Northern Sky

WIP: 18th century cats - Baroness Burberry

2011-07-07T11:20:00.001+02:00

I'm still working on my 18th ccentury cats project. But I've finished another one. Now I only have one to go and I allready have an idea about the character for that one. This is our only lady cat and she really acts like one. That why we always call her a baroness. I hope you like it! You can find my other cat portraits here.

WIP: Marlee

2011-07-04T20:53:00.002+02:00

I'm working on my first pattern! It's a tunic called Marlee!
After several attempts to knit "heart lace top" by Betty, I frogged it all and decided to make something up. Iwas knitting with grey cotton, so I wanted to make a summer top. But all the patterns I could find on ravelry didn't seem good enough. That's when I started to knit... I began with a broad collar, made some decreases and started to work on an open back. The first part was knitted on circular needles, but at the beginning of the opening at the back I divided the piece in a front part and a back part. The back is almost done, I'm now working on the cap sleeves. I don't know exactly what to do with the front. But I made a rough sketch, so we will see how this thing will turn out. Maybe I just make something up, while knitting.

This is the back. It looks a bit funny, because the edges tend to curl. Also the opening isn't going to be as round as it appears to be.


This is the piece seen from the front. As you can see, the first part is knitted on circulars.

You probably wonder why it's called Marle, or maybe not, but either way I'm going to tell you. I watched all six episodes of Case Histories while I was working on this piece. I can tell you, it's pretty addictive! Marlee is the daughter of Jackson Brodie - the private detective- where the show is about.

Hm, talking about addictive! These are too:

I baked these yesterday. My best friend, niece, ucnle and aunt were visiting my grandparents. Since I am staying at my grandparents lately I decided to make a little treat. I found these on Saving Room For Dessert A blog full of delicious recipes (and pictures!) I can't wait to try out some of those pies. I mean...Baileys Irish Cream Mousse Pie, Chocolat Peanut Butter Pie, Lemon Ice Box Pie and Marshmallow-Almond Key Lime Pie, how can you resist them! (and almost all the other pies)
I didn't expect the visitors would like my date bars, because dates are a bit exotic. But they loved them! And I must say, they are delicious! Full of sweet moist date filling and crunchy oats on top!

Husqvarna, dude!

2011-06-20T11:24:00.003+02:00

I bought a sewing machine :D!!!

I’d seen this baby in the window display before and then the other day it was in a market stall for just 50 euros! But I didn’t buy it and kept thinking about it. So I went back and they didn’t sold it and the actual price wasn’t 50 euros, that was just a market day offer. But in the end I got it for only 50 euros :) It is a very solid an therefore very heavy sewing machine, a Husqvarna 4710! It is a very groovy machine with it’s brown and orange colourdetails and it runs like a train ;) Now I only have to find something to sew on it. I’ve allready set my mind o a tunic with my lovely brown and orangy fabric I bought a while a go (it matches my sewing machine :P) Maybe some of you remember it from my earlier post .

This is the fabric I’m talking about. I borrowed a book from the library, called ‘Tuniques’ in French (mine was in Dutch obviously!). There are some very nice and easy enough patterns in there. So you’ll see the product of it very soon on my blog I hope. Now I’m working on a knitted tunic, so that has to be done first. I don’t have my camera and my knitting in the same place, so pictures will follow later on. I’m making the whole pattern up, so I hope it works out! You’ll get an update on that subject soon.

Here’s my new sewing machine in it’s full glory ;)

The abandoned garden

2011-06-05T15:16:00.001+02:00

Since we are not much at home lately, our garden and plants got a bit neglected. Some plants were drowned by the rain, others dried out. But the damage isn't that big and we tried to water them every day.
In my last blog post I allready talked about the reason for us not being at home that much. Luckily I have some goodish news. My grandma is back home again, after she'd lain in hospital for four weeks. After some scans the docters saw 'something' in the coxa, that didn't belong there. They didn't know immediately what 'it' was, but it was sure that thing pressed on one of her sinews, which gave her terrible painattacs. After more examinations they've found out it is some kind of a tumor, in the lymph gland in her coxa (somewhere around the tailbone). Luckily this can be very well treated with chemotherapy. After one or two treatments the tumor will get smaller and the pressure on the sinew will decrease. We are glad they found the source of the painattacs and that it can be treated that well. My grandma will start her chemotheraphy at Tuesday. So I'll still won't be at home that much. I want to thank all the people who thought about my grandma, wished her the best and asked about her :) It was so sweet to see you all so concerned.
Let me show you my plants now, they deserve a little more attention.


Basil

Chives

Last year I had a big basil plant. It even got flowers! When the flowers died, I harvested the seeds, which I have sown this year. The chives and East-Indian cherry seeds are bought at the supermarket. But I also collected the pumpkin seeds myself. Last year I baked a pumpkin pie and I've dried the seeds to sow them. And now look what they've become :)! I cheated a bit with the tomato plant, because I bought that allready being a little plant. But still, it has grown pretty good! I snatched all the leaves, so the plant can put all its energy in growing the fruits.


Organic pumpkin


Basil & East-Indian cherry

Tomato

Thomas Dybdahl

2011-05-18T13:31:00.001+02:00

It's been a while since you guys have seen me here. That's because my grandma is in hospital at the moment, so me and my mom have to look a bit after my grandfather. We cook diner for him and take care of the houskeeping that has to be done. We don't know exactly what my grandma is suffering from. She has a lot of pain coming from her back/hip, going all the wat through her leg. They made pictures and scans of it and there is something pushing against a nerve which gives her these pains. Last week they did a puncture, so hopefully we get to hear the results this week.

Now you all know what took me so long to post anything new. Because I still have to blog about this amazing Thomas Dybdahl concert I've been too.

He was giving a show at Vera, Groningen on the second of May. Since I am a big fan of him I had to go there. I only saw him once with his band 'The National Bank.' Now I finally had the opportunity to see a gig where he sings his own songs.
The show wasn't sold out, at all, so I didn't need the reservation I made for my ticket. But there was enough public for a great evening. They were so enthousiastic, just like me!
Before Dybdahl started playing there was a support act from the Norwegian singer Susanne Sundfør. I already listened to a couple of songs from her on YouTube, but live she was even better!
Then finally the moment arrived that Thomas Dybdahl got on stage.
He played a couple of songs from his new album 'Waiting for that one great moment' which isn't actually his newest CD. He just brought out a new album, featuring no new songs, because he now has a new label at Strange Cargo/Universal, with a worldwide deal. So we are bound to here more of this great musician in the future! But luckily he also played many 'old' songs, not that I don't like the new ones :)
By the way, not all the credits go to Thomas ofcourse, because he also had an amazing band with him!

Jeg snakker lit Norsk!

2011-04-24T16:42:00.000+02:00

I'm wearing a Pippi Longstockings shirt, by the way. The sunlight makes it hard to see.

I signed up for a new study!
After 2 years of studying archaeology, followed by a year of doing 'nothing', I decided I want to go to University again.
To many of you it will be of no great surprise that the study of my choice is:

Scandinavian language and culture!

Right at the start of the first schoolyear you have to choose between Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. I will be choosing Norwegian, which also isn't a big surprise to you I guess.
The new study will start in September, so there's still plenty of time to prepare for this new study.

I can't wait to begin :)

Norg

2011-04-23T12:33:00.002+02:00

Saturday 2nd April my mother and I went to Norg. A beautiful place in Drenthe in the Netherlands. It’s surrounded by woods, heathlands, fens and meadows. People who know me well know that this is the place where we go on holiday each year.

One of my first times in Norg.

Inside the cottage, my mom (right) is knitting
something for me I guess.

The first time I went there, I still sat warm and cosy inside my mommy’s belly. My uncle and aunt spent their holiday in a little wooden cottage called ‘Tummetot’ (named after the gnome of Astrid Lingren’s stories) these days and we stayed with them for a couple of days. I have lovely memories about my younger years in the woods! My uncle and aunt got two children, one girl – a bit older than me- and one boy, a little younger than me. So I always had someone to play with. I remember the squirrels running around the cottage and robbing little pieces of bread from the birdfeeding table, the

Making 'forest dishes'

woodpeckers with their drumming and loud sgueeking noise and at night the screaming of an owl. We always had so much fun and we were never bored. If we didn’t have anything to play with we always made something up or created stuff from the thing the forest gave to us. I can see the three of us, when we were ate the age of about 10, sitting around a table outside and making all kinds of ‘forest dishes’. Using pineapples, sand, rocks, twig and everything else we found.
When I was 8 years old, me and my mom spent our holiday

On the campingsite, making a landscape,
using all kinds of natural things.

for the first time at the campingsite.
The weather was very bad one day, we saw the lightning strike the field in front of us and it rained all evening! You don’t feel very save in a tent on a moment like that. Luckely my aunt and uncle stayed in ‘Tummetot’ so my uncle came to ‘rescue’ us. After a couple of hours the rain stopped and the thunderstorm passed. What was left where very large pools! After all the excitement of the storm, we didn’t have to think what we wanted to do with them! My uncle and cousins and me went outside and danced like idiots in the pools!

