Easter celebrations

Once every few years,  Easter weekend is special to us, because my middle daughter and I celebrate our birthday as well. When Easter is late, I celebrate mine. When Easter is early, like this year, we celebrate hers.  

I was up at six on Saturday morning, to put up the bunting and add the finishing touches to a cake,  which I baked the day before. I chose a wheat free, low fat Easter cake from the book Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell, of which I changed the recipe a little. I used saffron to colour the icing and beetroot to colour the cake.

To get the speckled effect, I used a mixture of cocoa and vanilla essence, which I flicked at the cake with a tooth brush. My kitchen and I were covered in tiny chocolate specks, but most important: the cake looked better than I hoped for.   

In today's post,  photo's of our Easter breakfast table and Afternoon birthday tea. The vintage table cloths were incredibly lucky charity shop finds (almost missed them).  The colours are bright and sunny, and perfect for Easter. The embroidery on one of them is exceptionally beautiful. It makes me wonder if there are still women who make tablecloths like this, or is it a pastime of a bygone era?

Wishing you a Happy Easter. Have fun!

Love,

Madelief x

Spring in the garden fair

“And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.” 

Percy Bysshe Shelley


Despite the occasional shower, it was a perfect day for working in the garden. I did not do much.  I got rid of the last autumn leaves and weeds in the middle part of the garden, cleaned the garden furniture, and took lots of photo's of the pretty bunch of Hellebores I cut.

The Hellebore is such a rewarding flower. It has been in bloom for several weeks now. Although seed heads appear, the flowers still brighten up the front part of the garden under the hazel tree, which is partly covered in shade.

I added a few cherry- and hazel branches to the bouquet. It looks really sweet, with the tiny pink flowers of the blossoms, and the small buds on the hazel branches ready to open up to spring.

Wishing you a Happy week!

Love

Madelief x 

* The photo of the geese and heron was taken behind my garden house. There is a stream running along the back of my garden.

Colour your life happy

Last year I invited several  ladies I know through Instagram, for a tea in my garden. One of them was Ella.
Ella and her friends Suus and Lenny own a colourful shop in the town centre of Gouda, called Juffrouw Saartje.
They sell vintage items, toys, cards, porcelain, books and many more products to colour your life happy.

At the party a friend and I promised we would come and see the shop for ourselves. Last week we finally did. You can see the photo's below. Ella and Suus, thank you once again for your warm welcome and the delicious tea.

My friend and I combined our visit with a city walk. We walked along the canals, visited several courtyard houses and the area around the St Janskerks (St Johns church). What an impressive town it is. If you are interested in medieval architecture, there are some fine examples of medieval buildings, like the town hall, to be seen.

The above photo's were partly taken at Altijd, a beautiful vintage and antique shop in the same street as Juffrouw Saartje (Wilhelminastraat). 

For more information, please click on the names of the shops. 

Before I wish you a happy week, I would like to thank you for your sweet comments on last weeks post.  


Love,

Madelief x