Are happy days here again?

Goodafternoon everybody!

Weather here is still too cold for the time of year. Although we do have dry weather and some days full of sunshine, there still is blowing a wind from the North or North East which makes it colder than it should be. This week it will be mre or less the same, may be towards end of the week there could be some rain, but for now it is dry, and we might even have to water the garden. For sure the pots and containers.

Sometimes, in our garden, when the sun is shiny full, it is rather nice to have a short seat, specially when there is just a soft blowing wind. But you really have to stay in the sun, otherwise it is too frisk to sit. It is okay when you move around and do some work, but still I like it also somewhat warmer when working in the garden, hahaha.

I was walking around in the nieghbourhood quite a lot this week, just for some grocerie shopping actually, to find all I needed in different supermarkets etc. There suddenly seems to be a small stagnation in deliveries of some goods there. Well, I don't mind too much, it is good to be out and have some exersice for the legs. Perhaps from middle of this week to come there might be some relaxations in the the lockdown we have for now. For one, they might open the terraces of cafe and restaurants, for several hours a day, shops can open up under restrictions of not letting in too many customers at a time, things like that. Although the figures still are not that good of infections and admissions to hospital and also the IC, government thinks it can be possible. Well, let's see and hope. Vaccination is going slowly better here and now I can tell you the BIG news(for Jan and me it is): Last week we received a letter from Health Depatment that we are on the list for vaccination and we could make an appointment. I right away did(by phone, it went really smoothly and quick) and so I even could choose the location. We have two vaccination location in The Hague(which is rather a a little for our city I find), one is really far away all on the edge and takes a long travel by tram and bus, and one is not really too far away and easy to reach for us by just one tram and takes about 15 minutes. So tomorrow, yes on Monday we can go there, together and have both our first vaccination(it will be with Pfizer), we have to be there at 9.30 a.m.

It is like receiving a birthday present almost! Okay, we will need another vaccination, we have the date already in June) and we till have to be careful, because still a lot of people aren;t yet vaccinated. But....... it is seeing light at the end of the tunnel. It is just a pity that  lot of people are kind of scared now to have a vaccination, because of the talks about several brands that might have some really un pleasant side effects. But I think that getting Covid and the seriousness of it, is much more dangerous and much more likely. So I think people should think good about it and read the right explinations and figures about the vaccinations and talk to their doctor if they aren;t sure, because only with vaccination of as much poeple as possible we can ban out one day the Covid, or at least make it much less drastic and dangerous. Perhaps we will need it every year, like we have the flue vaccination. 

I just hope Jan and I will not have too much trouble with the smaller side effects, like sour arm, or not feeling 100% for a day or two or something like that. But we both are happy we suddenly can be vaccinated and it gives some peace of mind too.

For instance, next week my friend Heidi will come for a visit to us(she has to be in the neighbourhood) and I will be so happy to see her again. She can tell us all about her moving to the new house and perhaps we even can make an appointment to visit her and the family in their new house, because we are curious to see it.  As she still isnt vaccinated(although you can count her to the risky group with her disease on her lungs), we have the vaccin, so it will work both ways a bit. We will take care, of course and keep a bit distance and so, but at least we can meet.

For some photos you still have to wait a bit longer, I didn;t take time to try to connect my camera to the laptop(it should be easy enough with the cable I have for it, must just hope the laptop can recognize the camera without problems. 

On tv we always have a certain program around 5.oo p.m. which is always nice to watch, kind of talkshow, and this last week(as it had a few warmer days) they had it from The keukenhof, where in Spring the tulips have their feast. But with Covid they couldn;t open the gardens(may be they did for just a very small amount of people) but like last year they made video's and you can see them all , there are about 4 or 5 made this year, and I will give you the link, because it is really beautiful to see. They plant about 7 million bulbs(all by hand) every year and take them out too and every year they make a new plan for the display, so every time it is somewhat different, isn;t it amazing?????)

Welcome to Keukenhof

(seeing it in browser Edge will give you sound, I am not sure in Firefox, because Firefox sometimes plays tricks with me and suddenly gives no sound and I have no idea how to fix it)

 I hope it will bring you some joy, like flowers and all nature always do.

 

Have a wonderful week, and .......... stay safe!

More or less a gardening week

 Goodafternoon everybody!

We have not too bad weather, meaning we have sunshine, most part f the day, not too much wind, only it is annoying that the wind still comes from the North, or North East, which makes it still cooler. However, we reached now around 10-12C, could go up for a few days to 15C. And if you can sit out of the wind in the sun, it already is really nice. It could be we will have a few rainshowers later this week, but if they don't last too long, it is good for all that grows.

Did i tell you about the knd of mess with Jan;s medicins and prescriptions? Yes, i think I did. Well, I called with the assistent of his doctor in hospital, expained, and asked to send to the pharmacie the still needed prescriptions of 3 medicins. I waited a few days and went to the pharmacy and hoorray, they received them and all is well now. I am glad it is solved and done with. 

