We have guest visits from a cat.

 Goodafternoon everybody!

Yes, today very late, I slept a bit longer and then was busy with things, Our wether has been quite okay, yesterday there was some rain, it will rain possibly too in the evening again, temperature today is about 23-25C. Later this week it will drop to may be 20-21C, which is somewhat  low for July. 

I was later this morning because I slept longer than usual. All due to the Olympics. We have a time difference with Japa of about 7 hours, so a lot of events take place in our nights. There are of course summaries to see of tod enough for a medal, They start often at 02.00 night (our time). Not best for the sleep, I know, but ..................

We had again a quiet week, I love to say it, although sometimes it seems dull. However, we had a visit from Heidi and Séverine this week on Tuesday and it was ever so nice. Séverine explained us a few things on our phones, not all, but every time something is okay. we had a drink and a few laughs, sitting in the garden.

And we have a visitor lately from a beautiful young cat, at home somewhere in the neighbourhood. No, it doesn;t look astray, looking far too clean and well-fed, but it seems to like our garden and our chairs with the pillows in the garden, hahahha. It's a very friendly cat, grey with white and very light green-greyish eyes. I will try to make a photo and put it in my next blogpost. I only have to try to learn him/her( I didn;t check, LOL) that it can be in our garden and lay around but cannot harm the little birds. Will be hard, I know, but I can always try.

After I woke up this morning I first had a cup of tea and something to eat, watched a bit tv and then started to prepare for dinner. I still had some big shrimps in the freezer, so I thought I might use them up and they are in a simple marinade of sunflower oil, some pepper, salt and garlic. I also made a potatoe salad to go with it and I also have a few slices of smoked salmon with it. As dessert we will have some yogurt with fresh strawberries. I think it will be yummie. It's a bit luxurious dinner, I know, but we don't have that too often. During the week we also have sometimes just a hamburger with some salad or boiled veggies and potatoes.Another day perhaps just some pasta, or a Sheperd's Pie with some salad,  But every now and then we can make an exception, isn;t it?

Oh, I also turned on the washing machine to have the laundry done, it's hanging to dry now in the extension room we have. All together I think I filled my day well enough, so now it is about time to do a little game perhaps on the laptop, and later hang some food for the birds and then the afternoon will be gone already.

I wish you all a wonderful week, stay safe, take care of yourselves, and till next week.

In several weeks we will have all the curtains.

 Goodafternoon everybody!

Weather is good again, We have around 22-24C, sunshine, little bit of wind, and it will stay like this probably all next week. So somewhere this week Jan has to water the garden again. This seems strange, if you know that in the south of our country, as well as in Germany and Belgium there was very much rain and there are terrible floods. It hurts your heart when you see the disaster and the dammage that it has done. Lots of people lost everything in their house, if not even their house too. There are also a lot of casualties, for all in Germany and Belgium. And there are still people missing.

There was also another really bad news item, on Friday the 8th of July a crime journalist was shot and badly too, they hit his head. He died of the attack last week after struggling for his life about a week. It is shocking that things like that happen and it seems if it happens more often. Journalists, lawyers, program makers etc, seem not to be safe anymore to do their job. If you want to know more details I have alink for you:

Peter R de Vries: Dutch crime reporter dies after shooting - BBC News

Thursday the man of the curtain-shop came by to measure everything to the detail, and during his visit we even changed a few things, and now all the house will be having new curtains, or blinds or net-curtains. It is really a lot of money we will spend, but it certainly will last for a longer time, because it is good quality and will be well-made. Of course it hurts a little bit in the wallet, LOL, but it will be worth it. I tried to find some examples of the curtains we will have, and i did find some, although it looks as if it isn't really the colour I have in mind. Nevertheless you will have a slight idea.

For the living room front and back we will have net curtains(of which I didn;t find a foto)and curtains.Here the curtains

I have the idea that there is a slightly more green in it, but you can see the kind of tissue, which is linen.

For the little bedroom Jan wanted a warmer colour which is about this one

Because of starting of holidays, we will have to wait somewhat longer on the curtains to be ready, we hope to have them mid-september.

My friend Heidi also returned from their vacation, they even came home one or two days earlier, because they didnlt have nice weather at all, or only two days of wonderful weather and the rest of the time cloudy, rather cold, even rain. Well, if this is the case, you better can be at home. If all comes right Heidi and Séverine will come by next week for a moment, which will be nice. The Séverine will also explain a bit about our phones, may be even install some small things or so. 

Returning for a moment to the flood disaster, even then there are happening kind of miracles. read the following article if  you want

 https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/07/cow-survives-100-kilometre-swim-downstream-in-river-flood-waters/

As long as it is nice weather i should spend some time outside, under the parasol as I already did earlier this morning with my coffee and the book. It is so nice in the morning, real quiet and peaceful.

Wishing you all a lovely week, stay safe!

New curtains, net curtains, blinds, all in short sight.

 Goodafternoon everybody.

Weather report: Today looks quite nice, we have mostly sunshine, temperatures are around 20-22C, we've had a little rain, so all in all it is not bad. Next week will be of about the same weather.

