A moment of Silence

 Forever remembered, forever loved.

 After 4 really intens days my dear grandfather Grootrob passed away at the age of 91 years old. Although it brings a sadness, it is also better this way.
We were blessed to spend so many years together, i have countless happy memories associated with my grandfather.
Today is not the time to share those memories. Today is my heart full of gratitude and love. I sit in silence, thinking of my beloved ones who lost their husband, dad, grandpa and friend.

We need, in love, to practice only this: letting each other go. For holding on comes easily; we do not need to learn it.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Holiday Countdown

This year school holiday comes late. I must say, especially this year i am longing for Christmas. It is dark outside, literally and figuratively, and I really feel this urge for home-based cocoonen. 2012 will be a year of change for all of us. It won't be easy for a lot of people. 

Althought there is an awful lot of work waiting on my desk, can not help to dream a bit these days. Thinking of warm home made cookies with chocolate milk, the comforting sound of my all time favorite movie Amelie, the every shining light of the church out of our window, the tics of the knitting needles while sitting on the count next to my love, frustrating moments when layering a 1000 pieces puzzle, crackling Christmas Granola in my mouth, the noise of my family sitting at the huge Christmas table, feeling the heat in my face sitting on front of a nice indoor fire............. etc.

So I am counting the days, just 4 days to go! Hope your all have something to look forward to.

A rather blustery day

Take Care!

Opening your heart

Every first (or occasionly second) sunday of the month i sing mantras with a group of woman. It is a beautiful way to start your sunday because the vibrations leave you in a peaceful and meditative frame of mind for the rest of the day. For a couple of weeks now i am feeling stuck in life but i must say Chanting together opens my heart again!

Yesterday i felt after singing mantras the energy flowing again to my spirit. When i came home i felt this urge to sent postcards to all those people in my life who are in pain or joy at the moment. There is so much going on in every ones lifes, happy and sad events. It was time to share, to thank and to let people know i am thinking of them. So i made little wish boats from Jurian Matter and wrote about 10 cards. It was a nice little activity for a peaceful sunday afternoon.

Light my fire

I am addicted to candles. To me it doesn't matters which season it is; whenever i am at home (or at the allotment) i light a candle.  Somehow lighting a candle has to do with gratefulness. One year ago i developed this ritual of going to work early in the morning. My soulfull trip to the Sinai Desert (Egypt) inspired me to look for quietness in my daily life. When i got up at 6 in the morning i lighted a candle to welcome a new day. It brought me less noise, more focus, time to over think what is really important & less stress.

Where did i lost this ritual this year? I have to find the Early Bird in myself again.

Ancient Matchbox from my Granny

Granny finest

Love this new label Granny Finest: Knitwear designed by the young, made by Grannies! It is a great project, destroys loneliness under people and brings Yuppies and Grannies together. But i must say, i am so glad that i just can visit my dear Granny tomorrow in this home for elderly where she lives. Spending real time together is still the best!

Mediaeval Gent

Yesterday we got a gift from Sinterklaas and booked right a way one night in this gorgeous Bed & Breakfast in Gent (Belgium), Myriame's place. 

We LOVE Gent because of the mediaeval car free city centre, the presence of Ecofriendly dinner-places and Design Museum, the cosy little streets with art- & fashion shops..........etc. We try to go there once in 2 years and book everytime a different B&B ( you can find here avaliable rooms). It is our love-city- a place where we relax together and get inspirered by everyday life in this compact beautiful old town!

Pleasurable anticipation, thanx you Sinterklaas!

Be gentle

Now and then i receive a letter from Alana Sheeren, a mother who lost her son and writes about her "journey through grief toward wholeness". I did not lost my son, but in a way, waiting for a baby for so long now sometimes feels like i lost my child. There are days that i am feeling suddenly so sad. Learning to be gentle to myself, but i still find it hard to cancel a party, family meeting or baby shower, just because i am feeling lost.  It is good to find a letter in your mailbox from some one who is able to write what you experience.  Alana wrote in her last letter about grief during holiday time.
" Notice what's underneath the surface. When we don't give ourselves space to express our emotions, they will often come out sideways. If you find yourself getting annoyed with a loved one [....],  ask yourself if what's happening in the moment is the issue, or if your grief is wanting attention".

Her letter helped me this weekend to give myself permission to my feelings. 
Alana, thanx for sharing. This upcoming week i will try to reminder your words.

"Ease Let go of the paddles. Trust. Allow things to come".

Morning joy

Sunny City Walk

Patchwork Curtain

Our kitchen and living-room is now located at the ground floor, the former snowboard shop. Because of the 4m x 4m single glass show room i made with my mother a big patchwork curtain from old recycled fabrics. Inspirerd by a curtain i once saw in a museum, winking to an old cafe were you still can find a dirty, smokey brown curtain when you enter the door.
Making this curtain was a perfect job for mother and daugther; quality time and functional! It took us about 5 days, including the claptrap. The curtain is finally hanging, quite a necessity with the upcoming cold days (we allready had frost at night). I am really happy with it, especially because i am a beginner when it comes to handicraft. This way my mother can teach me a bit and i can develop some missing skills. Thanx mom!

Home made Heaven

A lazy Sunday Morning in our new kitchen! My boyfriend worked so hard for the last couple of months, so it was a true, true Joy to share breakfast together. Home made hapiness!

