Spring is here

As always, I can hardly believe almost five months have gone by since my last post.  Winter has gone and already some of the bulbs we planted in autumn have come up and some even have produced flowers.  Two weeks ago, I showed our 4,5 year old granddaughter round the garden to admire the many purple crocuses and some white ones that she  helped plant.  And as ever, she was very enthusiastic and excited.  Since then, more daffodils and some tulips have come up.  I’m very excited about the tulips myself, as I don’t really remember which colours they are. 

The garden is still looking good, although I will have to remove a bit of weed as soon as it is a bit warmer during the day on a weekend.  I mowed the lawn for the first time this year after work last week and washed my car the following day (also for the first time this year I’m a bit ashamed to admit).  It is the Easter holiday and it is sunny and getting warmer, although we had some very cold nights with some frost even.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t so nice last Saturday (it rained !) and on Sunday we went to one of our grandson’s birthday party, very nice to see all of them, but that meant there was no time left for gardening.

We have had a rather mild winter.  We had a couple of nights and days with some frost, but no snow.  A lot of rain though, but we are used to that.  Of course we live under the influence of the sea that makes our climate, in winter but also during the summer, milder than inland, and we are hardly ever without at least a slight breeze making the warmer summer days more agreeable. Some weekends in March were sunny but quite windy.  A couple of weeks ago, I took a Friday off to do some thorough cleaning.  I guess I suffered from a bout of spring cleaning fever.  I used to laugh at my mom when she did what we call 'big cleaning' (grote kuis in Flemish literally translated).  I scrubbed the kitchen floor......on my knees no less.  My husband said it reminded him of episodes of 'Upstairs, downstairs' where the maids would scrub and polish floors on hands and knees. 

With the weekend gone, the weather is improving again.  Just my luck ! I have to work of course. I’ll have to take care of the weeding after work tomorrow I guess.  I didn’t feel up to it today as I’m not feeling very fit.  I didn’t get much sleep last night, but I’m sure I’ll make up for the lost hours tonight.  Our holiday is coming nearer.  We’re going to Jamaica with our friends from Antwerp.  I’m hoping to get a little bit of a tan before we go (and lose some weight again).  Still have some time left for that, but the older I get, the more difficult it is (the weight that is).  I should exercise a bit more.  I still go to the pool every week with the granddaughter, but as I said before, I can’t really swim with her.  We just play around in the kids pool.  She can’t swim yet but she’s like a little mermaid.  She’s not afraid to have her head under water. 

Less happy things have also been part of my life the last few months.  I visited a former colleague, friend really,  that is seriously ill.  She seemed to enjoy the visits, so I'll certainely go see her again.  I also found out that two others have serious health problems.  Kind of confronts you with your own mortality.   All the more reason to do the things you enjoy most.  Easier said than done I know, but I'll sure give it a try.

So you can see why I don’t spend much time writing and there still is so much to do around the house.  Hope summer will be good (for you too).  Keep our fingers crossed.  

All's well that ends well.

The year is drawing to a close.  I have another birthday coming up soon.  Not much has changed in my life in the past year really.  I'm busy as always with  the usual stuff : work, theatre, italian, children and grandchildren.  We had 3 lovely days in London with Niels, our youngest son, and Fauve, Niels' girlfriend 2 weeks ago. The weather was mild and agreable for the time of year. It was even sunny when we arrived so we went to Potobello Road Market as planned.  It was very nice to stroll down the streets past all the colourful stalls and we enjoyed the tappas we had for lunch outside in a little square nearby.  We went to the British Museum and Tate Modern, crossed the Millenium Bridge, saw Saint-Paul's Cathedral and Admiral Nelson on his column and the fountains in Trafalgar Square.  We went to see a Musical, The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre, and were overwhelmed by the costumes and the performance and impressed by the stage, colourful sets and stunning effects.  The building is a piece of art on its own dating from 1834 with a balcony overhanging the circle, rebuilt and richly ornamented in rococo style in 1904.  We also did a spot of shopping and as it got darker were able to admire the Christmas decorations in the shopping Streets.  I was surprised to see how different Carnaby is from 30 years ago.  We all had a great time and lots of fun.  So much so that we decided we may go on holiday together to Tuscany next year. I have started taking the eldest granddaughter to the swimming pool every week.  She likes it a lot and  I must admit: so do I.  I don't get to swim much though, so after the performance of my theatre group in January, I will take up swimming again, at least once a week, to get some dire needed exercise.  I am proud to say I did accomplish a couple of important things this year.   I don't want to go into too much detail, as it not only concerns myself, but I managed to take care of something that needed to be gotten out of the way with and I did it on my own, saving a lot of money.  Time and effort well spent.   And now things can move on.  The 'guest rooms' still need redecorating but one of the rooms is almost empty and I hope to start on that one in January.  The other room is uncluttered and clean and has already welcomed one guest, hopefully not the last.  With Christmas and New Year coming up, I am already busy planning for the dinners and thinking about which presents to buy, especially for our grandchildren.  And so: all's well that ends well and I hope you all enjoy your family and other gatherings the coming weeks and  I wish you all a healthy, prosperous and wonderful 2015.

