(p)reparation

On Sunday next week, May 19

I will be at the art fair in Buren

Buren is a small historic town

just between the two big rivers that run across Holland

east to west (in the "Betuwe")

Buren is called "Oranje-stad" because 

William of Orange (ancestor of our Royal family)

married Anna van Buren in 1551

The art fair is held in the garden of the former orphanage

(now the "Marechausseemuseum")

I finally found a good way to show

my tiny felted birds on small wooden discs

The wren and the long-tailed tit were the first.

And there are more textile necklaces in the making

a blue one and a green / turquoise one.

I still have a hole week !

*

Near the front door we had some serious trouble

with the sewerage, so that had to be taken care of ...

I really feared for this beautiful shrub

(don't remember the name but it is in full bloom just now !)

so I pruned it considerably smaller ! 

Digging a BIG hole was needed

but :

the man came up with a brilliant solution !

(pfffffffft ... shrub saved !)

wordless Wednesday

*

belated Easter eggs

Last weekend the children weren't home

so no Easter party of any kind

...............

(ahhhhhh ,,, does that mean

we're NOT going to search for eggs in the garden ???

said the 17-year old  (!) ...)

So today we had a belated Easter-egg-party !

We had luck :

it was dry

(though the forecast was rain !)

Lots of fun

and after a while they indeed found ALL the eggs !

(and a "gourmet" dinner afterwards)

A GOOD weekend !

19 - 4 - 19 (Easter holiday)

With mum working

we were standby for the youngest

on the first day of the Easter holidays.

The new dip net should be tried !

(with the water next to our garden

that's no problem at all)

But here, at the "deep" end, nothing showed up ...

So why not move to the opposite site of the water ...

or, even better, the little island ...

Not much luck there either

Too soon for frog eggs ?

(the only catch was a dead (stinking) rams horn snail)

He also made a sudoku puzzle,

almost all by himself !

(a new game since he writes numbers)

*

In the garden things are developing quickly now

I  LOVE  SPRING  !

another year ...

A lovely day

with friends and family !

Though it with extreme cold outside for April

inside it was a warm bath with lovely people

A big boy and a small boy

playing together

(checkers)

A lovely (birth)day

Preparing and especially washing dishes was quite a bit of work,
but every bit of effort was worth it!

life or death

A  LOUD  BANG

took us by surprise yesterday.

It happens sometimes,

when a bird flies against the living room window.

Usually nothing bad happens and they fly away again.

Not so this time :

the loud bang wasn't just one

but TWO birds !

One was lucky,

one had bad luck

.....

I looked out the side window to see

if the bird would fly away after the loud bang

and what I saw made me reach for my camera !

A kestrel and a ring-neck dove ?

Or could it rather be a (young) peregrine ??

(because of the size and the more gray colour)

Then he (or she) left with its prey !

... leaving only some feathers

What an amazing spectacle !

(I don't think we will ever see it happen again right in front of us !)

Life (for one) and death (for the other)

P.S.

Louise Watson was RIGHT :

it was a female Sparrow hawk 

(confirmed by "Vroege Vogels")

spring on it's way

Though it is still rather cold

(colder than it looks with the sun out) 

the garden is getting greener

and greener.

And the next wave of colour :

blue and purple 

(and a bit of pink)

Well ... the violets were so sweet,

I had to pick some

(unfortunately they don't last very long in a vase)

* 

I was delighted to receive the pennant safely back

from Australia
with vibrations of joined love !

Mo sent some bits of the installation with it !
Bits for new pieces !

"I dream of a world where LOVE is the answer "