Happy Easter!

Project 366 #98



Project 366 #99

Tulips

Project 366 # 95

These tulips were adorning Patsy's dinner table last Saturday. I LOVE tulips, they're my favorite Spring flowers.
Note to self: go buy a bunch of tulips today, they're not expensive and yet they give so much pleasure!

Looking Back ...

Midweek Blues is hosted by Rebecca at The Dusty Cellar. Make a post with a little or a lot of blue in it and join the fun! You can be as creative as you like, poetry, colors ... moods .. music?



Spring is my favorite season, I just love it when nature comes to life again. But it always whizzes by much too fast. That's what I thought when I was scrolling through my archives a while ago. This picture was taken early March, when the grape hyacinths were nothing but little buds ...


Project 366 # 94




... and this was taken just a few days ago, they're past their peak already!
This is one of the reasons why I love this Project 366. It makes me grab my camera a lot more than I would otherwise. It makes me remember the way things were, sometimes only just a little while ago. Maybe I could do a couple more posts like this, make this a theme maybe?

From the Archives ...

This collage was posted about a year ago, on March 26th. It looks like we had some very nice weather then? Today it's cold and gray, (no rain though) and there is no way we will be able to eat outside this weekend. But hey, I should not complain. We've had some gorgeous Spring weather the past two weeks as well, and nobody can take that away from us, can't they?
I hope you'll have a good weekend as well, no matter what weather!


This one was taken today. Project 366 # 91

Walk Along With Us

This is a little impression of the photo walk we made last Sunday. This is the nuclear power plant at Doel.


Turn around and look behind you, this is what you see... Beautiful isn't it?


Now come along, and walk with us.


The harbor of Antwerp is on the left hand side as you continue down that road.



Project 366 #89

One Word Wednesday ... POWER!

Project 366 # 88

Wordless Wednesday, Hazel Catkins

Project 366 #81

Wordless Wednesday, Tulips

Project 366 # 74

Weekly Winners, Spring and More ...

I don't know if Lotus is doing a Weekly Winners this week, but I am! These are my favorite pictures of the week.

Saturday evening at the theatre.

Spring is in the air

Breakfast at Jientje's

First blooms

Playing with light

Project 366 # 71

What happened?

Snowdrops

Snowdrops are the first signs of Spring, and I love it when they bloom!

Project 366 # 60

At the head of Flora's dance;
Simple Snow-drop, then in thee
All thy sister-train I see;
Every brilliant bud that blows,

From the blue-bell to the rose;

All the beauties that appear,
On the bosom of the Year,
All that wreathe the locks of Spring,
Summer's ardent breath perfume,
Or on the lap of Autumn bloom,
All to thee their tribute bring.
- James Montgomery, Snow-Drop

Friday's Fave Fave, What a Wonderful Week!

I really don't know where my week has gone to! I have been very busy all week and there were loads of good things foe me to enjoy!
Time to look back and share some of the highlights from this wonderful week!
Time to join Friday's Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.



1. Bought myself flowers on Friday. They were the finishing touch to my Easter and Spring decorations.

2. We have a nesting dove on our patio. She has two little ones.

3. At the lifestyle exposition we visited on Saturday I got a massage with the spa capsule. It's a machine which gives you a water massage without getting you wet. Relaxing music from the headphones and a fifteen minutes soothing massage ... Needless to say, I did not want to get out of that machine, it was sheer heaven!

4. We had a day out with the cooking school yesterday. We visited a horses dairy farm, a brewery and a company which makes advocaat, refined jams, liqueurs, and chocolates.

5. The half liter of advocaat I brought home to gift to my husband, it tastes delicious!
For those of you who never heard of advocaat, I looked it up from Wikkipedia:

Advocaat (or advokat) is a rich and creamy liqueur made from eggs, sugar and brandy. It has a smooth, custard-like flavor. In English-speaking countries it generally contains 15% alcohol (30 proof), but in Continental Europe the typical alcohol content differs from country to country and is generally somewhere between 14% and 20% ABV. Its contents may be a blend of egg yolks, aromatic spirits, sugar or honey, brandy, vanilla and sometimes cream (or evaporated milk)

Blossoming ...

We've had some very beautiful days with warm temperatures these past few weeks. As a result of that the trees are blossoming much sooner than they normally would.
I LOVE Spring, don't you?

Friday's Fave Five, Easter Decorations and Bike Tours ...

Another week has passed and it is now time to look back and share some of it's highlights.
Time for another Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living To Tell the Story.


It's been a very nice week. The weather has been warm and summery at the beginning of the week, with only a little bit of rain and cold spells yesterday.Well, it's only April first today I can truly say we have been spoiled by the month of March!
1. The nice weather made me spend more time outside. I even did my ironing outside on the patio. I love to iron and listen to the birds chirping, I think it's very relaxing!
2. Spring cleaning, cleaning out closets and decluttering, Spring seems to do that to you and I love it!
3. I put up my easter decoration and it looks lovely. I've decorated with eggs, a collection of chickens, easter bunnies, flowers in bright colors ... it looks lovely and fresh!
4. bicycle tour with my friend. We made a big tour on Tuesday and sat down to enjoy a glass of wine afterwards.
5. Artichokes. I ate my first artichoke of the season and loved it!

