Humble offering

Aren't they pretty?

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are over-excited at the thought that these came from our garden.

Never mind that the nursery did most (read: all) the work so far.

I'll do the rest!

.

If you can't join them, cheat them

As only ONE measly seed that I planted grew after meeting with large volumes of rain and subsequently drowned, and knowing that I wanted that veggie garden, by hook or by crook, a visit was paid to the garden center.

And Hallelujah.

LOTS of lettuce plants, tomatoes, capsicums, a bedraggled cucumber, lovely rosemary.

Wonderful!

.

C'est Le Weekend: Breathe a sigh of semi-relief

Today the school holidays officially start, although I still have another week of work to do.
Will have to drag Thing 1 and Thing 2 with me to work on Monday and Tuesday...
There is just no other way as my parents are off to France again tomorrow with my uncle, who has come all the way from the United States.
Haven't seen him in oh, about 20 years.

I have so many plans for the holiday:  things I'd like to do with the boys, and mostly, just getting our house up and running and in order so we can survive once my parents leave us at the end of July.  Will miss their help terribly.

Today I have to help the boys say farewell to their old school.
After the summer holidays, they are starting at the school here in the village.  
Will be good for them, I am certain:  The school has a good and cozy feeling about it, the teachers are kind and the classes are smaller which translates into more attention should your child need it.
But it's stressful and harrowing for Son#1 who has fallen into a large group of friends at the (almost) old school.
Change is always daunting, even when you are 6.

Meanwhile I want to work in my garden this afternoon if the Tooth Monster allows me to, and try to finish some work inbetween.

The in-laws are coming on Sunday, to have either a barbeque or just plain dinner.
And a nephew is being sent away to a type of boarding school that will help him cope better with life.  This makes me so sad and mad as he is only 10.  Wish he could come and stay with us.

Work is stressful and will be next year as well, and I've been a total twit and volunteered to partake in a faculty board and I'm not so certain that I'm the right type of personality to do so.
I'm more soft-sector, willing and able to discuss my own and others' emotions and that is  generally frowned upon in the Nether Lands.  
Oh well.  I might just surprise myself (and everyone else) with my hardline approach and quick decision-making skills.
Or not.
We can only wait to find out.
Like Rilke said, you have to live the questions in order to find the answers.
Now I'm tired.
And the day is only starting.



.

What I miss most today

is the Metro.

Wish I could hear the sound and smell the smells, watch the people.
Feel the relaxation that those things give me.

.

Oh dear

Today has turned into one of those days.
Son#1 is over-emotional and argumentative, Son#2 is 4 and therefore by definition feisty, and Son#3 is teething.  In a bad way.
Meanwhile we didn't sleep much, woken by trucks rushing through the town in the wee hours of the morning, Son#2's complaining that his blanket isn't tucked in, and Son#3's early waking with pain and hunger.
Sigh.

Feel like smacking someone today.  
Why aren't there any volunteers??

Life is hard work.


.

I just ate an insect

Asked my mother if insects are good for me.
No.

Either way, I'm pretty chuffed with myself.

.

Paris, Je t'aime Part 2

And so my story continues.
On Sunday, we slept late.  
LATE!!!  
9 a.m.!!!!  
It's a miracle and the Catholic Church should be alerted immediately to chronicle this event!

After a huge breakfast (what's wrong with us that we like to stuff our faces when the food is free??  I never eat 3 portions for breakfast!!!), it was Champs Elysees Clemenceau's metro station and a walk across one of the bridges (I've forgotten which one) towards the Grand Palais and Petit Palais.  
It was Petit Palais we visited, mostly because we love the art there and best of all, it is FREE.  

They also have a great cafetaria and clean WCs, always a bonus.

Here is an impression of some of the art:

 

A real Monet! 

 My favourite:  Fernand Pelez's Les Saltimbanques,

and

Morot's Good Samaritan

Afterwards, we had good cappuccino and espresso under the museum's colonades.

