What's next?

We had a good time...

Christmas Eve: with friends in Amsterdam

Christmas Day: relaxed, quiet, some preparations for diner on Boxing Day (2nd Christmas Day it's called in the Netherlands)

Boxing Day: more diner preparations & a very nice & calm diner with my parents

This is what the table looked like:

Forgot to take pictures of the actual diner... too busy ;)

And now it's time to prepare for the New Year...

What are your plans?

For New years Eve?

For 2012?

Any resolutions??

Wishing you a nice last week of 2011!!

I wish you all a

Christmas Group Hug

Lynda, who writes the blog Un petit morceau de moi, did it again this year... Last year she organised a Christmas Group Hug, which was an enormous success. And this year she decided to organise it again.

I think she deserves a huge applause!!

What is the Christmas Group Hug? All participants make or buy something for someone (secretly, only Lynda knows, she makes the pairs) and make sure that the present is received before Christmas, just something nice & sweet in this time of the year...

And look what I received this week:

From Lia who writes the blog http://ifoundmyhome.blogspot.com.

What a beautiful pillow cover, handmade by Lia!

I'm soooo happy with it, thank you so much Lia, I really appreciate it :)

Have a nice week!

THE tree...

It took me some time...

Our living room is not that small, but still...

I couldn't find THE spot for THE tree!

I moved chairs, sofas & tables, but put them back in the old position again

(positive about this is the fact that I finally cleaned the floor under the furniture!!)

Still not totally happy with the location of the tree, but I'm afraid there's no moving anymore,

it's completely decorated now, too dangerous!!

Red & white it is this year...

Have a nice week!!

Bulbs...

I bought them weeks ago (or maybe even months ago) and finally found the time today to plant them: tulip bulbs! A little late, but I think it should do... It's not that cold yet.

And my garden definitely needs tulips, because, what is a  Dutch garden without tulips in springtime?

I planted different varieties and mainly pink, fuchsia & purple colours,

and could absolutely not resist the 'black hero' and the 'queen of the night'...

Aren't they just beautiful? Let's hope they will all appear in Spring!

So fingers crossed till April/May please :)

Now that this is finally done, I'll go on to the next 'assignment':

Christmas decorations :)

Playing Christmas songs in the background and 

drinking hot chocolate with melted marshmellows

or some mulled wine (depending on the time of the day).

So, what are your plans for the weekend?

Wishing you all a nice & sunny one
& have fun decorating!!

Can't wait...

To be honest? I'm longing for days like these...

Exactly like these: fresh, crackling snow, beautiful blue skies & gorgeous sunshine!

And I'm sure Senna is dreaming about it too!

How 'bout you?

Are you looking forward to a snowy, cold season,

lighting the fireplace & lots of candles?

Preparing hot chocolate or mulled wine, roasting marshmellows,

making tasteful soups & stews,

reading the books you didn't have time for during the summer months,

sitting on the couch, covered up in warm blankets and plaids...

I'm curious to know what you're looking forward to!

Wishing you a lovely weekend & sweet dreams about the upcoming season!

Doen jullie mee??

Spontane actie onzerzijds... jaja, zij organiseert weer...

Sinterklaas heeft onze hulp nodig!

Er is meer snoep nodig voor de VOEDSELBANK!

 Laten we die kinderen in de koud staan??? Nee toch zeker?

Ik zet de dozen alvast klaar, dus kom maar op met dat Sinterklaas-snoep!!

Laat me even weten als je iets wilt doneren, hetzij via een berichtje hieronder of via e-mail: abacaxiandhortela@gmail.com

BEDANKT!!

Surprised!!

Amazing... What a wonderful weather we had the last weeks. Temperatures rose to 18, 19 degrees Celsius. This is too warm for this period of the year, but I so loooooove it!

I filled some vases with violets, under the violets I planted bulbs in layers: snow drops, blue & white muscari and tulips.

To my big surprise I saw already green leaves from the muscari peeping out between the violets, isn't that amazing? In November??

Can you spot them?

By the way, this is our garden at this very moment: clean & empty, we pruned the conifers and are planning to make a kind of natural fence. I'm already planning lots of beautiful climbers there!

The real work will start again in Spring!

From a different angle:

And yet another rose decided to bloom again, already full of briers,

just one stubborn blooming bud... that's nature!

Time for some action inside the house: there is still some painting to do!

Take care & see you soon again!

By the way, have a look here (mainly for the Dutch speaking!) & join!

Our garden

As some of you might remember, our garden (front & back) looked quite messy when we arrived in our house 2 months ago after being abroad for about 8 years and having renters in our house that were not always that keen on gardening (have to admit, there was one exception!!).

We didn't change that much yet, but we took advantage of the fall season to clean up a bit and prune trees, bushes and shrubs. What it looked like while we were at it, shows the above picture...
But hey, shouldn't it always get worse before it gets better?
Please tell me it does!

Luckily, there still is something pretty here!

What about this rose?

And despite the fact that no renter took care of it, it still blooms constantly...

Even in the beginning of November!

And I, surprisingly, see a new rosebud appearing!

How amazing is that?

This rose is an eyecatcher in our front garden, it has a very subtle colour, looks pretty fragile

(but, as it has proofed, it is very strong) and on top of that, it has a very delicate perfume!

Sitting on the sofa, looking outside the window, it makes for a perfect view!

Hopefully the sunny fall-weather will continue in the weekend. But looking at the weather forecasts,

it'll be a weekend that calls for lighting the fire place, candle light, hot chocolate & comfort food!

Have a good weekend!!

Outside the city: Wimbledon & Greenwich

 And of course, for our tennis champion Thom, we couldn't miss Wimbledon!!

Court 1 

THE grass...

Remember this match in 2010?

History was made!!

Still the score of the final match this year

(Centre Court) 

 Seats covered...

 The holy ground...

And another must-see: Greenwich!!

 The beautiful Observatory on the top of the hill

 Rain and sun that day, but that resulted in some nice pictures

(with rainbow, if you look closely!)

 One foot in the eastern hemisphere, one in the western!

How 'cool' is that?

 Some funtime too ;)

 View from the Observatory: old buildings in the front

and (rather) new high risers in the back, nice contrast!