a dream did not come true

son woke up this morning and told me he had a lovely dream. the tree in the garden was full of pink flowers and he was rowing the boat in his t-shirt. poor boy!

when we opend the curtains there was no pink tree. but a white world again. winter doesnot want to leave us and we start all over again. slippery streets, snowboots, cleaning the pavement. the gouverment has a huge problem because there is no 'salt' anymore to scatter on our (high) ways. traffic jams and other nuisance.



we also see the lovely landscape and the garden is a black and white fairy tale. son has to wait a litle while for the tree to get pink flowers.



to get some sort of spring feeling we bring the bulbs into the house and enjoy a bit of springseason in the windowsill.

how not to sell a house

with a good friend I had a conversation about piles. it seems that they just grow by themselves. everytime I try to get rit of them they show up again one day later on a different (or the same) spot. it is hopeless to get rit of them definitly.


I'm quiet sure we will never sell our house with all these piles popping up in pictures. not that we have plans on moving place but I wish I once had a clean and pileless house for a day.....

is this my backyard..... yes it is!

we are still in wintery atmospheres in holland. last weekend the ice was finally thick enough to skate. and so we could enjoy this event from our back yard.

with a lot of 'snowplows' we made the ice free of snow (which kept falling and falling all day long) and we had a lovely time. the whole neighbourhood met on the ice. some made hot chocolate, others came with gluhwein, warm tea or soup.


the landing stage and the chairs on the ice made a nice meeting point. the kids had fun with games (speed run, ice hockey) and chasing each other.

the cat, the birds and the winter... to be continued

what we expected all the time has happened! saar has been hunting at night over the ice (her hunting grounds have grown bigger and more attractive with all this ice). and an innocent crake deep asleep was her victim. we don't know how she managed but she took the crake through her cat door into the living.
and that is how we found her.


she still does look as in a deep innocent sleep.... but we know better! stupid cat!

winter birds

in my former blogpost I wrote about the oliebol I gave to the hungry birds in the garden. this fat food is not so healthy for birds as well. so I will stick to the more prefered bird food in winter: peanuts.


lots of little birds are visiting the garden on their search for a nice snack. we see robins, all sorts of titmouse and wren. off course their are other species as well but I'm not so good in all these bird names.


they are very brave (and I asume very hungry) because they keep visiting the garden although cat Saar is on a hunt.....


I will not show a picture of the little bird that we found under our dinner table (or what was left of it).

new years day left overs

we made it into 2010. this time of year the garden is really into hibernation and all we can do is waiting for the first bulbs to show up. in a month I expect the little white snowdrops. on my round in the garden on January 1 this is what I found:


a new collection of my son; fireworks left overs (to build little doll huts in summer).

the drinks we didnot drink (one bottle of champagne has to wait for another perfect occassion).


and an 'oliebol' which I've thrown for the birds. if they like it I have plenty more for them to come, we cannot see and eat any oliebol anymore......
Happy 2010 to all!

more snow, and more and more and more....

did we think we had lots of snow on thursdaymorning? that was peanuts compared to the snowfall on sunday. when we woke up today it was snowing just a bit but during the morning it turned into a real snow-show.

the thick snowflakes and a good crispy snowpack were unresitable and we had to go out. dressed up in our wintersports outfit we went for a long winterwalk to friends for a warm coffee. we took the route through parks and the 'edge' of the town and had the feeling we were out there on our own, throwing snowballs and having fun.


cat saar looked very surprised and didnot understand why the white fluffy stuff was so cold. but she also liked to play. hesitating for the nice spot near the heater or being outside for a cold adventure.


walking back from our coffee break (which turned into a lunchbreak and finished it off with a glass of wine as well) we bumped into our neigbourhood x'mas drink festive. which also looked perfect in the snow and we had another 'gluhwein' before we finally returned home.....


with the taste of a yummie day and a snowflake.... or two!

