July 26, 2011

Oldest Amsterdam resident reaches 106

Filed under: General,Health by Orangemaster @ 11:37 am
birthdaycake

Local TV station AT5 recently reported about the oldest resident of Amsterdam, Mrs Huizinga de Vries, who just turned 106. And in true straight up in your face Amsterdam style, she answered, “I may be the oldest woman in Amsterdam, but I can’t buy anything with it.” She has 40 grandchildren, calls them regularly and knows all of their phone numbers by heart.

According to the Dutch statistics bureau, in 2010 the Netherlands had 1,743 centenarians, with an increase in male ones. As most of you may know, women live longer than men, which makes this noteworthy. The Dutch age record, set in 2005 stands at 115, which the bureau says will not be broken in the near future.

If I were to think back to all the articles written about centenarians, they always seem to encourage being cheerful, surrounded by family (happy) and having some sherry or gin once a day before bed (some kind of happy).

(Link: www.dichtbij.nl)

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June 22, 2011

Oldest supermarket employee dies at 100

Filed under: General,Health,Weird by Orangemaster @ 4:41 pm

elderly_man

On Monday, 20 June, Jan Leugs, who worked at the local supermarket in Ten Boer, Groningen, died at age 100. Even at his age he worked two mornings a week and could still drive a car, which is why this made the news. They say he was a very cheerful man, but got suddenly ill and passed away. RIP.

(Link: telegraaf.nl. Photo of elderly man by Frank Mayne, some rights reserved.)

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July 1, 2008

Photographs of centenarians

Filed under: General,Photography by Orangemaster @ 10:16 am
Old photograph
Recent photograph

Dutch-born photographer Annet Van Der Voort lives in Germany and photographs time going by and the time that has gone by, two things that interest her very much. Her series A Lifetime (1998-1999) features portraits of centenarian women and a series of small photographs of beauty queens, which were made at the time that these women were still young. The still prevailing ideals about beauty and youth are placed next to the natural aging process that everyone goes through: an idealised image is linked through time with a face upon which life has left its mark. With Lifetime Annet van der Voort raises questions about youth, age and beauty. How long can beauty be maintained? What does our mortality do to us?

Annet van der Voort has had some 20 solo exhibitions, including in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. Her work has been acquired by various international museums. In September 2008 she will be part of the Lyon Septembre de la photographie in France.

(Link and photos zoumzoum.blogs.liberation.fr)

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