Jan and I same age again.

 Goodmorning everybody!

Thought I better try to start somewhat earlier today. Did I? Well, for a little bit, it is still morning, and for now the sun is shining. We had a temperature drop and suddenly we have just around 3 or 4 C and that isn;t really much. Of course, it is winter, so it should be colder, but not necessarily for me. It is however dry and for now we have sunshine and even  blue sky. Yesterday there was much more wind from the NE, so that made it feel even volder, but today it looks better, at least less wind. If all goes well, we might get some rise of temperature middle of the week? For me that would be okay.

What was our week? Filled with some housecleaning work again, small grocerie shoppings, and with some things I don;t even remember anymore.

But of course I remember Jan;s birthday, which was on Friday. As usual I wait the day before till midnight and then I am the first to wish him a happy birthday, hahaha. so also this year. We already dont do much about presents but nevertheless I always try to have some utterly small surprise. This year I foun some old firework sparkles(the one you e.g. give little children at New Year, or use for a cake), we had some tangarines on the fruitbowl, and hopla, I knew what to do. At midnoght i plopped one sparkle into a tangarine, lighted it up in the kitchen and came into the sitting room singing Happy Birthday. The trick worked, Jan had to laugh fullharted about this idea. Then Igave him a big kiss and that was all. It made some kind of impression on hin, because when on the day my friend Heidi called him for a birthdaywish, he told her about the sparkle!

He received several nice cards and even an old friend came by later at day, for about half an hour to wish him happy birthday and to chat a bit. That was a nice break from the lockdown stuff.  We still have severe lockdown till the 8th of February and may be the primary schools will open again the 8th, but it isn't sure yet. 

On his Birthday Jan had a nice meal with some of his favourite things, so despite a minimal brithday celebration, all in all his day was nice. And so it had to be.

Perhaps you remember that on most Saturday's i don;t really cook a meal, but try to have something very easy.  It also is a good day to try out some new recipe, with more or sometimes always less success, LOL. Yesterday I tried my hand on a bread an butterpudding. Must admit it tasted well, Jan liked it too(even took a second portion later in the evening), there however might be still some room for improvement, but in the whole it was nice. There is so much left over(I ALWAYS make far too much for us two) that we will have it today for dinner again. You can reheat it well the day after, so no problem there. It makes it really easy for me today, isn;t it?

I had the recipe from the Hairy Biker's Bakation series on the BBC. This bread and butter pudding is from the Eastern Europe trip, and is from the Czech republic and is called Zemlovka. If you are interested, they have lots and lots of wonderful and tasty recipes. Of course you can find much and much more bread and butterpudding recipes in Google. 

Oh, I also went to an opticion to look for a new pair of glasses. I know it is a rather costly thing(my health insurance doesn;t pay for it, as far as I know now, have to check it again, but think it will be nothing), so I first went to check with several opticians. And there is quite some difference in price. At the end I landed with the same one I have my recent pair of glasses. If all goes right, I will have my new pair in about a wee or 10days. It will be a relief, because I now notice that my recent glasses aren't good anymore. But i had to wait around  weeks from cataract operation before I could go to an optician. All needs time to heal well, but soon I will have good and clear sight again, yeah!

Good, that's it for this week. Wishing you all a lovely week to come and ..... hold on for a while and stay safe, there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Hard to believe it is really winter here.

 Goodafternoon everybod!

It's just after midday, and I thought it was better to do first this post and then carry on. It really is quite hard to believe that is is winter. At the coast here, we usually have milder climate as a bit more into the country, but I can remember real winters, with snow and ice and slippery roads and streets, wearing even snowboots and with some cold temperatures! Till now we've had here some nights here and there with some very light frost, at daytime we can keep it above the zero C. Like today, there is quite some sunshine, not much wind, temperature around 4-5C I think. Still we sould cross fingers that it stays more or less like this, because I also can remember we've had years that we had about the same and suddenly in March and also April we had winter with cold, snow, frost at night and daytime, all those unpleasant things. So we can only hope that will not happen.