Rest, calm, happiness.

Then a long walk in the rain along the Seine, towards the Eiffel Tower where my camera's battery finally surrendered.  

We went back to the hotel.

Checked out.

Got in the car and drove home.

Sigh.  

I can only sigh.

Visit Paris.

Save all your money and GO.

It's worth it.

Really!

.

Paris, Je t'aime Part 1

Have been thinking.
There is just no place quite like Paris on this earth.
I lived there for a while back in 1993, and it will always feel a bit like home to me.

On Friday night, we arrived in Paris, lovely hotel, the Renaissance Marriott La Defense (except that they don't offer free internet - €7 an hour!!!, and that they overcharged the phone call home to check on feverish Son#3 - 3 minutes for €24!!!!). 
Now don't go thinking that we roll in the money, because we don't I can assure you, but the Renaissance Marriott happens to be in La Defense, a mostly business district and must therefore be quite desperate for weekenders to fill its plush suites.  

Gorgeous views of the Grande Arche.  Breathtaking. 
The French aren't intimidated by architecture, it must be said.

We booked via Weekendjeweg.nl - and only paid €109 per room per night, including breakfast, not too shabby for a 4 star-hotel in Paris and much cheaper than at the hotel itself, let me tell you.
The only other setback is that the hotel is difficult to find by car - a maze of roads run underneath the hotel, crisscrossing the district and confusing the already-confused navigation.  We parked at Valmy 1 (€55 for the weekend).
All minor obstacles aside, the beds are glorious, an ample breakfast, and all quite close to the Metro and RER station.


Back to my story:
After we arrived, we walked to the RER / Metro station, La Defense, bought 2 three day passes (about €21 a piece), and went to Chatelet. 
We walked and walked all over the Marais, lovely and quaint and vibrant and exactly what you expect Paris to be.  Lots and lots of gay bars where the husband claims his bum was probably pinched, but that might have been me.
Finally, at 10h30, we saw Breakfast in America, a super diner-style restaurant with vegetarian (!!!) hamburgers plus the usual meaty-variety on the menu, Budweisers and Stella Artois to soothe our throats. 
Tired but satisfied, we strolled back along the Ile de France where people were sitting on the quays, drinking, talking and just being.  Lovely.
In bed at 2h30.  We can't do that at home.

Saturday saw us off to a great start:  Stuffing ourselves at breakfast, then taking the Metro to Pyrenees, and looking for the Canal St. Martin, which was disappointing.  
This is the best angle I could come up with:

We walked all along the canal, finally sat down at L'Atmosphere for wine. 
Word of warning!!!  Don't go there!!!!  Bad, rude service, we nearly had to beg to get the bill. When we asked to see the menu, a short troll of a waitress took the knives and forks off the table and told us that we can't eat there. 
Should have left then.
Felt quite sad after the whole experience. 

Off we went to Parc Buttes Chaumont to cheer ourselves up.  It's up a hill so be prepared to walk.  Lush and super kid-friendly.

We sat on a bench for a long time, eating chips and drinking water.  Children were rolling downhill on their sides, dogs sniffing each other up, families and picnics and smart ladies walking forcefully up the hill on high heels.  Impressive.

After this, we returned to the hotel for a nap. 

Having wonderful weather, we headed to Concorde with the Metro, up we crawled onto street level and then a gorgeous, gorgeous walk through the gardens at Tuileries towards the Louvre with the sun going down behind the Arc de Triomphe.  

Next time we'll take some wine and just sit there.

A great thing to do, is to wait until the lights go on at the Louvre, it gives the entire complex such an ethereal feeling.  Pure magic!

Another walk and then the metro to St Paul, where at 22h45, we went looking for a restaurant still willing to give us something to eat.
Boring but brilliant, we ended up at Breakfast in America again, just in time, then around the corner to La Favorite, old-school French cafe-style, which is superb for people watching.

And if there is anywhere where People Watching is superb, then Paris would be it.

