Noordhollands Duinreservaat

Yesterday I went to Schoorl and went on a 12 km hike; it was stunning. That part of Holland is a reservation, and this time of the year all the heather is blooming in the most stunning array of purple.

The dark green and the light green and the purple would make for a lovely cowl...

For the first part I was almost alone and it was wonderful, I enjoy walking alone. Then a part over the beach, which was gorgeous and the sea was quite rough, so nature at its most splendid.

The return walk was less good, mostly to the fact that there were a lot of dog walking people. When I am hiking my pace is faster, and well, actually I love the still and quiet of walking alone.
Will mos def do this walk again.

Today I went shopping in Amsterdam with my mom, hardly bought anything! I came to the chilling conclusion that I don't really like people. Mom made it less harsh and together we found that there are simply too much people in certain parts of the world. Our part for sure. Less would be better, but were would you leave half the people of Holland? There are a lot of people around here.. If it is not such a nice place we will only send the unfriendly people and friendly ones can stay here. We had good laugh about that idea.. lolz.

Rie Cramer

Rie Cramer was a Dutch illustrator around the 1920's. She made a lot of cute pictures with Dutch children, She also did Fairytales and such. Today mom and me visited a flea market and one woman sold all her Rie Cramer books. Mom bought the cutest alphabet book for a new nephew in Canada. He will be raised bilangual and the parents wanted my mom to bring an old fashioned alphabet book: mission accomplished!

I was swooning over the imagery! So the way I would love my life to look... so cute!

BFF love

My best friend was back in town! We had lunch and baked some cinnamon buns and watched the "walk the line" movie about Johnny Cash, which was great and ate mexican food and had homemade ice cream. We had a lovely time and I went home late; smiling and content.

WTF...

Today's theme is sunflare... I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with that one, since there has been no sun whatsoever for the past weeks. If you want pictures of rain, no problem, but the sun, and more specific a sunflare... I don't think I have even seen a sunflare in my life...? Weird.

So, I'm posting a random pretty picture: Pastry at Laduree. They have flair and they look sunny, fits the bill right?

Ground control to major Tom

As in MAJOR update!
I'm going to give the photo challenge another resurrection:

8: Technology: well... it was the hight of technology once.

9: Faceless selfportait + 10: something I made: Shawl I made for Roshni's wedding with me behind it

11: Something fun: I got a spindle and fiber from an Owlie friend :)

12: Close-up: of Mika

13: From a distance: I'm obsessed with photographing little roads, that meander away. What is around the corner or in the distance after that hill?

14: Flowers: one of my favorite things to photograph

15: My shoes: my el Naturalista shoes which have taken me far and beyond this summer.

16: What I ate: I photograph my food a lot, my bff always does that too. This is my dad's serving.

17: On the shelf: I cleared out the cd's and put my yarn in: I love my yarn stash

18: In my bag: it varies from day to day

19: Where I slept + 20: What I read: that will have to come tomorrow, since there is no light now.

21: Pretty pattern: walls... I photographed lots and lots of walls in Paris, this the queens bed in Palais Versailles.

22: Trees: Also a favorite of mine

23: Sunset: In Paris

24: a Smile: Mine, being content, so not a big one or anything, but a good one

Right!

I haven't been real good with updating this so called daily blog in the past few weeks. Holiday is making me even lazier than normal. Or I'm simply having a good time and don't need the affirmation this blog provides...

I made a picture of myself last thursday when I went for a three hour walk in the woods and dunes:

And Patricia just mailed me this picture that she made of me on the sunday market in Issigeac:

I really like both pictures because I look so content and happy. I really want to hang on to that feeling!

Childhood memory and Something new: the Carnaval is in town!

Yesterday the yearly Carnaval started. Although here it is called Kermis and consists of rides and food. Hoorn is known for their huge amount of rides and the party which goes along with it: Stages with performances of local artists, themed days (like pink monday, wednesday ladies night etc.), and of course the soddom and gommora day that ends it all: lappendag. I will explain that one in the near future...

So for childhood memory:

Duck fishing and the Merry go Round. I searched for the desert buggy ride, but now it looks like something the caterpillar from Alice in wonderland had spit out...

For something new:

The stickers they give out when you have done certain daredevil rides like the bungee ball and the g-force machine. Also the new layout: the bigwheel is now situated next to my house and there is this totally new ride on the main square called Big jump and I really wanna go into that one! Says the person who normally wont go in ANY ride. There was a huge line so many more people must like it, thats a good sign. Maybe I can persuade my mom to come with me...

Someone I love...

That one'e easy: MIKA!!!

And of course I adore my family:

30 day photo challenge

Somewhere I read about a themed 30 day photo challenge, and it seems like a fun idea to participate on this blog.

Here is the schedule:

And since I am late to start here are my pics for the first days: (I have tried to pick pictures taken on the right date, but some might have gotten shuffled..)

1: Self porttrait: Weird snapshot taken in front of the Notre Dame church in Paris

2: What I wore today: In the gardens of Versailles Palace, Marie Antionettes Hameau, which I loved!

3: Clouds: Taken from a barge on the river Seine

4: Favorite color: Since it is hard for me to pick a color I picked a good combination of colors. This is from the wall of a room in the Carnavalet museum in Paris.

Sorry I dropped of the radar...

I'm so sorry I didn't add anything to this blog.... NOT!

I was having a wonderful time doing not a whole lot on the camp site. I planned on doing a sculpture and some biking and a lot of walking but didn't do any of it. I did a whole lot of chatting and meeting interesting people who had views on life and things to say that I found inspiring.

Then I had three crammed days in Paris where I went to: Versailles, the Marais, Montmartre and shopping and a whole lot more! Now I have blisters on my feet and a nice tan! The train brought me home most speedily and Mika was happy to see me as was I to see her! Now I'm doing the washing and cleaning out my suitcase. I'm sure some holiday stories will pop up here in the coming days and weeks...