X'mas excitement

bought the x'mas tree yesterday and decorated it together with son in the afternoon, while we loudly sang with the X'mas toppers. then we went to the school x'mas play in the evening. woke up this morning and immediatly I recognized the silence of a good snow deck (yes... snow makes the world silent!). I opened the curtains and YES YES YES... how much more x'mas can it get?


on my slippers trying to catch some of the fairy-tale atmosphere (which is a mission impossible for me at 7.30 in the morning when it is freezing cold.


son was doing better, he was dressed in 2 minutes and made 2 snowmen before he went to school's x'mas breakfast. it is a pity there is no picture of those two snowguys but I loved the action at 7.30......

where ever I lay my head II

the follow up of the items that always find a new spot in my house to make it my home. I used to move around very often. since husband and son are around it has not changed much lately. but in all the place where I have lived these ones had a (prominent) place and still have:


my orange lamp in my bedroom, a gift from a friend who disappeared out of my life a long time ago, funny that this gift is still in my life and bedroom.


my 'african pumpkin', bought on a 3 month trip in west-africa and always in use for my cheap jewelry collection.


the indian stainless steel kitchentools pot bought on my trip to india a long time ago; once this one is on my kitchen sink I can cook and the kitchen is mine.


and my really favourite; the red 'dish' lamp which I probably always will keep, although the arm gets 'lazy' and husbands gets annoyed by this old lamp.

where ever I go.....

I was secretly planning to stop with my blog and just let it go. But a good friend had a lovely blogpost about items you always take with you from home to home. Everyone has some of these specialities. When I started to look around me (at first I thought I had non) the list became longer and longer and longer and longer...

I have my 'box', found it long time ago, don't even no where and when exactly. But always following me, containing letters (from that long time ago we used to send letters to beloved ones).


I have my relic kitsch, with maria's, ganeshes and budha's. I always find a place for my relic shrine somewhere in the house. Don't know why it is in my toilet this time??


And there is my first (and last) piece of crafting. Two little ottoman. Made them completly by hand myself (copied them from an old one I saw at someone elses place). Right now they are looking old (or worn out is a better word) themselfs and the cat has found them a lovely subject to sharpen her nails. but they will always come with me to another place.

The list is longer, so there will be a follow up, keep you posted!

art en hard work

the tree in the former post ended up as a beautiful pile of blocks for the wood fire. husband had a few hours of hard work (and pain in his arms and shoulders the day after). but right now we have this lovely pile. everytime I open the front door I bump into our garden art. Happily it will last at least a year before we can use the wood blocks.....

more contribution to climate change

in our front garden, yes there is a front garden and I tell you this: in Holland a front garden is a rare thing. if you find your self lucky with a garden it is most of time stampsize big and only on the backside of the house. from the frontside eg. the frontdoor you step immediatly into the public zone of the pavement. we are lucky ones with even a ten meter deep front garden zone which allows us a bit more privacy and the feeling of owning 'land'. well, the front garden has even trees and this summer we (or the neighbour) discovered a sick tree.
last week they came with hugh saws and machine to take down the sick one. we didnot like it, it was our (or the neigbours) tree but we had to listen to what the gardener said. with the first autumn storm the tree could end up on a car, or roof or worse.... a person! in the morning before we all had to leave for school, work and other fun related stuff, the gardener started.


and when we came home in the afternoon it was so empty and so light in the front. and the tree didnot look sick at the inside after all. no sick and weak wood but a firm and healthy trunk. we might have enough wood for the wood burner to realise more warm summers. we can contribute to the climate change more then we want if we have to finish this off for the end of the winter....


ps. lots of work for the husband to get it all the right size for the burner, keep you posted....

