Such a great photo of Marjolein and me at the outdoor mirror art exhibition in The Hague. Marjolein was taking photos of my outfit in one of the mirror art objects and a gentleman, a true one, offered to take a photo of us both. Can you tell we had fun?
By Marjolein’s request I was wearing a purple jumper with barrel jeans. I suggested a couple of outfits and she chose this one. Lucky for me as I am wearing flat boots with this outfit and we did a lot of walking.
Below: The photo above was taken in one of the two entrances to this enclosed space.
Back to the beginning, we started with a stand-in shot of Marjolein to check the camera settings (you live and learn).
Below: Marjolein next to a ‘mirror tree’ in her favourite colour, purple.
Below: The trees in the whole Buitenhof area were wrapped in tinsels.
Below: Explanation about the area and the trees. 32 trees beautifully wrapped and they kept the ugly bicycle parking area with its even uglier fence. I get that bicycles need parking space too and I suppose when you remove it even temporarily, people will just throw their bike anywhere. But it is a shame.
Below: The outfit is très simple. A purple jumper from Bellamy Gallery, barrel jeans by Denham Jeans, a Pasticcino bag by Weekend Max Mara from the outlet (I gave you the link to their official site, should you want to pay the full price heh heh), old white belt and yellow/black earrings. You can see the earrings better in this post, coincidently photographed at the same spot. The boots are from a second-hand shop.
Below: Had to do the sitting down pose. It shows the boots a bit more.
Below: We walked on, past this building in Hofvijver, totally covered with mirrors. Gives a fun view of the other side of the pond.
Below: Another mirror, the Cube.
Below: Explanation about the artist, which is hard to read. It says: “Enter the Cube, by Marleen Sleeuwits. The Hague based artist Marleen Sleeuwits challenges our perception: how do we experience a space?
What do we truly see and what do our minds fill in? This reflective artwork seamlessly ties into her concurrent exhibition at the Fotomuseum. Inspired by the relief of American artist Sol Le Witt on the museum’s side facade – where he endlessly explores the interplay of lines within a cube.
Sleeuwits has designed a colourful -site specific- installation. The installation invites visitors to step inside the cube entering a fascinating space that plays with perspective, illusion and the impression of infinity.”
Below: This Cube distorted.
Below: Inside the enclosed space we were photographing until the gentleman offered to take a picture of the both of us (top photo). The artist put plants and rocks within the space. It was very zen.
Below: Why not do another sitting pose.
Below: How about this Fiat 500, covered in small pieces of mirror. Fab. The man behind the wheel is actually driving the car.
Below: As we walked to the restaurant, we passed the Kneuterdijk palace. Marjolein and I did a photo shoot inside the Palace once, but I cannot find the post anymore.
Below: After lunch we hit a few shops. The green co-ord below is from the HEMA, a good and cheap shop, famous in the Netherlands. Alas, the fit wasn’t right.
Those old, wrinkly hands really give away my age haha. It doesn’t matter, I am glad to make it to this age.
Below: On our way back Marjolein pointed to the building with the green dome roofs. I couldn’t take a better photo, but I still liked it. Little gems when you look up.
What happened in my life this week
Saturday Froukje came to dine with us. Her husband Petro was away for a week and we invited her for dinner. She didn’t want to be featured on the blog, so I give you the meal that Ron cooked. There are three kinds of mushrooms underneath the French pastry.
Sunday Marjolein and I did the photo shoot for this post and as it was cold outside, we decided to spend some time in a department store (the Bijenkorf). See my guilty face below?
I found a perfect dress that ticked all my boxes and I have many. It has sleeves, a long and wide skirt, it is structured, it even has darts at the top (so rare), nice collar with lapels and it came in the colour purple. To top it off, it wasn’t even expensive.
However…I also fell for a long, bright pink coat by Essentiel Antwerp in a size small at half price. I convinced myself that the shoulder seams looked OK although they were a bit too high up. When I came home, I tried it on again and saw that it looked odd so I decided I was going to take it back.
Monday the garage phoned to inform me the bill for the flat tire wasn’t going to be €190 but €690 as a spring (??) in the tire was broken and needed replacement. That of course, caused the terrible sound I heard when I tried to drive the car. Another reason to take back the bright pink coat. I needed the money towards the car bill.
Furthermore, the garage had 4 sick mechanics and was heavily understaffed; they couldn’t tell me when my car would be ready but it might take a while…Bummer. So I cancelled my date with Lia on Tuesday and my appointment with the hairpiece salon on Wednesday. Public transport isn’t funny to these destinations. Again, bummer.
Wednesday I took the coat back to the nearest branch of the department store. When I went home again, quite pleased I got the money back, I received a reminder of an unpaid bill, € 192. I have to have a word with the powers up in heaven. “Things could go a bit better, you lot up there”.
Wore this outfit that day (below), my Samsoe and Samsoe wide jeans with one of my favourite jumpers and the comfiest trainers (sneakers) in the world.
Thursday Ron and I drove 2 hours to the east of the country to my brother and SIL as I feel the need to keep the connection with them after my mum died in August last year. Funny, how such family ties become more important when your parents fall away.
Below: I wore my leopard trousers with a green jumper. I forgot to take a photo before we left, so below a photo taken in 2021.
While we were driving that morning, the garage called. Not to say that my car was ready, but to say “there were more extra cost (€ 56); was that OK?” What can you say? Of course I agreed, I wanted my car back.
The day with my brother and SIL was great. I love them so much.
