What a joy…my friend Anja was back in the Netherlands for a couple of days (the friend who moved to Spain). She stayed in the town where her family lives which is Roosendaal. It used to be a nice town, but now there are too many concrete buildings and deserted squares and not enough fun. Nevertheless, we found a really fun background for the photos although taking photos was secondary to our constant chatting. I am wearing my beloved green jumper (I wish I had this jumper in all colours) and my green bag. The cream high waisted trousers are from Just and I bought them at kpa.haarlem.

Below: Anja. I urged her to buy a new bag as her bag (on the floor) was catching on her clothes and fraying it. Such a shame.

Below: As I said, not many exciting buildings left in Roosendaal, except for this one.

There was another exception to the grey concrete buildings and that was the Passage. Like most passages in towns, there are two lanes and a ‘square’ in the middle. Big difference with this one is that the developer (owner?) decided to do it ‘Italian Style‘. And boy oh boy, did he go big with that haha. It is called Venetian Style, but also Art Deco and Jugendstil plus you will find the word Milano somewhere and the marionettes in the orchestra are from the fifties. Let’s say it is a charming mix.

Below: Anja entering one of the lanes, through very rich glass sliding doors.

Below: Behind Anja you can see the glass panels in the sliding doors. I envy Anja’s hair; it is so nice.

Below: Anja is always very patient taking my photos. I was wearing my leopard Weekend Max Mara coat as the weather forecast said rain. As it happened, we had sunshine all day.
(Link to the post with this coat.)

Below: The ‘square’ in the middle with a terrace and a restaurant.

Below: There are marionettes (dolls?) on balconies. Some of them move while others don’t. These two didn’t.

Below: But the ‘orchestra’ marionettes above the word Milano, do move and sing LOL.

Below: Hah…I saw an opportunity for a ‘sitting’ pose.

Below: Anja is a huge animal lover, so she couldn’t resist this very friendly doggie.

Below: The cream high waisted trousers are nicest when they are cuffed and worn with the cream perforated boots by EIJK. Perfect for autumn and spring. The black tassel belt is an old thing from a holiday in Spain.

Below: I wasn’t unhappy with my backside in these trousers either.

Below: All of a sudden we heard somebody appreciatively whistling at us. At our age that is not an insult or intimidation anymore haha. It turned out to be a parrot, a real one, not a marionette.

Below: As I love to do animal sounds, I talked and whistled to the parrot. (Note: I hate animals in cages. And zoos and circuses with live animals.)

Below: Having coffee on the terrace. The big statue above Anja’s head is Columbus (or Marco Polo?) and he speaks one sentence.

Below: Close-up of the dollar brooch (Essentiel Antwerp, last year).

Below: One last look up before we said goodbye.

You may call it fake or kitsch but I loved it. It had such a nice atmosphere.

What happened in my life this week

Saturday was a quiet day and Sunday I visited mum.

Monday things got busier. First Loes and I did a photo shoot at an estate. It was lovely with all the autumn colours. Afterwards we only had time for a quick coffee at my place as I had to drive to Marianne.
Marianne decided it was time to weed out her wardrobe. Changing summer clothes for winter clothes and getting rid of clothes that didn’t fit anymore or didn’t make her sparkle.
By chance our mutual friend Marijke was there as well. It was a fun and useful afternoon.

Below: Marianne and me.

Below: Marijke, as usual so difficult to photograph. She is always pulling faces. Nice outfit she was wearing.

Tuesday was ‘new (to me) car day‘. I had to drive for 2 hours and 15 minutes to the garage up north, but prices are much lower there than here in the west of the country. It is a beautiful car and the differences with my Alfa Romeo Mito are, it is younger, it uses petrol instead of diesel and it has automatic transmission instead of manual. Nevertheless, I loved my Alfa and it broke my heart a little to say goodbye to it. Especially because I knew it was going to some second-hand car dealer who doesn’t care one bit about my Alfa. I felt as if I deserted it after 8 years of faithful duty. Am I insane to feel like this? I petted it as I said farewell. Anyway, here is the sensible choice: a Volvo V40, not too shabby either.

Because I was driving past the town where my brother and SIL live (in the east of the country), I stopped on the way back at their house. I don’t see them often enough, so that was really nice. From their house I went to my bonus daughter and her husband, where husband Ron already was. Stayed for dinner. Gosh that Randolf (SIL) can make a delicious burrito. Superb. As I drove back in the evening, I heard “poing“ every 5 miles or so. About 6 or 8 times. Clearly a warning signal but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. With a knotted stomach I drove home and the next day phoned the dealer. It probably was the signal warning that the passenger needed to put the safety belt on. Only there was no passenger, just my bag. Overly sensitive car.

Wednesday Marcella came for the weekly video and we chatted about her logo. A friend of mine was making a proper logo for her, not too different, just more consistent to use. Below: Marcella with my stork in the background, seemingly pecking her eye out. All the jewellery she is wearing is by her hand.

Below: She took a photo of me as well, as the colours of my top were so in tune with my furniture. (Link to original post.)

Thursday was an extremely quiet day. Nothing in the agenda, so I read the manual of the car, something I have never done in the 44 years that I have owned a car. Useful though. In the afternoon I created this post and managed the last details for Marcella’s logo.

Friday neighbour Monique and I paid a visit to museum Barnaart. It was a grand house, built in 1804. It is 22 metres wide and 22 metres deep, 4 stories high. Below the facade of the building.

I took many photos and the audio tour was very good. My, my, what a grand house and what an ambition and vision that man (Philip Barnaart) had. He inherited a lot of money at the age of 22 which his family had gathered in the textile industry. Philip saw that the textile days were numbered and developed a cunning strategy to create his own fortune. Having this house built for networking (as we would call it these days), was part of his strategy. If you are ever in Haarlem, you should see this house. It is open for public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. If you missed the previous link to more information, here it is again: Huis Barnaart.
Below one picture of one room. The black paintings above the doors are ‘trompe l’oeil‘. They are painted in such a way that they look 3D. Depending on where the light hits a painting, the shadows are in a different spot, so every painting looks like it is 3D. There are hundreds of such details in this house.

It took us about two hours or so to complete the tour. There weren’t many rooms to look at but all the details took time. And the people who volunteer in this museum were very obliging and provided lovely details as well.

Below: Afterwards we went for coffee and (a very rich) cake at Bij Babette, a totally English tearoom, also serving a good cappuccino. Quaint and nice.

Below: Monique and the Queen of Great Britain.

Again, a good week.

Greetje