RIP Maria Augustina Norberta (Ria) van Dijk, who died yesterday.
AKA "air rifle Ria" because of her habit of shooting at the photo rifle booth at fairs since 1936.
It was quite something back then but it's also just great to see our world change through these pictures.
🧵
Girls shooting rifles and being good at it was quite a thing in her part of the world back then, in her own way she was breaking barriers.
Not just by shooting but also by going her own way and running a drugstore in stead of just working in one.
1938
As Ria shoots, year after year, and wins, year after year, every bullseye gets her a photo to take home, showing not just her achievement but also her friends and random members of the public behind her.
1953
We always see Ria with the rifle but behind her the people change, the fashion, architecture, design, even, perhaps, in a way, how people react and stand.
1954
The crowds become bigger, she becomes more famous, people start to know who she is and want to be there when she hits another bullseye.
And we see their clothes, hairstyles and for a flash second see the past as it was.
1958
But it wasn't till 2006 that the rest of the country and even far beyond the borders of the Netherlands, learned of Ria when there was an exhibit of the air rifle booth pictures she had collected through the years.
1962
A book was published, the internet loved the photos, there were exhibits abroad and she, in her own modest modest way, became famous, not just in her home town.
1973
But as the world changes behind Ria in these photos, she changes as well.
Not just her look but her age, she too gets older.
1989
Shooting became a bit more difficult but she didn't stop and kept hitting that bullseye, she kept winning those photos to take home.
2016
When she was 100 years old it became a bit too much to go to the fair, so the fair came to her.
A shooting booth was set up outside the retirement home she was living in.
Of course she hit the bullseye.
Thanks for all those pictures Ria.
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Let's review another painting together, another one by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, this time the 'Boerenbruiloft' (farmer's or peasant's wedding) from c. 1567.
Another glimpse of what life was like for common people in the 17th century!
Time to check out some details.
The bride, she looks suspiciously content.
Is she drunk, tired, super content or does she have a secret?
Above her the double paper crown as well as a sort of crown on her head, making her the queen of the event.
It may symbolise her virginity or wealth.
Its in many paintings.
Maybe she's just happy because she lives in the low countries, a place where women got education, divorce, equal inheritance and freedoms & rights that were uncommon elsewhere then!
More about that here; fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/08/04/boo…
Oh boys and girls, auntie Jo has found another real estate gem... and it only costs 4 million Euros...
This may be one of the most gorgeous houses I´ve ever seen.
A Dutch 1917 villa: funda.nl/detail/koop/wa…
Still many of the gorgeous original details, showing us that the house was once full of colour.
We'll have to strip a LOT of boring white paint, I reckon this building originally just had a lot of nice dark polished wood.
Found another gem on the Dutch real estate website.
A lovely little church in the 'Amsterdamse School' style, built in 1926 and clearly inhabited by a fellow time traveller, just wait till you see inside. funda.nl/detail/koop/mu…
Decorated with respect to the design and character of the building but filled with lots of interesting and weird old stuff.
Yep.
Time traveller.