And now…things haven’t changed that much. I still like to dance in pools after a large rain shower!
The past 5 years we all went together to the campingsite. Often, girlfriends, boyfriends and other friends were brought along. It was like one big happy camp, with lots of laughing, playing the guitar, singing, playing, cycling and making forests walks. But little kids get big and leave home.
This is the first year we aren’t going to spent our holiday with all. But who knows what the future will bring. I am certain the big happy camp will be restored one day. Because Norg is a very special place. It’s like a second home, for me at least. But I know lots of people how feel the same way about it. You have to have been there to experience the special ‘Norg sensation’
My most favourite place is a heathland called ‘Noordsche veld’ which means something like Nordic Field. There are Scottish Highland cows and goats who are grazing the fields. It is not only a beautiful place but, a very interesting place for archaeologists! There are a couple of megalithic graves (dating from the Neolithicum, Bronze Age and Iron Age) and some celtic fields (prehistoric farmlands.) Everytime I go there, I can’t resist the urge to look out for artefacts. I always come home with my pockets full of flints. But I never found an artefact like a scraper or a handaxe.

This is me (with red hair!) Watching through a telescope in search of Highland cows I suppose ;-)

A holiday without Norg isn’t a real holiday. So now me and my mom are celebrating our holiday with my grandparents in a cottage in the woods in June. We’ll stay for one week and somewhere in July mom and I will stay a week on the campingsite: http://www.boscamping.nl/ (in Ducth!)

Our tent (right) and the one of my uncle and aunt (on the left) and the orange tent is a guest tent.

Pimp My Shirt

2011-04-20T20:22:00.001+02:00

Recently I spent more time sewing than knitting. Probably because my knitting project is a winter sweater and it’s beautiful weather right now.
I was however in desperate need of a summerish vest. So I grabbed an old and too large black long sleeve shirt and turned it into the vest I wanted. I didn’t make pictures of the shirt before, but I think you can imagine wat it looked like, just a plain, boring shirt.

I’ve cut the front from collar to bottom and cut the sleeves in half. Then I grabbed and old black and white striped top from my closet and made them into cuffs. I also made a tiny cut in the back of my vest. It’s perfect to wear instead of a jacker right now. I’m very happy with the result!

I spy…something orange!

2011-04-08T22:48:00.002+02:00

Carrots!

I must say I hate raw carrots, they give me headaches! But cooked, mashed or baked I love them. A couple of weeks ago I made carrotcake for the first time. I’ve already eaten some before. But at Volunteersday I finally baked one myself and also made a creamcheese icing with it. It was delicous, if I say so myself! My favourite recipe comes from a little cookbook that we own for many years. I don’t like raisins and sultanas in my carrotcake, so I replace them by walnuts. If you do like raisins and sultanas, you can add half a cup of walnuts, a quarter cup of raisins and a quarter cup of sultanas. This is how I make my carrotcake:

Carrotcake

2 beaten eggs
1 cup raw cane sugar
1 cup grated carrot
0,75 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 tablespoon (tsp) gingerbreadspices
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

Icing

100 g/3,53 ounce creamcheese
o,75 cup sifted sugar powder
2 tsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger powder
You can replace the cinnamon and ginger powder by 2 tsps of honey.

If you use a gas oven make sure that you preheat it at 180 °C/ 356 °F.
This is not necessary if you use an electric oven.
Butter a rectangular or round tin (you can use whatever you want). Put a sheet of backing paper on bottom and sides of the tin.
Mix eggs, grated carrot, oil and walnuts in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients en stir until you have a moist dough. Spoon the mixture in your tin. Bake it aorung 40-45 minutes. Let it cool a bit down and put it on a grate. When cooled down completely, coat with icing.
Making the icing is quit simple. You just put all ingredients together in a bowl and stir it.

Enjoy your carrotcake :)!

Since I had bought to much carrots then I needed for my carrotcake, there where a few left.
First I wanted to make Hutspot/ Carrot Hotchpotch (?) of it. But I didn’t feel like it. So I tried something different, with the same ingredients!

Carrot Rösti

For 3-4 persons

4 potatoes
2 carrots
1 onion
1 beaten egg
2 Tbsp flour (plain flour or whole wheat flour)
1 tsp mustard
salt
pepper

Grate potatoes and carrots in a big bowl. Chop the onion in tiny pieces and add to the patatoe carrot mixture. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Put some butter or oil in a hot pan. If the butter is heated well place little heaps of the picture in your pan and flatten them a little. If one side is brown, turn them over. Both sides have to be a nice golden brown.
Enjoy your meal!

Album of the Month: March

2011-04-08T22:40:00.000+02:00

It’s time for a new ‘album of the month’! This time it wasn’t easy to pick one. There where many good album releases. Alamo Race Track, a Dutch band, released a new album past month called ‘Unicorn loves Dear’. They’re one of my favourite Dutch bands. Also J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) released a solo album and R.E.M. also released a new album. But I decided:

Alamo Race Track – Unicorn Loves Dear

Listen: 3 voor 12 Luisterpaal
Release: March 26/2011
Website: http://www.alamoracetrack.com/

Not only does this album sound good, the cover also is wonderful! The first time I saw this band was in 2007 when I was in Plato (my favourite recordstore in Groningen). Before that, I’d never heared of them. Their music grabbed me instantly. Back home I immediately went to the library to borrow their album (‘Black Cat John Brown’ from 2006). I still love it! The new album sometimes reminds me of the previous one. But it’s a bit more sober. No more electirc guitars, but more acoustic work. Singer Ralph Mulder has a unique voice. You can hear that in all songs ofcourse, but in the titlesong it is very prominent. They will perform at Vera the 12th of May. But I’m not sure if I’m going to be there. because there’s aslo Thomas Dybdahl and the Liberation Festival in the same month :)

Come back for more next month!
Uhm, well you can drop by earlier to read my other stuff ofcourse ;-)

Eddie Vedder and an Into the Wild camper

2011-03-29T22:29:00.004+02:00

Todat was a beautiful spring day. Although it was a bit cold, I enjoyed the sun. I took a walk to the harbor and made some pictures. After that I went to the hairdresser, because the last time I went there was 2 years ago ;-) My hairstyle didn’t change that much, only the neccesary bits were cut off, because I like my hair looong :) On my walk I came across this amazing hippie camper. It reminded my immediatly off the Into the Wild camper (you know, the one Jan and Rainey drive around.) I couldn’t find a picture of it, so you have to watch the movie if you want to know what I’m talking about ;-) I have no idea who drives this beautiful van, but I think they life in the neighbourhood, cause I this van close to my home before.

It was beautiful clear weather, so i could look all the way to Germany.

Last saturday it was Earth Hour. Between 20.30 and 21.30 local time, we had to turn off all the lights. So we lit the candles and played outside with my glow pois. And I sung some campfire songs and played on my guitar. Next year we’ll turn off the lights again :)

Last but not least, I have some exciting news to share. Eddie Vedder is about to release a new album on May 31 (that’s mom her birthday!!!) The album will be called ‘Ukelele Songs’ so you can already guess what kind of album this will be. You can already listen to his first single ‘Longing to belong’ Together with this new ablum he releases a live concert DVD called ‘Water on the Road’

Sadly Eddie isn’t playing any gigs in Holland :( Hopefully next time!

Volunteers day

2011-03-28T16:52:00.000+02:00

Two weeks ago everywhere in Holland people could join 'NL doet'/'NL does' On march 18 and 19 people could volunteer at a project or organisation of their choice. Since a week or 2 I work at a biologic garden called 'Sarasvati'. My mom has worked there a couple of years ago. Now we both do volunteers work there. My job is to photograph all the plants, trees and shrubs, to make an index of all plants in the garden.
At volunteers day we also went to Sarasvati to help there. I baked carrotcake with creamcheese icing and lemon cupcakes with lemon icing. The carrotcake was a huge success, which was very flattering :) The project on volunteers day was pollarding willows. We worked very hard and enjoyed the nice weather. When I came home I discovered my face was a little burned by the sun. Well I guess that's the price you got to pay with such a pale skin like me ;) But it was worth it, cause I enjoyed it all very much!

