We live in a small but lively old city close to Amsterdam. We have it all: the canals, the canal houses, the picturesque bridges, but on a much smaller scale. You can even take a cruise through the canals. This is not a commercial canal cruise like the ones in Amsterdam, the captain and guide are senior citizens volunteering.
Continue reading Market days February: tulip fever
Dream garden
It is still winter but there are signs of spring everywhere. The snowdrops are the first flowers to bloom in our garden. Two varieties of hellebores lighten up the back garden, they are so pretty. There are also some green hellebores in the front garden. They don’t get much sun so they probably won’t open for weeks.
Sweet pea love
I love flowers but I never grew my own flowers. Having a small garden, and four little boys who wanted to play in that garden definitely had something to do with it. But then we moved to a new house with trees in the garden for the boys to climb in. It was a dream come true.
The house used to belong to an old lady and the garden was rather neglected. With moving house for the second time in one year, and still a lot of painting to do, gardening wasn’t the first thing on my mind.
Continue reading Sweet pea love
Linzer Torte recipe for Valentine’s Day
Lots of people don’t like Valentine’s day because they consider it a commercial holiday. They don’t need a special day to show their love – they do that every day! Perhaps they just don’t like sugar-coated cards and pink hearts. But you don’t have to buy champagne, red roses or heart-shaped chocolate (you certainly can if you want to!). Try simply doing something nice. Send a friend a sweet and thoughtful card or make your husband his favourite food.
Continue reading Linzer Torte recipe for Valentine’s Day