Vuurvlindertje

Easy

A small effort but I like the result.

Birthday

Last week we celebrated the 21th anniversary of our daughter. She is our first- born and so far she brought us a lot of happiness! Happy birthday, sweetie!

Renovation

Our little cottage was build in the 70s by R. and his father. They built it all by hand; in that era cordless tools didn't exist. No cars where allowed on the territory so they had to transport all the materials on a cart. After thirty years the house needed some renovation, especially on the sunny sides of the place. So R. took up his tools and started a fine job. Cordless again, by the way.

Gifts and finds

Thankfully I receive a lot of support from friends and family and they spoil me as well. So there are nice packages in the mail and flowers in my vases! My cousin V. in Great Britain sent me a lovely pattern of a doorstop, my brother T. sent me nice pictures for a girls album of friends verses and my friend R. bought me a box with five (!) feelgood movies in it!

The flowers are used intensive from bouquet to small bunches in every corner of my house.

Yesterday we went to the thriftstore for bookhunting. I had to bring my daughter P. to a hold after selecting 15 books; here bookcases have their limitations! My daughter A. is having an eye for nice bags. So, the braun one will be hers and I will use the black one; but we decided we can share them if the occasion asks for it.

The little sewingmachine was waiting for me at the first shelf  that met my eye and I believe it was also shouting at me to take it home with me; so I did. Isn't it a beauty?

Energy

After almost nine weeks at home I slowly feel the energy trickle in. I take every day as a new oppertunity and that works out fine for me.  I contemplate a lot about my further steps in earning money in a way that don't overwhelm and nevertheless is a challenge for me. Well, I know it takes time but in the meantime I blissfully rediscovered my skills. So I started a little babyblanket for my cousin who is going to give birth to a girl around Christmas. It was easy to choose a color; pink and a bright yellow to go with it. Weeks ago I started my green roll collar. I want to wear it with my black wintercoat so I have to rush  because of the cold weather.

Last monday I finally went to the exhibition in the Hermitage. I visited the Hermitage several times but only to go to the Museumshop! This time my sister- in- law I. asked me to go and we had a great time. We went early in the morning, no queue, some rooms all for ourselfs and the possibility to take a long look at all the splendour. It was a pleasant day. The color blue is the favorite colour of I. so I made her a little bluebird based on the little birdie totorial from Attick 24.

We finished our bookcase with a lopsided shelf.

In my stash were the materials for this bag I wanted to make for a long time. It was an easy piece of work and I'm very content with the result.

New resident

We have a new resident in the greenhouse. Well, it looks like one new resident but in reality there are four little men. I think they are not aware how many women are hidden in the other bellies!

Bookcase

On our bookshelves we had two rows of books on each shelf and there were sliding doors in front of the books. My daughter P., a student of literature, buys a lot of books. When she showed the book or books to me it happened a lot of times I had to tell her the book or books where already in the house! But where were they hiding? After a lot of shoving with rows of books and shoving with the little doors I got fedged up with the bookcase. So we discussed the BILLY. But because I try to be a disciple of mnmlist.com we decided to be satisfied with our Kewlox bookcases, took the doors out and transferred the huge pile of children's books. Then we made a colourarrangement of our readingbooks. The artbooks, the esoteric books and the books in relation to our profession received a place behind doors. To be honest, the children's books are piled up in another bookcase, so there is some work to accomplish.

Storm

A week ago we had a stormy day. The storm caused a little disaster. The pergola with our grapvine fell over exactly in the year we made our own grapejuice for the first time in years! Well, R. did a great job to tidy it up. In the meantime I enjoyed our new purchase; the stove.

Walking

I like to take a walk in my own city. Almost every week I discover some place new. For instance hidden behind the Amstel canal there's a canal with the name Onbekende gracht (unknown canal). This was new for me. Being a citizen of Amsterdam my whole life it's nice to notice new aspects in my town. I made this pics of the houses just around the corner of my house. A hundred of times I passed this buildings when I was a child. Every week I went to the library (leeszaal) with my mother to lend three books and passed this beautiful building style called "Amsterdamse Schoolstijl".   

Birthday

Last week my sweet boy celebrated his 17th birthday. It was his finest birthday ever, he told me the day after. Every year after tucking him in he told me the same thing but now tucking in doesn't happen anymore!

Blue

This rainy day really wasn't a treat for my inner calm. That's why I display my blue snaps, made a week ago on my balcony. It proofs the sky can be blue.

