Temperature dropped!

Goodmorning everybody!

What a difference in temperature between Sunday and Monday! We weren't sure yet Monday if we would take another walk, may be shorter than the other day, but then early afternoon it went cloudy. And more important, we had a significant drop of temperature! It still wasn;t too bad, but I think it was at least a difference of 6-8 degrees. So we stayed in, not a bad idea either, cause I really was a bit tired after a few days of long walks LOL.
At the seaside people weren;t happt at all, cause in the afternoon fog came over the beach from the sea, we were just lucky it didn't came all to us.
Yesterday there was even a bit of rain, which the garden liked a lot.Still there is sunshine now and then, but it's different. Oh well, we had some really splendid days, so let's not complain. Forecast is saying temps will even drop a bit more, but perhaps next week it will go up again a bit.
Today it is time to get into "normal"things again, like some housework and some grocerie shopping and Jan has to go to another agency to try to get inscribed there. The one he was busy with, were determined to have some references, although he explained it all. Well, I guess, bad luck for them. I think he will have a better chance at the other one.
I always feel so sorry for him, when things don;t turn out the way we hope. He never shows much of it, but I know the disappointment gets to him.

Next week will be the start of the Soccer European championships. And as we like to watch the games, we are settled for a couple of weeks LOL. Of course we hope that the Dutch team do well, at least come through the first round. So now you can see in the city here and there spots that turn orange again. Sometimes people of a whole street go really mad and turn the whole street into orange, with flags, posters, puppets, etc. As the "national color"for sport events is orange, I think we will see more of it as the matches come nearer.
And in not too long time, there will be the Olympics of London. I don;t believe will will gather a lot of medals, but in some diciplines we stand a chance. But no matter how that will go, I just love to see all those athletes giving their best, and I am sure we will spend some time to watch it all.
So this will be a real "Sport filled summer".
Also with the cycling event of the Tour de France.

Now it is getting to the time, that I must move myself around, so I start with giving you a link for a beautiful cluster and quickpage made by Mat, with my Souffle du Printemps kit.
Then Snowy has another part of her kit to download.

Then Arlene has made beautiful clusters with the "My Hiding Spot"kit.

Download     HERE

And I have another kit for you, as always LOL! It's name is"Like a Poem".
I sure want to thank everyone for the nice comments I receive, also for Arlene's work. Well, it's making the world go round, we sure feel happy that you are happy with it.
Have a wonderful day!

Download    HERE

Enjoying the great weather

Goodmorning everybody!

We are blessed this Pentecote weekend, specially people who can have a stretched weekend off. Pentecote is on Sunday and Monday too, so many took Friday off too to have a looong weekend. And they sure are lucky. Great to be outside, happy to be in a bit of shadow too,  ideal barbecue weather and all!
Saturday we did go out for a walk again, not too far away this time, just to the big park nearby. But it is lovely to walk there, with all the fresh green and some marvellous flowering bushes.
But first I have a few more pics from our walk on Thursday, to Scheveningen.
Another one of those great statues on the boulevard and of a very old merry-go round. I remember that this one already was there when I was a child.

And I made a few pics in my garden, here one of the first rose blooing and my clematis too!

Then also made some of my new Pelargoniums(we normally call them Geraniums, but officially you'll have to call them Pelargonium, because Geranium is the name of perrenail garden plants in full ground, with little flowers, but bunches of them)
I think these two have wonderful colors!

The second one has in reality much darker flowers than the first one.
And I have also a few pics of our walk in the park, it's now the time of the Azalea's and Rhododendrons to bloom!

And can you guess what we did yesterday? Yes, another walk. First we thought to go to another park, where they have a Japanese garden, that's only open for a short time, but to get there by bus, is rather complicated and I didn;t want to go on the backseat of the bike, having still a bit trouble with my rib, so we decided to go to Scheveningen again, but this time via another route. We did it all by foot, pfew! We walked to the dune area and walked through it all to Scheveningen. I must say it was the best part for me, I just love to walk there, it's so quiet, full of different trees, and with this marvellous weather it's a joy to walk there. So we followed a bit a criss-cross route and after about an hour we arrived at the harbour of Scheveningen.
We enjoyed looking at all the yachts there, there also was a little fair, so we walked there too, then took again the boulevard(oh my, it was MUCH more crowded than the other day) and then I told Jan I liked to go home, because my legs told me it was enough!
So we slowly walked to the tram and took that and gosh, I was glad to be home. But it was great to be outside again.
No idea if we go out again today, but if we do, I am sure it will not be for a too long walk, LOL!
They say, the weather will become less good the days following, certainly temperature will go down, well, that may be so, but I must see that first myself, because they aren;t always spot on with their forecasts.
You can imagine I didn;t spent much time designing at the moment, just a bit in the morning and one or two times just after dinner for a bit. Don't worry too much, I still have enough to offer you ROFL!
I did find time to change the bloglayout again, I uses my Midnight Serenade kit for it. I think it isn;t bad(used some clusters from Arlene in it too!)
Talking about Arlene, I have new clusters from her for you, this time from the Rays of Sunlite kit.

