queensday blossom

Years ago, when we lived in Amsterdam, we started - more as a joke - to hang out the flag on Queensday. In the village where we live now, people are more serious about this tradition. So we kept the flag and hang it out early in the morning every April 30st.
The tree in our front-garden loves our yearly event and decorates itself in festive royal pink!

easter morning

Rain and grey clouds outside, a happy celebration of the rebirth of nature (and life) inside!
I have a nice easter lump on my forehead: wanted to break a hardboiled egg there, just like my cool sons do...

my son's wooden spoon

Yesterday my son came home from school with his handmade wooden spoon. This is one of the things I love about the Waldorf school my children are attending (and that I attended some 40 !! years ago...): The respect, love and attention for natural materials.

a cup for life

These Kuksa are made by Laplanders from Finland. The kuksa is a hand carved drinking cup made from birch burl. Laplanders have a personal Kuksa that stays with them throughout their lifetime and has been used by Laplanders for as long as anyone can remember. They use it for everything they drink: coffee, tea, vodka and water from the stream. The cup will not hold any flavors from previous drinks.
In other words: the most sustainable cup I ever came across!
Available in several shops throughout the planet (like kellamknives), but it might be even better to craft one yourself, with help from: Jon's Bushcraft

winter in Holland

Yeah!!!! It is winter in Holland, we enjoyed the snow on the heather behind our house.

Framed details

This is an installation by Scott Franklin and partner Miao Miao from Nondesigns. It was exhibited for 2 months in a park in West Hollywood. With these XXL megaphones (that remind me of shouting directors on the set of Hollywood movies in the last century) they 'framed' the view of branches, bark, shadow, leaves and pieces of the sky, to emphasize their beauty.

Clouds

'Mum, the sky is like a painting' my eleven years old son shouted from his room at the top downstairs. He took this photo from his bedroom-window. It makes me happy that he has an eye for beauty.

Tasty parasol in the woods

Looks like a piece of folded paper art. But it is a Parasol-mushroom, with a diameter of at least 25 cm! It was found by a couple we came across today during a walk with my family in a forest near us. He was a goodlooking tall Italian, who knew everything about wild vegetables. She was a dutch 'white whitch', made her own elixirs, herb-oils...
I asked: Wow, what is that mushroom you are holding in your hand? He (with this Italian accent): This is the best pizza base ever! Put it in a pan, bit of olive oil, unions on it, parsley, pomodori, cheese...
I am a bit afraid of just picking mushrooms for consumption (besides: it is forbidden to pick them here), I think you need a good book for advice. The odd couple told me: if you don't trust it, just don't pick it!

Fluid harvest

Since the year my parents moved to the country side, every autumn we had to eat/work ourselves a way through the fruit harvest as soon as possible, because of the decay. Piles of applepies, jars of apple sauce and baskets full of pears that needed to be eaten straight away...
Untill last year: My uncle Paul discovered the mobile fruit press!
Mobipers is a professional fruit press on a truck, that travels from village to village in Holland. On one side the apples and pears go in, on the other side your own organic (and pasteurized) juice is put in a so called 'bag in a box', in which it stays fresh for 2 years! The price is 1 euro for 1 liter including the boxes etc.
Yesterday we spend on ladders in their old high-stem trees, shaking branches, picking up pears and apples. The sheep had a feast: all the damaged ones were for them!

Home

When I came home my eye caught this: a climbing plant silhouette on the sun screen of my window... so very summer!

Summer holiday!

Bye bye, tomorrow we are going to pack for our long summer break! First to Bavaria (Germany) to visit a dear friend, then to The Black Forest (Schwarzwald, Germany) in a super-German-good-quality-hotel for a few days.

We end up in our house in France, allways work to do (cleaning, fixing the roof, see view below), so we'll stay there for allmost 3 weeks!

If I can find any possibility to keep you posted, I will!
Have a great summer!

Highline NY

A very special urban park, called the Highline, was opened in New York last month.

An ancient elevated railway was transformed into one long city-garden in the sky. This kind of projects - nature reclaiming its place in the city - make me feel so happy. The video tells the Higline story. 'Our' Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf was involved designing the plan.

Supermarket

Today we did the shopping in Land & Boschzigt. I really love this organic-food-supermarket! It is surrounded by gardens where you can pick your own bunch of flowers... You can drink herb-tea in the garden and just leave the money in a little box. We bought super fresh white asperagus, an organic Riesling white wine, good eggs, ham and potatoes to go with it...Yummie!

Lanterns in twilight

It was great weather in Holland this weekend. It gave me the opportunity to photograph my lanterns in the evening, hanging in a tree (with tealights in marmelade pots!).

Moss-graffiti

Tell the walls of your home-town your secrets in moss! Here's a recipe by Stories from Space. With thanks to Homemade Charlotte for finding posts like this.

1 can of beer
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Several clumps garden moss

You will also need a plastic container (with lid),
a blender and a paintbrush

Read the full instruction on their website. Hope this graffiti will replace all the bad spraypaint in the future!

Souvenirs from the south of France