Mermaid reverie

I wish the sea would swallow me

Body and soul entirely

free and unchained eternally

One with my final destiny

No pain or sorrow burden me

No love or friendship tie me down

My salty tears

The sea has drowned

 

Meanwhile

I know, I haven't even been on here for 5 months ! Meanwhile we were in Aruba in May and had a wonderful time.  I did manage eventually to lose some weight before we went there, unfortunately I put some kilos back on during our holiday.  It wasn't too bad though and not as if I hadn't expected it with all the good food and drinks I enjoyed having, but since then I put on some more.  I am still 1 kilo under the weight I was before the diet.  Small consolation I know.  IWe're going to London in 4 weeks time and I am would like to do some serious shopping there, so as you may have guessed : I am on a diet, again ! We're going with our youngest son and his girl friend so the shopping will be nice.  I haven't been in London for more than 10 years and I'm really looking forward to it.  Our son's girlfriend has never been to London and it will be nice to show her round.  We're going on the eurostar and have 3 full days.  I am taking care of the planning.  We want to see Tate Modern and the British Museum and go see a musical one evening.  It will be the beginning of December so all the Christmas decorations will be up.  I was there so many times when I used to work for the ferry company although I never had a lot of spare time to walk around or do some shopping. Feels like a previous life now. The summer has been very nice. The weather agreable most of the summer and September and October were better than average. Sunny and warm.  Today was a wonderfully warm and sunny 1st November .

Meanwhile, during the past months, we finally got some work done in the garden.  All the hedges, the rose bushes and the apple and pear tree nicely pruned. Some repair work was done on our garden shed.  I planted a lot of flower bulbs together with our granddaughter.  She will be so thrilled to see all those lovely flowers coming out next year in spring.  I still plan to redecorate the 2 rooms upstairs during the winter.  Since the beginning of September the rehearsals with my amateur theatre group have started for the play in January and the Italian lessons also, keeping me busy 3 evenings a week.  I should however start swimming again. I don't move nearly enough.  But with the theatre and the Italian and my Saturdays busy with the grandchildren, it is kind of difficult to find the spare time.  November will be a busy month : 2 of our grandchildren have their birthdays, we're going to take part in a school quiz and there is a grandparent afternoon at one of our grandchlidren's school.  Apart from that I still hold a full time job and I'm not quite ready to retire just yet, and if our government gets their way, I still have 7 years to go. That doesn't really bother me except I'ld like to have some more time to travel.  December will come and go at the speed of light with the trip to London and the holiday festivities and my own birthday, so I guess it may be some time before I will be writing here again. 

How time flies when you're having fun !

Lots of fun with the grandchildren and doing all kinds of stuff.  I am again amazed at how long it has been since I last wrote anything about my daily life.   My weekly routine still includes going to work every day and taking care of some of our lovely but very lively and energetic grandchildren during the weekend.  The weather is getting better so we sometimes go to the playground where they can run around.  One of them is incredibly fearless for a 4y old; she climbs and jumps and runs like a real tomboy. I have also thaught them to blow away the seeds of dandelions and the 4 year old can't walk past one without picking it and doing just that. The sheep are back so we go see them, but the youngest granddaughter is afraid of them.  The last time we went, there were no lambs yet but today I noticed a couple while I was busy in the garden. It is a sign that the new season is well on the way. Driving to work I enjoy seeing the horses and cows quietly grazing. One of these days I must remember to take my camera to take photographs of the beautiful foal I've seen. It's an early spring and temperatures are agreable.  Today is Labor Day so I was off work and I did some gardening.  Mowing the lawn and trimming hedges.  No grandchildren here today so I got a lot done. That's the fun I had today. Just as I finished the last hedge it started to rain. Weather permitting,  I intend to pot some plants this Saturday and the grandchildren can help me.  I'm sure they'll love it.  The weather forecast is for a rather chilly but dry sunny day, so I guess it will work out fine.  Meanwhile our holiday is getting closer.  I would like to look a bit slimmer on the beach so I have been on a 'alternate day' diet for almost 6 weeks now.  I have managed to lose almost 4 kg. It is very hard to get rid of the extra weight.  Much harder than it used to be when I was younger, but I am very determined so I am sticking to it and with a couple of weeks to go, I hope I will fit in some of my old outfits again. I'm in no doubt I will have to get rid of some re-gained kilo's after the holiday, but that won't keep me from enjoying the lovely food and drinks in Aruba.  We also bought an e-reader to replace the heavy books in our luggage, actually we bought 2 of them. Last year we had to rearrange our cases at the automatic baggage check-in at Schiphol, the Amsterdam airport, to divide the weight over both suitcases evenly.  To avoid the same predicament this year, me and my husband will both take our e-reader replacing the 10 odd books we usually take on a 2 week holiday.  That will also result in lighter suitcases, an added benefit.  E-readers are not that popular here yet.  A lot of people have asked me if it was a small computer.  At the hairdresser's one girl had never heard of an e-reader before.  At the library they only just started up a project with e-books.   I must admit it is very handy, but I do think I will still by books.  For now anyway.  Well that's it for now.  I guess the next time I'll be writing about the holiday although there won't be a lot to tell.  All we do is relax, swim read, eat and drink; oh and sleep obviously and maybe meet some nice people. Looking forward to all of that for sure.