Download     HERE

And my kit is "Aurélie", a soft colored kit.
Have a great day!

Download    HERE

Seaside and art

Goodmorning everybody!

Oh, what a wonderful day we spent yesterday! At about 1.30 p.m. we left to go to Scheveningen, first we took the tram and almost in Scheveningen we stept out to do the last part by foot.
The weather was absolutely fantastic. Just a soft, little breeze, sun all over, temperature around 26C ( ca. 80 F). So in a slower pace, we walked to the seaside. For already months and months they are re/arranging the whole boulevard, a part is done now, but still lots of work to do before all will be finished. But I must say, it really looks beautiful.
So we made a loooong walk over the boulevard, looking at all that was new,  savouring the lovely weather, the calm sea and all. I am sure we got a good tan yesterday, and that´s nice, because walking around it goes without noticing and doing much for it LOL.
I have made some pictures and will show a few today, the rest will have to wait till Monday. The only thing I regretted was, that we didn´t take a walk along the sea-edge, but may be one of these days we will go to the other , smaller seaside resort, and there it is also a bit easier. Love to walk over the wet sand and look at all the shells and other stuff, brought by the sea.

First picture if of a flower shop in a little shopping street at Scheveningen, which we always pass when we go there and I never can resist making a picture of it.

Then at a few steps away, we passed a tiny side street, in which I fell in love with immediately. People living there, made the entrance so nice and inviting.(love the red gate).

Again another small side street, we entered, just because we were curious, and found a shop-and atelier of a bronze statue artist, but don+t you love the view of it?

Then we finally arrive at the seaside and had to make a picture of the beach and sea, specially because the sea was so calm.

Not the most beautiful picture, but you get the idea.
Then on a part of the boulevard was a little exhibition of bronze statues, themed fairy-tales, and they were real funny!. So here already a few of them.

And one of my hubby, looking at those real special statues.
(Always have to make them a bit hasty, cause he doesn+t like it when I take pics of him)

Oh, my, did we enjoy our trip to Scheveningen? Yes, we did and we also took time to take a drink, and all together we arrived home at about 5.00 p.m.!
I made a quick dinner and then was glad to sit down on the couch! Still having a bit trouble with the bruise on the chest, I think that will take some more days to heal, but we can live with it ROFL.

I have a link for you to the blog of my friend Snowy, who finally started designing a bit again, and she has some great freebies for you there. Still she will offer them not too often, and that is because she has lots of other things to do LOL and, most important for her, soon she will travel to America, to meet a special friend and spend also time with other friends.
Then Linda has made a beautiful quickkpage for you with my Midnight Serenade kit, go there, and when you download, leave some nice words!
 Arlene has made fantastic clusters for you with the same kit, what a coincidance!

Download      HERE

And now time for me to open the garden doors, make a little walk through the garden, probably have another coffee, just savouring this wonderful weather,
After all the colorful kits lately I thought you might like one very neutral and soft, so here is Calm Before the Storm.
Have a fantastic day, and weekend!

Download     HERE

Gorgeous weather!

Goodmorning everybody!

It's really gorgeous weather here, it's feeling like full summer. Normal temperatures would be around 64F(18C) but we have now around 75F (24 C). It's unbelievable. In early Spring we had a period of much warmer weather than normal, then temps dropped, which was really a dip LOL. But now it is great again. Of course we spent time in the garden, it's even that warm in the sun, that the parasol was needed!
The garden is coming to full growth now, and every day I spot some new flowerbuds. I almost cannot wait to see the fist rose bud to open, it will take just one or two days more I guess. Same with a Clematis, who has lots of buds.