My hero is coming to town :D

2011-03-21T22:43:00.001+01:00

Yay, I'm so excited. Thomas Dybdahl will give a show in Vera, Groningen on the 4th of May! And guess who's going to be there? Yes, you're completely right, me! I'm so happy I finally can see one of his shows. I only saw him once, but that was a National Bank concert. A norwegian supergroup, where Thomas is the singer.

And that's not the only exciting concert news....pa-pa-pa-pam *drums rolling*
ahum...
The Magic Numbers are playing a gig on The Liberation festival in Groningen 3 days after the Thomas Dybdahl concert, huzzah!
And last but not least, Jaga Jazzist will play a gig in Vera next sunday :) Some of their members play in the National Bank too!

WIP: That Groovy Sweater!

2011-03-16T20:17:00.000+01:00

Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Baloeba/tubey
Progress: Half done
Designer: Cassie Rovitti

A while a go I started knitting this sweater. I first photoshopped a picture of the original, to try out different colours. I decided that I liked this colourcombination the best. It's dark orange, limegreen, petrol and eggplant colour. I sleightly altered the pattern of the sleeves. The pattern said that I should make widening sleeves. But I didn't like the idea. Instead I made puffing sleeves, by knitting the next to last row like this: *k1, k2tog * repeat. After that, knit 1 more row and bind off all stitches. Now I only have to knit the body and then it's ready to wear :D Maybe a bit late, since winter is gone allready, but I can wear it in spring!

Album of the month: January & February

2011-03-15T13:32:00.000+01:00

I decided to start a new series of blogposts. The idea is to post a blog every month about the album I liked best. Since it is March already I'm 2 months behind So I'll start with two albums.

January: The Decemberists - The King is Dead

Well, this one was quite easy. Since I listen to this CD the whole time.
I already new the Decemberists, because I had this sampler CD from Rough Trade with one track from them called '16 military wives' Which is a pretty well known song I guess. But when I heared this new CD I was totally surprised, in a good way. There are more folk influences and in one song 'Rox in the Box' they use an Irish tune (known as Raggle Taggle Gipsy. The Dutchies may recognize it as an song that Rapalje plays often :)
They use more backvocals, which gives the whole a very melodic and folky touch. This album makes you a bit nostalgic. You wouldn't guess that this band is actually from America! The sound is so Irish/Scottish. I didn't even know, untill I googled the bandname.

Here is my favourite track from the album the King is Dead:

February: Daniël Lohues - Hout Moet

Actually, this one was easy to pick too! I'm a big fan of Lohues. He sings in a Dutch dialect called 'Drents' which I, as a 'Groninger' can easily understand. Before this album he made a series of 4 albums. All titled 'Allenig' ('Alone'), marked with numbers I to IV, but you can also indicate them by the seasons. Each album stands for a different season. Now he made a new album with different artist, but with the same strong lyrics. He really is a word artist. It's a shame the non Dutchies, well and even some Dutchies will not understand the lyrics. But the melodies are great to! It's a folky albums, with Irish/Scottish influences in a couple of songs. We didn't here that in the previous albums.
'Hout moet' has two meanings, it can mean: 'as it has to be' or 'keep a good heart'
I couldn't find my favourite teack on YouTube, but I like all songs, so here is one track, called 'Prachtig mooie dag' which means: very beautiful day.

See you again next month ;) (Well, I think you'll see me earlier with another blog post!)

Spring song

2011-03-12T23:00:00.003+01:00


Speen kruid - Lesser Calendine I could listen to this song all day...

Spinfever!

2011-03-09T20:51:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we had a spin day! No I do not mean cycling like an idiot to burn as much calories as you can. I mean real spinning, on a spinningwheel! I now use a Louët S10, which belongs to my mothers aunt. But we can use it until she needs it again. Someone I know from Ravelry came here to demonstrate us how to spin. Trijneke en Jelte also wanted to learn the great art of spinning. They had and old standing spinningwheel which actually belongs to Jelte's grandma, isn't that awesome!?
First are spinningwheels were tested and we got a lot of information about different kinds of wool and a spin demonstration ofcourse :)! After that we started practising our selves. First it didn't went very well, but after a while I got the hang of it. I used my sheepfleece to spin, the result was amazing. I didn't think you could spin such thin threads with my own sheep fleece! If my yarn spun and dyed I'll show it here.
The day before I baked a lot of muffins and I made sandwiches, so we had enough food :) It was a very, very nice day and we learned a lot! Our plan is to come together some day to spin, when we practised some more ;)

Mom made a little video while I was spinning and we took some pictures. I uploaded it with Youtube, you can watch it here:

Hedgehog detective

2011-03-01T14:33:00.003+01:00

I didn't make this one. Copyright belongs to Ysolda Teague. Hopefully mine will turn out this pretty :)

Yay! I won Ysolda's 'counting hedgehogs' contest! You had to count all the hedgehogs hidden in the pictures on her blog. There were 10 and I counted the right amount, together with many other people ofcourse! Now I will get this pattern :) Isn't he adorable? Can't wait to knit one!

Visiting

2011-02-21T18:08:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to visit my niece, together with one of my best friends. My niece moved to Goor 3 weeks ago. Since it is a journey of 3,75 hours by train I will not visit her that often. But we were ofcourse very curious where she lives and since we could buy very cheap traintickets (jeej voor de Kruidvat :D) we spend 7,5 hours in the train yesterday. But I enjoyed it very much! It's nice to see were my niece lives and I don't mind long train journeys. We watched at movie and played Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii :) We had so much fun! It's a pity she lives so far away, but I'm happy for her!

I'm excited!

2011-02-17T09:53:00.000+01:00

The sun hasn't been very active the last couple of years but now there is a solar flare comming to the earth (which isn't as scary and threathning as it sounds, so relax ;-))
This could actually be one of the most exciting things that happened since, well, since ever I guess :P
Because maybe (if the weather is clear in the evening) we can see the Northern light HERE tomorrow evening :O :D Yes here, in the Netherlands! So now I'm so nervous and excited, this could mean that one of my wishes will become reality tomorrow. I guess it isn't going to be that spectacular as it is in Norway and other polar countries, but hey, at least we can see a little bit of magic (hopefully!)

I guess we won't be seeing something like this, but if I have an oppotunity to post pictures of the Northern light, I grab it ;)

At least my hands won't be freezing off, because I now have some very nice, soft, warm, handmade mittens :)! I'm very pleased with the result. I saw them here and decided that I wanted to make some myself. Yesterday I was so excited (again) with the idea, so I immediately made them. I used my sewing machine so they were done in a wip.

I used old sweaters to make them.

Ta-daa! Here they are.


I listened a lot to this band when i was working on my mittens, they´re from Iceland :) I hope we can catch a glimp from the Northern light tonight, happy viewing :)!

WIP and Valentines pie

2011-02-15T15:27:00.000+01:00

Belated Happy Valentines day to you all!
Yesterday I made a savory pie, with mushrooms ragout, onion, chopped veggie burgers, garlic and some leftover belgian sprouts. It was absolutely delicious, it looked gorgeous and it made our refrigerator a bit emptier :D I added a little dough flower to pie, to give it a Valentines day theme. It's so nice to create something with leftovers. Since I always have flowers and butter in my cupboards, I can make these things anytime. That's because I love to bake!

My WIP also has something to do with Valentines day, but you could say the some about my last post ofcourse ;-)
My WIP involves this:

Yay, rainbow coloured hearts :)

And this:

That's all I got to say about it right now. So, can you guess what it's going to be? ;-)
See you next time!

I ♥

2011-02-07T18:20:00.000+01:00

I love to make things from felt. I do not use real felt, because I had some synthetical stuff lying around.
I spend the most of my time making hearts.
It´s such an simple but very meanfull symbol
people always smile when they get one
So I created lots of hearts! And gave most of them away to friends and family :)

A lot has happened last month.
My grandfather finally came home after a couple of months in a rehabilitation centre. Now he only have to go there for his therapy to learn to walk with his prothesis (something he already is doing very well!)
My niece moved to Goor (a small place in Overijssel in the Netherlands) to life there with her boyfriend and work at an after school care centre. I made a portrait of her and her boyfriend and gave her the green heart garland (the left one on the picture above.)

This is the portrait I made. I edited this picture a bit, so you can't see the background.

My grand-niece came home from hospital, last december. When she came home, I gave her this heart garland.

The Times They Are A-Changin´

2011-01-01T12:31:00.003+01:00

Is what Dylan said, now 47 years a go. But just like many other 'old' songs, this one could easily refer to modern times.
So why did I named this post after a Dylan song?
Because today it is January the first. The beginning of a new year. But what started in the past year will continue in the next. And the changes are already showing. I'm referring to a couple of things, like the new government in the Netherlands and Wikileaks. The first I hate, the second I love. What I realy mean is how to life with the two. What we can do to change things or to make things more easy. Or just simply support good causes.
As it is the beginning of a new year, it seemed like a good day to post this blog. I started a few tiny changes myself. Realy tiny. But for me, very imported, and hey, it's only the beginning.
So what did I do?