I had two days of real spirit (and some energy LOL) for a bit of cleaning jobs, amd I am happy they are done. Don;t get me wrong, I didn't do a whole Spring cleaning cycle, oh gosh no, but .... okay, some things are done. And sas it is already such frinedly weather(although a bit frisk for the time of year) I couldn;t resist buying some spring plants to brighten up the garden(and it keeps Jan busy too, which is a good thing for him).

I bought some violets, petunia's, lavender, the "stoechas variety"

Also a few verbena(the annual one), two geraniums, and begonia. Seems a lot but when you have to fill some long containers and larger containers it isn't really a lot). I;ve made some photo's but I will have to practice with my camera and my new laptop to put the phtos on the laptop. I hope windows 10 will recognize my camera, but i think it shouldn;t be a problem. So give me some time to figure it out.

Or tulips are in full bloom now and really brighten up our terrace in their containers. Next year Jan wants to put them all as a mix match. Hopefully we will be able to keep the bulbs in good order to plant them again this fall.

It feels really good to be able to work a bit in the garden*and even sit for a while in the sun!!!) in fairly agreable temperatures. It makes you long for warmer times and also better ones concerning the Covid. Our country is really slow in vaccinating, and it is a shame. We should be able to do a lot better. Jan and I still don;t know when we are in line for vaccinating and almost all is still in lockdown. It will be very difficult to hold through after already such a long period of lockdowns, specially for a lot of enterprises, like in the horeca etc. 

It is said that the infections are still too numerous, but that would be a lot less if vaccination would be done properly and a lot faster! Everybody is getting slowly a bit impatient and with better weather coming up it will be hard to keep people inside.We are fortunated to have our garden as a kind of escape to be outside, but lots of people don;t have that possibility. But now.finished with my complaining.

Did you see yesterday anything from the funeral of Prince Philip of Great Britain? I saw a summery of it but found it still impressive, although it was a very limited one because of Covid. I felt so sorry for the Queen, specially seeing her sitting so alone in the chruchbench. Although she might have seen it coming I am sure her heart aches. Imagine they were married for 73 years! It will be hard for Queen Elizabeth to continue her reign without her husband on her side. May he rest in peace and may God give the Queen a lot of strength.

It is time for me to pop into the kitchen and see if my lamb stew is already tender enough. With some boiled potatoes and may be a salad we will have our dinner. I think that, if the sun still will shine, a bit later I will sit a moment in the sun, it is good to do so and catch some free vitamines and also start to have some color on the face again. 

I wish you all a wonderful week, and stay safe.

 

A week with a bit of everything.

 Goodafternoon everybody.

Weather here is looking friendly but temperature isn;t too great. Sun is shining mostly, but when I step outside in the garden it is feeling as you should imagine with the sun. It will be a whee bit better during the week, day temperatures will be around 8-10C but in the evening and night it will drop almost to zero. It could creep up by the end of the week to may be 12-13 at daytime. I could do with something like 16-17C with sunshine, but for now too much wished for.

Title of the post might sound a bit mysterious, but it isnlt really. There were up and down days, more caused by Jan who had some trouble again starting last sundayevening. It wasnt as bad as the week before and kind of different, but for him it was of course not a great thing and for me bit of stressing. It wasn;t enough to call for the doctor(according to Jan) and as he had an appointment with his internist last Thursday, it was a good opportunity to talk about it. He did so and his doctor is a little bit puzzled by it, cannot pinpoint exactly what is causing these kind of cramps. She wants him to have another CT scan next week and will study it and then the week after we will have a phonecall with may be some answers to it.

Then there was some trouble with the pharmacy. His internist did send by fax prescription for Jan's medicins and as they were delivered I checked of course and missed 3 things. So I called the pharmacy askeing why that was the case. Seems(but I am noot really sure) that they didnt receive prescriptions for the missing things. It is not a big problem, they will give them anyway, because Jan uses them already for a long time, but now I will have to call with the internist assistant tomorrow to ask what happened. It makes it all more complicated than it should have. Normally all works well with our pharmacy, and they are really friendly and helpful. So for me it is a little mysterie and hopefully solved y a phonecall. I hate it when things cannot just go smoothly and without fits and starts.

But rest of the week Jan felt already much better, now only next thing will be to let him sleep better. It would be nice if he could sleep at night, if only for 5 hours at a row, you know. And he doesn't want to take a medication for it. I can understand, he already has a batch to take and a lot of sleep medicins can work a bit addictive when you take them for a too long time.  

In between all this he did occupy himself with the seedlings, they grow rather well, and love to feel the sun on their little heads, only we have to take them inside during the night. It is just a bit too cold for them(and they are only small, poor little things). 

We even did have a visit this week(it is difficult you know, with the lockdown), from Jan's brother Rob. As we have some space, it was not difficult to keep distance a bit and it was nice to see and talk to him.