That's it for now.  Tomorrow I'll tell you all about our Super Sunday.



.

Back to the Salt Mines

Boy oh boy.
Just 16 hours ago we were still strolling towards the Eiffel Tower, and now I'm almost driving back to work.
Sigh.

Will report back later, we had a wonderful wonderful time.
Sigh sigh sigh.


.

Favourite steeple

Which I'm leaving behind for a weekend in Paaaaaaaaaris!!!
And of course I'll miss the kids too.

 

.

Even the cat

Even the cat's hair is full of cat hair.

Does it annoy her as much as it does me?

I wonder.

I wonder about a lot of things.

.

This is a tomato, right?

At least I hope it is.

The only thing I planted that actually grew.

Would be very upset if that sign turned out to be wrong. 
Should change it to Roma TomatO then.

Sigh.

.

Surviving a children's party 101

In short:  You need to start praying.
Hard.

All in all, we had 10 kiddies running around, crying, playing, fighting and having a good time.
We sang 'Happy Birthday', blew out candles. ate cake and hotdogs and chips and other things that made little children's blood sugar spike to the high heavens and back.
Then we played game after game, the only highlight being Musical Chairs.
Finally time to open all the gifts.

At 3, another boy showed up, his mother being the mother of 4 children, and she kind of took over.  
Sent by some divine force.

At half past three, another miracle occurred:  The ice cream truck drove by.
There must be a God.
9 Euros later, each child was armed with an ice cream, and they proceeded to play quietly and calmly on their own - no interference from any adult required.

The weather gods were very kind to us.
The kiddies were sad to go.
Son#1 got the Mother Load of gifts and toys.


I can only say that it was actually a good experience.






.

I did it!

Finally!

I cleared the hallway's boxes!

Now, at last, I can open the shutters, shamelessly.

Aaaaaaah.

Relief!

.

Size does matter

My painting, which looked so big in the old house, now seems small and insignificant.
Can't wait to start painting again.

Yesterday we cleared my art studio of all the boxes and junk that still needs sorting (read:  should-be-chucked-away, hope the husband didn't hear that), to make room for 11 hysterical children that will attend Son#1's birthday party.  
Yay.


We even mowed the lawn.  Our own grass.  For the first time in our lives.
The husband is worried.
We seem to be turning into gardeners.
Afterwards, we had wine, which was lovely.
It even stopped raining so we could sit outside.


Meanwhile, Son#2 stayed home again, talks incessantly and his eye has finally started to deflate.
Not sure if you could call it deflating, but the swelling is flopping in on itself, like a souffle.
Poor little man - he does not appreciate the attention that his eye gets; wants to sit and stand away from all people.

The sun is shining though, and I'm off to the supermarket to buy supplies for tomorrow's Party of the Year.

Calm and peace!
.

Just hanging

No. Big. Deal.

.

The beginning of something beautiful

Common Hollyhock

(Alcea rosea)

Come on then, bloom!

Monday morning and at work, together with Son#2.
With his one-eyed-look, he can't judge distance or depth, and I don't want the other kids at school to bully him.

It's going to be a busy but good week.
This coming weekend, the husband and I are off to Paris.
Can't wait!

First some work, though.
Work at work, a party for Son#1, planning doctor's visits for Son#2.
Just a blip on the radar.
On towards Paris!

.

From Bad to Worse

Poor Son#2.
The swelling on his face must hurt like hell.  Hell.
His left eye has swollen to roughly the size of a protruding golf ball, his forehead as well.
The blooming antihistamines don't seem to do the trick.

Poor bunny, he doesn't want anyone to look at him.
The damage this morning:
 

 

We are spending the night somewhere in the east of the country.
All I know, is that it is close to Hengelo and close to the German border.
Miss reading proper maps.
Navigation systems in cars kill the map-reading-public and geographical knowledge in general.

After a tough night (mainly because I drank 7 glasses of wine yesterday) we were up at 6.
Thank goodness for cartoons on Youtube.