1. I deleted my PayPal account, because they are refusing to let through donations for Wikileaks. As a Wikileaks supporter I didn't want PayPal to have any control over my bankaccount. So now I can't order stuff from Etsy if I've wanted to, but hey, if you stand for a good cause it doesn't matter ;-)

2. I said farewell to ABN-AMRO to join a Sustainable Bank, Triodos. I was playing with that thought for a while. But I decided I just had to do it. Because I don't trust the big and fancy banks anymore. Triodos invests in sustainable projects even in my own region. So it's easy to see where your money goes.

3. I switched to a new telecom provider, named Ben. Because it's the only one were you can change your subscription every month! It's feels much better to be free :)

This are my teeny-tiny steps towards a better year/world. I can't see how anyone is helped directly woth these actions, but I feel fine about it, that counts too doesn't it?
And as I said, it's only the beginning (tadum-tadum, drums playing ;-))
I'll make my next step when I have my new bankaccount. I'm going to be a Greenpeace supporter. Greenpeace don't accept gifts from companies or grants form the government, so they rely completely on their supporters.

Of course I will continue to eat no meat and eat and drink as much as biological/ecological products as I can afford.

Now, I made my first moves, what are you going to do? I'm very curious :) Tell me!..Please?
I wish you all, the most of luck and happiness for the new year.

Work in progress: 18th century cats

2010-12-31T12:02:00.000+01:00

This is my newest project. I wanted to portray our cats in a way that reflect their caracters in the best way. Cats are the most elegant creatures, so I decided to paint them in the fashion of the 18th century. From top till bottom we have: Squizzy, who is actually our neighbour cat, but is part of the gang ;-) He is representing a messenger boy.

Lux had to be the cook, because you always can find him in the kitchen.

Then there is Tau(tje). He is the most aristocratic cat I've ever seen. He's acting if he is the king, so I made him the baron. The painting is almost done, but I think he has to have bigger ears.

The last one has te become Burberry, but she (obviously) is not finished yet. When she's done she will wear coat with Burberry tartan. Burberry is the baroness, because she always
acts like one.

I am very satisfied with the results so far. I only have to think of a character for Nikolai, our other cat. Maybe he will become the court jester, but I'm not sure about that. When I am completely done I will show you the result of course!

Aurora Borealis

2010-12-29T11:37:00.002+01:00

The most fascinating phenomenon of nature has to be the Aurora Borealis. I can't be totally sure ofcourse, because I've never seen it. But I can't immagine something more beautiful. With the beautiful winterlandscape surrounding me I can't stop thinking about it.
Last year I saw an amazing documentary about it, featuring Joanna Lumley (from Ab Fab). She always dreamt about seeing the Northern Lights. As a child she had a book about a penguin how saw the Northern Lights and was fascinated about it. With is a bit weird ofcourse, because there are no penguins on the North Pole. But that is were here own fascination started. My own fascination started with the books of David de Kabouter.
Happens to be Joanna Lumley is also a vegetarian and she likes to draw, which she shows in the documentary.
I recognised a lot of myself in that documentary and in her.
When she finally gets to see the Aurora Borealis she is completely overwhelmed and gets a bit emotional.
It's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. You can buy it on DVD. But it's also on YouTube in parts. You can see the first part here:

When I see this I'm so eager to go to Norway and see it myself. I can't wait to finally go there. Because it's one of my childhood dreams. I remember sitting in front of the telly, watching a documentary about Norway. There was a scenery of fjords and I said to my mom: "I want to go to the fjords!", or something like that. I also was totally addicted to Niels Holgersson and Wicky the Viking.

I think many artist can find inspiration in the Northern Lights. I've seen some beautiful painting on the net. Some even specialise in painting it. I was really impressed with Ken Farrar's painting (he is Canadian).
You can see them here
I don't know if the following band got inspired by the Northern Lights, but you have to admit, the music and the movie are very well matched. It's a time lapse video from National Geographic with music from the Scottish band 'Boards of Canada'. Watch it on full screen with headphones. ;-)

Ode aan de sneeuw

2010-12-16T10:36:00.001+01:00

This song is in Dutch, it´s an ode to the snow. Written by Willem Wilmink, the singers are Daniël Lohues and Herman Finkers.

Bye, bye Etsy...?

2010-12-11T18:29:00.001+01:00

I'm a little sad...because I can't open up an Etsy shop. I need a creditcard to do this and unfortunatly I don't own one. I checked my banks' website and it said that you have to pay € 20 per year for a creditcard. I now it's only once a year, but I think it's a lot of money for something you normally don't use. Grumble! I hate it! I allready desgined a logo for my shop and photographed some of my articles....

This would be the name and logo for my shop. It's named on the edge, because I live on the edge of the Netherlands. That's what the green hill (dyke) and little waves stand for.

I also made these pictures of my finished products:

Sooo, now what? I could of course open up a webstore, but I don't have enough product to fill an entire shop. Gaaaaaaaah I don't now! Anyone who has an idea?
Oh, yes I forgot! I also made a Christmas garland :)

King Winter

2010-12-06T21:34:00.000+01:00

As many of you may now, I love the winter! Every mornig when I wake up, the first thing I do is take a peek out of my window to see if the night brought me some snow. When I woke up friday the 26st there was actually a lot of snow! Which was a bit of a surprise to me, cause I didn´t expect so much! It was only november when King Winter made it´s entrance.

Obviously I haven't made this myself. I just love this picture and decided that it would fit my post. So if anyone doesn't wan't this picture to me at my blog, sent me an email.

Yes, I edited this picture ;)

Last friday it snowed again! The first time we got 6 centimeters and now there were another 6 centimetres of lovely white crisp snow :) It was pretty cold with the wind coming from the east, but I don't mind. I have a hat from real wool and a jacket with fake fur, which I don't like at all, but it's nice and warm. Our cats go a bit mad, they wan't to be outside and inside at the same time! So we keep running at the door to either let them in or let them out...
The only one who doesn't go out is Lux. He stays in all the time to sit on my lap and wait for food. :)
I've made some lovely walks in the snow with my mom. But sadly the snow's melting away now. At night it's still freezing so the roads are getting very slippery out here.
I do hope we get more snow, but the winter is just beginning, so there's a fair chance.

Aah, beautifull, isn't it?
Goodnight to you all!

A fine cold day in the city

2010-11-29T21:36:00.000+01:00

These are bags made from ties.

I already posted a blog about the fair (with handmade products) in Dutch. So for all the people who can't read Ducth, a brief introduction. Last sunday there was a fair at Groningen. People only sold their handmade stuff that day and some materials with which you can make your own stuff. So me and my mum decided that we had to go there, because we love to see handmade things. And off course we hoped we could buy some materials to make our own things.

The fabric, lace and CD

So, yesterday we went to Groningen. It was very cold (poor people who have to stand all day at the fair!) but it was fun! It was so nice to see all the different things people made of different materials. I didn't buy any handmade objects, because most of the time I thought, well, I can make that myself easily. So I only bought a piece of lovely vintage fabric :D (yay for vintage!) and some vintage lace :) After the fair we did some more shopping in Groningen I bought a nice green sweater and a Nick Drake CD.
We spend the night at Michael's (my mum's boyfriend) place. Because we wanted to go to another shop which wasn't opened on sunday. When we left the house this morning, it was snowing, with really big snowflakes :D! There also was a student protest in the city, because the government wants to make studying almost impossible for all students and students-to-be. If you want to read more about this subject, my good friend Nelson wrote TWO(!) blogs about it (in Dutch) so click :)

I also had to buy a new mobile phone, because my is completely blue, so I can't see what I'm doing anymore :P Now I've one with a Qwerty keyboard, because this was a cheap one and I don't want to spend a lot of money on a mobile phone. On our way to the multimedia store I saw something that reminded me of a person who means a lot to me! Do you want to know what is was? Scroll down ;)

Ta-daaa!

Top 2000

2010-11-26T22:05:00.002+01:00

Something for the dutchies again!