contribution to climate change

last weekend we had still a lovely indian summer with loads of sun and warmth. but right now the evenings and nights gets a bit crispy and cold so we cannot sit outside uptill late. saturday night (Mr. was gone for a climbing-biking weekend) the 8 year old and me were home together. we both look forward to this spare weekends with just the two of us (not that we want the Mr. not to be with us). but we are always planning a 'pizza in front of television'dinner' and hire a nice kids movie (the movie 'bolt' is very much recommended).
so we did and the crispy evening made us start the wood heater to make it even more 'gezellig' (= cosy). at those moments I don't mind the cold evenings and nights that will be here for the next 6 months. but only on those moments.....

other forms and colors: go go's

suddenly they are all out there. somebody in a marketing office had an idea and another one said "oh well, we can just give it a try". And since one week the life of the 8 year old is all about strange plastic creatures in horrible colors and forms. where I get fun and satisfaction from forms and colors in my garden, my son is excited about forms and colors of these go go's. So we need to do shopping in the nearby supermarket, every 10 euro's spent is one go go. groups of boys are standing near the supermarket entrance on go go hunt and drive all the people in and around the shop grazy: "may I have you go go's please?" and as you can guess: there must be one golden go go out there.


ps. the network scales of the eight year old are stunning. family, neighbours, friends of us are all submitted to do their shopping in the nearby supermarket.
ps. I really need a better camera.....

Life & Garden impersonation

lovely husband and father inlaw have done a great project in the garden lately. they made me a garden cabinet. all the garden equipment has found a lovely home and is not going around anymore in the kitchen or just laying around in open and wet places in the garden. I feel like a real Life & Garden gardener with a cabinet like this. especially because the inlaw put a lock on it, which is in the inlaw family for more the many years (great grandpa seems to have made it himself). with the cabinet in nordic yellow and a lock which can hold a horse, my trimmer is savely locked away.

itsy pitsy......

every one with a garden must recognize this; in autumn you cannot go around in the garden without getting a spiderweb in your face or hair. everywhere you go you feel sticky thread and suddenly you feel a creapy crawly spider running down your neck into a place you don't want spiders to be.


their webs are beautiful with this low sun in this time of year but hard to get on picture (with my camera....!). an autumn garden with spiderwebs, low sunbeams and leaves turning each color is (almost) more beautiful then a summer garden filled with hundreds of flowers. the only real reason I don't like the autumn season is that I realise it will be followed by a wet and dark and cold winter......

still going strong

as the end of season really has set (from one day to the other the leaves decided it is time to fall), we have some parts of the garden which refuse to give in. some flowers are at their best at this time of year. but also the little vegetable garden is not done yet. the tomato plants keep giving yummie sweet tomatoes for months now and everyday we can pick some more. temperature is still fine enough for tomatoe growing I guess.

end of season

although we still have warm days (and nights!) it seems Holland is making up for autumn. yesterday I saw in 15 minutes from home to work the 'army of nature control'. control over the looks nature can have. someone was out there to cut all the reed at the waterfront; so our garden suddenly looks very naked. I saw someone in a 'steam car' cleaning the pavement. have no clue why we need that because in a few weeks the streets will be covered with leaves. and saying that: I bumped into someone who was going around with a 'leave blower'. I could only discover a few so the guy was maybe excercising for the big autumn pile arriving soon?

as said: we have some sort of indian summer going on but the signs that it is really end of season show: the boat is not being used and is dropped in a corner of the terras, the most plants start to turn brownish and flowers stop blooming over and over again.
Some won't give up and they are queen of the garden at the moment....

big surprise

back from a lovely (long) holiday. not really into the blogging mood right now. would love to keep the holiday mode as long as I can, and computers and blogs don't belong there.
but when we came home and we took a glimpse in the garden (which always looks like a rain forest after 4 weeks 'let it grow') we had the big suprise. the sunflower took her chance and made some meters while we were out. is this typically Dutch to have such tall sunflowers?

more drizzling

after a whole long spring and part of the summer being out we are now living inside again. even the 'knuffels' are in the window-sill looking for a dry moment.