End of summer garden

 

Wow... hasn't September weather been good for us so far?

Sunshine, blue skies, crisp air during the day and cool night to sleep well.

If you ask me, it can go on like this till next Spring!

 

 

The garden is still full of flowers thanks to the Dahlias and huge Zinnias. The  Aster (novi-belgii) produces a rainfall of soft pink flowers.

 

 

I must admit that I'm pretty surprised by all the flowers that are still in bloom. And, that the rest of the garden doesn't look too worn out after the summer. Still quite some fresh green around!

 

 

 

Lots of pinkish flowers,

so I need to remember to add some flashy colour to the borders next year,

some bright red or orange will add a bit more 'fire' to it, don't you think?

Could you give me some advice?

That's it for now, gonna enjoy the gorgeous weather outside and
later to the tennis court to watch the boys play their competition matches!

 

Thanks for stopping by here,

this one's for you (fresh from the garden!)

 

 

Wishing you a good start of the new week!

P.S. Remember what our garden looked like last year?

Click here

Morning Tea

During the week it's difficult to find time for a get-together with friends, especially in the afternoons. And as I liked to have an Afternoon Tea, it seemed impossible to organize. But then I came up with the idea of a Morning Tea (why not?) and so it happened!!



Victoria sandwich cake with forest fruits

 

 

A lovely sunny September morning
'Brabants bont' (the red & white checkered tablecloths are typical for the region we live in ) on the tables, all kinds of china, various drinks, lots of sweets (homemade) & friends to join the party!

 

It was such a beautiful day! Sun, friends, food, what else do we need?

 

Happy sunny Sunday!!

 

 

 

What a lovely day today!

 

 

Enjoy it!!

 

 

Doorwerth Castle

After our Tour d'Europe we had another 2 weeks of holidays left.

We celebrated my birthday, had friends over for diner, BBQ'd a lot and enjoyed being back home.

The second week Mr. Abacaxi & Hortelã Junior went on a week long summer sailing camp so Mr. A&H and I filled the 'no child' days with exploring the Netherlands a bit more. Thus we headed to the eastern part of the Netherlands, to Winterswijk . A lovely town with a nice atmosphere and surrounded by lots of green space where we followed parts of the Scholtenpad . It was hot, but the wind made in bearable. Of course Senna came along and she just loved to run back and forth and I guess she tripled the distance we walked!

At night we had a nice diner in the garden of Restaurant Stad Munster, I can absolutely recommend the place!! Food is delicious, atmosphere is cosy, dedicated personnel and the price is right!

After a good night's sleep, we headed out in the direction of Doetinchem where we shopped a bit and had a lovely lunch at an even lovelier place: Met Liefde by Robbert (pictures by iPhone and inside...):

The menu (glued on the inside of old newspapers, talking about re-using!):

 And then we continued our trip to our hotel in Doorwerth, near Arnhem.

After coffee & cake near the waterfront, we went out for a hike and enjoyed the view of the neighbourhood and Doorwerth Castle.

Wishing you all a nice & sunny weekend!

The after-holidays garden

When we came back from our holiday trip, our back yard had turnt into a jungle! Sun & rain had made the plants grow wild... and the weeds too!

Last weekend we tackled the whole lot! (I planned a cocktail summer party on Saturday night to celebrate my birthday, so it absolutely needed to look good again!!).

Here are some snapshots of the flowers blooming right now:

Wishing you all a lovely week & enjoy the sunshine!!

Our holidays

Last year we travelled around in Europe for the summer holidays: from Versailles (where we lived then) we went to Bilbao (Spain) click here, on to Lisbon (Portugal) click here, Vilamouro (Algarve, Portugal) see more here, Sevilla (Spain), Marbella click here for Sevilla & Marbella, Pamplona and via Pau  (France) see more Pamplona & Pau here back to Versailles. Almost 4 weeks and many kilometres :)

For this year we had other plans: another 'Tour d'Europe' but this time the more eastern part of Europe:

From the Netherlands to Munich (visiting friends), on to Ljubljana (Slovenia), continuing to Novi Vinodolski (Croatia) where we spent a week on a bay of the Mediterranean Sea, then Verona (Italy) and via Luzern (Switserland) and Heidelberg (Germany, visiting other friends) back to the Netherlands.

And we had a great time again!

So many beautiful places we visited, lovely relaxing time on the beach, delicious (and too many) meals with local specialties & just spending time together as a family...

Loved it!

Back home & one more week of holidays left...guess that means some cleaning, some (lots of!) laundry, some gardening & still some time to enjoy the time off!

Have a lovely week!