Elk jaar begint het december-gevoel weer in november. Als we weer mogen stemmen voor de Top 2000! Het uitzoeken van de beste 10 en nu zelfs 15 nummers, kost mij meestal wel een uur, als het niet langer is. Maar al zoekende krijg je weer dat gezellige, spannende gevoel, want het is (bijna) winter, de feestdagen staan te wachten en natuurlijk de Top 2000 op radio en TV! Daar kan ik mij elk jaar weer op verheugen. het wachten tot jouw platen voorbij komen en het kijken naar de Top 2000 quiz. Mijn lijst voor dit jaar is:

: Beatles - Norwegian wood (1965)
: Kinks - Sunny afternoon (1966)
: Boudewijn de Groot - Picknick (1967)
: Who - Baba O'Riley (1971)
: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Almost cut my hair (1971)
: Yes - Roundabout (1972)
: Steely Dan - Do it again (1972)
: J.J. Cale - After midnight (1972)
: Creedence Clearwater Revival - I heard it through the grapevine (1973)
: Electric Light Orchestra - Evil woman (1975)
: Bob Dylan - Hurricane (1975)
: Neil Young - Like a hurricane (1977)
: Cure - Close to me (1985)
: Talking Heads - Slippery people (1985)
: Pearl Jam - Just breathe (2009)

En de vrije keuzes:

: Vashti Bunyan - Train Song
: Leonard Cohen - The Avalanche
: Jeff Buckley - So Real
: Nick Drake - Northern Sky
: Brian Eno - This

I woke up in fairyland :D!

2010-11-26T08:21:00.004+01:00

Home made

2010-11-25T23:26:00.008+01:00

I finished another object for my Etsy shop-to-be! It's a tiny owl purse :) Because I love owls and I want to make as much as possible things with animals on them. Ta-daa:

Again this one's made from felt and the owl has shiny eyes :D

That's not the only thing I've been up to the past days. I also made a sticky toffee cake! I often heard or read about it, and it always sounded very appealing to me! So when we had some dates lying around in the kitchen I decided to grab them and turn them into a divine sticky toffee cake. Using this recipe.

This is how my kitchen looked like when I was finished :P

Hm, this doesn't look very appealing, huh. But wait 'till it comes out of the oven.

Yum, this was so good! Especially the toffee sauce ;-)

Well, now I'm going to do some sleeping. See you guys later :)!
Love

Wolletjes en zelfgemaakte dingetjes! (Something for the Dutchies)

2010-11-21T23:18:00.004+01:00

This post will be in Dutch, cause it's only interesting for the Dutchies amongst us ;-)

Ja eindelijk! Leuke evenementen voor breiers, spinners, vilters, etc.! Volgende week zondag (28 november)hebben we een heuse 'Die zijn leuk!' markt in Groningen. Op de vismarkt worden allerlei zelfgemaakt dingetjes verkocht. Maar ook kun je breiwol, stoffen en andere dingen kopen om zelf aan de slag te gaan. Klik hier voor een overzicht van alle standhouders. En last but not least, wordt er op 17 december een heuse Midwinterwol georganiseerd! Volgens de website een markt voor alle wol-, spin-, brei-, vilt- en weef-liefhebbers! Op de markt zijn tevens verschillende demonstraties en workshops, dus genoeg te doen en waarschijnlijk weer veel te veel leuke dingen om te kopen :-P!
De Midwinterwol is in Boven Pekela, dus ik weet nog niet precies hoe we daar moeten komen, maar daar wordt vast wel een oplossing voor gevonden :-) Klik hier voor meer informatie over de Midwinterwol. Ik heb nu al zin in deze leuke markten!

Weekend cooking

2010-11-21T13:00:00.009+01:00

I love to cook and bake. I can´t decide what I love more. But I do both things on a regular basis and people seem to like the things I make very much. I´m pleased to hear that, because I don´t use recipes that often. Most times I just throw some things together and like magic it turnes out to be edible. So I can´t always give you the recipes, because often I don´t even remember exactly how I made it ;-)

Friday evening pumpkin soup.

Saturday morning ciabatta's

This was the first time I made a ciabatta myself! It's quite simple to make, but you have to keep in mind that making a biga involves 12 hours of waiting. So you can do that the evening before you want to make a ciabatta. Then the biga can rise in the night. The dough has to rise 1,5 hours and later on another 30 minutes, so keep that in mind! I can give you the recipe of this one, because I didn't figure this our myself. Unfortunately it's only in Dutch, but there are lots of ciabatta recipes on the net. If want the recipe: click

This is how I love to eat my bread. First a layer of cream cheese and on top a layer of 4 fruits jam. It's reminds me of cheesecake :-)

Autumn Magic

2010-11-18T10:38:00.014+01:00

I love to see all the handmade things on diffrent blogs. One item in particular caught my eye. It´s this beautiful autumn light from Twig and Toadstool. When I saw it I instantly wanted to make it myself. But first I had to gather some beautiful red leafs, a glass bowl and some glue/coat. I found some wonderfull leafs and pressed them between a pile of books for a couple of days. Next I went to the secondhand shop to buy a glass bowl. I bought different coat then Twig and Toadstool, because I couldn't find any Mod Podge here. Maybe I should have waited and try and get it, because now my lantern is a bit stripy and I don't like it, but hey it was my first try! It's still turned out lovely, but I think I painted to thickly with my coat.

It begins!

You have to paint a layer of coat on teh bowl itself. Then put the leafs on it. I think it's the best to let the first layer dry a bit, because if you put the second layer on it to quickly, the first doesn't have enough time to dry. Maybe this is different if you use Mod Podge... The coat is first very white, but when it's dried properly, it will turn out transparant. I used a mat coat, because I didn't want it to be too shiny.

First layer of coat and leafs. I don't have a picture of the coated leafs.

After this stage you paint another layer of coat over the leafs, so they will stay put. Let it dry and this is what it looks like in the end: ta-daa!

And voilà, my magic autumn lantern.

And a close-up. I love close-ups!

Maybe some of you already know. I'm planning on opening an Etsy shop, somewhere soon. For the people who never heard of Etsy: click
Mostly all teh things are handmade, but people also sell vintage stuff. It's so nice to see al; the handmade stuff, and it inspires me so much to make things. Some years a go I made myself a pen case from felt. I've made it all my hand, even the sewing, and it turned out lovely. Now I wanted to make another one, to sell on Etsy. The autumn inspired me to make a squirrel/toadstool case. Again it's made of felt, and all the sewing is done by hand, because it's to small to do it with the sewing machine I think. The tiny toadstool is made from selfdrying clay, painted with acrylic and covered with translucent nail polish.

The squirrel side.

And the toadstool side.

And a close-up of the toadstool lucky charm.

Hopefully you can buy it in my Etsy shop soon. But I have to make more stuff before I open it. I'm now making a tiny owl wallet. I have lots of ideas, so this winter I'm cutting and sewing.

No I don´t want a coal generator in my backgarden!

2010-11-17T11:51:00.007+01:00

For the dutchies I guess I don´t have to explain what is going on in the ´Eemshaven.´ Cause everybody is talking about the new coal generator that Nuon is building there. They're actually planning on building a third one (there already is one.) The third one should by build by Essent. When I stand in my room at night I can see al the lights from the generator peeking out above the dyke. When I stand in my room by day I can see some yellowish smoke rising up from the generator. And when I make a nice walk on the dyke or when (in the summer) I spend a day out between the sheep I can see the ugly thing, polluting my lovely view, but even worse, the environment. Here you can see how close the damn generators are to the place I live in. The lowest cirkle is approximately around my house, and the upper one is where the first generator is, and the 2 others will be.

The worst thing about it all is that the generator is situated next to the 'Waddenzee,' which belongs to the World Legacy! Greenpeace has begun a public protest against Essent and Nuon. Almost all people in the Netherlands get their power and gas from one of these companies. Greenpeace wants them to switch to another company if Nuon and Essent continue to build the generators. I think they made a great commercial against Nuon, but sadly nobody wants to broadcast it on TV or Radio. Here it is:

For the dutchies here is a link: http://www.greenpeace.nl/stop-nuon-en-essent
You can send Nuon or Essent a protest email.

I do hope Nuon stops building! I'll keep you up to date about the campaigns and (hopefully) their results.
That's it for now!

Love Nienke

New stuff

2010-10-30T00:16:00.006+02:00

I finally completed my Drops cardigan! With a little help from my mom, who did the crocheted edges (thank you !) I think it turned out very well and I love to wear my first made garnment. Well the first piece of clothing I made for myself.

Here it is, and yes, you can also see my glasses, smart huh?

Next to my knitting projects I've also done some painting. I made two new paintings. One for my grandfather who is in a rehabilitationclinic and another one just for fun. I realy like to paint these days. Normally I only did pencil drawings, but I rediscovered the arts of painting a while ago and now I like it very much.

This is the one I made for my grandfather. It's his birthtown.

And here is a fox I made.

Now I have to knit a hat for India, since I posted a blog about it. After that I think I'll start on a pullover for myself.

