Par Avion: mail for Hanna

Today's outgoing mail goes to Hanna in Tokyo! I'm sending her a letter and some pictures from the French quisine and from Paris. She told me she's writing her thesis about French culinary culture in the 18th century. I'm curious about this! Well Hanna, good luck!! 

Time to go home

Unfortunately it's time to go home already. Goodbye beautiful Haamsteede, goodbye kitchen tools, goodbye beach, goodbye beautiful lighthouse and goodbye old castle. It's been great! Maybe we'll do this again next year :). At the backery we bought some buns for the road and we drove home in about an hour, 

Mini vacation: Zeeland

Just like last year, we do this mini vacation with friends in the South of the Netherlands. 6 Of them participated in the Trail by the Sea! It always feels like a big vacation because of the quietness and the beautiful surroundings. The trail was saturday so on sunday we went for a nice walk along the beach. Pien was really happy and enjoyed the beach a lot! Finally she fell a sleep in her red car. It's actually funny to realise that there is so much to see and discover in your own country. Of course I already knew about this place but at the same time it's not an obvious choice for a vacation. However... why not!?! 

City tour du jour

Together with my father, Pien and I made a big city tour. We walked all the way to the Van Nelle Factory because there was a Swan market. It was a beautiful sunny day but when we arrived at the market there was a long que of approx. one hour to get in! Well, that's a waste of the sunny day :). We turned around, enjoyed the building and went for a coffee at Dates. Afterwards we played with Pien at one of the playgrounds in the West of Rotterdam. She enjoyed the swing and mostly the slide!  

Letter writing

On this year's Valentines Day a letter from Anne arrived. It wasn't sealed with a stamp but with a kiss! I heard this on the news but I thought it was a joke :). But, it actually arrived! I like the paper she used to write her letter on (the top left) it somehow reminds me of my great grandmother. Maybe she had a pyjama like that or something else, I'm not sure anymore but it reminds me of her. I had the morning off so I wrote her back immediately. The drawing underneath the letter on the top pic is a drawing from Pien. I colored the spaces of course but Pien made the lines. She loves to draw so I placed a large paper sheet on the table for her to color on :). Little artist. 

A message from Russia

While the Russian-Dutch post office takes it's time Dasha and I await the letters we write to each other. Sometimes it takes a month to arrive, sometimes even two. Sometimes I wonder if the post to Russia travels by horse instead of by plane. But nonetheless, the letters arrive! Today I received a sweet and lovely package with handpicked tea. She included some hedge berries (Hawthorne) and some dried apple and mint mixture. I absolutely love that she's able to pick these herbs and fruits in the area of St. Petersburg! The dried apples smell delicious and spicy, love it! Thank you Dasha!

Goats!

A perfect day out with Pien! Today we went for a visit at a small goats farm called 't Geertje. Pien had the time of her life! She walked the entire afternoon, watching the goats and she even touched them. Brave girl! We ate a pancake and had marshmallows at the bonfire. It was a perfect and lovely afternoon, so much fun. We will defintely come here again :). 

Around the block

Now that Pien is walking we make some short walks around the block, discovering the flora and fauna :). Pien stops at every colorful item, bicycle, animal (as in bird or cat), flower or talking humans. She laughs a lot while she's trying to grab something or when she sees something she's never seen before (and that's a lot!). Eventhough it's still quite cold you can already feel hints of Spring in the air. And I love these little early crocusses in their search for some sunshine. The birds are also getting ready because when we wake up quite early we hear the birds welcoming the rising sun up in the trees. Can't wait!

Recycling

While I'm cleaning out the closets to get ourselves ready for the upoming sale (we are selling our house!) I found lots of paper leftovers, magazine papers et cetera.. So again, I made these piles of envelopes and I folded blank pages for notes. I guess I'm good to go for this year, no need to buy any paper or envelopes :) Ha! It's a good and fun way to recycle all the papers you have lying around. 

February mail from Singapore

A new letter arrived from Singapore. Corey sent me this nice envelope and lovely decorated letter. I love the way she illustrates her letters and envelopes. Thank you Corey! She included some 'Happy Day' tape and a nice card :).It's a good mail day! Corey had her own Etsy shop right here.

Icy winterdays

During this busy week we spent a lot of days playing inside, trying to study and typing my .. hands off. Some days were actually quite beautiful, blue skies and a pretty sunshine that peeked through the clouds. We put on our boots and went for a walk outside in between the crazy weather conditions (rain, hail, storm, wet snow, sunshine). I love the coldness on a sunny winters day, hearing the birds in the trees and feeling the cold wind on our cheeks! And suddenly I remembered this beautiful music from a band in Rotterdam called 'winterdagen' (winterdays). Here it is:

I captured the light

These are some random photographs I took during the last few months and I do want to share them here. The plan was to capture light and colors in different ways. Of course, this is what photography always does but I tried to let the light speak and let the colors do their work. So here they are, maybe more next time :) 

I'm back with a message for Elina

It has been a long time since I last posted something here. I have been so busy starting my new studies, I'm learning how to be a primary school teacher. It's been something I have wanted to do for a long time but somehow it never was the right time. But now I'm in the middle of it and I have to organise my spare time in order to keep up with everything. But the fun thing is, some people said they missed the blog and the pictures.. and so am I! So I try to keep up, at least once a week, posting here! Yes!

At least I'm still writing letters and this one goes out to Elina! 

and then there it was

For years I wish for a white Christmas but unfortunately that's pretty rare for the last couple of years. But... we woke up and I opened the curtains and there it was! Everything covered in beautiful white. It's not a thick layer, but hey! Snow is snow! And more special, it is Pien's first snow! 

We went outside and crushed the snow under our feet. Pien was looking at it and when I held her she gently touched the coldness. She pulled back her finger but than she tried again and laughed.