lots of family days

The first two weeks of August

were for our family :

away with daughter and the kids !

We stayed in Holland :

so not driving very far

and there are beatiful places in our own country !

The weather was quite good.

We stayed near the holiday cottage

doing our own fun things :

But we also made small trips to fun places :

a fun play park just around the corner

medieval feast

"de Spelerij" in Dieren

(highly recommended trip to go to with kids ...

ha ! and also fun for the "big ones")

and last but not least to a fruit picking garden.

(a lot went in the bucket .... and a lot in the mouth !)

We went home one day early, because of the heavy rains

that started on Saturday evening ...

(and went on till last night !)

At home the garden gave a sorry sight :

my two big boxwood trees

were affected by affected by the infamous caterpillars of the 

Glyphodes perspectalis 

GRRRRRRR

Today when the weather was dry again I started with the tall one ...

... the sad end of a proud boxwood tree

Tomorrow probably the next one ...

or later when there is room again in the waste container.

August !

Today it was double August for us !

(and "us" meaning the knitting group

that started some years ago at the Alpaca farm,

then stopped, and went "on tour" this year

because it was fun, and we wanted it to continue)

So for me : 

bike, boat, bike in the other direction than normally :

namely to Dordrecht now.

We were in this holiday month not meeting

at one of our member's places, but, 

at the wonderful restaurant

Villa Augustus

It is housed in the former pump building

and water tower of the Dordrecht Waterworks

After the entrance you first get to the bakery and a market,

where you can buy the most wonderful presents

(for someone, or yourself)

Then you come to the restaurant part and then ...

to the terras and the garden !

With the hotel ...

in the water tower !

The garden is used to grow a lot of their own vegetables

(you can buy some of those in the little market too !)

Chatting and knitting

and drinking coffee and tea.

(and none of us could resist the de-li-ci-ous cakes !!!)

The weather was okay, and we had a wonderful morning !

If you ever go to Dordrecht ...
go visit Villa Augustus :
a true experience ! 

summer ???

Is it really summer ?

At this moment there is so much rain falling in big showers

that it looks more like autumn !

We hope for some dryer weather

from now on ...

Sure daughter does hope so :

she wants to go to a "castlefest" party in Lisse.

She needed some special additions to her clothes

and I helped her a bit.

This bodice was made out of leather

and I hammered the eyelets in.

From a leftover piece she made a cuff

The hare has to be made permanent with her burning tool

I did some felting today

(noooo,  I won't show that because it will be a gift)

and since daughter was having diner here

I made the special recipe

"Kip in de Hoed"

(Chicken in the Hat)

For those who don't understand Dutch :

puff pastry, chickenbreast, hot currypowder

(uhhhm ... I don't like instant sauce from a package !)

pitted cherries, 6 ginger balls, 1 garlic clove

(and we always put in some fried onion and a zucchinni !)

and some crème fraîche.

Line a springform tin with the puff pastry and

before you put the fried mixture with all ingredients in,

add some spoons of breadcrumbs first at the bottom.

Add a cover of puff pastry and then a good half hour

in the oven

...

YUMMY !!!!!

Bon appetit !

traveling ... near by and far away

Today I went to Rotterdam, 

by boat as usual.

My hairdresser (a very good one) has his shop there.

At our stop I met four lovely ladies :

from Taiwan !

They had visited the windmills at Kinderdijk on their bikes

and went back to Rotterdam by boat

and then to Delft, to their hotel.

We had a nice chat in English,

one of the ladies (Lin Hsiu Chen or Joyce) was a high school teacher 

;-)

I do hope Joyce and her friends have 

during the rest of their stay in Holland

a bit more sunshine, than all the rain we had today !

*

Yesterday I did finish the belt 

that went with the little "Judit" bag.

So when it was dry late this afternoon

I could take some pictures.

The making of the two ends didn't go smoothly :

I forgot to thread the cord through the top of the bag first.

Luckily I noticed it after only the first small square,

so I could pull it through.

(uhhhhm : almost did it again with the second end,

a donkey ... etc. ) 

Front

Back (and the inside of the belt)

Bag, now with a closure

Me and the bag

;-)

turning ... (out of time)

Ha, we had a birthday girl today :

14

Yippee !

A beautiful number

and when you turn it around ...

there is mum's age

41

(even my age you can turn ...

well, upside down, and nothing happens)

Daughter was very busy this week

designing a drawing 

for the handle of her Fire-keeper's pitchfork :

a fire-breathing lizard

Turning and turning to get it on the handle.

Yesterday I finally started on a cord (belt)

to go with the little bag I made in Judit Pócs' workshop

(about a year ago !)

Judit is such an amazing felting artist

and we learned SO much there !!!

But in one way or another 

I never came to finish that belt.

Little coloured diamonds growing on the cord

Halfway there ...

Tomorrow I will finish it,

and make a closure for the bag

.....