We've had a quite productive week I can say. In general said we treid to do some work every other day. So Jan tackled some windows to clean and wash the curtains, also he dusted a part of the sitting room real good and gave the things that stood on the shelves of the cabinets(all with a lot of dust from the new windows placing). I did mopping of the floors, some hoovering, laundry, ironing, grocerie shopping, also some intensive dusting/cleaning here and there. Doing that every other day, leaves you with some recuperation time and works okay LOL.

We did the "work" mostly in early afternoon, and it is sometimes amazing how much you can achieve in two or three hours. Of course in the morning and afternoon we took the time to take a break, drink some coffee or tea, have a bite, etc. Specially Jan has to do that at the moment, because he is quickly out of breath. With his inhalation medicine it is already much better, but he hasn't much of a condition, also due to his fall last year and recuperation of it, then all together it takes some time for him to get better on his feet. Slowly however it is going better. 

In The Netherlands we are still in severe lockdown, meaning almost all shops and restaurants are closed, also all schools, just supermarkets, and other grocery shops are opened, and a few really necessary shops, but that are only a few. Lots of people work from home as much as possible, and now we also have a curfew, from 21.00 evening to 4.30 morning. For us personally that last thing isnlt a real problem, but for others I can understand it is hard. The infection rates are going down, also hospital and IC admissions, but it is going too slowly, they say. I think these measures (some of them at least) make sens, but I would rather see that they would vaccinate at a much higher speed, because I think that is the best to beat the virus and it's spreading. I must admit that I am kind of ashamed that our country is almost at the lowest place on the list of vaccination! We are a rich country with very good health security, most of the time good in planning etc. but here we seem to fail and I have no idea why! Okay, there is somehow a problem with supply of vaccin( it concerns all workl supply), but still it is uncomprehensible why we vaccinate so slowly. Something somewhere is going terribly wrong. Is it just because the vaccine producing comapnies just cannot produce more than they do or is it due to another cause? Whatever the answer is, it should be solved and quickly too. People are getting tired of more than a year with all kid of restrictions, almost no social life, children are getting behind in learning stuff, lots and lots of small and larger companies have trouble surviving, as well as a lot of artists etc.,despite all financial help from the government, well, everybody knows what I mean, don;t you?

Okay, I rambled a bit now, had to get it off my chest, I suppose. It sometimes is getting to me, and I do hope that around may be June or July we will be able to do all that we did before this Covid-19 took over the life and life conditions!

That said, I must think of something to finish this post a little bit more cheerful LOL. Oh yes, Friday, the 29th Jan will have his birthday. Not that we will do a lot about it, but it is another year on the counter, and like me he will have 68 years. Gosh this year we will be together already for 29 years! That's quite a long time, and looking back it seems as if the years rushed by! I'll see what i can come up with to make his day still a little bit special. I always seem to come up with something, even if it is just a small thing, and i have about a whole week to think about it. I should be able to succeed, don;t you think?

I'll let you know next Sunday, and now it is about time to finally get dressed(yes, I am still in my yammies and dressing gown), hmmmm, probably I will find me a comfy fleece pair of trousers and sweater, hahaha. I am wearing those a lot these days, only when I have to go out for some grocerie shopping I dress properly, easy but still a pair of yeans of other pair of trousers, nice sweater etc. But soon after I got home again I change in my home suit, it is easy, comfy and warm, so why not?

Good time to say goodbye, wishing you all a very good week, and stay safe, in at least wearing a mask, stay at distance of 1,5 mtr, wash regularly your hands, and don;t gather in large groups, even if it is hard at times. We should try to hold on for a bit longer and do that together!

A rather exhausting week.

 Goodmorning everybody!

We had yesterday a little bit of snow, just for a short time and certainly here at the coast has disappeared again and now it looks as id we might have a bit of sunshine and guess what? Temperatures, that were around 1 or 0 C daytime, will go up to may be 7 to even 10C middle of the week!! Can you imagine that in January? Just hope weather will not strike back in March or so with freezing temperatures and all not nice things, haha.

Well, Last Monday they started with placing our new windows. I must say it went rather easy, although the sitting room window gave some trouble in removing it( it was still very old way with iron posts and so) but the guys got it out without much damages and the new one was placed and also the new kitchen door and small window, next day they did the smaller window in the bedroom, and did all finishing details. They were with 4, all from the other side of the country, had to drive about 2 2 1/2 hour to get from and back. Might not seem so long for several of you, but here it is already a long time. 