Yesterday I went out for a quick grocerie shopping, and when I came home, I noticed that the laundry was taken out of the machine and that the washing machine was busy. So I looked into it and saw that there were the big curtains from the back of the room turning around. Whee, that had to be done by Jan. So I went into the living room and saw Jan busy with washing the windows and garden doors. Oh, what a sweetie!
Now it is all looking clear and fresh again.!
With him busy, I took out the vacuum cleaner to give the house a quick sweep, oh, and on Monday I did some of the ironing too.
I am sitting here though with a bruised spot on the right part of my chest,and it hurts when making moves. That happened yesterday in the supermarket. Done with my shopping I had to put back the shopping cart. Giving it a good push into another cart, mine suddenly blocked, so I collapsed with the grip of my cart, the corner of it into one of my ribs. OUCH! That hurt!
I think soon I will have all colours of the rainbow there! Not funny, it hurts when coughing, or getting up from the couch and that sort of thing. I suppose it's my own fault, I am uncareful at times. Hopefully it will be gone in a few days. I often get "wounded" because I am to hasty, and not careful enough, so bumps on my head, or bruises on my legs or arms, or cuts in my finger when cooking, it seems to be part of my life LOL!

Oh, I bought two French Pelargoniums yesterday, one in a very dark red and one in a hard, splashing pink. I immediately made some cutlings and hope they will grow out to real plants! In Spring and Summer I take cutlings from eveything I can, or devide some bigger plants. It's not always the exact time for it, but I just try it out. And am happy as a little child when it has succes! Have to make a confession to you! When walking, alone or with Jan, we pass of course lots of gardens and parks. And sometimes, when it is possible I pich cutlings from bushes or big plants, when they hang over to the street a bit. And some of them I still have, now as matured plant or bush.  I know, it isn't done, grin, but I just cannot resist it.

Today or tomorrow, when the weather is still as gorgeaous as yesterday, Jan and I might take a walk to the seaside. I love to walk along the seaside when it's this nice weather and it might be the good time for it, just before the start of the Pentecost weekend, it will not be too crowded yet. We are just not sure where to go: to Scheveningen, biggest place, or to Kijkduin, a much smaller seaside resort in The Hague.

Well, time to get dressed now and enjoy this beautiful morning in the garden, having a cup of coffee. This time of day, it isn;t yet too warm, and sooooo quiet! With a beautiful concert from a blackbird, what do you want more?

On to the freebies then. First some fantastic clusters from Arlene, made with the Souffle du Printemps kit.

Download     HERE

And my kit is a very joyous looking one in a two colour scheme, "Feeling Happy". I think it's lovely for happy spring and summer layouts.
Have a fabulous day!

Download    HERE

Garden doors were open this weekend

Goodmorning everybody!

Oh whee, it was lovely weather this weekend. With some cloudy moments too, but in all it was great. More than nice enough to open the garden doors and also to sit for a while in the sun, drooling over my garden magazines LOL! I keep those magazines and re-read them again and again. And always learn something new, or get anew idea for the garden.
I should have done some ironing this weekend, but I skipped that and hope to ne more energetic today.
Don't know why, but was feeling somewhat tired, so I kept a very low profile.
Telling you this you can imagine there's not much more to tell you about the weekend.
I have to keep an eye on the clock to wake Jan in time. He wants to go to the agency, to eplain why he cannot give them some references, and if they cannot accept that, well, he can go to another big one and I think they will not be so difficult. When he had them on the phone the other day, they said, that if somebody didn;t have references, they always can hire them with a probation-time included. So that opens possibilities, I hope.

Sorry, but this isn;t going to be a long post. Well, you too deserve some "reading'vacation"from me ROFL, cause I sometimes just ramble along about everything and nothing.
Just let us skip to some beautiful clusters Arlene made with the "Somewhere Magical" kit.

Download    HERE

And I havea very Summer-like kit for you, "My Hiding Spot". I've made you two previews, one of the papers and one of the full kit.
That's all for today.
Have a marvellous day!
(Looks to be lovely weather here again too, so may be I'll have a moment in the garden, in between the ironing LOL)

Download     HERE

Disappointing weather

Goodmorning everybody!

You know you should never count fully on the weather report, but somehow you do. And we were told to have quite some sunshine yesterday, but that didn;t happen. I already had in mind to spend a nice afternoon in the sun, with a new bought garden magazine to read(they are rather expensive, but sometimes I cannot resist LOL), but no, we almost didn;t see the sun. Still we spent a bit of time in the garden, seeding some plants, I re-potted a few into a bigger container, and such. For doing some work it was allright outside.
I was all happy about the detective on Wednes evening, when I told you about it, but I was a bit wrong, we didn;t have Midsummer Morders, but another detective'Trial and Retribution", also not too bad, but I like the other one much better. Still had a nice evening, hahaah!

