Easter Tree 2015

As I rarely get around to putting up a Christmas tree in December, this Easter tree idea is even more out of my character. But this week at the really great thrift store out in Wijhe, I found some little packages of Easter bunnies and chicks and eggs I could use on an Easter tree.

I always wanted to purchase a bunch of curly twigs for such a tree, so on Friday I finally broke down and paid the 2 Euros for sticks. After decorating with my thrifty buys and a few plastic eggs that have been sitting in the buffet drawer for a few years, here is the result:

(And, no, this tree has a better place on the coffee table. The lighting and background are just too bad today.)

Another view.

These are not vintage decorations, but cute anyway.

This couple remind me of my son's Sylvan Bears from 30 years ago.

Eggs, chicks, and rabbits. What else do you want a couple of weeks before Easter?

Bunny mobile.

Now back to the coffee table before Hub knocks it over.

(psssst! Two plastic eggs tumbled onto the hard floor and cracked. Oh, well. They were nice for a few hours.)

Have a Bles-id Sunday!

Lately there has been a lot of discussion in the news about the greeting using the word "blessed." 

When we moved back down south nine years ago, we started hearing "have a blessed day" quite a lot. The expression doesn't make me feel uncomfortable, and I have convinced myself that most folks who say it do so just as someone years ago would have said, "now, ya'll come back, ya hear."

What worries me most about the blessed day thing is that few people who use it pronounce the "blessed" part correctly.  

When used as an adjective (as in blessed day), blessed is pronounced (bles-id).

Now have a bles-id Sunday and ya'll come back later for my Easter tree photos.

Things are Looking Up!

We may be staying in the "low country," but the Beltway Apartment is on level 3 of this old school built back in 1912. Besides trying to get in my daily 30 minutes or more of walking, I have been also trying to use the Art Deco stairways whenever possible.  And this is what I earned:

Now, how cool is that?

In My Next Life as a Plumber

Photo Source

When we built our home in Wetcreek back in 2006-2007, we had difficulty finding a plumber. Not a good plumber. Just a plumber.

The plumber our builder found did the initial work, presented the bill, and then refused to itemize the bill. When I asked for a discussion about the bill, he told me to forget it. He said that I owed him nothing. 

You guessed it! He got nothing from me. And his uncooperation caused us headaches. We had to find a plumber who could use his own imagination about what had already been done before he arrived. 

Luckily my brother knew a young fellow who was trying to get his Allstar business up and running, and we were able to get our plumbing work done. This young fellow did not always answer his cell phone when we called, but I learned to call from different phone numbers (the phone at my dentist, for example), and he would answer. Caller ID isn't always helpful for the caller, unfortunately.

Recently we ended up installing our own kitchen faucet when no plumber wanted to come out into the country to our house in Wetcreek. Since that dizzying experience for my hub, we have seen some handy ideas on television handyman shows for future installations. Gosh, let's hope that won't be necessary!

If all goes well today, we can say goodbye to our Dutch plumber. Last week he and Colin installed a new water heater, and today they installed a new bathroom ventilation system and a new (old) heater for the spare bedroom here at the Beltway.

As I said at the onset of our home building in 2006, in my next life I will return as a plumber. Here is a list of the necessary items that I will take along to "finish" my jobs:

1.  Two plastic buckets

2.  Many large towels or rags to mop up water

3.  Shop Vac

4.  Floor mats or floor protectors

5.  My own coffee/tea/bottled water

6.  My own cookies

You guessed it! Our Dutch plumber (who also helped us with our Zoeterwoude farmhouse remodeling almost 30 years ago!) never brings the items mentioned above. Items 5 and 6 I have learned are the norm here in Nederland. 

As for the rest, a good plumber needs to bring items 1-4 and use them!

Hmmm! In another lifetime, I suppose.

Food from Morocco Tonight

I wasn't really impressed with our meal plan on our trip to Morocco.

Finally, for the last dinner in the hotel in Marrakech, we had couscous. I was beside myself!! No one else in the buffet line seemed to know what it was or even care. They were all shovelling in the potatoes and desserts!

Tonight at the Beltway apartment, we are eating beans from Morocco and salmon filets from the Faroe Islands (Danish territory between Scotland and Iceland).

Shame that we had to go back to The Netherlands to eat the food we could have had on vacation.

Spring Fever

Sunday was as close to spring as we will probably get while we are here at the Beltway apartment. 

At one moment out on the balcony in the sun the temperature was 32 degrees Celsius. For you Fahrenheit folks, that is warm. 90 degrees F warm! 

And I was sweating bullets while washing the balcony windows. The temperature only lasted a few minutes, and the windows were sparkling clean in no time. I really shouldn't complain, since I only wash the windows here at the Beltway about twice each year. 

I'll have lots of dirty windows waiting for cleaning when we get back to Wetcreek in three weeks.

It is 5:00 a.m. here. Hub has finally stopped coughing, so I'll sneak back in bed and see if I can get some rest. 

Don't know who is sicker. Hub with the flu or me sick of him being sick. 

Good night.

On The Street Where We Live (at the moment)

What do you do when you are having trouble breathing from a bad cold? 

I take a walk. On the street where we live.

Care to come along?

A dentist office just down the Beltway. Actually my hub lived in this house many years ago. His grandpa had this house built for the family.

No pumpkins growing here in the bushes. But orange balloons are always appropriate in Nederland.

Entrance to the cemetery.

View across the street of the colorful vehicles.

In case of deep snow, this water meter locator is hard to miss. Love the color!

Olive trees in the front yard. Low maintenance yard!

Crocus vacation?

Another low maintenance yard. 

Candy sweet automobile colors.

Speaking of candy, isn't this a sweet bike?

At the local bike shop, there are plenty to "sweeten" up.

In front of the teak shop, there are huge colorful treats for your home.

Another former home of my hub. His name is even on a stone near the front door. 

Across the street is Dennis's flower shop. Perfect location in front of the cemetery.

A view to the right gives a glimpse of a mosque with a round minaret.

And our friends at our hairdresser look for us a couple of times each year.

On the Beltway!

Almost home.

Snowdrops, but no snow.

Hub is recouping up in the top right apartment.

Yes, the one with two little triangle rooftops and the balcony.

Velux windows on the side.

A large home across the street from the Beltway apartment.

Just a few more steps along the new sidewalk.

A turn to the right at the old agricultural school where bamboo is out of control.

Not sure anyone lives in this house. There is a big plywood board in the front window. Definitely not Dutch!

Sweet!!

Still two vases in the front windows like a couple of years ago.  Not much changes here.

New baby girl in this house.

Now which child would not want to climb these rocks?

Wow! This patio/yard looks special!

Even their side yard looks classy.

But not this!

What fun! A real Dutch view!

Back at the rear gate to our apartment, I turned around and shot this. My hub was born in that deserted hospital in the background. (almost 70 years ago!!!)

View from the elevator.

There will be 40+ houses built behind the Beltway apartment soon. Really thought they would have begun work on them. 

Wonder what the folks in the houses on the right are going to do with their community garden?