Envelope

Thank you for the kind and supportive reactions on my post about my needfully step back and reflection. I take the day as it comes. But when I look back at the end of the day there is always something valuable that counts. For instance it's so nice to spend more time with my children. To talk to them and have a bilateral conversation instead of giving confirming answers without noticing what they were talking about because I could't concentrate anymore. I  wrestle with a lot of questions about my possiblities and about wise decisions but everyone advises me to take my time. So I will, despite my tendency to keep on.  In the meantime I was happy with an envelope coming from a charming card I received from a colleague, an empty packaging of creamcheese, a pair of scissors, two clothes- pegs and some glue.

Babushka

In my previous blog I mentioned one of my daughters and called her sweet. My eldest daughter, a faithful  visitor of my blog, read the sentence aloud and maybe I heard a tiny little touch of jealousy. So, my sunshine, here is something to make it up again! On my table is a little greenhouse filled with lovely babushka's. My daughter P. is in her third year of studying Literature at the university and beside it she works at the Hermitagemuseum in Amsterdam. A few weeks ago she bought me a new babushka in the museumshop; you can see she is well informed about my favourite colour!

New header

My sweet daughter A. made me a new and seasonal header. She used some of the photo's I took last Sunday. We went to the moor in Laren and the weather was good; warm and sunny with a nice smell of autumn in the air. We went for a long walk. In the meanwhile my thoughts where by my friend K. She has a little summer- cottage near Laren and when I visit her we always go to the moor to wander and talk. When we drove away R. said to me: the car behind us looks like  K.'s car. Then I heard my cellphone and when I answered it I heard the bright voice of my friend K.! So we took the first exit, searched for a restaurant with a nice place to sit outside and took the rest of the lovely afternoon to drink a lot of tea and chat. What a serendipity!

 

The bright side of life

Long time, no see. Finally, I made a decision. After my summerbreak I was not sure if I wanted to continue this blog. Wondering who was reading my blog, who was enjoying it and if I did or didn't like to share some parts of my life in the world of Internet. On the other side I really enjoy to look at my list of feeds and take some time to read all the lovely, inspiring and creative contributions of bloggers all over the world. The last weeks my doubts were also affected by my job as a teacher at primary school. This term my tasks at school were very divergent. I was not very happy with the choices that were made for me. I started to say yes to a lot of things althought my feelings said no. I'm the person who wants to do her task for the full 100 % and maybe some more. After a few weeks at school I had to admit I couldn't work anymore on a proper base. I slept for only three or sometimes four hours a night, I couldn't concentrate on anything at all, I wasn't able to cook a proper dinner for my family and I was no longer the dedicated teacher and the affectionate mother I normally am and want to be. So, as a result, after nearly twentyfive years of fulltime and passionate teaching I'm at home for some time. I will take this time to reconsider my choices, possibilities and my dreams. My weblog can be useful because everytime I blog I will tell something about the good moments in my life. I will use my weblog as a support to stay in touch with the bright side of life.

                              

Vakantie

De vakantie is begonnen. Daar ga ik van genieten. Dus voorlopig even geen berichten.

Craft Hope

Nadat ik de pop had gemaakt voor een weeskind in Nicaragua ga ik nu meedoen aan een nieuw project van Crafthope. Dit keer wordt er gevraagd om dekentjes, mutsjes en babyslofjes voor kinderen in India. De inzenddatum is 25 juli, dus heb je nog wat tijd over doe dan mee aan dit gweldige initiatief. Hieronder is te zien hoeveel poppen er zijn ingezonden. Meer dan vierhonderd!

Rekje II

Het kaartenrek viel eigenlijk meteen erg in de smaak en omdat wij al even op zoek waren naar iets anders aan de wand van ons Buiten besloten we een tweede bestelling te plaatsen. En zo kwam er nog een rekje in ons bezit waar we meteen maar het ons omringende thema in hebben doorgezet.

Stoel

Bladerend in een tijdschrift viel mijn oog op een rijtje schommelstoelen in pasteltinten. Ik was meteen verkocht. Eindeloos zoeken bracht mij niet meer het tijdschrift en niet meer het plaatje maar de schommelstoel liet mij niet meer los. De eerste aarzelende stap op Marktplaats leverde direct een heel gunstige koop op. Nu nog de verfkwast erover heen en hij kan op het terras van ons Buiten. Ik ben alleen nog erg in dubio welke pasteltint het gaat worden!

 

Tassen

Mijn collega's zijn nog wel eens enthousiast over de (zelfgemaakte) tassen die ik gebruik. Zo wordt er al twee jaar lang geroepen dat ik maar eens een cursus tassen maken moet gaan geven. Daar sta ik nu even niet om te springen. Als tussenoplossing naaide ik van stevige theedoeken van Sissy Boy Homeland twaalf tassen voor het team.