Crossbody bags across an ample bosom…is tricky. Let’s just ignore it. This leopard mini bag (gift from Marianne) went well with the leopard belt and both items added interest to the outfit.

The coral jumper is the same jumper as the white one in the post with my blue skirt. Also by Bellamy Gallery which means sustainable and affordable. It is a perfect style for me. It has my preferred neckline, sleeves which I can easily roll up to the desired length and although rather fitted, loose enough not to show lumps and bumps. It came in many more colours which I didn’t buy, not even the bright yellow one.

The shop stylist told me that these jumpers would come back in winter in merino wool. Hmm… wool and I are not friends. Having said that…be prepared to see many photos related to wool in this post.

The photo above was taken with my iPhone by my friend Katrien at her house. I never intended to shoot for a blog post so I didn’t bring my camera (stupid). We decided to shoot everything with my iPhone so you are about to see some funny colours sometimes. With every new release, Apple claims that the camera of the iPhone has become even better. I beg to differ.

Below: As I said, strange colours. The earrings are glass dropped, made with anti-allergic steel and gilded with 16 carat gold. By Lara Design.

Below: Katrien with a skirt of Kemi Telford. I gave it to her as I didn’t think it suited me. She altered it slightly with a fitted waistband rather than an elastic waistband. And she put in some flat pleats. She is a clever seamstress.

Below: Katrien and I decided to visit Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, situated in a beautiful old building, exhibiting a great variety of art. The museum is housed in a monumental 17th-century hall for wool fabrics. ‘Laken’ is the Dutch word for very high-quality wool, usually dyed black, which was an extremely difficult colour to achieve in the old days. That is the reason why you see so many people in old paintings dressed in black. It showed how wealthy they were.

Below: Well…you know me by now. I’ll never pass up an opportunity to be photographed on stairs.

Below: The museum has ‘normal’ historic pieces, like this silver.

Below: And this mirror (reflecting Katrien and me). What a beauty to have in your hall (if you have a very high ceiling, that is).

Below: Talking about ceiling…what a grand room.

Below: Looking up pays off. A magnificent roof.

Below: View from a window in the museum.

Below: Triptych painted by Lucas van Leyden around 1526 called The Last Judgement.

Below: The back of the Last Judgement, left and right.
Rather than painting the donors on the outer side, as per tradition, Lucas van Leyden portrayed Leiden’s patron saints instead: the Apostles Paul (wearing a red cloak, book in his hand and a sword at his feet) and Peter (in green, with a key in his hand).

Below: The chapel.

Now, we will move on to more modern art.

Below: Skin or hides of wool. Artwork by artist Claudia Jongstra. (You can learn more about her here.) She is a visual artist, shepherd, farmer and activist.
It may look like slaughtered cows, but it is wool felt.

Below: Close-up of a hide. See? It is wool.

Below: The back view. It does look a lot like skin, even though you know it is fabric.

Below: This artwork by Claudia Jongstra is called NINE and Cosmic Cry. It is like an earthly landscape. In doing so Claudia Jongstra places a critical note on monoculture and landscapes filled with solar panels.

Below: This is how the wool samples were registered in the old days.

Below: When artists work together: wool fabric from Claudia Jongstra was used by Victor & Rolf to design this dress.

Below: Also in the museum, fashion photos of Vivienne Westwood clothes by our famous Dutch photographer Inez van Lamsweerde.

Below: As we left the museum, I had to buy this brooch of a wool sheep. So cute.

Below: In the café where we had lunch, I took this photo of Katrien’s silver earring.

The next stop was the second-hand store Lionheart Vintage.

Below: The owner of Lionheart Vintage, Antoinette. (How can anybody have such a tiny waist?)

Below: Katrien loves the style of Antoinette’s clothes and they have become friends.

Of course we had to try things.

Below: Katrien in a blue with yellow dress.

Below: And in a golden yellow dress with striped shirt underneath it.

Below: Loved this floaty summer dress on her.

Below: The shop looks really inviting.

Below: Again, the colours of this photo are very strange, especially because we are indoors in lamp light. I am wearing my green trench coat which you have already seen. The sheep brooch is now permanently on my collar. (Link to the post about the shoes.)

Yes, I also bought something. I am keeping it hidden from you to show in a blog post.

What happened in my life this week

Saturday I stopped by Kitty’s house to congratulate her with her birthday and bring a present. Did I take a photo of the beautifully dressed Kitty? Nope. Forgot.

At the end of the afternoon we had dinner at a neighbouring allotment garden of Ron. We were with 4 couples and everybody contributed food or drinks. The food was delicious; we had a dish with very small (young) sole, finger licking good. Plus, a lovely salad and fresh fruit for dessert. As it was pouring with rain most of the time, we sat underneath a big sailcloth which assembled a lot of water in the middle. From time to time the host thumped it with a broomstick, causing a ‘flood’ left and right from the table. It didn’t matter at all; we had a lovely time.

Sunday both Ron and I visited mum. Ron did some weeds plucking and fetched groceries for mum. I sat and chatted with her.

Below: Mum and her hydrangea. She cannot water the plants in the garden any longer as she hasn’t got the energy for it. But this summer it has been rain – sunshine – rain  – sunshine, alternating all the time. All gardens are blossoming.

Monday was a day of creating this blog post and finding things out for mum. Nothing interesting happened.

Tuesday darling Ron took photos for my blog in Amsterdam. Both Kitty and Loes were unavailable this week and I needed material for next Sunday. The fact that he does this, even though he dislikes it a lot, is a true act of love.

Below: This is one of the photos he took and he said the caption should be ‘WANTED‘.

Wednesday Helena came to Haarlem. You have seen her on my blog a couple of times, like in this post and in this post. We had a wonderful day with bright sunshine, coffee, lunch and a lot of talking. See below in front of Het Koffiekantoor (The Coffee Office). (Link to the blog post with this Kenzo dress. That belt has become TIGHT!)

Below: A glimpse of the recently renovated town hall.

In the evening we had our neighbours Menno and Ingrid over for dinner. Ron cooked sole and it was absolutely delicious. I had made dessert (yay, I ‘cooked’; call the papers, breaking news). My weight is disastrous and it gets harder and harder to hide my tummy. I cannot find my mental STOP button.

Thursday my photographer Kitty came over to teach me Photoshop Elements. We consumed lunch (provided by darling husband) without tasting anything. We concentrated and carried on for 4 hours. Now I have to practice.

Friday. No time to practise Photoshop as Marianne and Marijke came to Haarlem. We had coffee and lunch, we shopped and we chatted for hours. Perfect.

Below: Marijke, always extremely difficult to photograph as her face moves all the time.

Below: Marianne, looking naughty. The shrug behind her gives the impression she’s got wings.

Below: And the three of us. A warped iPhone photo as Marijke’s arms are half the size as in this photo.

Busy, busy week.

Greetje