May I present an outfit featuring my latest sin, my cream knee high boots. A sin I do not at all regret. These boots are the same as my burgundy ones and they are fabulous to walk in and very elegant. They replace my high heels which are too uncomfortable for my retired life.
Below: Marjolein offered to take photos in The Hague for this post while doing a bit of shopping at the same time.
We had lunch in the centre of town before we started taking photos. By the time we finished our lunch the sun had disappeared. Bummer.
Below: This is ‘Haagse Harry‘ (Harry from The Hague) which is a famous broad slang dialect speaking cartoon figure, a famous icon of The Hague. He is rather common haha.
Below: Left from Harry, you will find the ‘Waag’ (old weigh-house), which is now a restaurant.
Below: The right side of the Waag building. Big doors to let in the wagons with barrels I presume. At least, I see a face brick with barrels on the right.
Below: Somewhere in an alley we started the shoot. As I thought it would be sunny all day, I wore a light winter coat.
Below: Next-door to the Waag is this beautiful building. By the look of the letterboxes, I say it has been converted into apartments.
Below: Across the road from above building is the Boekhorststraat. I wanted a photo with the building and the church in the background but the wind was blowing right in my face. Which is why I am yelling at Marjolein: “You can stop taking photos now; this is not going to work”.
Below: What a colourful shop.
Below: And do I spot a bench?
Below: My friend Anja has taught me to look up when I am in an old city. Indeed, it pays off. What a lovely bay window.
Below: Underneath the bay window and to the left of it, are carved sculptures. Each head/face is different.
Below: More beautiful buildings when you look up.
Below: Mind you, the bottom parts of the buildings were often horrible. Cheap and nasty. Such a shame.
Below: We spotted this second-hand shop called ‘Zusjes Vintage Boetiek‘. And another bench.
Below: Their merchandise was quaint and I am not. Well…not that quaint.
Below: Marjolein tried on a couple of things but couldn’t find anything either. These are all her own clothes.
Below: We found a corner with no wind and could take this head-to-toe shot. It is an elegant outfit which is why I chose the elegant Wandler bag. The jumper isn’t pilling but it looks like that in the photo.
Below: Marjolein, showing off her gorgeous purple boots.
Below: This building must have been nice in its glory days.
Below: We left Boekhorststraat through Chinatown of The Hague and it had started to drizzle.
We quickly sought refuge in the Passage where it was nice and bright, covered and wind free.
Below: There were all sorts of annoying things going on in the background. Bright decorations, a woman in a red coat, a logo and a man. I photoshopped them all out of the photo. Hurray for retouch.
The wool skirt is old and from the Max Mara outlet in Turin; cream and soft pink. I think it is a good one.
Below: Art deco inspired earrings made by Baublehaus from polymer clay and very light-weight. Unfortunately she closed her web shop. Too busy with her photography business.
Below: You can see them better on this image.
Below: Marjolein treated me to barista coffee with sweets at Hop & Stork. The barista himself came to our table to prepare the cappuccinos.
Below: He created these two cappuccinos with coffee art.
A delicious ending of a nice day, even though the weather turned nasty.
What happened to my life this week
I met Marita again, this time at restaurant Metzo in Haarlem, which I can highly recommend. We chatted for a couple of hours, enjoying our coffee and pastel de nata.
Below: an awful iPhone photo of Marita, as we were in a cosy but dark corner. She was the bright ray of sunshine.
As I walked back home, I decided to look up as well and spotted the fish face brick in the facade of this building. It used to be a fish shop (“Vischhandel” in old Dutch), which you can read on the tiles. Why there are two dates on the building (1831 and 1905) I don’t know. It now is a café called “In den Uiver”.
Our friends Georg and Marla came over for dinner and Ron cooked a very good meal. Carrot soup which sounds bland but it was very good. And for our main course he made confit de canard with sauerkraut and cranberries and little fried potatoes. Gosh, that went down well.
Below: Our gardener and his men returned for phase 2 of our garden. The pond is now finished; we even have a little waterfall. Of course we need plants for the pond as well and all the plants in the garden are waiting for spring to come out. The big tree has been severely trimmed; it was taking away too much light from our garden and from our neighbour’s garden. The roots of this tree are messing with the bricks of the paths. You can see two photos of the garden phase 1 at the end of this post.
One typical day this week:
Took Ron’s shoes to the cobbler.
Saw the dentist (everything is hunky dory). He told me to follow the dental hygienist’s instructions to the letter.
After the dentist, a short visit to my friend Nicoline whom I hadn’t seen for a while. She lives near my dentist so that was easy.
And on to Marianne’s birthday. All the BVA girls chipped in and we bought her a gold bracelet. She wanted this to “always have us close”, as she described it. Sweet.
Below: Marianne looking as splendid as she always does.
On Friday I took Marianne to the hospital for some check-ups and the specialist had some great new ideas. It was cold, rainy and windy. In the afternoon when I was at home again, it snowed. I pitied Ron for having to walk the dog in such weather.
Greetje
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