The last couple of days we heard about the cost cutting measurements of our interim-government and oh boy, life isn;t going to be easy for a lot of people!
A few of them: the taxes go up from 19% to 21% on about everything, only not(yet) the food.
We have to pay each an own risk-amount in the health care insurance, which will go up from €250, 00 p.p. to  €350,00. Then the retiring age is going up from 65 years to 67 years, in a few fases, but they want it to be 67 years in 2023.
Then there are new rules for new mortgages, and if they hold on to it, even less people will buy another house, and for starters it will be even more difficult, which will result into an even more difficult situation on the house-market, which is already stagnating.
There is even talk about a rule for people who will have to spent time in hospital, they would have to pay themselves €7,50 a day for occupying a bed.
Oh, they say the lower incomes will somehow will be compensated a bit via the taxes on the wages, they would be lowered a bit, but inall you will have less to spend.
Oh, probably the rents for appartments will go up too, and this is only a little part of it.
This is just the part of governmental measurements.
Not to speak about the raise of the monthly costs for water and electricity, not just a few pennies, but for each household about €170 a year. And I am surethere will be a raise for some of the council taxes too.
Everybody knows that measurements have to be taken to keep a country sound and prosperous, but I think they want to do it in a too short time and that will not be good to engourage the economy here.
And as almost ever the lowest incomes aregoing to be hit the hardest.
Not a nice perspective for next year.

I am sure it will end up in more poverty, more debts for a lot of people, and you could say everyone who works, could survive, but that's also a problem, there is a big unemployment already and I fear that will only become bigger.  And then knowing that e.g. they just spend around € 250.000,00 to buy a few new Chnook helicopters for the army, because they think the ones we already have aren;t enough up-to-date anymore, and spending millions in a JSF fighter aeroplane, which is still in try-out fase, and we don;t hear anything about tackling the banks and real large companies for their money handling culture, you just wonder if we are stupid and not understanding or that somehow politic has changed to the worse?

Oh well, we should survive the crisis and I think we will, but at a lot of costs!

Let's go on to a much happier subject, LOL, cause I don;t want you to go into the weekend all depressed by my rambling.
I have some wonderful goodies for you, starting with a link to Linda's blog, who has made two beautiful quickpages for you with my Souffle du Printemps kit. I'll give you one preview, but both are to download on  http://linda-ohwhatfun.blogspot.com

Then I have 3 quickpages from Arlene for you, made of several of my kits.

Download    HERE


And last but not least, ROFL, my kit for you. Because the sun was letting us down a little bit, I thought we could do with some sunny papers and elements in a kit, and it ended up in "Rays of Sunlight". Hope you can do something with it.
Now I truly have to do some things around the house today, the usual boring stuff, grin grin, but if I tackle it in a good way, it can be done rather quickly. And may be we could have a sunny moment in the garden too.
Have a great day and wonderful weekend!

Download     HERE

Art or kitsch, who can tell?

Goodmorning everybody!

We are having some rainshowers but also sunshine these days. But our part of the country is still a bit blessed, cause the rainshowers aren;t too many and not too heavy, and still having bright moments with sun. Only the temperature is letting us down a bit, but it might be getting higher again in the weekend. Despite the lower temperatures it still isn't too bad, specially not in our rather sheltered garden. So still having some great moments there, was busy Monday with re-arranging a few plants, and even better news, I don;t see so namy snails at the moment LOL. Oh they are still there, but I think they paused for a few days(probably having stomach ache cause they had too much to eat LOL).
This evening our tv evening is a good one, at least two of our favourite programs are on. One is the detective "Midsummer Murders" and first we can watch "Kunst of Kitsch"(art or kitsch) . People come to a location and bring some of their "old"stuff along, which can be a painting, an old brooche, perhaps a plate, a glass or whatever they might have. Then they can show it to an antique dealer and he can tell you if it's any money worth and you get also most of the time a little explanation with it too. And boy, oh boy, some marvels come along!!! A lot of the stuff isn;t worth a dime, called mostly kitsch,  but for the tv show they pick out several interesting finds and very valuable too!
It's about the same as the program on the BBC the "Antique Roadshow".
Amazing, what really old and beautiful things people still have!

