonderful early autumn atmosphere. I shall certainly place one or the other of the pics here quickly.

So many of you have shown your empathy and given me such an overwhelming amount of encouragement that I am still very much moved by your many heart-warming and boosting reactions. It is such a privilege to know that so many kind souls all over the world care for what happens to me here. I hope I can give some of my joy and gratefulness back to you with my pictures for a long time to come.
Juergen

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Dear friends,
Please forgive me for writing these lines to my deviantArt and my Redbubble friends in the same way. On both galleries I have got so many wonderfully encouraging messages that my thanks go to you all in the very same manner.
There is no denying the fact that the news this morning are not really good. Well, of course, things could have been still worse, much worse. After all the diagnosis of yesterday’s heart cath revealed a pretty good chance that everything could have been just fatal.
With the right heart artery completely closed, the left one pretty much narrowed too, I wonder how long it would have taken before a final blow would had thrown me off my bike.
You will not be surprised that this diagnosis came over to me and my dear ones as quite a bang. All the more as my symptoms had indeed been relatively minor, and so the warning signals had not at all shown the seriousness of the situation.
There is no need to go into further details here. It may suffice to say that I was sent home - at least that did happen - with further medication. Now the matter is in the hand of a special heart team of the Amsterdam University Medical Centre. They will let me know what kind of operation will be necessary. Fortunately modern medicin offers various possibilities these days, from widening the narrowed vessels by angioplasty to bypass surgery.
How long it all will take, I cannot say this morning. I only know on the day X 1 that my life will have to take a new course. Having suffered from regular depressions for nearly 23 years now, I shall have to work at a another challenge, too.
On this course there will be no long bike trips into the forests around here on early misty mornings in the near future, I fear. I am still optimistic enough to believe that their time will come again, too. Fortunately there is the alternative of taking the car, though it will not be possible to quickly go sunbeam-chasing the way I was used to.
Still I can be with you. There is a large store of older pictures which you do not yet know. So I can share these, and also I can enjoy to view your pictures and just keep in touch. Let us not give up the trust that the day for new pictures will come for me again. Beautiful nature, light and colour are still out there waiting for me and you.
Let me finish by saying that your messages have been a tremendous help! Knowing that all over the world so many very kind and empathetic souls were turned my way was a great boost. I already wrote a quick vote of thanks when I placed a picture of our granddaughter early yesterday morning. Let me repeat here: I am very, very grateful to you all. The only thing I am sorry about is that I cannot shake your hands or just hug you personally. My gratefulness is none the less.
Love,
Juergen

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