Knit a hat for India

2010-10-28T11:25:00.000+02:00

This week I saw a flyer from "Save the Children," wich is a international child rights organisation. They've got a project that's called "Project India." Save the Children started a new campaign, to stop child mortality in India. You have to knit a hat for new-born children, to stop them from freezing to death. You can download a pattern for a hat here: http://www.breivoorindia.nl/meedoen/ (in Dutch!) In many knittingshops you can get 25% discount on Phildar yarn.
If you're done, you can send your hat (up to February 27) to:

Save the Children
‘Brei een muts’
Postbus 95925
2509 CX Den Haag

So grab your knitting needles and start knitting!

2010-10-20T10:38:00.000+02:00

Presents! Everywhere presents!

2010-09-13T16:32:00.000+02:00

It's not Christmas yet, still there were everywhere presents! Ofcourse it was my birthday about a week a go, as many of you may know. I got lots of wonderfull presents! As I told you guys before I got a spinngwheel, a sheep fleece and books about natural dying. From Ivonne I got a book about spinning, so I'm very pleased with that one and eager to try it! My grandparents and uncle and ant gave me money, so I ordered CDs and glowpoi's at the internet :D! And lucky me, I also got a bookcoupon (ja boekenbon) a hot water bottle (yay, no more cold feet!) a knitting basket(to keep my yarns and neeldes away from, little gripping claws) and incense! Now I can order the next book in the Outlander series from Diana Gabaldon. I'm still reading 'The Fiery Cross' at the moment.
But the day after my birthday I found a surprise in my mailbox (online). There was an email from Nuon (public utility) that said I had won a box with knitting supplies!
It contains a pair of knitting needles nr. 6, a knitting magazine and 5 skeins of yarn!

But I was not the only one that got presents. I gave one as well. Past month I spent much of my time on making a [real gentleman] slipover for Ivo. Last wednesday I completed it! It turned out so lovely and Ivo is very pleased with it!

Like I said, a Real Gentleman!

A lot to tell!

2010-08-29T23:12:00.000+02:00

First of all I have some good news and second, wait...actually it's all good news! Our weekend was a bit hectic, cause Melle was missing since thursday evening. He walked to the trainstation together with Ivo, but he couldn't find his way back home :(! So we put a advertisement on the net to ask if someone has seen Melle. The next morning (!) we got a call from a woman who said Melle was at her place. They saw him walkin around at the street and took care of him! We were so happy and thankfull that they had called us immediatly. We made muffins as a reward. So now Melle is back home and he ate three bowls of food, because he was so hungry! He even growled while eating. And now he is fast asleep.
Well, all of you who can read Dutch know that my grandfather was in hospital for 5,5 weeks a while ago. After that he still had pain, practically every day. His foot hurt so much and it never cured properly. So he had to go to the hospital once more. There they cleaned his foot, but after that he still had pain. So they decided to amputate it. It may sound awfull to you, and ofcourse it's not something you look forward to. But my grandfather often said, please let them amputate it, cause then I don't have to suffer every day. So he is in peace with it. Now he is in a rehabilitation clinic to learn how to walk again, and surely he'll get a prothesis. He is very optimistic and wants to practise every day! He has a room with enough space to make an little painting, so that's what I'm going to do next (and knit Ivo's slipover ofcourse.)
I still working on that one, it looks rather nice. I'll put a picture on Ravelry in a couple of days. In the meantime I knitted a neckwarmer, it was very easy and super fast to knit. So I think I'm going to make a couple more in different colours, or to give away.
That's it for now. Sleep tight!

Three hurrays for the sheep with their fluffy fleece!

2010-08-22T17:06:00.000+02:00

From now on I will write my blog in English, so people from all over the world can read my weblog. I've some exciting news to tell you! Since a couple of days, I'm the owner of a beautiful old spinning-wheel.

Here it is! What a beauty, isn't it?

I got it from my mom as a birthday present (my birthday is in two weeks), along with three books about natural wool dying. The woman I bought the spinning-wheel from told me her mother used to spin wool from their own sheep on it! Along with the spinning-wheel I got a set of three spools and two of them still got home-spun sheepwool on it. Also a pair of combs is included.
So I'm very happy and very excited to try the combing, spinning, washing and dying of wool! Oh! I almost forgot to tell I also got myself sheep fleece (ja een schapenvacht mensen :))! Well, actually it's another birthday present, from Ivo. Now I only have to figure out how to spin and gather some plants to dye my wool.

Melchior den Roode Ridder

2010-08-05T19:38:00.000+02:00

Helaas, helaas er kan niet meer gestemd worden. Ik zag dat de stand ondertussen gelijk was, maar ik moest vanmiddag om 2 uur beslissen. Melchior is de naam, maar we noemen hem Melle. Deze prachtige heer is ontwormd en ontvlooid en kan er dus weer tegen aan. Hij kan spinnen als de beste en is ontzettend aanhankelijk. Melle ligt graag op schoot en

vindt het ook leuk om met de andere katten te spelen!

Wat een schoonheid hè?

Dinsdag zijn we terug gekomen van vakantie. In het begin van de twee weken was ik ziek, dus ik heb het gevoel dat ik maar een halve vakantie heb gehad. Het was gelukkig wel weer erg leuk en we hebben enorm veel bezoek gehad dit jaar. In Norg en omstreken hebben we ontzettend veel reeën gezien en we hebben natuurlijk veel fietstochtjes gemaakt zoals elk jaar. Jammer dat het er nu al weer opzit, maar we gaan vast nog een keer een dagje naar Norg dit jaar. Volgend jaar staan we sowieso weer op de camping. Voor de mensen die nog niet weten op welke leuke camping wij altijd staan: http://www.boscamping.nl/
Uiteraard hebben we ook een dagje gewinkeld in Assen. Ik was al een tijdje van plan om een nieuwe gitaar te kopen en in de muziekwinkel van Assen zag ik de perfecte staan! Het is een semi-akoestische mèt versterker, draagtas, draagriem etc. van het merk Stagg. Zonder versterker is het geluid niet beter dan mijn andere gitaar, maar met klinkt het heel leuk. Sinds een tijdje lukt het me ook om te zingen en gitaar te spelen tegelijk, dus dat klinkt nu leuk met mijn nieuwe gitaar. De foto van de gitaar houden jullie nog te goed.

De foto's van de brillen krijgen jullie ook pas later te zien, omdat ik mijn bril nog niet heb. Vandaag heb ik het montuur besteld en als dat binnen is worden de glazen besteld. Ik ben heel blij dat er eindelijk een oplossing is gevonden voor mijn hoofdpijnklachten! Nu zal het studeren in de toekomst een stuk gemakkelijker gaan :)!

Katten

2010-08-04T17:39:00.000+02:00

Even een korte update. Ik heb van Ivo een kat gekregen. Die mag uiteraard alleen bij hem blijven en niet naar Delfzijl verhuizen. Maar morgen krijgt de kat een paspoortje en ik weet nog steeds niet welke naam ik hem moet geven! Doe dus de poll, a.u.b. morgen zal ik foto's maken en ze uploaden :)

Familie uitbreiding

2010-07-14T19:40:00.000+02:00

Sinds een aantal dagen hebben we er een nieuw familielid bij. Burberry de kat van de buurman woont nu officieel bij ons! Nu hebben we dus 3 katten en een buurkat die regelmatig op bezoek komt. Ze kan het ontzettend goed met onze eigen katten vinden, daarom was ze hier bijna elke dag. De buurman vond dat er maar eens duidelijkheid moest komen, in verband met het eten. Wij zeiden natuurlijk direct ja, toen hij vroeg of wij haar wilden hebben.

Dit is de mooie dame.

Ondanks de hitt heb ik toch van het warme weer genoten. Samen met Ivo heb ik gekanood bij Ekenstein. Voor mij was dat de eerste keer, dus ik moest nog wel even wennen! Maar het ging heel goed en het was heel goedkoop om daar kano's te huren, dus dat gaan we zeker nog een keer doen. Afgelopen zondag hebben we nog heerlijk gezwommen in een zout water zwembad hier in de buurt. Zo komen wij de zomer wel door.

Ivo in de kano.

En....*tromgeroffel* er is nog meer goed nieuws. Ivo en ik krijgen een bril. We wilden allebei graag een bril en zijn daarvoor naar de opticien gegaan. En wat blijkt, we hebben beide een nodig. De bril van Ivo is al in de maak, maar mijn ogen moeten nog verder gemeten worden. In ieder geval heb ik al een prachtige bril op het oog. Zodra we allebei gebrild door het leven gaan plaats ik een nieuwe blog. Zaterdag ga ik op vakantie, dus de komende twee weken komt er sowieso geen nieuwe blog post.
Fijne vakantie allemaal!

