Some more garden pictures

Gina, my parents'cat, isn't she cute?

One of the things I miss living in Brazil is gardening. The soil is too difficult for me (too hard), I know nothing about the exotic plants and sometimes you meet visitors in your garden you prefer not to meet (we once had a cobra...). So our garden is taken care of by a real gardener.

The little gardening I do, is limited to plants, flowers and herbs in vases. I love that (although it doesn't feel like the real work) but it's far from the satisfying feeling you have after a real day of work in the garden (feeling all your muscles protest, seeing the results and taking a long, warm and relaxing bath after the hard work!).

Anyway, one of my favorite things to do together with my mom, is visiting all kinds of gardens (always beautiful and inspiring). My mom loves it and so do I.

Sure we'll see some more gardens the next coming weeks. But for now I leave you with some snapshots from her charming garden:

Enjoying time with family and friends...

It's good to be back home (but is it really home?)!!
After a good (but always too long) flight we arrived safely in rainy Holland.
Fortunately, the temperature got up and the sun appeared.

We took advantage of this and went for a nice walk (about 15 km) around a small town in the south of the Netherlands: Thorn - het witte stadje (the little white town).

Picture from internet, by Maria Bonten

Apart from lovely houses and a beautiful centre of town, nature is gorgeous as well. While walking, we passed a little church that was being renovated. Next to this little church, was a (of course white) house where they offered a garage/garden sale ánd coffee and cake (a huge necessity when walking :-0). The money raised was being used to support the renovation and restauration of this little and charming church.

So we entered the back yard and... arrived in heaven. This was sooooo beautiful, I tried to capture it in pictures, but that was hardly impossible. I would love to share some pictures with you and I hope you love it as much as I did:

Did I say too much??
Have a nice day!
Love, C.

Ready for take off

Suitcases, clothes, shoes and presents everywhere...

Tonight we're flying to the Netherlands for a loooooooooooooong vacation!

Only back in August!!

Very much looking forward to meeting family and friends again, riding a bike, hiking in the hills, observing the Dutch cows, walking to the supermarket, strolling around cities in fresh air (instead of a covered shopping mall), enjoying the pleasures of a well-organized country.

But missing the friendly Brazilians, always open for a chat, happy to serve you whether it is in a supermarket, the little bakery around the corner, a restaurant or a parking place, always a smile on their face, the way they approach you: 'olá querida, ' bom dia linda'. But it's only for 7 weeks, guess I can manage that...

So we're off, hope to have some spare time to blog every now and then.

Either from the Netherlands or the States (we've planned a trip from New York to Washington D.C. and then we drive down to Orlando, any tips on where to go between Washington and Orlando are more than welcome!!), I'll do my best...

Take care everyone and hoop to meet you again soon in blogland!!

Love, C.

Red Sunday!

Today is the last day of the 'I saw red' challenge! What do you think of this gorgeous bougainville (primavera in portuguese which means spring!).

Here are some red pictures I took during one of our travels. This is the 'famous' square (o quadrado) in Trancoso, Bahia.

And what do you think of our tennis player? Of course with Wilson red!



And what about these soon-to-be placemats, (ready for sewing!), in red of course...:

I really enjoyed this 'I saw red' challenge, let's see which colour follows...

Wishing you all a good beginning of the week!

C.

More red!

More red in the house?

Well, I always thought I had a lot of red... but going around with the camera, I can hardly find something. I have two red sofas which are a horror to picture right, so I won't bother you with that!

My previous house was full of red walls (in the dining room, the playroom and the complete downstairs bathroom... from head to toe!), here it's still all white...

But I just found some small red items I'll be showing you hereunder

My 9 year old son is a huge fan of PSV (red too!) and São Paulo:

A little red chicken for decoration:

And we spiced up the terrace with these red ones:

Let's see if I can find some more red to show you tomorrow!

Have a great Saturday!

XX C

I saw red!

Red, my favorite colour!

And Sadie made an inspiring, colourful challenge out of it. Have a look at the other participants' blogs, they're all mentioned on Sadie's!

I read about the "I saw red' Challenge on Lili M.'s wonderful blog (make sure you visit that one too!).

Red... let's see what red I can show you...

To start with some 'reds' I made...

A Brazilian 'Baiana', I turnt it into a soap dish:

A stripy water or juice jug:

A polka dot salad bowl:

Be sure to check here again tomorrow and Sunday, more red to follow for this 'I saw red' challenge!!

And now I will head for the garden, to see if I can get some (not too redish) sun tan!

Enjoy the upcoming weekend!

Love,

C.

Latest creations

Had some inspiration lately (and even time for actually making it) so I'll show you some of my latest creations:

My very first apron

An ugly and boring mirror in the guests' bathroom got some flower colour!

Even the 2 bedside lights in the guest room got a make-over!