Color Therapy

A Dutch photographer called Else Kramer gives online photography courses.  I stumbled upon her website a while ago and she keeps her followers up to date with regular emails and social media posts.  This November she initiated a 10 day color therapy 'course'.  Every day the 'theme' was a different color take pictures of and if you so wished you could share them on a FB page.  

I loved doing this! The results of my ten days can be found below (actually 11 as there was a purple bonus day in December)

Color Run

Monarch Butterflies

A few years ago I posted about a movie we saw about Monarch butterflies at the science museum (here). 

The whole life cycle of these amazing animals in very special and this year we finally got around to buying milkweed.  Milkweed is the only plant the Monarch will lay their eggs on and the only plant the caterpillars will eat to grow big.  

It has been an amazing process to watch!  All the way from the eggs to the tiny caterpillars and then seeing them get big by totally ravaging the milkweed.  Some we helped a bit by protecting them in our butterfly tent and feeding them until they went into their cocoon.   The cocoon itself it beautiful too, green with a little gold rim.  One evening while having dinner we saw one of the caterpillars transform itself into the cocoon. It all happens in a few minutes.  We have also seen the butterflies comes out of the cocoon.  This is slightly slower and they need some hours to dry after they emerge.

So special to witness this!

Sandcastle in Galveston

After learning how to build a sandcastle during Memorial Day weekend in South Padre Island we decided to put our newly acquired skills into practice again.  We spent Labor Day weekend in Galveston on the beach and you can see the result of our labor below.

At the end of the day we took a well deserved rest (and beer) and watched as the sea retook the castle.

Summer Want to Do List 2016

Some of the things we had planned for the summer.  Accomplished quite a lot of them!

Dagje Den Haag

After reading the book 'The Girl with the Pearl Earring' I have wanted to see the girl in 'real life'.

The book is fiction but based on historical facts and tells the story of how Vermeer painted this world famous painting.  Having lived in Delft it was all so real to me.  She did not disappoint.  Even though it is very small it is so beautiful!

We also visited Panorama Mesdag.  It is a painting that gives you a 360 degree vista of the sea, the dunes and the fishing village of Scheveningen as it was in 1881. This cylindrical painting, more than 14 meters high and 120 meters in circumference, was painted by one of the most important painters of the The Hague School, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, with help from his friends. Really quite amazing!

A trip to Den Haag would not be complete without a visit to Dungelmann for a 'broodje kroket' and a 'broodje bal'.  So good!!!!!

GlenDronach Distillery

During our trip to Scotland last summer Amanda and Richard took us to a distillery near their home.   We have visited many distilleries while living in Scotland but even though we knew the process it was so nice to see all it once again.  And of course to taste it all again! 

Sláinte!

Weekend Ameland

We are not in Holland to celebrate Gerda's 75th birthday but to make up for it we took her and Elsbeth to Ameland (one of the islands in the North of Holland) for a weekend.

We left the cars on the mainland and took the ferry to Ameland where we picked up our rental bikes.  We stayed in Hotel Nobel where we had a wonderful birthday dinner.

The rest of the time we spent biking around the island, building a sandcastle on the beach, having nice lunches and dinners and enjoying each others company.

Wildlands Zoo Emmen

The zoo in Emmen (where we have been before) has undergone a complete overhaul so this year we had to go and visit with Poezeoma.  It is decided into three areas; the jungle, the savannah and the polar region.  Floortje, of course, loved the giraffes and Famke likes all the animals.  Lots of walking but a good day!

Evening in Utrecht

A fun evening in Utrecht with the Family Geuze-Land.

First a highly competitive bowling match followed by a wonderful dinner in an Italian restaurant on the 'gracht'.  Of course all of this combined with nice food and drinks!

Like good Dutchies we did this on our bikes and even parked in a parking garage just made for bikes  a new experience for the Dutchies living abroad!

Famke 14

Hiep hiep hoera lieve Fam! Great day for our 14 year old!

Presents, phone calls, cards, cookie cake, Bernie's Burger Bus and, oh yes, a science exam :)

 

 

Seeds in a jar

Often when we visit the orthodontist they have a competition going on.  This time you had the guess the number of seeds in the jar.

Weeks later, when we had completely forgotten about this we got a phone call and Floortje had guessed the exact amount of seeds in the jar: 1237! 

One happy girl when picking up that $50 gift card!

Mother's Day

Couldn't have wished for a sweeter note for Mother's Day!

Pulled Pork on the BGE

Meisjes Rademaker Calendar