Well, Friday was the day. Jan and I went for the new curtains(I will call them all just "curtains"is easier), not too far from our house, with a bit of effort and here and there a very short break, Jan did walk it. The shop where we went wasn;t the most cheapest, but it is one, that is doing business for years and years, it is a family business, and they have still time for their customers and good service. Time we took for our order, I think we stayed there about 3 hours, but the lady took her time, and that was very agreable. We ordered now net curtains for front and back of the living room and for the small bedroom, also curtains for there(in the bedroom a sort of blackout curtain), then blinds for the kitchen and lamets for the expansion. So we've done all the house. It's quite some money, but we have real good quality, that should do for some years ahead. Next Thursday the husband of the business will come to measure for all and when all will be ready, he will hang it all, with new rails etc. It will take a bit of time till it will be ready, because it is just start of holidays, so we hope to have it all hanging by end of August. Oh gosh, how wonderful it will look with all the new curtains, all fresh and well hung and sliding etc.

Next project will be to find us a new couch, which will probably will be two smaller ones. I already looked into some websites of furniture shops and I saw one or two that have a good selection for not too expensive and still an aoky quality. May be we will go there in a week or two, if Jan feels up to it. And then we should stop for a while , because we already will have spent a lot of money this year. But....... it will be worth it. For years we weren;t able to invest in new stuff, now we have the possibility and we should do it now. It will be a good feeling to have some new and fresh furniture and together with the curtains and the new windows we will be settled for while again. 

There are still some other projects that I would have done, but those will have to wait for a while till we can save some moeny for that again. I will be happy as a child when the first things will be accomplished in , say, 3 months time. 

Yesterday Jan told me, he called again Séverine, just to check if all was still okay. Wow, he did it without me asking for it, that's a news item, LOL! All seems to go allright with her, she told Jan she would go out for diner to a small restaurant with her grandparents. And some day last week she had some girlfriends visiting her and they played old fashion board games and they had great fun.

Already next weekend Heidi and Danny will be back from their vacation. Then we should pick a day to visit them, finally. 

I managed to take a few foto's in the garden so here they are. First is to show that my tomatoes really blossom, now it is waiting till they make tomatoes!

We have several plants, so who knows what harvest we might get??????

Next foto's are from a rose bush, that already bloomed with several roses, now it is busy with the second bloom. It is quite a large bush, about 1,50 mtr or may be even more. It has beautiful roses, in fact this foto isn;t really showing how beautiful and big they are. When new buds will open I will try to take better foto's. And the next foto is from lilies that bloom like mad. I had once a few from Heidi, but now I have a whoe bunch of them and they bloom for such a long time and hold also well in a vase.

I am still learning how to take the best pictures with my smartphone, so they will get better in time, hopefully. And I edit them with Paint(already in the windows 10). It will do for now, but perhaps one day I will buy me a new Photoshop Elements again. You can do much more with that, who knows, may be one day I'll pick up designing scrapbook kits again. Don't get too enthousiastic, I am not sure about that at all yet. We'll see what future will bring us. For now, I wish you all a wonderful week, stay safe, take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Better weather makes better mood.

 Goodafternoon everybody!

Our weather is somewhat better now, not spectacular, but temperatures around 20-21C, some clouds, some sun, here and there(mostly there, hahah)lots of rain, even thunderstorms, but not much in our part. It's good enough again to have the gardendoors opened and I did have my morning coffee in the garden today.

It was a week in which not too much happened, as usual, we don;t get out very much, that's to say, I do, but Jan is much at home, it is not easy for him to go out for a longer time, it has to do with condition of course but his breathing too. However he can be a bit outside because of the garden, he does do some work there, every time a little bit, it keeps him busy and is good ofr his feeling still being able to do something, you know. Let's just be happy he still is around.

One day I was out to get us some new stock of cheese in another shopping street a bit further away from us, and I also found some wonderful jars and small sprinklers for herbs and spices. Lately I was a bit annoyed because of the unpractical cupboard, where I keep my herbs and spices. I often buy larger packs, which is much cheeper of some spices and/or herbs, but not arranged handy. Now with these smaller jars (for a very low price) I arranged all much better. All the spices and herbs in the bigger jars to keep fresh and dry and all the more daily used spices all in the same sort of sprinkler, it all looks a lot better arranged. It might sound just very little to be so excited about, but I am happy with it, LOL.

Also found myself two new t-shirts for this summer, I run out a bit, because I cleaned out the shelf with the long and short sleeved t-shirts too. Got rid of several very old ones, they were too small, or discoloured etc. Slowly I get around in all cupboards and wardrobes, as well as I cleaned out my little desk where I have my laptop on. It has four very handy drawers, but you know the trouble with drawers...........after some time they get more and more filled with .stuff. So I bought some small low baskets and the pens and staples and all such things are now well arranged again, and i can see what's in the drawer. The second one was mainly full of old manuals for older laptops/computers, some program cd's that will not work anymore in Windows 10, all kind of terrible stuff, that had no use anymore. Gosh, I have even space left over a bit in that small drawer! All drawers look great again, so another small job finally done. It is amazing that it always takes more time than you think.

Somewhere this week I will try to attack one or two drawers in in a cabinet. I fear there will come out a lot of rubbage too!

This weekend my friend Heidi went on vacation, so Jan will call Séverine somewhere today to ask if all is okay with her(he came first with the idea, gosh!). I think she will be, but I promised her mother to make a few phonecalls just to check. 

It's looking as if we might have a little rain , which is good news for my tomatoe plants. They keep hgetting more and more yellow flowers, so it looks good for a small harvest. 

Could be time now for a cup of tea, may be a sandwich, and hoefully a later today a moment on the patio in the sun. Wishing you all a lovely week, take care of yourselves!