Verkiezingsgekte

2010-06-10T13:04:00.000+02:00

Zoals veel inwoners van Nederland ben ik gaan slapen met het idee dat PvdA en VVD gelijk stonden. Na een vreselijk spannende avond (het was nog spannender dat NL in de WK finale!) werd ik vroeg wakker, want ik wilde natuurlijk weten wie er gewonnen had. Met 1 zetel verschil is dat nu de VVD, maar ik hoop van harte dat PvdA en VVD nog gelijk komen te staan. De definitieve uitslag wordt echter pas dinsdag bekent gemaakt. Ik ben bang dat die hoop nergens op gebaseerd is. De mensen in Nederland zijn gek! Vol afgrijzen las ik net de reacties op het artikel "Welke coalitie wilt u?" van de NOS. De meeste mensen willen een coalitie van VVD+PVV+CDA. Met als verschillende redenen, voor een zo sociaal mogelijke coalitie... Beste coalitie voor een progressief nederland!... Een zege voor Nederland!
Weten mensen niet meer wat links en rechts is? Hoe kun je deze coalitie sociaal noemen? Wilders heeft zijn enige sociale punt al laten vallen. Zijn breekpunt zoals hij dat gisteravond nog noemde, de AOW blijft 65, wil hij zo laten vallen om te kunnen regeren! Deze coalitie is niet goed voor Nederland, zoals zo vele roepen! Niemand kan dan meer een huis huren en waar moet het heen met de zorg?
Ik ben zeer benieuwd hoe dit gaat aflopen. Raar dat iedereen nu roept dat men niet om de PVV heen kan. Toen de SP 25 zetels haalde kon men dat toch ook?

Om deze post niet te somber te maken even een vrolijk liedje, met een goeie tip, smile!

Lente...?

2010-05-05T18:04:00.000+02:00

Als je zoals vandaag naar buiten keek zou je zweren dat het een prachtige, warme lente dag was. Maar schijn bedriegt. De wind wil maar niet gaan liggen en daardoor is het, hier langs de kust althans stervenskoud. In mei, verdorie, dan moet je zonder jas buiten kunnen lopen en ik liep nog in mijn winterjas vandaag! Maar de regen is wel weer goed voor de plantjes. Een aantal maanden geleden ben ik begonnen met mijn vensterbanktuin. De paprikaplantjes, vlinderbloemen en zonnebloemen staan inmiddels buiten en zijn al flink gegroeid. De tomatenplantjes staan nog binnen, maar beginnen nu ook goed op te komen. Mijn nieuwste aanwinst is een gele tomatenplant en een olijfstruikje uit de winkel. Hopelijk komen er olijven aan in ons koude kikkerlandje! Het schijnt dat we een warme zomer krijgen. dat is ook de reden waarom je in de kledingwinkels minder zomerjassen kunt kopen dan vorig jaar, volgens twee meisjes op straat....euh...natuurlijk.

Mijn verzameling potten met bloemen, paprikaplanten, tomaat, zonnebloemen, aardbeien en nog wat kruiden.

Hopelijk wordt het snel mooier weer, want dan kan ik heerlijk in mijn schommelstoel zitten. Na verzoek hier nog een foto, want die was ik bij mijn vorige post vergeten te plaatsen.

Wat is 'ie mooi hè?

Zoals bijna wel iedereen, kwam ik met Koninginnedag ook weer thuis met een koopje. Deze keer niet van de markt, maar uit een winkel die er mee ging stoppen. Ivonne en ik liepen langs die winkel en zagen in de etalage 2 paar rolschaatsen staan. Ja, van die échte ouderwetse, waar je als kind op rolschaatste. Het leek ons allebei fantastisch om dat nog eens te proberen en deze rolschaatsen waren er ook nog eens in prachtige jaren '80 uitvoering, met schreeuwerige kleuren en fluorescerende wieltjes! Wat wil je nog meer. Nou...ze waren ook maar 5 euro. En ze pasten ons allebei prima. Dus nu zijn we beiden in het bezit van een paar authentieke rolschaatsen. Die zo lelijk zijn dat ze weer mooi worden!
Tadaaaaa:

Goed nieuws update

2010-04-24T19:19:00.000+02:00

Een post met alleen maar goed nieuws! :)
Laat ik maar beginnen met het aller belangrijkste. Opa is weer thuis! Na 5,5 weken in het ziekenhuis, mocht hij afgelopen donderdag weer naar huis. Nu komt thuiszorg elke ochtend langs om zijn wond te verzorgen. Verder gaat het prima. Vandaag heb ik een boterkoek voor hem gebakken, met een chocoladetekst 'Welkom thuis' erop, omdat hij dat zo lekker vindt.

Eigenlijk is de rest vergeleken met dit nieuws niet zo belangrijk, maar ik ben er heel blij mee. Mijn twee wensen zijn uitgekomen :P Ik heb een pastamachine en een schommelstoel gekocht! Vandaag heb ik verse tagliatelle gemaakt en een kaas-ui focaccia en ik heb zitten schommelen in mijn schommel stoel, heerlijk!

Hmm, dat ziet er goed uit!

The machine :P!

Nachtegaaltjes deel II: Thomas Dybdahl

2010-03-11T13:27:00.000+01:00

Het is al meer dan twee maanden geleden sinds mijn laatste post, dus tijd voor een nieuw bericht. Hier volgt het tweede deel van de serie Nachtegaaltjes. Met deze keer Thomas Dybdahl.
Thomas is een Noorse singer-songwriter van 30 jaar en woont momenteel in Stavanger. De muziek die hij maakt is niet echt te vergelijken met iets anders. Zijn liedjes zijn rustig, maar erg krachtig en tegelijkertijd ook heel romantisch. Zijn stem zou je wel met die van Jeff Buckley of Nick Drake kunnen vergelijken. Hij is op dit moment hard aan het werk met zijn nieuwe album. Hier kun je alvast wat nieuwe nummers beluisteren: Waiting for that one clear moment
Naast zijn solowerk speelt Dybdahl in een band. The National Bank, zoals de band heet, is een samenwerking tussen verschillende Noorse muzikanten. Leden van Jaga Jazzist, Susanna & The Magical Orchestra, In The Country en BigBang bepalen de muziek en Dybdahl neemt de zang voor zijn rekening. De band werd al vaal als supergroep bestempeld en heeft dit met het tweede album opnieuw waar gemaakt.
Daarnaast heeft hij ook nog de muziek voor de Noorse film 'Rottenetter' geschreven en opgenomen.
Al met al een veelzijdig man. Het leuke is dat hij er heel normaal onder blijft. In interviews kan hij soms zelfs een beetje verlegen overkomen. Tijdens optredens staat hij vaak met zijn ogen dicht te zingen, maar toch wordt dat nooit als afstandelijk gezien. Iedereen die Dybdahl een keer heeft zien optreden is gelijk verkocht denk ik. De man plus zijn muziek is iets wat je niet snel vergeet.
Zijn liedjes bezorgen je kippenvel, maken je blij, melancholisch, dromerig en je kunt er heerlijk bij in slaap vallen. Een van de mooiste nummers (en een geweldig slaapliedje) vind ik [Outro] van het album Science. Als ik dit nummer met mijn koptelefoon op in bed luister zie ik altijd het Noorderlicht voor me. Dus doe je ogen dicht en luister:

Breien

2010-02-02T22:17:00.000+01:00

Breien? Dat is toch voor oude vrouwtjes, met een knotje in hun haar en een kat op schoot? Die maken toch van die suffe sokken die ze dan met Kerst weggeven aan vrienden en familie? Ohja en dan heb je nog die oude hippies...die blijven natuurlijk altijd vrolijk doorbreien.

