With a little help from my friends

This post is dedicated to my dear husband Jan, who passed away half a year ago. He should have been with us in the garden today. He would have loved it so. Sending him all my love.

A big kiss and thank you to my daughters, son in law and sweet friends,  who helped me out in the garden today. They got rid of the moss and weeds, repaired the roof of the little garden house and put up new blinds, outside and inside.

In between we enjoyed home baked Madeleines, an absolutely delicious celeriac saffron and orange soup and a quick salad, to restore our energy levels.

The garden looks amazing! So much has grown in only a few days time. The plum trees are full of little white blossoms, there are daffodils all over and we even have our very own tulip field :-) I picked my first bunch of garden flowers, to put on the table. I am so happy the gardening season has begun! Hope you will be able to spend some time in the garden or on  your balcony too.

A Happy week ahead!

Love,

Madelief x

Mademoiselle Country Garden

Last weekend she arrived quite unexpectedly. I knew she was coming, but nevertheless I couldn't believe my luck when she knocked on our door: mademoiselle Country Garden :-). She came at the right moment and was warmly welcomed into our family.

She looks even more beautiful than I had expected, wearing lilac trousers with little green ribbons attached to the sides and a cheerful floral tunic. Her ears and legs are embroidered with tiny birds, hearts and dots. However, what I like best is her gentle expression. The moment I set eyes on her it was obvious to me that she was well loved. I could see that Stephanie from the blog Millefeuilles spend a lot of time and love making her as pretty as she is.

Off course I showed her our garden. I think she liked it ;-)! She admired the last summer flowers and even had a cup of tea with us. She looked quite at home!

Dear Stephanie, thank you so much! Mademoiselle Country Garden brightens up our home.

A wonderful day to you all.

LOVE,

Madelief x

Almost New Year!

Only a few more days to go before the New Year! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas? Ours was different from other Christmases, because my parents couldn't join us. My mother slipped in the snow and hurt her knee badly. She is still in a lot of pain and moving around on cruches. We also had a sick daughter and a very tired and sick niece and nephew who visited us, but spend quite some time sleeping. I wasn't feeling too good either. I suppose all the dinner parties, lunches, perfomances with my choir and the shopping for Christmas, had taken their tole. Luckily I still have a few more days left to stay at home and relax :-)!

Today's pictures show the turban I always make the day before Christmas. It's so big that we can eat from it for quite some time. It's just a simple cake filled with small pieces of chocolate and nuts, but we like it very much. It looks very decorative too with the sugar glacing and the silver pearls.

I would like to thank Sabine from the blog Beldecor, who send me and my daughters three lovely scented bags that she made herself. Bine they are really beautiful! Thank you very much for sending them! Please have a look at her blog. It's one of my favourites!

I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Creative New Year, full of love and friendship! Take care!

Lieve groet, Madelief

As time goes by

I am sorry I could not visit you all lately, but we had a busy and eventful week. A dear friend of ours, who had been depressed for years, decided he did not want to live anymore. Yesterday my eighteen year old daughter heard she passed her exams (hurray!), and today I received my certificate for a four your education I have been doing for my work. It was a week of tears and laughter.

I also received one of my cooking clubs in our garden. It was a lovely evening, with sun until nine! I made two salads and a raita. My friends took the wine, chocolate, starter and the dessert with them. One of the salads I made came from the Ottolenghi cookbook. Nicola, I made the 'Marinated aubergine with tahini and oregano'. It was simply delicious! If you enjoy Mediterranean food I can recommend 'The Cookbook' from Ottolenghi to you.

Our garden is like paradise at the moment. The roses are in full bloom, the larkspur has beautiful spires in all shades of blue, and you can smell Lavender all through the garden. I wish I could show you around, but allas pictures will have to do. Today I only show you a few of them, in one of my next posts I promise to show you more.

Last weekend I made my first two bottles of elderflower cordial. I am not sure if it is a success yet, because we all have to get used to the taste!!  I also visited gardens open to the public 'Verborgen Tuinen' in my hometown. So much to see, so many things to remember. Simply a lovely day. At the end I even found a rose teapot with a milkjug, sugarbowl and saucers from the seventies at a small brocante fair in one of the gardens! In one of my next posts I will show you some pictures of the gardens as well.

Well that's in for now. Hope you will all have a lovely weekend!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Your wish is my command

I hope you won't be dissapointed, but this post has nothing to do with fairy tales, only with two wishes/requests I received. The first request came from Eve, who asked me if I had more pictures of the garden of Hotel Boticelli in Maastricht. Eve, I did not have many left, but the once I had are published in this post. They are not my best pictures though. I hope you don't mind!

The second request came from Ingrid. She asked me if I could show my floral jacket that I bought in Antwerp. I have already worn it several times and it's one of my favourites. Don't you just love florals in summer too?

When I had a short blog break in May, one of the things I did was sewing. Inspired by Michaja and Dottie Angel, I made an apron out of vintage fabric. Most of the fabric was left over from dresses I made for my daughters about fifteen years ago. Although I can't sew very well, I am very happy with the result.

The other photo's I show you today were made in Aachen. A beautiful city, just across the German border. The city has a very old cathedral ( year 796), where Charles the Great is burried. My mother and I spent a lovely day there, doing some sightseeing and eating a huge piece of delicious German pie!

In Holland rain and thunderstorms are forecasted for sunday, but hopefully the weather will remain fine in the morning, as we plan to have a walk on the beach.Wish you all a happy sunday!

Lieve groet, Madelief