Oh yes, you will be smiling, but Jan and I still have very old mobile phones(as we hardly use them) but we will have to change them, because they aren't suited for 3/4/5G and the 2G is disappearing in a couple of months. So soon I will have to get me another phone(I want a smartphone, but not a really expensive one and I want one of my own and only have a subscription with the phone company for the calling and texting in it with a SIM card as I have now to. As we talked about it with Jan's brother he said he had an older smartphone, but still working okay for Jan with the charger too and we could have that from him. Isn;t that nice? Jan almost doesn;t uses his phone, so I think this one will be anough for him and so now only I will have to find me a nice phone. We really don;t use them a lot, so there is no cause to buy a really expensive one or take a subscription with phone in it. This could be my project for next week or the week after. 

This weekend was the house move of my friend Heidi. I will leave them in peace for the next few days, they will have enough to do, so I did send them a little card to wish them luck in their new house. 

Oh, I saw something astonishing on tv and it brough a big smile to my face too. It was a little video/newsitem about a man and his caring for birds.Perhaps you already saw it, but it still stays unbelievable and fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rOyFJhWWJ0

And with this happy video I will finish my post today, wishing you all a wonderful week and remember: stay safe!

 

A haircut........ what a blessing hahaha.

 Goodafternoon everybody!

Let me start this post with wishing you all a Happy and Blessed Easter. I can remember Easter time when I was young and my parents were around. Easter was a special holiday for my Mom nd she was busy with it already for days, even weeks. It took time to make the special Russian Easter dish Pascha( made of cottage cheese with lots of sugar, extra cream, boiled egg yellows,raisins, real butter, confit fruit, and a bit of rum) which was all made by hand and through a pass through sieve or is it stirring sieve?), and Koelitch(something like a bread, but with confit fruit, raisins, you could say it is a cake like bread). Pascha took a whole day to make and it is hard work, and then it has to stay in forms for about a week to let go out all the water that still is in the cottage cheese). Koelitsch, well, also a long dayto make and bake. It were busy times in our home and know I always helped my mother with making it. Then in between she was busy painting Easter eggs (with icons on it, really beautiful) that were given to friends on Easter, together with a portion of Pasch and Koelitsch. Every year on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, my father, mother and I took a trip in the car to visit all friends and bring them the Easter gift. It took several hours(here and there we took a cup of tea or coffee, you know) and I always came back home with lots and lots of chocolate eggs, or another little present, specially when I was still very young. 

At that time we also went to the midnight mass in the Russian church and it always gave you a specail feeling. After the mass we first had something to drink there and then coming home we had an early Easter breakfast with all the goodies Mama had made. Oh gosh, memories .... memories, they always stay in your heart.

What about our weather? Well, this week we had almost two opposites. Two, even three days this week we had summertime. There were tmperatures of around 17-22 C, so we could open our gardendoors to let in some sunwarmed air, and it was so nice. Suddenly our tulips rushed to grow and even open up a bit. 

But then aropund Thursday temperatures dropped, wind turned and it was a lot less agreable to be outside. Today we have cloudy weather and temperatures of may be just 10C and later this week we might have some days with even less, kind of 6C and possibility of some wet-snow or may be hail, and with that I am not happy at all. Jan took some of the seedlings inside, because they might not survive the coming nights. I just hope it will be just a short period of cold and that then slowly all will warm up towards Springlike temperatures(or even a bit more, if I am concerned).

It was a quiet week, in which I did some grocerie shopping for this Easter weekend, spread it a bit over several days, and then........................I kind of rewarded myself with a visit to the hairdresser on Friday. Wow, I had so enough of my grown hair, with no model in it at all, all due to lockdown, of course. My hairdresser opend up already I think two weeks ago, but I just waited a bit, to let pass the big storm of appointments, but now I have again short hair easy to handle, and you cannot imagine how happy I am.

As it is Easter, I though I might make us a nice dinner for this evening, and gave it a good though during the week and I came up with this:

We will have fried prawns, they are in the fridge now in a simple marinade of a bit of sunflower oil, salt, pepper, paprikapowder and crushed garlic. It will take just a few minutes to fry them. And I prepared a ovendish with gratin potatoes (the gratin with cream and cheese). I think we will enjoy this evening's dinner. I made a bit lager dish of the potatoes, so we will have enough for tomorrow evening too. I probably will make them a stew with lambmeat. Simple, but tasty.

There are of course lots of days I make less fuss abot dinner, then I just make something that is quick, but still tasty and nourishing, and not every day the same, if possible. (although it is real tempting to make every now and then something that will last for two days, hahaha, and I do so too, don;t get me wrong).

Next week my friend Heidi will move to her new house, and I am not really looking forward to that. I was so used to have her real near, her first house was just at ten minutes walk, the second a bit further away, but with the tram and a short walk also just about 15 minutes away. But this time it will take much longer travel time to visit her, so no more quick passing by to see if she's home, this time we will have to make "appointments". I will get used to it, but somehow it will be slightly different. With the lockdown still going on Jan and will not be able to visit them soon(we are only allowed to one visitor a day, hopeless), but may be next month some relaxation of measures will take place and we will be able to see her new house. Of course I am curious about it.

Next week Jan will have an appointment at his internist, the check-up appointment he has twice a year.  This week he had a bloodtest for it, so I hope all is in good order.

Now this is all I can ramble about, so I better finish this post wishing you all a wonderful Easter day and a good week in safety.