A lazy morning ahead with friends, then back to the south to see Son#3!
Have a good, peaceful, contented Sunday.



.

Skeeter Syndrome Strikes Again

Talk about a rude awakening on a Saturday morning.

Son#2 woke me in the middle of the night, telling me he couldn't see (as he often does and then it's because it's dark).
Of course, in a daze of sleepiness, I sent the little tyrant back to bed, and stumbled back to my own warm nest.

However...  this morning at 5h30 he woke me again, telling me he couldn't see, and as soon as my eyes could focus, I saw the damage:  Son#2, highly allergic to mosquito bites, a.k.a. Skeeter Syndrome, was bitten twice.  
One on the eye, another on his forehead.

Sigh.
We gave him antihistamines, phoned the hospital, saw the doctor, more antihistamines and corticosteroids, and then home for breakfast.
And all of this before 7h45.  


.

 

Santa Claus

The younger years

.

C'est Le Weekend: Rainy but nice

This morning we woke to a rainy day, but that doesn't matter.
Thankfully, we had such a gorgeous day yesterday that a bit of rain is also fine.

Last night, the husband and I drove to Dordrecht and had dinner at De Dulle Griet which, believe it or not, serves Indian tapas amongst other things.    
We had the most fantastically tasty dinner: salad, curry, lamb burgers for the husband, spicy potatoes and lo-ve-ly beer, Lamme Goedzak, (whose brewery will be paid a visit this summer).

A walk through Dordrecht (with all its canals and old houses, it's just like Amsterdam!) and a shortish car ride home, in short, a great anniversary dinner.

Like being married to my husband. 

Our weekend is starting with rain, and I hope that it will let up so we can enjoy the weekend with friends.
And  tomorrow will be my first night away from Son#3.
Don't know if I'll survive!
 
 

Mini-escape

A rare day with no concrete plans or work that needed to be done, so my parents, Son#3 and I decided to go to Antwerp.

Lovely day, a comfortable 19 degrees, sunshine galore.

First we went to Kasteel den Brandt 

where we met an English nanny who gave us bread to feed the ducks.

Then we saw a strange man who lay on the grass with his legs up in the air, only to meet him crossing the bridge with a smile a few minutes later (whatever he did must have worked).

See him there,  a tiny blip under the tree on the right:

Then across the road to walk to Middelheim

where we sat in the sun with wine, coffee and beer while Son#3 played with the gravel and looked cute.

And I mean, he looked cute.

Then we took a walk through the park and admired all the gorgeous sculptures, including my favourite polar bear by Pompon (that looked cold and needed a scarf)

until it was time to go home again to pick Son#1 and Son#2 up from school.

Tonight the husband and I are off to have a wedding anniversary dinner.  

Yay!

Walkabout

I will go wherever Grandma will take me.

As long as I can walk, I'm happy!

.

Words to live by

Live not for Battles Won.
Live not for The-End-of-the-Song.
Live in the along.

- Gwendolyn Brooks

 

.

Nobody home

Think I killed its inhabitant in the kitchen sink this morning.

Let's hope his family doesn't come looking for him.

.

You say tomayto, I say tomaahto

New project:  Making myself feel like Pioneer Woman.
How does one go about such a mammoth task?
Small steps, let me tell you, and by trying your best to make oven-dried tomatoes.

Here is before, behold the pregnant tomatoes:

Here is after, no idea what they taste like, but they look absolutely gorgeous:

I sliced the tomatoes (a bit too) thin, and left them in the oven for about 3,5 hours on 140 degrees C.
An hour into the whole thing, I made a last minute decision to put some Herbes de Provence on.
Made them smell lovely. 
When they were dry (not crispy), I put them into an old sterilised jam jar and covered them with sunflower oil.  
Might even pop a clove of garlic in a bit later.
Just for the hell of it.  


I can take care of myself when all shops should burn down and civilization as we know it should end.
Next stop:  Cheese!!!


.