Dit is toch vaak nog het beeld dat de meeste mensen bij breien (en haken) hebben. Wie regelmatig het net afspeurt weet wel beter. Het oubollige imago dat rondom breien hangt is allang verdwenen. Mensen over de hele wereld maken de mooiste creaties. Van leuke kleine knuffeltjes die je als cadeautjes weg kunt geven, tot de hipste truien. Alles kan je zelf maken, als je het maar wilt. Sinds kort ben ook ik ingewijd in de wereld van het haken en breien. Natuurlijk had ik vroeger wel eens een poging gedaan om eem sjaaltje voor mijn knuffelbeer te breien. Dat leverde een langwerpig geel lapje op met allemaal gaten er in. Ondertussen heb ik al een paar dingen gemaakt. Die kun je zien op mijn Ravelry account: http://www.ravelry.com/people/Baloeba

Dat breien steeds meer het oma-imago begint te verliesen bewijst dit stukje maar weer:

25 januari stond deze column van Jan Wierenga in het Dagblad van het Noorden:

Breien schijnt weer in de mode te zijn. Allerwegen wordt met nieuw elan naar de pennen gegrepen. Zien wij hier het begin van een belangrijjke maatschappelijke ontwikkeling? Helemaal zeker weet ik dat niet, maar wel, dat afgelopen kerst in mijn eigen familie ineens vier generaties vrouwen tussen ruwweg 8 en 80, zaten te breien dat het een aard had. Weliswaar met de aller dikste pennen die er te koop zijn en ook met zeer dikke wol en zonder ingewikkelde patronen, zodat het werk lekker opschoot, maar toch: daar zaten ze, de vrouwen van onze familie, elkaar technieken te leren als één recht, één averecht. Vroeger namen de vrouwen een breiwerkje mee, als ze op visite gingen. Hun handen, het werken nimmer moe, hielden slechts pauze als er een kopje koffie genuttigd moest worden, of een glaasje cocktailvruchten uit blik. Ondertussen rookten de manlui dikke bolknakken van Hofnar, Willem II of Ritmeester, en dronken zij heldere borrels met suiker. Zou dit vredige tafereel binnenkort weer overal ingeburgerd raken, afgezien wellicht van de bolknakken, en soms eens onderbroken door een mobiel telefoontje dat afgaat? met op de achtergrond een zacht muziekje uit de iPod? Ik hoop het wel. Want overal waar een werkje op de pennen staat, heerst louter vrede. Daar krijgen we een betere wereld van.

Nachtegaaltjes deel I: Nick Drake

2010-01-27T15:05:00.000+01:00

Dit is de eerste "Nachtegaaltjes" die ik hier plaats. Deel I gaat over niemand minder dan Nick Drake. Ik moet eerlijk zeggen dat ik hem pas afgelopen jaar echt ontdekt heb. Ik las op het internet dat Eddie Vedder samen met Heath Ledger, Dave Grohl, Jack Johnson en Norah Jones een eerbetoon aan Nick Drake zouden gaan maken, in de vorm van een cd en documentaire. Heath Ledger heeft in de maanden voor zijn dood een videoclip gemaakt voor het nummer "Black-Eyed Dog." Pearl Jam fan als ik ben ging ik natuurlijk gelijk op zoek naar liedjes van Nick Drake, om te bedenken hoe dat met Eddie's stem zou klinken. Toen ik het eerste liedje hoorde dacht ik al niet eens meer aan Eddie's stem, want wat ik hoorde was op zichzelf al prachtig. Nick Drake maakt, melancholische, ietwat trieste en simpel klinkende liedjes. Zijn stem is warm en zacht, maar klinkt op veel momenten erg breekbaar. Toen ik in juni op veldwerk ging in Italië was Nick Drake bij mij al weer een klein beetje in de vergetelheid geraakt. Tot dat ik van iemand twee CD's op mijn mp3-speler kreeg! Bryter Later en Pink Moon waren dat. Ik heb bijna niets anders meer geluisterd tijdens die warme dagen in Italië. Toen ik weer met beide benen op Nederlandse bodem stond ben ik bijna direct naar de platenwinkel gegaan om Pink Moon op te halen (Bryter Later hadden ze niet.)
Tijdens zijn leven voelde Nick Drake zich vaak onderschat en had het idee dat hij zijn publiek niet kon bereiken zoals hij dat wilde. Pas na zijn dood werd zijn muziek echt opgemerkt. Veel artiesten (R.E.M, Kate Bush, Paul Weller) noemen hem als een van hun inspiratiebronnen. Afgelopen weekend werd er 'The Barbican Centre' in Londen zelfs een Nick Drake tributeconcert gehouden. Artiesten als Vashti Bunyan en Danny Thompson speelden hier zijn liedjes in moderne uitvoeringen.
Ik ben blij dat er nog zoveel aandacht aan hem wordt besteed, helaas kan hij er zelf niks meer van meemaken. Maar misschien was hij wel nooit zo beroemd geworden als hij nu nog leefde, dan hield hij zich nog steeds verborgen en trad hij bijna nooit op...Maar daar kunnen we natuurlijk alleen maar naar raden.

Klik hier voor het nummer Northern Sky

In de volgende Nachtegaaltjes,...Thomas Dybdahl

Even voorstellen...

2010-01-20T20:56:00.000+01:00

In en rond ons huis lopen veel katten rond. Twee wonen hier echt, maar ja die twee hebben ook veel vriendjes en vriendinnetjes die vaak komen spelen. Die twee zijn Tau(tje) en Lux(je). Eigenlijk zijn het de katten van mam haar vriend, maar ze wonen hier nu al bijna twee jaar dus ze zijn ook hartstikke van ons. Voor Tautje en Luxje hier kwamen wonen hadden wij Lotje, maar zij is helaas in 2006 overleden (ze was al 18 jaar!). En ook toen kwamen hier al veel andere poesjes binnen wandelen. Kortom het is hier altijd een gezellige boel, vooral in de zomer als ze allemaal samen buiten zijn!

Even voorstellen dus:

Poesje Lux

Tautje

Lotje (Love-a-Lot)

En de buren:

Bailey (links) en Burberry (rechts)

Squizzy

Shanti met haar kroost (zij woont hier helaas niet meer)

Sneeuw!

2010-01-20T17:05:00.001+01:00

Helaas is alles buiten nu een vieze, natte, grauwe prut aan het worden. Maar we hebben deze winter al twee prachtige sneeuwweken gehad! Van 2 t/m 9 januari zat ik met mam in een huisje in Norg. Dat was precies in de mooiste sneeuwweek, meer geluk hadden we niet kunnen hebben. Het was alsof we op wintersport in eigen land waren. De bossen deden vaak denken aan plaatjes van Rien Poortvliet, met prachtig strijklicht dat de sneeuw in verschillende kleuren deed doen oplichten. Als er dan nog wat reeën door het beeld sprongen was het sprookje helemaal af. Ik had waarschijnlijk niet raar opgekeken als we tijdens een van de vele wandelingen David de Kabouter waren tegen gekomen.

De een na laatste dag van onze vakantie was wel de mooiste! 's Ochtends was het erg mistig, waardoor alles er mysterieus uit zag. De mist had ervoor gezorgd dat zelfs de kleinste takjes wit waren, dus ik heb mijn fototoestel niet meer losgelaten die dag. Na al die winters zonder sneeuw (nouja, soms een mini beetje) is dit wel een enorme verwenning voor een sneeuwfanaat als ik. Ik hoop dat we nog hopen en hopen sneeuw krijgen! Eerst mag het wel even flink vriezen, want ik wil ook wel eens op natuurijs schaatsen. Dat de sneeuw lastig kan zijn is waar, maar daar kan ik me eerlijk gezegd niet druk over maken. Ik zit stiekem te gniffelen als ik alle mensen zo boos zie reageren of uren in de file zie staan. I kan er niks aan doen, maar ik vind het heerlijk als alles ontregeld is. Dan kun je wel zeggen, wacht maar tot jezelf een paar uur vetraging hebt met de trein. Maar zelfs dat maakt mij niet veel uit, als er sneeuw ligt ben ik altijd vrolijk! Kijk nou toch wacht schitterend...

Daar gaat 'ie dan

2010-01-19T18:12:00.000+01:00

Het is al zo lang geleden dat ik een blog heb aangemaakt (bij punt.nl) dat ik het nu wel eens tijd vond worden om er iets mee te doen. Bij punt.nl kon ik het uiterlijk van mijn blog niet naar mijn zin veranderen dus nu heb ik deze aangemaakt :)! Ik zal proberen regelmatig blogs te uploaden en heel veel foto's te plaatsen. Ohja nog een dingetje over de naam...dat is een liedje van Nick Drake, een van de beste singer/songwriters, die helaas veel te jong is overleden. Maar het staat ook voor het noorder licht, waarschijnlijk een van de mooiste dingen op aarde. Al kan ik dat niet met zekerheid zeggen omdat ik het nog nooit zelf heb gezien. Ooit, als ik genoeg geld heb verzameld, ga ik naar Noorwegen en zal ik hopelijk het noorder licht zien. Noorwegen heeft altijd al enorm tot mijn verbeelding gesproken. Ik kan me nog goed herinneren dat ik voor de televsie zat en helemaal onder de indruk was van de fjorden. Ook las en keek ik graag David de Kabouter, waar regelmatig werd verwezen naar Scandinavië. Misschien dat mijn link met Noorwegen wel door is gegeven via mijn voorouders, mijn overgrootvader was Noors (of half Noors?) en heette Aadahl. Waar hij precies vandaan kwam en of hij daar geboren is weet ik niet. Zeker is wel dat mijn voorouders (van een kant) uit Noorwegen kwamen :)!