Kings Day

Hello,

It's Kings day in The Netherlands tomorrow. While our King and Queen will be visiting Amstelveen, a municipality close to Amsterdam, I will be slaving away behind my stove, making coffee walnut cake and macrons for a special birthday party on Sunday :-)

Hopefully, the celebrations will take place in my allotment garden. If so, I believe we have to take umbrella's with us and put on our wellies. Rain is predicted and as our garden is several metres below sea level, it gets soaking wet in no time. However, we managed to celebrate Easter in the garden last week, so if it does rain, it will make up for this Sunday!  

When cycling to my allotment garden last Wednesday, I got distracted on the way. Fields of cow parsley caught my eye. I couldn't resist putting my bike at the side of the road and pick a huge bunch. I added some tulips from my garden and voila....a pretty bouquet :-) It was my intention to give it to a friend, but when I spotted two huge spiders (and some babies) in between the flowers, I decided to leave it where it was..... I think my friend would not have been that pleased if I had given it to her!

Some of the other photo's were taken at Villa Augustus in Dordrecht, where I had lunch recently.

Well, that's it for now. I am off to the kitchen to bake some scones. Wishing my Dutch friends 'Een gezellige koningsdag'!

A Happy weekend to you all. Have fun!

Love,

Madelief x

Happy Easter

Hello everyone,

With the gardening season on it's way, I have an urge to spend every free minute in my allotment garden. When I open my curtains early in the morning and see the first rays of sunlight, I can't wait to step on my bicycle and cycle to the outskirts of town, where my garden is. Hopefully, weather permitting, I will be able to spend some time there the coming days. I planned a brunch on Easter Sunday, so please cross your fingers for lots and lots of sunshine!!!

When I am not in the garden, I am on the hunt for vintage treasures. The two brown coffee pots by Villeroy & Boch are my latest finds. Although I normally only buy floral porcelain and china, I could not resist these brown beauties.

On today's photo's you can see what's in bloom in my garden. My tulips still stand up straight. The first flowers of the Jacobs ladder and phlox 'clouds of perfume' are in bloom. So are the white anemones and euphorbia. Oh and I planted some tomatoes in my greenhouse (yellow pear, cherry and one I forgot the name of). I have to admit, I cheated. Normally, I grow them myself, but because the past months have been crazy, I bought some seedlings :-).

Are you going to spend time outdoors this Easter? Or will you be visiting friends and family?  

Wishing you a Happy time!

Love, Madelief x


If you would like to see more photo's, you can find me on Instagram and Pinterest too.

 

Enchanted April

 

A quick hello from a dusty Madelief, who is sitting on her living room floor, covered in spider webs and other sorts of dirt, while she should be in her garden, enjoying the sunshine and flowers :-) 

When I lookout over my laptop, my daughter Annebelle neatly stacked the books that came out of only three bookcases. The piles are huge! The girls and I emptied the front part of the living room. A  carpenter is helping us to sand and oil the floor. Next weekend I will have to empty the back part of the living room. That's means I have to find a safe place for my hundreds of tea cups ;-). Hope they will survive the move!

I keep chatting about my living room, while today's post is all about my garden. I hope you don't mind me showing you more photo's of my tiny tulip field. It keeps surprising me. While my green tulips (Spring Green & Greenland) and orange/pink tulips (Salmon Prince) are slowly fading away, a new white variety (name unknown :-)), with bright pink edges, pops up. There is a lot popping up in the garden: geranium cantabrigiense karmina, spiraea and forget me nots. I picked several to make little bouquets to take home with me. Isn't April an enchanting month?!

A dear blogfriend, with a beautiful brocante shop in Rotterdam Kralingen, kept me company in the garden last Wednesday. If you are curious who she is and would like to see more photo's, please have a look at her blog.

Wishing you a Happy weekend!

Love,

Madelief x