They planned two days on our address and next two days at our nieghbor's. But they changed the plan a little bit and also came finishing with kit etc. on Thursday and Friday. It all looks soooo nice now! And it is a pleasure to open the curtains in the morning and to be able to look through the glass, not having a lot of ondense water on it! We sure did have to suffer a few days(specially the 1st) from the cold, oh my, that was not the best part of it. It already was better when the new windows were in, but still it was very cold inside, the guys had all doors open there was draught and so on, not much to do about that. Then we couldn;t warm it up too much for about two days, had to do with the kit that shouldn;t dry too quickly, with possible reaction it ccould split here and there. But.... already from yesterday on we could make it much more agreable in temperature and we really needed that.

Of course we have still things to do, it will take some days more, we already cleaned away a lot of the dust that you could see everywhere and on everything! Pfew, that really is hopeless. Most of it gone, still have to mop the room, but that's for tomorrow or the days after. We cannot to too much on one day, just to exhausting. Never mind, every day something and it will be done too, just in slower pace. Most annoying is now that we cannot go our to order new window covering, we have a complate lockdown, for sure till end of the month and may be even a bit longer. So we managed to have our old net curtains on the windows. We don;t want to drill yet holes in the plastic frames, so found an other way for now. We first we would like expert advice for possibilities of window covering and types in curtain fastening. 

Gosh we are still feeling rather exhausted from this last week. You don't do too much, but have to wake up at harsh early times(we aren;t used to that anymore LOL), then most of the day you sit a bit, walk a bit around, make some coffee for the working lot, and not enjoying the temperature and after it already the start of a cleaning around. All your normal day rythm is gone, and you have lot of things lying around on not normal place, all that. Next week we will work hard to get all in more or less order again.

That's about all of the content of our week. Looks not really much, but I am glad that is over with and we can go on in more normal rythm again yeah!!!!!

I think I will finish this post now, and take it real easy for the rest of the day. Hopefully have a nice night sleep and have some energy loaded for tomorrow and the next days for some hoovering, mopping, dusting, oh yes, ironing some laudry, etc.etc. etc.

Wishing you all a wonderful week, please stay all safe.

Busy weekend and start of the week

 Goodafternoon everybody!

Our weather isn;t bad till now, it also depends on which side of the country you live. It is about 2-4C now, sometimes some sunshine, sometimes cloudy, a short rainshower, that's it. Here on the coast we might have a tiny bit of nightfrost, just -1C, but next week it will be gone too.

In fact it is not too bad weather news for us, because tomorrow there will be start with placing the new window. So part of the day we will have to cope with cold temperature, not the pleasant time of the week, but hopefully all will go without difficulty and it will be over Tuesday afternoon.

Our week was quiet again, although..... we got rid of our Christmas decorations(we did it in two or three days time, and that went well) and suddenly we had a rather empty sitting room again. It always takes a day or two to get used to it, I always miss the Christmas lights, you know.

Then there was also some good news. The daughter of my friend Heidi had to undergo a cardiac catharesation to see if see was suffering at the moment from pulmonaria hypertension(the disease Heidi has) or not. No, she isnlt, so some of the troubles Séverine is experiencing have another cause. Now she will have at some time a test to see if she still might be carier of the disease, which is also important to know. But that's another step. For now, the family was relieved by the good news.

Then Friday I had my Birthday. Not really important, it is only when you are young till a certain age and then you just remember the day and that's all hahaha. Hmmm, Jan will live with an older women for 3 weeks now, (I am 68 already, pfffff) till he has his birthday on the 29th of January and will have also 68. Yes we are from the same construction year!! I did have several phonecalls from friends, and that's always nice and a lovely present from my "long-distance"friend Enda. It is a top that I will certainly wear during Spring/summer time of a wonderful soft tissue and beautiful colours. And I treated myself that evening with a simple dinner: chicory with ham and cheese out of the oven and some oven baked potatoe. Yummie, that tasted real good. Why? Because Jan doesn;t like chicory I usually don;t cook it(because then I have to make the chicory for myself, for Jan some other vegetable, all too complicated LOL). So once or twicce a year I take the "trouble". And Friday usually is the day in the week Jan is "self-supporting"for his dinner. Great idea! On that day I mostly take something that Jan doesn;t like too much(like pizza, pasta) and he can take something I don;t like too much. It works very well, hahah.