Friday's Fave Five, Spring is really Here!

It's THAT time of the week again, it's Friday.
Time to look back upon the week that has passed and share some of its highlights.
Time to join Friday's Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.


1. Eating outside. Yes!!!! The weather has been really extraordinary this week. We've been able to eat outside this whole week, I don't think we've ever done this so early in the year! I think this should be mentioned in Jientje's book of world records!
2. Cooking session with my friend Annie. Three or four times a year my friend Annie and I try to find some exquisite - sometimes quite challenging - recipes to cook up a lovely meal together. We held our little get together last Saturday and both our husbands enjoyed the good food we put on the table!
3. Being able to leave the door to the patio open early in the morning till late in the afternoon. I can hear the children at the school playground, hear the birds whistle, ... breathe in some fresh air ... It makes my blood pump, makes me feel like I'm alive again!
4. First strawberries. Yummie!
5. Painted toenails and a pedicure. I'm ready for sandals and flip flops again, yaaay!

Sunday Selections, Because I Love Spring So Much

Kim, over at Frogpondrock hosts this new meme called Sunday Selections and I decided to play along this week.
This is what she says:

"I take a lot of photos and most of them are just sitting around in folders on my desktop not doing anything. I thought that a dedicated post once a week would be a good way to share some of these photos that otherwise wouldn’t be seen by anyone other than me.

I am also remarkably absent minded and I put photos into folders and think that I will publish them later on and then then I never do.

So I have started a photo meme that anyone can join in and play as well. The rules are so simple as to be virtually non existent.

Just add your name and URL to the Mr Linky.

Publish your photos on your blog using the “Sunday Selection” title.

Link back here to me.

Easy Peasy."

The first signs of Spring always make me want to grab my camera and shoot a lot of pictures. Suddenly my patio is an interesting playground again!
I haven't been blogging as much as I used to before and these photos could easily get lost in my archives. I don't want to let this happen, that's why I'm playing along this week.
I hope you enjoy this Sunday Selection.

Friday's Fave Five, Almost Spring.

It's the first Friday of March already. Spring is just around the corner. Time to join this meme hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the story. Time to look back and share some of the highlights of this past week ...



1. Usually I meet up with my friend Nana at least once a month but this past week has been special because we we saw each other twice! We went shopping at Ikea last Friday and we spent a day as tourists in our own town on Wednesday.

2. We're both real coffee lovers and this one was a special treat. We ordered a "surprise coffee" and we got our coffee with four chocolates and a small glass of Elixir d'Anvers liqueur. Elixir d'Anvers is an old fashioned Antwerp liqueur still made today with the same ingredients from the original recipe from 1863.


3. Spring is just around the corner and nature is coming back to life again. These little pink dots are the female flowers of my Hazel shrub. They are so easily overlooked because we tend to only notice the catkins. I had never noticed them up until now!


4. The herbs in my herb garden are starting to grow again too. This is tarragon. It won't be long now before I can make a delicious Béarnaise sauce with it!

5. We've had a lovely week with lots of sunshine. Sunshine always makes me grab my camera, trying to capture that beautiful golden light. I think I managed quite well in this picture, didn't I?

Friday's Fave Five, It Almost Feels Like Spring ...

The week that has passed has been such a wonderful week, and now it's Friday already!
It's time to look back and share some of my favourite things from it. Time to share another Fave Five, a meme hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.


1. The weather. We've had a couple of lovely days with lots of sunshine and very nice temperatures this week. We all think it's going to be a very early Spring here in Belgium. Counting the days!
2. My snowdrops are in bloom. They were a gift from my husband last year and it's so nice to see them pop up again. They really speak of Spring, don't they? I love them so much I made them my new header.
3. Our anniversary. The years seem to have whizzed by, it's been 29 years since we started sharing our life together and it seems like only yesterday!
4. The new cutlery we gave each other as an anniversary gift. I especially loved the message my husband put on the gift wrap. It said: " Because I love you and want to share and enjoy many more years with you". Sweet isn't it?
5. Hubby's favourite dish, chicken in Supreme sauce. The recipe is a little bit elaborate I admit, but it's great comfort food and it was the first dish I ever cooked for him when I had first met him. He still loves it!

Abandoned …

It’s been a while since I took this set of photos, I finally took some time to edit them today. I applied an “Agfa” action from PhotoScape for that aged look.

One beautiful Spring day when we were out in the country we came across this old farmhouse. The sign said it was for sale and that’s how I found the courage to snoop around a little. After all, if somebody came after me I could always say I was interested in buying it, no?

 

 
 

 

 

  

 

 

 
Looking back, I think there were still so many pictures left untaken. I should have taken a lot more. But I was a little bit nervous because I was trespassing and my husband – who was waiting in the car - did not know what I was doing!

All the doors were open so I gathered all my courage to have a peek inside as well. Tomorrow I’m going to take you inside …