A year to remember

Another year has gone by and a lot has happened.  My parent's house was finally sold and we managed to clear it out on time for the new owners to move in.  Since my last writings my children and grandchildren have prevented me from getting bored.  I have been decorating at our youngest son's new home.  Stripping wall paper, removing old paint, painting the ceiling and doors, putting up new wall paper ....that were the main activities on my Sunday programme for about 6 weekends in a row. The whole house had to be redecorated except for the bathroom.  That kept me from mischief.  The Saturdays were spent looking after 2 or 3 grandchildren that are in motion all the time except when they are asleep and I would have loved to take a nap too but I couldn't. You can imagine that, between the redecorating and the grandchildren I am a very fit granny now, I even developed some arm muscles. Not that I mind.  Meanwhile, I have made a start clearing out the two rooms in our house we want to redecorate.  One of the rooms is even a presentable guestroom now.  The fact that my brother considered staying the night on New Year's eve meant that I had to get the room ready, clear out all the clutter and have it thoroughly cleaned.  A bit of time pressure is always welcome in my case and extra motivating  Still a lot needs to be done before I can say the rooms are ready, but I seem to have more energy and hopefully I will feel like this for some time to come.  It was fortunate that I was energetic these past few weeks.  We had a small party on my birthday with the family and a couple of our youngest son's friends as he and his girlfriend were going on holiday the next day and so they could not be with us on Christmas eve. With all 6 of our grandchildren here and 11 adults it did get a bit crowded and it was a very full house indeed.  On Christmas Eve, the family again came tot our house for dinner.  And on New Year's eve, my brother and  sister and her 3 children had dinner at our house.  My weekday evenings are still partly spent with the amateur theatre group, rehearsing 2 nights a week.  The performances are on 24 and 25 January and the week of the performance we rehearse every evening.  And 1 night a week I am still learning Italian.  So in case you have been wondering why I hadn't written on my little blog for a while, you now know what I've been up to.  We also almost booked a holiday tot Uganda, with friends that I have known since school.  The trip included going tot watch  gorillas.  But we decided not to go, for various reasons, so we have no holidayplans as yet.  There will be though and I would love to take a trip to London again, or Paris and maybe some friends can come over and stay with us now that we have a guest room.  Things to look forward to in this New Year.  I do hope you all have good times coming your way in 2014 and wish all of you a healthy and happy year.

No rest for the wicked

Why am I writing this on a Sunday evening you might wonder.  I have been rather busy these last weekends and during the week I am working.  It has been the most wonderful summer.  Sunny and warm.  Almost every evening, I could still sit in the garden when I got home from work.  Some weekends, we took care of some of our grandchildren, while their parents were working in their future home.  We had a plastic inflatable pool in the garden and they loved that.  Those of you who read my previous scriblings know that houses play a big role in my life at the moment.  My parental home is now officially another family's property and concern. The deed was signed last Thursday.  We spent some Saturdays clearing out the house.  It took 3 of us 2 full days to clear out the garage alone (that has a cellar).  Not as bad as the attic but almost.  Saying goodbye to the house was not that emotional for me.  My childhood home is actually the house we lived in with my grandmother and was actually her house, untill we moved to the house my parents had build when I was ten.  My childhood to me, are the years we lived in the small dead end street.  There were less cars back then but because it was a cul-de-sac, almost none came into our street.  Many children of about my age were living there so we played outside on the street most of the time.  It was even safe enough for roller skating; The old ladies would sit outside on chairs on the pavement in front of their houses when the weather was good.  They would be watching us, chatting and knitting.  We would sometimes go visit them and play card games.  I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and I have fond memories of her.  She was in her late sixties when I was born, so I had an old grandmother.  I guess I spent so much time with her because I am the eldest and it was normal for me to be with her when my younger brother was born and later my sister. But I remember I really liked being with her. She sometimes cooked for the 2 of us and I would have dinner with her and not with the rest of the family.  My grandmother died when I was 12 at the age of 80.  I remember the funeral and clearly remember it made me sad to realise I would never see her again.  I can only hope to be in my grandchildren's hearts as she still is in mine. I do have good memories of te house we just sold, but somehow I don't consider those childhood memories.  The next step now is our youngest son moving house tomorow.  I have taken off some time from work to help out a bit with the decorating;  All this physical activity does have an added value.  I am getting fitter and I am actually losing weight without strict diet.  On the days that I was not working in one of the houses, I spent some time with the grandchildren. Yesterday we spent the afternoon with 2 of them.  I enjoy that immensely and they are so energetic that I don't have problems to sleep well at night.  A busy time is coming on at work too and the rehearsals with the theatre group for the play in January have started 2 weeks ago, aswell as my Italian course.  No rest for the wicked as the saying goes.