I received a little thank you comment from a visitor and I am always curious to see if they have a blog too. And this one has and a very beautiful one too. If you like poems, I advise you to hop over and take a moment to read some of them. She writes them herselve and they are really touching!
So have a break and go to http://poetryoflife-jane.blogspot.com/

Jan will go again to the agency, to explain it is almost impossible to get references from his earlier jobs, cause nobody he knew is still working there. And at the houses he worked as a flexworker, he never had the names of the people who might give a reference, also mainly because he often worked night shifts.
We'll see if they have an understanding for it, and he wants to suggest to take him in on a kind of probation, it's worth a try. If not, he'll just has to try another health care agency.
Amazing, how difficult it is to get inscribed, knowing there is a terrible shortage of health care workers.!
I can understand the agency too, they want to know whom they are dealing with, but they also have to understand that a re-integrating worker can show his CV, and when after a few years somebody wants to get back to work again, they should be glad to have someone who is experienced.
The more, while everybody has to work longer, not anymore till 65 years, but in about two or three years it will be till your 67 th!!

Time now for fun stuff, the freebies. I received again a lot beautiful stuff from Arlene. This time we offer you a quickpage and some clusters from the "Be Quiet"kit.

Download    HERE

And I have a quite fun kit for you, named "Midnight Serenade". I wanted to make something in a blue colour scheme, but not the softer blue(which can be beautiful too), but in more expressive blue, which resulted in a blue and blue-purple.  Well, hope you like the result.
Have a marvellous day, and as my friend Edna said on her blog "Giggling is good for you", well, try to have a little giggle, in yourself or with somebody!

And just the papers i n a preview, to get a better idea of it all:

Download kit     HERE

Nice weather to sit in garden

Goodmorning everybody!

We did spent a nice weekend, oh so real quiet, but so nice.
As usual, I had to go out Saturday to get us the newspaper. But in the morning, when I was still sitting at the computer in my pyama's the phone was ringing. And it was Heidi, asking me if I would be home during the day. I told her I just had to go out for a moment, so we made an appointment for about 14.00 p.m.
I quickly got dressed, got my paper and a few other things and hurried back. I did it so quickly, that there still some time was left. So looking around in the room, I thought it might be a good idea to give it a sweep with the vacuum cleaner, LOL. So I did and then even had time to wash up some cups and so. Then Jan said he would go for a little walk, giving  Heidi and me apportunity to talk in quiet, LOL. Just as he walked out the door, Heidi came. And she even had a little gift for me. Some seedlings she had from Zinnia's and a little cutling from a mintplant. Nice, hey?
There's only one little problem when we visit eachother. This time she walked around my garden and always sees some plants she still doesn;t have. I think she went home with several pots, filled with seedlings from sweat peas, and cutlings from a lot of different plants LOL!
But I don;t mind, I will get some of hers when I go to her house. Then we finally sat down, with a cup of coffee and talked about several things, all comfortable in our chairs in the sun.
And as husband and child of Heidi weren;t home, she had all the time of the world. When Jan came home, he joined us in the garden.
I think it must have been around 4.30 p.m. that she finally left!
It was a nice Saturday afternoon.

Sunday the weather was also nice, so the afternoon we spent again in the garden. Our garden is quite well sheltered and although it might be windy, we often don;t notice it much in our little spot. I even got busy for a while, pruning the ivy that grows on the wall. I didn;t get rid of all I wanted, but it sure looks better already! Have to do that several times a year, it's a nice wall covering, but grows like mad!
I prepared a nice dinner, simple but tasty and we spent a the evening watching tv.
All together it was a nice weekend.

Today Jan has to try to get some references from his last job at an agency, to give them to the agency he applied for last Friday. It will be hard to find someone who will give a written refence, cause the agency he worked for, which was several years ago, doesn;t exist anymore. That company was bought by a much bigger agency for flexwork, so I doubt if the contacts of the old agency are still around! I can understand a bit the agency he aplleid with, wants to know something about him, but I figure they can also understand that it could be hard to have references from somebody who didn;t work anymore for about 6 years? Hmmmm, if Jan will not be succesful, he could try to explain it once more to them, but if they are determined to have that, I think he better try his luck with another agency. We'll see how it will end. Nothing goes really very smoothly, as you see. There's always a little hill to take, no straight road!
And all over the health care you hear that they are in desparate need of people!
Okay, we are not desperate yet, and something will turn up again for the good.