The kitchen is self build by my handyman: he did the building and made the design.The faceplates are made from oak by a carpenter, the cabinets are from Ikea and the concrete dresser is made by my love. Making the concrete dresser was a big big experiment. Everywhere on the web you read how specialised work it is, it is discouraged to do this by your self. But my love likes to take a venture, and he succeeded!
I had some strong wishes, like i insisted on a 70 centimetre deep & 8 centrimetre high concrete dresser. And i did not want to have high cabinets because of the beautifull old medieval wall. And there had to come a Smeg fridge. All the equipment is second handed bought at Marktplaats (something like Ebay) and there is a lot of old material from the house re-used. This way it is a affordable, ecofriendly but design kitchen. The tap is a Starck design, made for a bathroom but adapted with ball bearings (rubber from a bicycle), the kitchen wall is painted with lacquer paint (normally you use this at wood) and there are more of those funky ideas. The old medieval purper door will soon become a spice rack.

I am really proud of my love; he did the best job ever. It turned out to be perfect, or more than perfect to me. I love everything! It feels allready like home, and i am really looking forward to cooking vegalicious dinners and have endless dinnerparties with friends.Thank you my love!

Love at first sight 2

Do you remember this post? I bought this tin it in a Vintage webshop called Les Filles, and just before, the lovely owner made a beautifull picture of it. Well, now you can find The Bird in Flow magazine.nl. The owner of the shop sent it to me, thank you Erica!
The Bird really wants to fly out (it is still living in a box called "Kitchen Stuff"), next week it will finally meet his new friend Rabbit!

Meaning of life?

Birthday celebrating (found via Flow Magazine)

Pretty inspirational!

What a beautiful fall

 Autumn at Villa Augustus

Early birthday present

 

My love made me this morning a couchtable. He found some old wood in our house (he is finishing our new livingroom) and knows that i really love the old dutch colours. The Kitchen Project is making progress, i quess it will be ready in two weeks. There is still a lot of painting to do and the old wooden floor needs a refurbishment, but then it will be time to do the decorating....Can not wait! Last couple of months, i collected stuff for the kitchen, put it in boxes or gave it a paint lick......That was fun but the best thing is yet to come!

Sometimes

From Keep Calm Gallery

Love the colour

and the ideas behind it:

Inspired by Albert Camus, 

 "philosopher of the absurd".
Did anyone of you read the Myth of Sisyphus? (1942)
Put it on my wish list
would you recommend it?

Dutch Treat

Now it is time to plant bulbs

just before the first frost comes

Tulip bulbs are perfect little gifts

i bought 75 Tulip bulbs

mixed the colour together

 put 12 bulbs in an old

recycle paper back

and did some DIY

Enjoy giving!

Granny's Treasures (1)

Pre-war sewing box (1928?)

Quite a shock, but allready so loved

Welcome little nephew Tjebbe!

October

Image via pinterest

Finally
Wind Rain ThunderStorm
Welcome Fall!

Times flies when your are having fun

Sorry all for not keeping up with this blog. I had good intentions, but now i am back working and going to school 2 nights a week, our fall schedule is a busy one. Going back to university turns out to be great: studying Urban Sociology is one of my greatest joys at the moment. Add up my crashing computer.......you know. Thanx to dad i am able to blog again, realising that posting is a way to anchor myself in the present moment. Especially with all this "sciencific thinking", it is not bad to do a bit thought reduction by getting lost in Pinterest and snowball from there into fantastic, creative blogs. This way i keep in touch with other parts of myself, other than the part that wants to learn and analyse everything.....Totday i found this great artist Jennifer Colliers, who treats paper as if it is fabric and uses discarded materials in a new and exciting way.  Especially now (i lost my ibook and have to work on a "black box" brrrrr) i would love to have her paper type machine and this perfectly coloured birdie lamp!

Picture from http://jennifercollier.co.uk/

The art to make camping Romantic

Image via maluna, photographer unknown

We just booked a flight to Sardinie (Italie) for mid October, looking for some outside adventure and quality time together. My Love is thinking about camping, but most campgrounds are closed by then. I found myself winning about cold nights and bad hygiene. Quess it is time to step out of my comfortzone and go camping like old days, when we used to sleep on a garbage bag on top of a hill in Mallorca or camp wild in Poland. Best Holiday memories ever! 

Camping is what you make of it,  i know it is a perfect experiment with new ways of living, discovering a new “art de vivre” in just a few days. This biutiful image convinced me: we are going to camp on Sardinie!

Autumn feeling

With all this rain and relatively cold (16 degrees Celcius) and windy days, every one is complaining about the weather in our little country. Although i have not had the summer feeling at all this summer, i am secretely longing for autumn colours.

My CAN'T WAIT LIST:
Can not wait to see our allotment in autumn time;
Can not wait to be able to run with dog at the beach (beaches are closed for dogs in Holland during summertime);
Can not wait to sit in our new kitchen next to a canddle, sipping tea, listening to the radio, be proud of my own carpenter;
Can not wait to have our autumn-harvest-festival;
Can not wait to see the growing bellies from my 2 best friends (mummy's to be);
Can not wait to be stressed out (okay, a bit stressed out would be bettter) for my exams ( i am picking up my master study Sociology);
Can not wait to run 9 miles with my brother and dad, hill up and down;
Can not wait to welcome Sinterklaas at our home town;
Can not wait to listen at Slenterblues from Eva de Roovere (whenever i am feeling blue);
Can not wait to sit on the couch, next to my Love (with the dog at my feet and the cat at my lap) watching our favorite TV shows;
Can not wait to welcome my third baby nephew, or maybe my first niece!

Writing this post, i realize how blessed i am. I am counting my blessings, although realize that there are times when a loss occurs that we simply are not comforted by the many blessings in our life. I hope you can look forward for next season.

Colour lovers

Do you know already colour lovers, a creative community where people from around the world create
and share colors, palettes and patterns? Great inspiration source when you are with your nose in a big renovation...........Some Palettes have hilarious namess, like this biutiful palette called

One Fish Two Fish

First Summer down on the allotment