Friday the new printer arrived. We couldn’t use the old one anymore because we dismantled the thing to solve a paper jam and couldn’t get all parts back in. Such a stupid thing.
Installing a new HP printer without using foul language is a miracle, is all I can say.
Luckily my car was finally ready that day.
Greetje
I’m excited to see your new dress, but good for you for taking the pink coat back (although…eee…pink, sounds so lovely!), especially in light of the extra-large car bill!
I love seeing all the mirrors, very cool. The car covered in tiny mirrors is awesome. Good to see you living such a full life. You look great in green (and I have been putting sunblock on the backs of my hands for decades ).
The new dress isn’t arty or edgy buy I could call it modern. It is above all elegant. I felt the need.
I could have put sunblock on the back of my hands but I have bad skin genes anyway so it wouldn’t have helped much. Remember I’ll be 71 soon.
Purple is a great color and your sweater is so cheerful, as is Marjolein’s coat. The setting is wonderful with all of the mirrors. I’d like to see the Lewitt on the side of the museum (assuming that it wasn’t the mirrored building).
Sorry to hear about your car. The costs can add up so quickly.
It’s good that you had a nice visit with your brother and SIL. We need those connections to provide balance in our challenging times.
Reading your comment I’d say you enjoyed the post.
I have no idea about Lewitt, but you can read about it here: https://www.fotomuseumdenhaag.nl/en/exhibitions/enter-cube
Fascinating. Thank you for sharing that link.
I did enjoy your post!
You’re welcome.
I nodded yes when I read your comment about strengthening connections after your parents are gone. So true. My favorite outfit this week is the wide leg jeans, top, and trainers. BTW, your hair is looking very good. Sorry about the car expenses. The transmission just went out on our Tahoe. It will be an expensive fix. Enjoyed the photos.
Photo shoots are so much more relaxed now that I am wearing the hairpiece (I call it “my little help”). Both for the friend behind the camera and for me.
I have several jeans models and I like them all.
Good luck on the repair of your car. Hope it isn’t too expensive.
I love the outfit with the white jumper and jeans — this makes your legs look so long! You are so fortunate to have all these various people to take photos — I’m sure your photo shoots can be a lot of fun — if the weather cooperates! I appreciate all the effort you put into finding interesting backgrounds and great outfits.
Thanks Cynthia, especially when it is this cold (freezing) it isn’t easy to do a shoot and stand there without your coat. But, as the French say “Noblesse oblige”. If you have a blog, this is a consequence.
Now I am nervous about starting up my new remote printer!
Finally bought some paper, so I need to test it out. 🤞 My young brilliant computer engineering student set it up and we did a test back on January 1…I am so slow to continue with tech stuff, but I decided it was required for printing off papers for tax requirements . Supposed to use less ink , and told it won’t dry out between uses.
Loved the FIAT ! I remember renting one while visiting the area around Cortona in Tuscany. Such fun!
The mirror exhibit in The Hague is so interesting and great for your photo shoot, and as usual, as a bonus, we are educated when reading the signs posted.
Like you and Ron, I am having a single neighbour over to dinner tonight on this Sunday. Daffodils in vase smell so much like a scent of spring…soon to come. I did a bit of research to come up with a gluten and dairy free menu for her. Fun and very instructive. Looking forward to good conversations while we enjoy our meal.
Sitting in the sun this morning, with a skiff of snow on the lawns…pretty but more to come. Perhaps short lived as per usual here in Canadian PNW (pacific northwest). But must get on with dinner prep!
Believe it or not, but I got the parts back into the printer! Only we still have a paper jam, so I have to examine it further. But if I do get it working again, I will declare myself being very bright haha.
Hope you have a lovely meal and good company.
It is well known that printers are the spawn of the devil. Stupid things that run out of ink every 5 minutes.
I never take anything apart because I know I’ll never get it back together.
I loved the mirrored exhibit and your matching purple outfits.
Hahaha..love that expression “spawn of the devil”. I used to repair printers and that kind of stuff all the time when I was an office manager in my younger days. And we needed to take some parts out to solve the paper jam but this one bit just fell out and we have no clue where and how it was attached.
Glad you enjoyed this post.
Enjoyed your post today! Enjoyed looking at your travel pictures. Loved the purple outfits. Also the green. So much color, makes winter a little brighter.
I am glad you enjoyed my post. It is meant to entertain. As for the colourful outfits…bright colours suit me so much better than pastel. Not chic but hey, if it brightens up everybody’s day, it’s fine by me.
I always love you in jeans — all washes, all styles. And PS, laughing about the printer and the piece left over. I just took apart my ancient espresso maker and ended up with a leftover spring. The machine works again, so I threw the spring away and am keeping my fingers crossed.
Hahaha…that’s what Ron said; “Assemble it without that piece and see if it works”. It didn’t work but I also thought “If the manufacturer couldn have done without this piece, wouldn’t they have done so? Otherwise it would only mean more cost. So, indeed fingers crossed on your espresso maker. I would have held on to the spring for a bit longer.
And I am glad you laughed over what I wrote. I love my readers to laugh.
Great outfit in the first picture – love that the two of you coordinated in purple! Plus, a mention on ‘Une Femme d’un certain age’. You are inspiring!
I always send Marjolein a photo of the outfit I will be wearing. And often she wears something which looks good with it. Sometimes something completely different. Everything is fine by me. I love showing my readers as much inspiration as I can.
After I read your comment I went to Susan’s blog to see and indeed, she links to my blog, last week’s post. So nice of her.