Let's think, yeah,......... I have some links for you for some lovely quickpages you can download
First is Miriam's blog, where Mat offers you several and second is Edna's blog, with another quickpage she made from a photo she made herself, and she even gives you the background with it!
And Arlene has made wonderful clusters and also a quickpage, with the Mama's Special Day kit.
More treats from here in the next blogpost!

Download     HERE

Kit for today is a very soft coloured one, named "Souffle du Printemps" ( breath of spring).
Have fun with it, and have a great day!

Here just a previes of the papers.

Download the kit HERE

Oh, I like the mild weather!

Goodmorning everybody!

The last two days the temperatures were so nice, not yet at the point of "great" but it's still nice.
Between some rainshowers(here not too heavy, in other parts of Holland real raincurtains!), we also have a bit of sun, and that is making it quite friendly looking outside.
I did a few bits and bobs in the house, still have to do some today, but also had time to do a bit of gardenwork and some designing at the computer.
I got a nice mail from a reader, with an advice to conquer my snails. Put a moist newspaper on spots the snails show up, do that early evening and go checking around 10.00 or 10.30 that evening again. They should be on that newspaper and then you can get rid of them. I tried it out yesterday, but it wasn;t yet a overwhelming succes. Yes, there were some on the newspaper, but much more on several plants they seem to like. So I did it the "old-fashioned"way again, by hand, and disposed of many of them again.
Hmmmmmm, it may also have to do with the moist weather we are having lately, they LOVE moist and nice temps with it. Oh well, we'll have to live with it, try out a few other plants and keep smiling LOL.
I could try the other suggestion, dig in some small tins or whatever around the plants, filled to half with beer. Imagine, that you could look the next day at both drawned and completely drunk snails . The drunk ones singing all kind of songs, like "You'll never walk alone",  ROFL!

This morning Jan is going to an agency to talk about, hopefully, a contract for some work in the health care. I reall hope they will accept him, and he didn;t work the last few years, so it's hard to give them some references, the more while the agency he was working for at that time, doesn;t excist anymore.
I'll cross my fingers and hope he will come home with good news.!
When he's back again, we might take a quick visit to the market. I don't need too many things, but we sure could do with some fresh fruit again.
And in the time he is going to the agency, I could do the vacuum cleaning, and I will be done for the weekend.
I will not chat too much today, better show you first now some clusters from Arlene again.
This time she has made them with the "Embrace your Past"kit.

Download     HERE


And first I had another kit in mind to offer, but I changed my mind, ROFL. I decided it might be nice to start the weekend with a fantasy-kit, named "Somewhere Magical". I'll give you a previews of just the papers and one of the whole kit.
Nothing left than wishing you all a "magical"weekend.

Download     HERE

The Snail-killer strikes again!

Goodmorning everybody!

Oh, it was a wonderful feeling going out yesterday, looking at the sky a bit suspicious, because it looked like it was going to rain, but outside it felt so nice temperature speaking. You could feel the sun behind the clouds and it even peeped out now and then. I kept it dry, did my shopping full of energy and home I went into the garden first to have a look at it.
But..I promised myself to do first the bed. Nicely covered with fresh duvet covers and all.
Then took a quick sandwich an went into the garden again. Inspecting the seedlings in full ground and the new planted plants, I could say, some of it looked still not too bad, but oh, especially Jan is soooooooo sad! He planted out last week his seedlings from the sunflowers, quite a bunch, but yesterday, all was left was ONE! The rest had been swallowed by snails, most likely.
So I rescued the last of the Mohicans, planted it back in a pot and gave it a secure place(I hope), at least it has a chance to survive and still grow out to be a real sunflower.
Then I had lots of seedlings of perennial climbing sweet peas, screaming out to me:"We need more room, my neighbour is standing on my feet!!!". So I put them out in pairs in a bit bigger pot, and also had the nerve, to plant a few out in the full ground. It was ncessary, cause they already had looong roots, ghee, I never had thought they would be develloped this size already!
This all done, I thought it was time to already cook some potatoes, and have time to let them cool off and then fry them for dinner. Good plan, only ................ when they were cooking, I had a break and watched a serie on tv, and ..........completely forgot them!
Lucky Jan came home and turned the heat off, but by then the harm already was done, my nice and tasty new potatoes were almost black! I could hit myself on the head for it, why do I always forget those things? I know I have to pay attention, but then get distracted by something and it happens.
So I quickly scrubbed the pan( it just wasn;t to the point of no-return blackened, pffffff) and put on fresh potatoes. This time I made sure I went checking in time!!!!!!
After dinner I thought it might be a good time to check the garden again. Temperature still was nice, it had rained just a whee bit, and that time of day, with a bit of humid condistion it seems to be holiday time for naked snails. I saw first a few ones, but after a while there were again bunches of them, in all sizes!
Of course they are all over the garden, but certainly concentrating in some ground covering plants, like campanula. Ha, my snail hunting heart was jumping of joy! ROFL!
I picked up dozens of them, really. Now I hope it helped a bit to save my plants.
Have to go out after dinner today again, keeping up this "murder action" should do some good, grin grin.

