Nice to stay - Maastricht

 

 

Exactly one week ago I was in Maastricht. Purpose of the trip was meeting some other bloggers from the south of the Netherlands. And we met in a beautiful place: Townhouse Design Hotel. The hotel is perfectly situated, just around the corner of the railway station in the trendy quarter of Maastricht: Wyck.

Wyck is the place to be: beautiful renovated townhouses, often filled with specialty shops. Good news is that the shops are also open on Sunday! Wyck offers a wide range of shops, restaurants and tearooms. 

When you have explored Wyck you just have to cross the bridge and you're in the city center of Maastricht.

But let's get back to the Townhouse Desigh Hotel. A home away from home, that's what they want to be... And that's what they are! Homey atmosphere in a design environment.  

 

 

A pot of soup on the stove, for you to serve yourself, a hammock in the lobby, board games, comfortable couches, coffee and tea for you to take as you wish.

They make something special from day to day business.

 

Rooms are cozy, clean, small or big, with rainshower or bath. Breakfast is served in the living room and full of local specialties. 

 

So should you spend some days in Maastricht, Townhouse Design Hotel is the place to stay. For reservations: www.townhousehotels.nl

Inside the elevator

Fun, food & flavours

 

 

After months of absence I'm back here again! And I'm happy to be back again :)

I hope that you are happy that I'm back again??

 

The cause of my absence here is that I had gotten tired of the blogging, the constant thinking of subjects, taking pictures, etc. I wanted to see for real instead of through my camera lens. I felt I didn't have anything interesting to tell nor show.

That was one reason.

 

The other reason is that I have been busy thinking and busy organizing.

This resulted in setting up my own (small) business:

 

 

 

Fun, food & flavours (click on link to go the the website)

 

It is in Dutch but you can use the Google translator for your convenience.

 

I decided that I will continue with this personal blog too, it's been a part of me for too long now, can't just say good bye...

 

So be prepared... I'll be back soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Provence

In the beginning of May we spent some time in France, in the 'Provence'.

As always, France didn't disappoint us :)

 We had a nice view from our appartment that was next to a golf course

The village closest by was l'Isle sur la Sorgue: a very charming little island surrounded by the river Sorgue. And market day a couple of times per week!

I just love to stroll around and buy all the fresh products!

Or the dried products...

Lavender, that's what Provence is known for!

The scent only! Mmmm... pity you can't smell it :(

 We also visited Avignon

Avignon, with its very famous bridge...

Sur le pont d'Avignon...

Another very charming place is St. Rémy de Provence that we visited on another market day

Lovely market, all over St. Rémy, so it was pretty difficul to see something of the village itself (don't even talk about making pictures...)



And of course we couldn't leave without visiting Mont Ventoux...

by car ;)

 

Although the boys made plans to get into training to do it by bike next time!

I'll let you know about the progress!!

Have a nice week!



The International Lonely Bouquet Day

Flowers are very important to me. I love my garden full of flowers, I love my house full of flowers and I just can't get enough of making pictures of flowers.

Flowers make me happy!

For me they change a house into a home,

they change a piece of land into a cozy garden, our outdoor home!

Emily from the beautiful blog Fleuropean has started a wonderful initiative:

the International Lonely Bouquet Day!

The ultimate goal of this initiative is to dedicate one day a year to making strangers happy.

How does it work?

1) pick flowers fresh from the garden or go wild on wild flowers... 2) arrange the flowers in a small, recycled jar, 3) add a signature “take me!” tag, and 4) leave the homegrown arrangement behind for a lucky local to take home.

 

You have just delivered a handful of flowers that will surely put a smile on a stranger’s face.

 

I'm in! Do you join me? June 30 is THE day!!

 

For more information please have a look at The Lonely Bouquet Day.

 

I'm counting on you!!

 

 

 

 

Back in the garden...

This is impossible! Is it really more than two months ago that I was here? Time flies, that I know for sure!!

It was never the intention; it just happened. Spend some extra days in the office, dedicated time to some nice, new & challenging projects (will come back on that when the time is right!), holidays... Add the normal daily routine to it 'et volià', two months are gone before you know it!

 

But I hope to be back on a regular basis again.

 

Today I start with some garden pictures. Although it has been too cold lately, the last weeks there has been rain & sunshine... Perfect combination for the plants & flowers (and weeds!).

 

I actually only started working in the garden 2 weeks ago, before our holiday. Haven't been to the garden center nor any nursery yet... that is really exceptional! Never happened before :)

Last weekend I tried to clean the winter mess up... succeeded partly, still a lot of work to do.

But for now, I can show you some pictures:

 Tulips that I bought last year during my visit of the Keukenhof and
which I planted only end of January...

 

And what a coincidence... will be visiting the Keukenhof again this week. Very much looking forward to seeing all the beautiful flowers and colours.

 

Might be posting about it next week :)

 

Have a happy week & 'see' you soon again!

Welcome to March, welcome to Spring?!

 

The weather forecasts for the Netherlands this week are fantastic!

Between 11 and 17 degrees Celsius in the south...

Time for action, time for a good cleaning of the house (and get all of the viruses out!)

and time for some garden work!

 

 

So what am I doing here, behind the computer? Let's get started!!

 

Wishing you all a lovely sunny week!

Phew... February already!

 

It's been quiet here at my little corner on the world wide web ;)

Busy...

Working more hours in the office & being caught by the flu didn't leave me with much time

to spend here... unfortunately!

 

However, I did have time to bake a chocolate-pear cake AND I did meet Lynda again for cappuccinos and a chat :)

 

 

She gave me these double French tulips.

Aren't they just beautiful?

 

 

 

 

Hope you're all, again, prepared for the cold AND for the Carnival??!!

I'm looking forward to a long weekend in Paris...

 

Have a nice week!

 

Snow and a pinkish touch

 

Am I glad that I planted the bulbs last week.

And those little hints of spring from last Monday?

I hope they will survive the 'truckloads' of snow that have been falling lately, because this is what it looks like outside since Tuesday:

 

 

A winter wonderland!!

 



 

 

 

Last weekend I wanted to bake something but didn't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.

Surfing the net, I found these oreos on the blog of Fraulein Klein

Shop bought oreos and a homemade filling, I added a bit of pink food colouring too as we had some guests who would appreciate a pinkish touch :)

You can find the recipe here

 

They disappeared in no time...

 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend filled with sunshine & snow...

... & some skating maybe?