Provence

In the beginning of May we spent some time in France, in the 'Provence'.

As always, France didn't disappoint us :)

 We had a nice view from our appartment that was next to a golf course

The village closest by was l'Isle sur la Sorgue: a very charming little island surrounded by the river Sorgue. And market day a couple of times per week!

I just love to stroll around and buy all the fresh products!

Or the dried products...

Lavender, that's what Provence is known for!

The scent only! Mmmm... pity you can't smell it :(

 We also visited Avignon

Avignon, with its very famous bridge...

Sur le pont d'Avignon...

Another very charming place is St. Rémy de Provence that we visited on another market day

Lovely market, all over St. Rémy, so it was pretty difficul to see something of the village itself (don't even talk about making pictures...)



And of course we couldn't leave without visiting Mont Ventoux...

by car ;)

 

Although the boys made plans to get into training to do it by bike next time!

I'll let you know about the progress!!

Have a nice week!



The International Lonely Bouquet Day

Flowers are very important to me. I love my garden full of flowers, I love my house full of flowers and I just can't get enough of making pictures of flowers.

Flowers make me happy!

For me they change a house into a home,

they change a piece of land into a cozy garden, our outdoor home!

Emily from the beautiful blog Fleuropean has started a wonderful initiative:

the International Lonely Bouquet Day!

The ultimate goal of this initiative is to dedicate one day a year to making strangers happy.

How does it work?

1) pick flowers fresh from the garden or go wild on wild flowers... 2) arrange the flowers in a small, recycled jar, 3) add a signature “take me!” tag, and 4) leave the homegrown arrangement behind for a lucky local to take home.

 

You have just delivered a handful of flowers that will surely put a smile on a stranger’s face.

 

I'm in! Do you join me? June 30 is THE day!!

 

For more information please have a look at The Lonely Bouquet Day.

 

I'm counting on you!!

 

 

 

 

Back in the garden...

This is impossible! Is it really more than two months ago that I was here? Time flies, that I know for sure!!

It was never the intention; it just happened. Spend some extra days in the office, dedicated time to some nice, new & challenging projects (will come back on that when the time is right!), holidays... Add the normal daily routine to it 'et volià', two months are gone before you know it!

 

But I hope to be back on a regular basis again.

 

Today I start with some garden pictures. Although it has been too cold lately, the last weeks there has been rain & sunshine... Perfect combination for the plants & flowers (and weeds!).

 

I actually only started working in the garden 2 weeks ago, before our holiday. Haven't been to the garden center nor any nursery yet... that is really exceptional! Never happened before :)

Last weekend I tried to clean the winter mess up... succeeded partly, still a lot of work to do.

But for now, I can show you some pictures:

 Tulips that I bought last year during my visit of the Keukenhof and
which I planted only end of January...

 

And what a coincidence... will be visiting the Keukenhof again this week. Very much looking forward to seeing all the beautiful flowers and colours.

 

Might be posting about it next week :)

 

Have a happy week & 'see' you soon again!

Welcome to March, welcome to Spring?!

 

The weather forecasts for the Netherlands this week are fantastic!

Between 11 and 17 degrees Celsius in the south...

Time for action, time for a good cleaning of the house (and get all of the viruses out!)

and time for some garden work!

 

 

So what am I doing here, behind the computer? Let's get started!!

 

Wishing you all a lovely sunny week!

Phew... February already!

 

It's been quiet here at my little corner on the world wide web ;)

Busy...

Working more hours in the office & being caught by the flu didn't leave me with much time

to spend here... unfortunately!

 

However, I did have time to bake a chocolate-pear cake AND I did meet Lynda again for cappuccinos and a chat :)

 

 

She gave me these double French tulips.

Aren't they just beautiful?

 

 

 

 

Hope you're all, again, prepared for the cold AND for the Carnival??!!

I'm looking forward to a long weekend in Paris...

 

Have a nice week!

 

Snow and a pinkish touch

 

Am I glad that I planted the bulbs last week.

And those little hints of spring from last Monday?

I hope they will survive the 'truckloads' of snow that have been falling lately, because this is what it looks like outside since Tuesday:

 

 

A winter wonderland!!

 



 

 

 

Last weekend I wanted to bake something but didn't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.

Surfing the net, I found these oreos on the blog of Fraulein Klein

Shop bought oreos and a homemade filling, I added a bit of pink food colouring too as we had some guests who would appreciate a pinkish touch :)

You can find the recipe here

 

They disappeared in no time...

 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend filled with sunshine & snow...

... & some skating maybe?

 



Little hints of Spring?

Last week, when the sun was finally shining again, I planted the bulbs that had been waiting in the garage since last October...

Beautiful bulbs that I ordered during my visit of the Keukenhof. I'd forgotten all about them, untill they arrived in the mail mid October. Didn't make time to plant them then, so now there wasn't an excuse anymore as I wanted them in the ground before the frost would arrive.

In the meanwhile I looked around and saw some signs of Spring:

 

 

I really hope they will survive the predicted snow and cold the coming days...

 

Have a nice week & enjoy the snow!

 

Berlin!

 

 As promised...

We decided to visit Berlin again.
My first (and last) time was in 1988.

So I had no idea of what to expect...

Look to the right and you see beautiful old buildings...

Look to the left and you see all kinds of new and very modern buildings!

 

'Checkpoint Charlie'

 

Unter den Linden in Christmas atmosphere!

Reminded me a bit of the Champs Elysées in Paris in winter time (like you can see here).

Brandenburger Tor... not to miss :)

Couldn't make proper pictures as a huge stage and lots of 'entourage' was built for the New Years Eve celebrations (apparently the biggest one in Europe).

More old and new...





 

Reichstag 

 And of course, we couldn't go home without having made our very own chocolate bar at Rittersport!

 

We had a great time in Berlin.

This was Thom's favorite:

A Bugatti Veyron!

Better start saving now... :)

 

We love to travel so we already planned our destination for the next holidays:

going back to...

... Paris!

 

Wishing you a nice weekend & see you next week!