I did make some more pictures this weekend and I promised yout to show them.
Here one of the Bleeding Heart:

This one if of the seedlings of sugar snaps, I really believe we might have a small harvest later this year, they look good at least!

Here some pansies, they survived from last year, and in the beginning they looked a bit pityfull, but they are doing more and more their best, to look like real plants! Isn;t that great?

And yes, I couldn;t resist taking a snapshot of my cats. The first is Brodski, enjoying every sunray he can get and just waking up from a loooong nap, the second is of Dikkie Dik, on a probably interesting survey.

I have some links for great quickpages for you to download. One is Miriam's blog, where Mat has two qp's made with the Carnevale Veneziano kit, and one of Linda's blog, a qp made with the Mama's Specila day kit. Visit them to snatch these lovely goodies. And leave a comment please!
Oh, wanted to thank a lot of you, for leaving such sweet thank you's to me and Arlene too. They really make a day start with a smile.!

Oh boy, this looks to end in a very long posting, I better finish it now, before you get tired of me, grin!
Arlene made a bunch of clusters and two "ploppers"too with the Garden Song kit. I made two previews for them, otherwise they just didn't show up nice enough, but it's in one download.

 Download Arlene's 'Garden Song clusters   HERE


 My kit for you is one in a two color scheme, pink and grey. Perhaps not at first sight a combination that looks attractive, but I think you can make some wonderful layouts with it. Try stacking two different color papers together, might give a nice view! Anyway, here you have "Be Quiet".
Have a fantastic day!

Download     HERE

Happy news in the weekend!

Goodmorning everybody!

We really took the weekend "off"nice and easy LOL. But I could, cause Friday I did some necessary things around the house, to at least have a rather clean house during the weekend, but today it needs a bit attention again.
The weather is a bit this and that, Saturday I was out for a moment but I couldn;t say it felt nice,so the rest of the day I stayed in. But yesterday, although a bit too fresh, it was a bit brighter, I even sat for a ten minutes in the sun. I keep an eye open for the snails, but I must say, I cannot spot so many anymore. May be my big cleaning did a little bit of good, but I still go checking every now and then.
Yesterday I got the most wonderful news from my niece in France!
Her oldest son and partner had a baby on the 29th of March! So now my niece Alika and her husband are grandparetns for the first time! I received a few photos from the baby and I made right away a layout of one of them, as a kind of little present for the new parents. Now isn;t that wonderful happy news???
Here's the layout I;ve made:

Last week I promised you a picture of a new plant I bought for the garden. The little card with it says it's a Senetti Pericallis. Never heard of it, but it sure has a wonderful color!

And I had the camera in my hand so took a look around what was blooming at the moment. Not too much, but there's slowly getting more color in the garden, I even saw that my climbing rose is forming rosebuds, yippee.
But I've made a few pictures, will not show them all, I will save a couple for Wednesday too.
First is one of my azalea, showing all it's beauty.

Then a much more modest flower, the Columbine. I have quite a lot of them all around, of several color, but not all are blooming yet. It also depends a bit on the spot they are standing. This one I really love, because of the double color.

Next time some more pics, okay?

If you want some quickpages, go to Miriam's blog where Mat made some with my Souvenir d'Autrefois kit.
I have some lovely clusters from Arlene for you again. She's made them with the Devine Silence kit, also a quickpage you get. Well, I think this one you should call a "plopper"??

 Download     HERE

Soon it will be Mother's day, and is it the good time to post the kit for it ROFL. I named it Mama's Special Day.
Take care of yourself and have a lovely day!

Download     HERE