Our backyard

Because we live so near we can call it our backyard.
The dunes between Haarlem and Bloemendaal aan Zee are so beautiful, we spend many hours there...
Today we walked for 3 hours, the sun warmed us on our way...here some nice pictures...

Esta

Today I did my 4th fotoshoot.
It was for dutch Magazine Esta after an interview on the phone yesterday about our little wild garden.
The first 3 shoots I did with my dear friend Hoo Gan Tan, see previous blogs.
I was very shy in the beginning but Hoo Gan knew how to calm and open me.
I still love every picture he has taken of me.

So today was something new again, working with an all ladies crew, getting my hair and make-up done by proffesionals. A stylist dressed me up in jeans,heels and a lovely top. My hair was very curly and the make-up beautiful !

And then the real thing, striking a pose as the photographer wants you to, a bit to the left, chin up, chin down, hand like this....
Hair, make-up and clothes took more time than shooting the pictures, they were pleased I had some experience in posing...

It was great to do and I secretly hope I can do it more often...maybe my dear friend Hoo Gan can help me get more shoots or today ladies will ask me again.

In Esta magazine nr 8 you can see the result !

My thanks go to :
Petra Vollinga www.hetwoordpaleis.nl for the interview
Paula Schouten of Colorenco: Production and styling
Saskia van Osnabrugge: Photographer www.saskiavanosnabrugge.nl
Astrid Timmer: Hair and Make-up www.astridtimmer.nl

and offcourse: Hoo Gan Tan www.hoogantan.nl mijn leermeester

Sweet

Sometimes songs can remind you of certain moments....sometimes songs give you a certain feeling...

I have allways loved the song "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, don't ask me why, I don't have memories that contain this song, just gives me a romantic feeling...

A few years back there was a movie with Reese Witherspoon and handsome Josh Lucas about a girl who has to go back to Alabama to devorce her childhood love but they fall in love again. At the villagefestival the band Jewel plays "Sweet Home Alabama" ...my romantic heart allmost jumped out of my body....yes I know...sentimental...pppff
I would have loved being at that villagefestival...dancing...

After seeing this film again together with my Dad and Irene I had a memory to go with it, my Dad saying Earl&Pearl Smooter (parents in de film) over and over again made me laugh so hard and long...I'm smiling now....

Back to today, the reason I have seen Southern Train perform 3 times in only 5 weeks is not only because the guys are very good and lovable but they play "Sweet Home Alabama" !!!

Okay, it's not at a villagefestival but the feeling is there, my heart jumps everytime they play.
So rock on Southern Train, your no.1 fan will come aboard your train when she can !
www.southerntrain.nl

Cobra

Because I have Museum Year Card I can visit over 400 museums in Holland for free.

Here in Haarlem I've been to a few old ones, Frans Hals and Teylers are my favourites. The Hermitage in Amsterdam is nice and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden is a good place if you love history!
I love the silence, the smell of the past, the beautiful old frames around the -not allways beautiful- paintings. It's like time stands still when I'm walking around. No distractions from outside because I allways put my coat and bag in a safety deposit. No phone. Just me and my eyes, my thoughts.....it makes me calm...I can spend hours being there with myself and art.

It's like a gift to myself...

So today I went to Amstelveen, a 40 min busride from home. My destination was the Cobra Museum of modern art. The first time to a modern museum. But I was very dissapointed, the building looks cold from the outside en feels cold on the inside. A lot of glass and whiteness surrounds you...a big hallway downstairs and a room upstairs with roomdividers....It's like a maze.....
The art on display didn't touch me at all, paintings by Klee, Appel,Corneille....big names I know but the paintings are all to abstract, surreal....

So after a cappucino in the museumcafe - again all glass and white - I left with an empty feeling...

But that's not a bad thing, I have also learnt what I do like.
I like old buildings, historic tales, realistic paintings and I know now that my favourite painters are Breitner and Israel. Breitners painting : girl in kimono is one of the special paintings because the girl looks like my girl.
And I can see them every day if I want to, just 10 min on my bike for some calm moments...

My favourite Picture Ever !!

With my beautiful Mother in the garden of Nana Betty in England, I was about 7....

Just Love It ! Love U Mama !

Some Old Pictures