Because we have to remove a bit of furniture out of the way, and clear the window sills and such, I thought I might make some dinner in advance for tomorrow and even the day after. I prepared yesterday the meat balls, chicken pieces, veggies for a well filled soup. Today I will make the broth and put all things in it, then it can be placed later on in the fridge for tomorrow. With all the mess and work going on I bet I will be happy to just have to warm up some soup for us!

And as I was busy in the kitchen I also prepared about all for today's dinner, which will be my twist on a kedgeree. I cooked the rice, I have a steamed mackerel, of which I removed hopefully all bones, cooked two eggs, and today I only will have warm up the rice in a stirring pan with some herbs, salt, pepper, I will also will put in some dices of dairy butter, at the last moment the mackerel and the eggs.

So that was my week, now time to get dressed and already move some stuff to another part of the room or house, put down plastic on part of the floor, cover perhaps some things with plastic too. Things that we cannot move ourselves and must be out of the way, I am sure the guys tomorrow can give a hand. Oh, I am so curious to see how all will go tomorrow and how it will look. It certainly will make a difference in temperature and also noise reduction and we will not have no more condensation on the windows(which is so annoying).

Wishing you all a very good week to come and please stay safe!

So a New Year has started again!

 Goodafternoon everybody!

I borrowed this from the net, but I thought we could do with a happy picture to wish you all  happy New Year and wishing you all a year with for all health, much love and laughter, and more or less returning to the life we knew, with metting with eachother at no distance, being able to hug now and then, and still caring about and looking after eachother. Seems a bit "heavy"but i mean it all from the bottom of my heart, that all of it will be able around half of this new year.

Jan and I had a quiet New Years Eve, nice and cosy, I even bought us a little bottle of sparkling :"wine"(no alcohol in it) to do a toast at midnight. It was something with raspberry taste, not really bad even. Oh well, it was just the idea. It wasn;t allowed to lighten fireworks at the streets, so it was real quiet at midnight. Of course there were a few people who did it anyway, but just a little bit.  There was a lightshow in Amsterdam, we only watched it for a few minutes, seems there was a drone show in Rotterdam, things like that to replace the fireworks. Nice, but it is not the same.

It was a quiet week, you know, I just went out once or twice, just to get us a few necessary groceries and for New Years Eve I made us puff pastry(already ready made) with Dutch shrimp ragout. The ragout I made myself, it is so much better than from a tin. And it is quickly made. It looked something like this

I had a just a bit of salad with it and it tasted real good. Later on in the evening we had of course the traditional oliebollen en appelflappen(apple turnovers). Those i didn;t make myself, I just bought a few and they tasted not too bad, I must say. 

This weekend we took it still easy, we tried to catch some sleep, specially Jan has trouble with sleeping at the moment, so not much to tell. Next week we will already start taking off some of the Christmas decorations, normally we do all after the 6th of January(holiday of the 3 Kings), but we better start already a bit earlier, to be ready this week with that. Next week already(if it all is still as agreed) we will have the new windows. But with the new lockdown going on, you never know. I couldn;t call the company, because they have a holiday till today, so we'll wait if we hear something of them tomorrow.

So this is it for now, we'll have to get into daily rythm again from tomorrow(LOL), and hopefully it will be a nice week, with no suprises(I am done for a while with surprises, mostly because the "surprises" aren;t often of the nice sort, hahaha).

We have some colder weather now, just about 2-4C at daytime, in the night around zero or with a tiny bit of frost may be, but it is dry and even some blue sky and sunshine. I was out yesterday for a moment and it wasn't too bad at all. And it was nice to catch some fresh air. I hope it will stay this kind of weather, at least I am not keen on snowfall, specially not now, with the placing of the windows next week. So let's cross fingers the temperature will even rise and it will not be raining(or even worse perhaps, snowing). Gosh, I used to love a bit of winter weather when I was much younger, although........ only when the snow had just fallen and all was still fairylike white. But we are allowed to change our minds during out life aren;t we ROLF.

Have a very lovely new week, and please stay safe!